Fall Cooking & Decorating Fun

I've had a little fun this fall doing a little decorating/crafting and making a few little goodies of my own.  I recently hosted a jewelry party (Stella & Dot) and had a ton of fun finding fun "Halloween-y" type recipes to make it a little extra festive!  I just had to share these pictures to remind myself for next year!  

Pumpkin veggie tray

Spider web 7-layer dip

"Spider" cookies

Mummy dogs

I've also been having little fun being "crafty" this fall.  I found these adorable wreaths on a girl's blog and also found them on pinterest too.  Don't you just love that site!  I've wasted spent way too many hours on that site looking at cool things I would love to have & make! 

Here is my own stab at being Mrs. Crafty Crafterson.... 

 Wreath #1... went up WAY before the 2nd one was finished.  These are fun to make, but a little time consuming the first time I tried it. 

Wreath #2-- came together a heck of a lot faster than the first one.  Much easier after I knew what I was doing!

And voila!  Both wreaths now happily hanging together!

Happy Fall!  I am having so much fun this year!  Hope you are too! 

Happy Halloween! Hope you & your little ones have a safe and fun trick or treating night!

Texas State Fair

LOVE the state fair!  The corny dogs, midway, dog shows, pig races, car building, and all the other crazy, fun fair food!  Fried butter & bubble gum?  Yuck! I really enjoy going to the fair every year.  This year was our first year to go since Riley was born, but since he's still a little young to enjoy it and doesn't really like the stroller for very long, we opted to let him stay home & play with a sitter.  He had a ball at home with Mrs. Terri & we had a great time hanging out with Reid on Daddy's birthday at the fair!  So many fun things to do & see!  It was hard to narrow down the pics.... :)

Reid's prize he took home from his first little game he played at the fair (and of course we already have a Shamu at home-- but we always need more than one, right?)

The "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit.  SO cute!  Kids get to pretend to be farmers... milk cows, feed chickens, plant seeds, and ride a tractor.  Reid was in heaven!

Planting some seeds

"Feeding" the chickens some corn

LOVE this little face!  Eating a corny dog & drinking a lemonade.. what could be better?

No trip is complete without some chicken fried bacon.  What?  Seriously?  It actually tasted like fried chicken & bacon and was not bad at all!

The petting zoo

Feeding one of his favorite animals he sleeps with... the donkey.  That face says it all!

Thanks Big Tex for a great day at the fair.  We had a ball & can't wait to have the whole fam there next year!

Daddy's Birthday

My sweet husband had a birthday last Friday and he got to be at home with us to celebrate!  It was so fun having him home and we went to the State Fair that day as part of the celebration!  Reid loves birthdays... his, mine, Daddy's--anyone's birthday where he can help open presents and blow out the candles!  We had a fun day at the fair (next blog post) and Mommy & Daddy got to go out to dinner with friends the next night for an adult night out!  We had a ball!  Happy birthday to the LOVE of my life!  You are an amazing husband, precious father, and just all around perfect guy for me!  Love you babe!

Arboretum ~ Fall 2011

I love this 1,000th picture I took of the boys!

"Boo!  I see you!"

"I promise I'm not doing anything wrong, Mommy!"

(L to R) Hayden, Elle, Abby, Payson, Madison, & Reid -- Reid has known these sweet friends since he was just 6 months old! Thanks to Mandy, this was the one good shot we got of these guys!

Reid & his sweet friend Abby

Me & my sweet boys in Cinderella's carriage!

Last Friday, we made our way up to the Dallas Arboretum with some friends from Reid's playgroup.  We had a great time and the weather was beyond perfect!  I love going to the arboretum at this time of year and seeing the enormous amount of pumpkins there.  The flowers are amazing too!  Riley had ball running around and trying to pick up pumpkins and climb on anything and everything he possibly could!  He is mover & wanted to be on the go constantly!  Thank goodness for strollers, right?  :)  Reid ran & played all morning with his friends and we had a lovely picnic lunch on the grass to end the day.  I love hanging out with these mommies and Reid loves spending time with his buddies!  Happy Fall!  The pumpkins are here!

