Halloween Fun

Halloween has quickly become a week long event at our house!

Here is our schedule of activities:
Monday- Bake Halloween confetti cupcakes that Gigi sent to Anderson (***Update: Anderson had a blast helping Mommy make and decorate the cupcakes! Although I must say that he was much more interested in finishing the decorating so that he could eat them! He kept saying, "wanna eat 'em." Wonder where he gets that from?!!? My favorite parts were that he wanted to put ALL of the pumpkin toothpicks in his one little cupcake and that he told Daddy that he put "sparkles" on his cupcakes, aka "sprinkles!" Of course he was a mess by the time all was said and done! Thanks for the fun gift Gigi!)

Tuesday- Watch Pooh's Halloween Heffalump Movie (***Update: Mommy had fun watching the movie! Anderson was about as interested in watching it as he is in all of his other videos...he wants to put it in and turn it on himself and then he is fascinated for a few minutes...but would rather run around playing with his toys, while the movie plays in the background! He really is fascinated with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Lumpy but he would rather play than sit and watch TV, which I think is a good thing! Daddy took the day off from work to hang out with us which made the day really nice! He was not that interested in the movie either but that's okay because Mommy wanted them to watch it, not because she thought they would like it, but because she thinks that little purple elephant is so cute!)

Wednesday: Trick or Treat Storytime at Barnes & Nobles with Gabe (***Update: Anderson (Lion!) had a blast at storytime today. He got to play with his little friend Gabe (Tigger!) and Gabe's friend Isabella (Ballerina!) as well as a bunch of other kids! He got to hear the story, There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bat, go trick or treating throughout the store, make a craft and eat pumpkin pie! I think his favorite part was trick or treating and eating the candy! Afterwards, he got to play with Gabe and Isabella at Gabe's house! It was a fun day and I am actually surprised that we made it out of the bookstore without buying anything because he wanted everything in sight! This was the 1st of 3 times that he will wear his costume this week!)

Thursday- Bake Pumpkin cookies that Mommy bought (***Update: Anderson had a fun time helping Mommy make, bake and decorate the pumpkin cookies! Of course he also loved eating them! He played with the dough like it was playdough and he smeared the icing with his fingers so by the end he was a huge mess as you can imagine! Today at preschool, he got to wear his lion costume again during the costume parade that ended with the church staff giving the kids candy! He ended the day by watching the Halloween video that Gigi sent him called, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But as I mentioned before, he will not sit still long enough to watch the entire thing! Tomorrow is the BIG day...EJ's 1st Halloween! Have you been wondering where EJ has been during all of our Halloween fun?!!? He's been doing what he does best...sleeping! He did go with us to the bookstore but he just hung out in his carrier while we were there! You will get to see him tomorrow in his CUTE costume...any guesses as to what it might be?!!?

Friday- Fall Festival at AMBC with Gigi & Grandaddy (Update: ***Today is EJ's 1st Halloween! Here is a picture of EJ in his 1st Halloween outfit that Gigi sent him and a picture of the boys with their pumpkins! I gave EJ the littlest one and of course Anderson wanted the BIG one! Tonight we are going to the fall festival in our costumes, I will post pictures later. Happy Halloween!) Well, the week of Halloween fun is officially over! It ended tonight with the fall festival at our church. Anderson had a great time running around playing games and winning candy and of course, eating it! His favorite activity was the balloon room, which was basically the raquetball court filled with balloons and foam noodles, where the kids could run around hitting the balloons, trying to keep them off of the ground! EJ cruised around in his little stroller, watching all of the kids play! As you can see, Anderson was our cute little lion, EJ was our sweet baby elephant and Mommy and Daddy were the safari hunters! EJ was the inspiration to our theme because Mommy wanted him to be an elephant so the other costumes evolved from there! All in all, it was a great night and we enjoyed having Gigi and Grandaddy there with us!

Happy Halloween! Hope your week was as fun-filled as ours!

