Pumpkin Carving...

A Halloween tradition...pumpkin carving. Wednesday night Dalton finally got to make his Jack-O-Lantern. You will notice he has a spoon in his hands. He refused to get down and dirty and touch any of the "gooey, slimy guts" as he called it. The face was Dalton's masterpiece with a little help from mom and dad. Mallory kicked back in her highchair watched this year. Watch out next year. We will have to have 2 pumpkins I can see it now.

Look What I Can Do

I'm a few days late in posting this, but Mallory took her first steps without holding onto anything Friday, Oct. 22nd. I mentioned in her 11 month update that she had taken a few steps, but Friday night she came home from daycare walking and has not looked back since. She still needs to work on her balance, but it's amazing how fast they can pick something up. She is absolutely to cute chasing Dalton around the house. Let the fun begin.

Pumpkin Patch

It's Texas so it may not feel like fall right now, but it's that time of year...pumpkins! A couple weeks ago we headed out to the local pumpkin patch to grab a few pictures and check out all the neat pumpkins this year. Both kids enjoyed picking out their favorite pumpkins. Mallory wanted to pick up ones bigger than her, but decided the baby pumpkins fit better in her hand. Now if the weather would cool off we could enjoy fall in Texas.

Mallory 11 Month Update

It's so hard to believe that our little girl will be one in a month. She continues to develop her own personality and looks like she will be just as active if not more than her brother. Babbling is a new favorite along with climbing. This child will climb on anything and is certainly not scared when she falls. She just gets right back up and tackles it again. The mouth is constantly moving I only wish we could make out what she is trying to say. She loves to wave bye-bye. She finally cut her bottom two front teeth within a few days of each other and is starting to learn to chew food. She would much rather swallow it whole than chew which scares me more than I would like. She loves stage 3 foods including spaghetti and lasagna. We have been working on drinking from sippy cups, but they seem to be more  of a chew toy rather than a cup right now. We actually transitioned her to whole milk last week with no problem. This already is making our lives a lot simpler. As for walking, she is so very close. She will walk behind and around anything as long as she can hold on. She has taken her first few steps (no more than 3 or 4) by herself before she goes down and decides to crawl. Our little munchkin is just growing up faster than she should. Here are a few pictures I took last weekend.

 

 

Annual Maurer Hayride

Thank you to the Maurer's for making their hayride an annual event and including us. Last Sunday we enjoyed the fabulous fall weather with an old fashion hayride along the country roads. We followed the hayride up with good ole chicken soup for the adults and hot dogs for the kids. This was Mallory's first official hayride and I have to say it was a pleasant one. She made it about a 1/4 of the way before she looked for her bottle and then decided a subsequent nap was needed. Dalton enjoyed looking at all the cows and horses and anything else they could find. It was the perfect way to end the weekend. Thanks again to the Maurer's for being amazing hosts.

   We also celebrated Aunt Barbara's 'special' birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday Ryan

Daddy, we want to wish you the bestest birthday ever.You are the best dad we could ask for. We enjoy our ride to granny's every morning. We look forward to bath time each night and the occasional evening trip to the playset for a night time swing. Thanks for loving us unconditionally even when we make you mad. We love you very much daddy and wish you the Happiest 30th Birthday you can have. Dalton and Mallory

To My Loving Husband, I don't ever want you to think that I take you for granted. You are an amazing husband and father and I could not ask for more. I know I tend to get comfortable in our daily lives and often forget to tell you just how important you really are to me. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about how blessed I am to have you in my life. I am truely grateful for your inspirations, wisdom and love. I treasure all the years we have spent together and look forward to spending a lifetime together raising our kids. Happy Birthday to the best and most loving and understanding husband in the world.

St. Paul's Fundraiser

Last night was a crazy night for us. First of all our week nights are pretty routine since Dalton does not do any extracurricular activities just yet, so throwing in a HUGE school fundraiser during the week messes with our routine. This was our third year so you would think we would be prepared, but are you ever really prepared for anything especially when kids are involved? As I look back to the two previous years the thought runs through my mind "how did I manage taking Dalton by myself?". Well I certainly could not have managed this year with both of them by myself. Thank you to my fabulous husband for the extra set of hands, especially at the end when the silent auction closed.

This was Dalton's 1st year to sing during the event. I think he enjoyed playing around on stage more than actually singing, but they are below for your listening pleasure. 

For those of you reading that are not aware of the production that St. Paul's Parent Support Group puts on each year I will enlighten you briefly. This is an annual event that raises between $40K to $50K dollars that supports the CDS needs and keeps tuition rates at a minimum. They sell close to 4000 meal tickets, have several hundred silent auction items, games for the kids to play, bucket drawings, children sing and this year they added a raffle drawing. It takes months of planning and several days of set-up. I only wish I took more pictures to share, but all in all we had a good night.





Check out this cake. It was made by Brenham Olde Town Bakery and donated by one of the Kindergarten classes. It brought $1,000 in the silent auction.