Pop and the Potato Helper

We spent Thanksgiving in Boerne with Pop and Gram, Great Grandmother, Uncle Brewer and Aunt Sabrina who flew in from Chicago, Aunt Hannah and Eric, and Uncle Jacob. Both Mattie and Levi love to help me in the kitchen as much as I will let them, even if all they can do is watch. One job Mattie helps me with is washing off potatoes after I peel them. So when she saw Pop peeling potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner, she wasted no time dragging a chair to the sink to help. It is a testament to your patience, but Mattie helped Pop wash every potato as he peeled them - a lot of them.

Oh Deer!

The deer proliferate in my parent's neighborhood and many come running as soon as you throw out any food scraps or deer corn. They are so comfortable around humans that a few will come right up and eat out of your hand - whether you want them to or not! Levi and Mattie enjoyed feeding this Mama deer some bread and feeling her sticky tongue lick their hands. There were several more deer standing just off the porch, but they just waited until the bread was thrown to them.

Halloween Hay Ride

For Halloween this year, I took the kids to my parent's house again to do the annual hayride through the neighborhood. It makes trick or treating so much easier! And we got tons of good candy - only 16.2 pounds this year. I sent a bunch with my sister to take to work and some to my Grandmother as well but we still brought plenty home with us. Levi was a pirate this year and Mattie was Minnie Mouse.

Levi's costume was pretty simple. A long sleeved striped shirt that I bought a size big from Wal-Mart that he can grow into and use, a piece of red fabric for the sash (that I already had), and his sword, eye patch, and hook all leftover from his pirate birthday party. Voila!

I just bought Mattie this dress and ears set from Wal-Mart, from the dress up section in the toy department. She is a happy girl. I just put a long sleeve pink shirt and some pants on underneath and she was good to go!

I tried to get them to take a picture together. This was about the best I got. 

Whack a Bird

We frequently hear a thud as a bird flies into a window on our cabin. I guess we really blend in with our surroundings. Most of the time they just keep on going, but sometimes they hit so hard that they are dazed, confused, and can't or won't fly off right away. Today we had one of those.

This little guy (or gal) didn't appear to have any injuries. He did keep curling up one foot, but I don't know if that is related to his collision or not. Nor did it seem to bother him. Levi ran inside to get his gloves so he could hold the bird too.

Mattie ran inside as well and came back out with "mittens" on. One is a mitten, the other is a sock. She cracks me up. I put my glove on her so she could hold the bird as well.

I finally put the bird on the edge of our bird bath, hoping it would regain its senses and fly away. It hung out there for quite awhile but the last time I looked and was about to go out and check on it, it was gone finally. I did go look around the bird bath but didn't see it on the ground anywhere so I'm going to assume a happy ending and that it finally flew home!

The 5th Clem

And now I present to you, baby girl Clem. She was being a bit difficult at my ultrasound this morning but the technician was finally able to see all her organs and parts - everything is perfect! We can't wait to welcome her next year, at the end of February.

Fun with Pop and Gram

Last week the kids and I went to visit Pop and Gram for a change of pace and give Daddy some quiet time at the cabin to get a few things done. We started out Thursday morning headed to the zoo but after a nail in my tire, we had to make a quick detour to Discount Tire. Luckily, there was one not too far out of the way and there was no wait! Plus, it was one of the tires I had just bought in May and paid the $22 for the insurance, so I was covered for a brand new one because the tire couldn't be patched! Whew, dodged that one. We decided to stop for brunch at a hole in the wall Mexican food place, El Milagrito Cafe, that had delicious breakfast tacos before going to the zoo. After finally making it to the zoo, we walked around and saw just about all of the animals. Before we left, the kids shared an icee and I had one of my own, which was cold and delicious after expelling all that energy in the hot sun! We stopped to ride the train through Breckenridge Park but didn't make it very far. They were having some technical difficulties with the track, so after going forward and backward and forward and backward, we finally went backwards all the way to the station where we had to get refunds. The only picture from that day was one my dad took of us waiting for the train to start.

Friday was a pretty calm day, we only ran into town for a couple of errands. Saturday however, started off with breakfast at Magues Cafe of course, then Gram, the kids, and I headed over to Market Days and the Key to the Hills Hot Rod Run! We checked out all the goods at the Market Days which included picking up some kits from a Home Depot booth for the kids to build. Then we walked down the middle of Main Street, which was shut down for the car show. Levi enjoyed looking at all the cars and informed me that they were all his. Right as we got to the end of a long row of cars and were about to turn around, a couple of people asked me if the kids wanted to sit in their cars. Of course they did! So Levi and Mattie got to sit and play in this 1927 yellow car (no, I have no idea what it is):

Then, I was asked if they would want to go for a short ride to the end of the block and back. Heck yeah! I tried to let Mattie go first but she wasn't having it, so Levi quickly hopped back in and took full advantage of his turn.

After a quick ride in the yellow car, he was not shy about asking to ride in the blue one. All I know about that one is it's from 1932.

Levi had a blast and didn't understand that these people were extra super fantastic and no, we can't ride in all the other cars. Later that evening after baths, Pop got out the tools needed to help build the kits we picked up from the Home Depot booth. Levi had picked a fire truck, so here they are building it:

And I got Mattie the hanging chalkboard to complete:

On Sunday we took Great Grandmother (or Great Mother as Levi calls her) to lunch and had a short visit with her. Then we headed back to Pop and Gram's house to play and get ready to leave on Monday. The kids didn't have school for Columbus Day so we drove back that morning and had a nice drive with minimal traffic. Daddy was able to get home from work right as the kids were waking up from nap, so they had a pleasant surprise and were very happy to see him. We had a fun trip and can't wait to go back and have more fun with Pop and Gram!

Fall Season

It is officially Fall, even if the weather isn't aware yet. I finally finished my Fall wreath to hang on the fence, so the kids and I walked out there to hang it up.

Then Levi and Mattie wanted to have their pictures taken, so I obliged:

 

Also, this morning, I was reading the local newspaper (delivered once a week on Wednesday), and discovered Levi and Mattie made the paper! I remember a lady taking pictures next to me at the fair and rodeo so I knew there was a chance they could be, but I was still surprised that their picture made it out of a ton that I'm sure she took last weekend!