And I must add... today is my sweet Hub's birthday.  Happy birthday to the most precious man in the world!  More pics of that to come!  

Girlie Weekend

My sweet friend from college came in town last weekend & we had a ball!!  We have known each other almost 20 years.  Crazy!  We were suite mates our freshmen year & neighbors across the hall our sophomore year.  I would NOT have made it through 2 years of being a Kilgore Rangerette without this girl!  She was an amazing friend and STILL is!  We talk on the phone all the time and hadn't seen each other in about 2 years, but we picked up right where we left off from our last phone convo.  I can tell her anything and she never judges.  We've known each other through all the ups & downs of life and all the times in between.  Seriously LOVE this girl and thank God for her every day!  Thank you Shelley for driving all the way up from H-town to see us and spend the weekend with one of your BFF's!  And thank you to my sweet husband for taking care of our boys ALL WEEKEND so we can do all that fun girlie stuff!  Love you Shelley!

Fall is here Ya'll!

I HEART this time of year SO much!  Luckily we've started having some cooler mornings and it just feels so nice to be outside again!  I just feel happier and am wearing jeans and t-shirts.  Ahhhh.... LOVE it!  Pumpkins, pumpkins are everywhere and I really love fall colors.  They're so right up my alley and makes me want to light a fire and roast marshmellows.  

Fall brings so many fun things:  

The Texas State Fair, Pumpkin Patches, Trick or Treating, Fall Festivals, and the BEST PART...

Candy Corn!  LOVE that stuff!  I've loved it since I was a kid.  Yum!  

Reid helped me pick out our pumpkins this year.  He got a kick out of running around and finding the best ones at Whole Foods.  "Look at this one Mommy!  This one looks good!  Oh no, look at this one!  We have to get this one too!"  I could have spent $100 if I had gotten all the pumpkins he wanted me to get!  ;)

Four years old has been a big milestone in so many ways... he is such a BIG help to me these days!

He was so proud of himself for putting the pumpkins out all by himself!

Mommy had a little fun decorating on the inside! 

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Airforce Weekends

Airforce weekends are when Daddy goes to the base in Ft. Worth one weekend a month and Mommy tries her darnedest to come up with fun & creative ways to keep us entertained!  It's no fun when Daddy's not around, but Mommy does her best to make it fun for the boys and keep herself sane in the process! We actually had a nice weekend and the weather was PERFECT!!!  I took the boys outside and Reid & I even got to go on an outing together.  I never like it when Rodney is gone on these weekends, and most times it puts me in a sour mood, but I have to look at it as an opportunity to spend QT with these boys.  It will go by so fast, and I'll wonder how they got SO BIG SO FAST!  Right? : ) 

Reid got invited to a bowling birthday party on Saturday.  He had THE. TIME. OF. HIS. LIFE!!  I have not seen that boy have THAT much fun since his own bday party! 

He even scored 1 spare out of the 2 games he played!  Pretty good for a first time bowler I'd say!

We got to go to the pond close to our house and feed the ducks.  A first for little Riley!

I HEART this picture soooo much!  My two boys just hangin' together and watching the ducks swim by.

This picture was not a part of our weekend, but it's something I had to add.... This is a ritual that has been going on since Reid was around 2 1/2 to 3 years old.  Every time Rodney leaves for work, he drives by the window in the breakfast area and stops to wave good-bye. Usually the boys are eating breakfast and Riley is sitting in his booster waving.   Reid loves this and looks forward to it everyday!  (so does Daddy... notice him getting out his phone to take a picture!)  Now Riley gets to take part in the little tradition of waving bye-bye to Daddy too!  SERIOUSLY LOVE these moments! I hope everyone had a great weekend!