Pumpkin carving

Jerry and Anniston finally got around to carving their pumpkin last night. Anniston was BEYOND EXCITED. She was giddy the entire time, and making up songs as Jerry worked on the pumpkin. Here she is examining all of the "guts" (as she calls them).

I dared Anniston to try a bite of the pumpkin. She actually started spitting it out, and finally told me "Guts are not tasty to my tummy Mommy".

We asked Anniston if she wanted a happy pumpkin. She said, "No, a scary one". So we told her to make a scary face. This is what she came up with (pardon the chili still on her face!)

Then we asked her if she wanted squinty eyes like the above picture, and she showed me the kind of eyes she wanted: (Big eyes)
Carefully drawing the scary face onto the pumpkin:


Pretty scary, huh?Posing next to the scary pumpkin!

Our weekend in Houston

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD AHEAD!!

Jerry, Anniston, Treyson and I headed to Houston last Thursday for a long weekend. Jerry had a meeting there on Friday, so the kids and I joined him and were so excited to get to spend a weekend at my brother Scott and sister in law Courtney's hometown! They live in Katy, and I fell in love! I could SO live there. Loved the weather (I despise winter), and quite honestly didn't want to leave. But all good things must come to an end, right? We had so much fun with them, and the kids had a ball. Treyson's cutting a couple more teeth, so he had some fussy moments, but overall did great!

Here are the kids with Uncle Scott and Aunt Courtney after we had eaten ice cream at Cold Stone (scott's favorite). Scott and Anniston dodging the water fountains!

Cooking pumpkin cookies with Aunt Courtney

Swinging with Aunt Courtney at the park!
Anniston playing games with Aunt Courtney at a Pumpkin Carnival put on by one of the local high schools. I think Scott said there's 5 or 6 high schools just in Katy! That just blows my mind!

Anniston played Uncle Scott in air hockey at an inflatable bounce around play area. Treyson was the scorekeeper.

This is what happened for most of the 2 hours we were at the Inflatable place...Anniston and Scott going down the slides. Seriously, I think they went down this slide AT LEAST 20 times. Treyson and I went down around 7 or 8 times.

Treyson crawling around a bounce around

Uncle Scott crawling through a tunnel! Such a kid at heart...he was so sweet playing with the kids.

Anniston coming out of the tunnel

Monkey-ing around!

Treyson going through the tunnel!

I think both Scott and Courtney still have a dry mouth from all of the reading they did with Anniston. She would sit and be read to ALL DAY LONG if anybody had the energy to do that!

On the plane....she LOVES riding in airplanes and was so excited that she buckled the belt all by herself. Once we were airborne, she colored and worked on writing her letters. She can easily write A, D, R, and O.

Dadoo and Treyson (aka Squirmy Wormy) before take-off. Treyson did great, but he's just at that age where he doesn't want to sit still for much besides food and drink. So, we just fed him the entire hour and fifteen minutes! haha....seriously
Scott and Courtney, thank you so much for having us to your beautiful home! Your town and neighborhood are SO nice, and now I want to move there (don't worry grandmas, we're not really moving....I just like to dream about living in places with not much of a winter). The kids had so much fun getting to play with you both. Can't wait to see y'all again at Thanksgiving!

Pizza Night!

We made pizza Sunday evening for dinner. Anniston was a total mess, but had a great time. This is Mommy and Anniston kneading the dough.

Jerry and Anniston spreading the sauce (well, at least one of them is!)...Also, notice the Wilson's pepperoni. That's one of Jerry's products.

...had to zoom in on that one!
"dressing" the pizza....total concentration--look, she even has the tongue in "concentration mode"--just like Dadoo!

So this is Jerry and mine's pizza. One of us likes pepperoni, the other doesn't....you couldn't tell, could ya?
Anniston's pizza:And Treyson was vacuuming while we made pizzas! Quite the little helper! ha

Corn Maze

We went the the Corn Maze in Southwest City, Missouri on Sunday evening. It took us about an hour to get there, but it was well worth the trip. Such a neat place, and we hope to get there every year. There are lots of pictures, so I'll just put a little blurb above each one.

Roasting marshmellows on the bonfire

Rubber ducky races with Dadoo

Going through the corn maze. We went through the short one, and seriously...we got confused after awhile. We were letting Anniston decide whether or not to turn, and she got us all out of whack. The worker had to give us hints to get us going the right way!

Dadoo and Treyson racing Anniston with the rubber ducks

Don't these two kids look thrilled to be poking their heads out of this cutout? haha

Anniston on the tire swing as we were waiting for the hayride:

Anniston holding Treyson on the "tractor"

On the hayride. We look cold! Anniston thought she was such a big girl on the tire swing bundled up and moving from one thing to another! Thank goodness Dadoo's so strong to pull these two! Anniston and Mommy on the Cow Train! Dadoo and Treyson on the Cow Train! Anniston riding down one of the slides with Mrs. Amber (our babysitter). She was SOOOO excited that Mrs. Amber was there! Mommy and Treyson going down the slide....he's thrilled--can you tell? haha

Treyson walking through the Hay Tunnel:

We had so much fun! We also picked out the pumpkin that Anniston and Dadoo will carve (pictures to come). Then we grabbed 4 hotdogs and hit the road! (And yes, each of my children ate an entire hot dog and bun. This is impressive for both because 1) Anniston is a terribly slow eater, but she gobbled it down and 2) Treyson normally keeps up with and/or eats more than Anniston.)

PawPaw R's Birthday celebration!

PawPaw R.'s birthday is next Thursday, but we celebrated early to be able to give him his presents. Nanny has had this suprise up her sleeve for a long time--a HOT TUB!! PawPaw had no clue! Nanny even had the correct wiring done to the outside of the house without him knowing. Shawn, Brooks, Tim, Chris, Matt, and Jerry got this put into place Friday night while PawPaw was being a referee at the Springdale/Har-Ber game.

All ready for PawPaw's surprise!

Getting his first glimpse at the new hot tub!

Paw Paw just kind of stood there for awhile--he really couldn't believe that Nanny pulled this off!

checking out the workings of this thing!

Helping PawPaw open his gift from us--a new red, Razorback shirt!

Anniston helping PawPaw pick some fresh tomatoes for the guacamole dip!!

Treyson helped too! (and for the record....Dadoo put sandals on over Treyson's socks--NOT MOMMY--I know better...definite fashion no-no!!

PawPaw's big helpers!

Heading out on the four wheeler!

A Southside Rebel by birth!