The big 3-0!

On November 4th, I turned the big 3-0.  I really don't feel any older, but Reef never lets me forget that I'm 30 now.  My friends and family definitely spoiled me for my birthday.

On the Thursday before my bday, Erin and Kristin arranged a get together at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate.

 Troy is a great gift-giver, WAY better than me.  He also loves surprises.  He went all out this year.

I woke up on Friday to find this on the kitchen counter:

 It's my Ipod set up to play Come Away with Me by Norah Jones.
On the floor was this:

 Can you read it?  It's a large box that says, "Open the box ONLY AFTER playing song.
And in the box was this:

"Pack me and be ready at 4pm, returning Sunday afternoon.

The other paper is a list of things to get done for Georgia (change bed sheets, proofread the instructions Troy typed for her, etc) and a candy bar to eat.

 

I was so excited!  This fall has been long and stressful at times, especially with Troy working so much and Nicaragua coming up.  A get-away was just what I needed.  And 2 nights!  Sometimes a 1 night get away feels rushed, so I was very excited for 2. 

 

That's the end of the pictures, but no the end of the story.

Ms. Theresa came over until Georgia got off work.  Troy whisked me away to a downtown hotel.  We bypassed check-in, and I assumed he had done it before picking me up.  We went to "our" room, and Erin and Chris were there.  I was very confused!  Troy thought it would be fun to have friends to hang out with! 

We spent the afternoon shopping (the men loved it), and then went to Schilo's for dinner.  We sat a huge table, and, again, I was confused.  It turns out he had invited some of our closest friends to join us for dinner.  It was a great time to relax and catch up.  We ended the evening with games at the hotel.  It was so special that my friends gave up 2 nights with their families to celebrate with me!

The next day was spent eating, shopping, and going to the movies.  We saw Pitch Perfect and thought it was hilarious.  We wrapped the day up with Fuddrucker's; I love the cheese sauce there!

All in all, it was a perfect weekend.  I'm so thankful for the all the hard work Troy put in to make it happen and for our wonderful babysitters, Theresa and Georgia.  It's always easier to relax when I know the kids are in good hands.

Can't wait to see what 30 has in store for me!

Nicaragua

The end of the fall has just been crazy for us!  2 birthdays, a roadtrip, Thanksgiving, and now my week-long trip to Nicaragua!  I'm tired just thinking about it all.  Because of all that busy-ness, I still haven't figured out the photo storage issue.
I promise to work on that when I return from Nicaragua.  Until then, you can follow our mission trip team on this blog: itsadeepsubject.blogspot.com.  Please pray for us while we're gone.  Four team members are leaving behind small children, and one of mine is showing signs of a stomach bug as we speak.  Pray that God uses us to touch these people and teach them about Him.  Pray that we all (especially me) feel the Spirit moving and come back changed.

An unexpected interruption...

I was all set to blog about all the fun stuff happening over here the last few weeks:  my birthday, Jonas's birthday, a week-long roadtrip to Conroe, and Thanksgiving...
But, I'm out of storage space on my blog.  Hopefully I can get that resolved soon and be back to sharing!

Loma

There are no pictures for this post, just something I want to remember.
At trunk or treat, Reef won a beta fish at one of the booths.  He was sooo excited; Troy and I were not.  I just wasn't prepared to bring home a pet.  But, she came with food and instructions, so we gave it a go.
Reef named his fish "Loma," combining Logan and Mason's names; they babysat that morning so they were fresh in his mind, plus he idolizes them! 
He was so excited to feed his fish each morning and night.  But we started noticing that she wasn't eating her food.  She also tried to jump out of her bowl on several occasions...
On Halloween afternoon, Loma died.  She was alive before nap and dead after.  We put off telling him the news until right before dinner.  He was devastated!  After many tears and reassurances that he took good care of her, he recovered and welcomed the distraction of trick or treating and church.  Of course, that night and the next morning brought new tears.  We were just so sad for him!  He forms such deep attachments to people that his attachment to this fish shouldn't have been surprising, but we were still caught off guard.
I can assure you, though, that the next pet that comes into this house will be much better planned! 

Halloween Fun 2012

After much procrastination, we finally committed to the kids being Angry Birds for Halloween.  Troy did a great job with the costumes!  Erin made Poppy's tutu to make her our "Tutu Pig."

On Friday, we headed to Trunk or Treat at the church.

 It was in the gym this year because of the weather.  Poppy enjoyed her snack on the floor.

 Reef and Jonas loved their cupcakes from the Cupcake Walk.

On Halloween morning, I surprised the kids with a Halloween-themed breakfast.  I found the idea on Pinterest and, for once, already had all the ingredients!  They loved their bat poop (cocoa puffs), frog's eyes (Trix), and ghost blood (milk).  The funniest part of the morning was Reef's pronunciatin of "blood"; he read it as rhyming with "food" instead of rhyming with "mud."

 I hosted the annual Halloween playgroup at our house.  Looking at these pictures, I'm always amazed at how far we've come since Reef's first Halloween!
This is our first year where someone wasn't screaming.  Notice, however, that Jonas wasn't in a picture-taking mood.

 Reef and Liam didn't know what his deal was.

 Poppy was thrilled to have her fellow pig, Eli, in her lap! She is still pretty obsessed!

 We enjoyed some "worm" apple pie.

 For snack that afternoon, the boys loved their Frankenstein pudding.

 A rare cooperative smile before heading out to trick or treat.

 This girl was all about the trick or treating.  It only took one house for her to understand the game.  She would NOT let go of her bucket either, fiercely protective of her candy.

 The whole crew before heading out.  4 Angry Birds, 1 Pig, Bam Bam (his face is so funny!), and 2 ninjas.  We were also joined by Larkin on our trip around the block.  The kids loved having him, especially as the official bag-weigher!

 

All in all, a great Halloween!

Homeschool Day at the Witte

We had such a good time at the Witte Museum last year that I knew we had to go to Homeschool Day again.  And at only $2/person, it was such a good deal!

We took our usual picture with the elephant.

 Reef's favorite part of the Witte is the HEB playhouse.  The main floor has all kinds of fun science experiments and a nice toddler area.  We are anxiously awaiting the improvements they are promising on the other floors.
Here, we learned about pulleys.  To give you an idea of how much he's grown, Reef couldn't pull himself up at all last year.  This year he went all the way to the top of even the hardest one!

 This may have been Poppy's favorite part.  You know our little music-lover enjoyed banging on the pots and pans!

 Another highlight is the rock-climbing wall.  Reef got a little nervous but still went for it.  He made it much higher than last year but decided to come down.  He said he got scared because I "looked small."

This year, we also decided to try out a class on habitats.  It ties into what we are learning in science.  Reef's (and Poppy's) favorite part was touching the live snake, frog, and mice.
We can't wait to go back next year and hope some friends can join us!

Family Retreat 2012

Can I tell you how long I've been working on this post?  2 weeks and 4 attempts at uploading the pictures!  But I think we're all set now...

In mid-October, we headed to HEB Camp for Northside's annual family retreat.  With such a busy October and Troy being in Nebraska the whole week before, we debated whether we should go this year.  Obviously, we decided to go, and, as always, it was worth it!  The kids love getting to spend the whole weekend outdoors with their friends.  I love getting to spend time with our church family and the much-needed break from all our "stuff."  While I hear "I'm bored" at least once a day at home when surrounded by toys, never once did I hear it at the retreat.

A highlight of the weekend is always the canoeing.  Lachlan raced down to be first with Liam.

Reef and Jonas got wind of it and hurried down for their turn.  Let me tell you, Poppy was not thrilled that she didn't get a turn!

In the afternoon, we headed out on a group hike.  Look at all those babies.  Josh loves taking pictures with the girls!

It was a long way up.

Such good friends.

A rare picture of Mommy. 

 We couldn't believe how curly Poppy's hair was!   She did amazingly well while we were out there.  After no nap on Friday and an early wake up on Saturday, she took a LONG nap Saturday and slept great that night.  We were thankful (and so were our roommates, the Hills).

 Brothers.

 Saturday night talent show.

 The boys were picked to do a puzzle race.  They worked hard but didn't win.

 Poppy thought she was the star of the show.  She could NOT be contained to her seat and continually tried to join the singers.  She's dancing in this picture.  And obviously enjoyed Barry and Curt's company more than mine.

 Best friends.

That pretty much sums up our weekend.  We loved being outdoors, fellowhipping and praising.  We loved watching our kids deepen relationships.  We loved staying up late and playing games in the dark.  We are so thankful for this church and this opportunity to get away.
We were not so thankful for the 5 loads of laundry that were done Sunday afternooon :)