Quest for Health

After being married for 5 years and having 2 babies, I realized that I was about 40 lbs. heavier than the day I got married...ahhh! And so I began my quest for better health and fitness. Not just to lose weight...but mostly to feel better, have more energy, be in better shape, be heart healthier, etc....so that I can chase after my boys for many years to come! Specifically, I started attending WOTP Fit Camp every M/W/F beginning the week after Labor Day (you can find out more about that at http://www.worthyoftheprize.com/ or http://www.worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com/) and I also began walking for an hour every T/TH beginning in October. Fit Camp is from 5:30-6:30am so I am home before the boys even wake up and as far as the walking goes, I just load my boys up in the double jogger and off I go. I try to walk anywhere that I can...to the store, park, church, etc....I never have to go more than a mile anywhere because everything we do is right in our little neighborhood... I like getting out of the house and I like the boys being confined to the stroller! I have not really been on a diet (because I hate diets and because as soon as I get off the crash diet, I gain the weight back because I go from one extreme to the next!), but I have tried to eat smaller portions, not eat late at night, not eat out so much, and not keep junk food in my house. When I get those cravings, there is nothing bad to eat in the house and it is too hard to load up the boys to go get something! My new motto is "Workout More, Eat Less!" I am trying to change my lifestyle to be more balanced so that I can keep the weight off. So far I have lost 10 lbs....woohoo!

Anderson's New Roommate

Remember how I told you that Grandaddy sent Anderson a Josh Hamilton fathead?!!? Well...it is hanging on the wall in his room as of this past weekend! We wanted to put it on the back of his door but it would not fit because it is so HUGE...so it ended up on one of his walls and it pretty much takes up the entire wall! I posted a picture of it so that Grandaddy would believe us that it is actually hanging on his wall! For some reason, he thinks we are helpless! Tonight when Anderson went to bed, he said "Night Night Josh!"

Pumpkin Fun

I invited a few of my girlfriends and their kids over for a Pumpkin Decorating Party! We had a great time! The pumpkins were SO easy to make and they turned out SO cute! Thanks for the great idea Amanda! If you want to find out how to make these pumpkins, go to this link. The picture of the 2 pumpkins by themselves are the 2 that I made, a Mizzou pumpkin for Aaron and a TCU pumpkin for me! Go Frogs!

Sweet Berry Farm

Today we took the boys to Sweet Berry Farm and we had a great time! We went out there with 2 other families from our church so that our friend Amy could take the kids pictures in the pumpkin patch. While we were out there, EJ rode around in a little red Radio Flyer wagon and Anderson petted the goats, chased the chickens through the field of flowers, rode on the hayride, looked at the horses, played in the dirt, and climbed in the pumpkins! We heard they have a great strawberry patch in the spring so it looks like we will be returning to the farm in a few months! I have posted a few of the pumpkin patch pictures for you to see. They turned out SO cute, despite the fact that it is SO hard to get both boys to cooperate, at the same time, for a picture!

The Sweetest Thing

Can you believe that EJ is already 4 1/2 months old?!!? My how time flies! He is a Big Boy now...he rolled over at 12 weeks old and is now all over the place...he will be crawling before long...he likes to play in his jungle gym, he looks like a little cat on his back moving the animals with both his hands and feet...he can sit up in his little bumbo chair and baby einstein play center...and he is eating cereal and drinking juice! And I must add that he is just the sweetest thing...all he does is coo, smile, laugh...he is ALWAYS happy...laid back and loving life...all you have to do is talk to him and his face will light up!

And as you can see from the pictures...Anderson loves his little brother...he just cannot wait for EJ to be able to play baseball with him one of these days! Anderson has a little baseball diamond in the backyard that Grandaddy set up for him! If you pitch him the ball, he will hit it with the bat, run the bases, slide into home and say "homerun!" Then he will say "fireworks" because when you go to the Ranger game, there are fireworks in the sky after one of the Ranger players hits a homerun. As you know, Josh Hamilton is his favorite player so of course Grandaddy had to buy him a Josh Hamilton fathead to go on his wall. The thing is HUGE! When it came in the mail, Anderson said "Josh Hamilton's at my house!"

I must say...with 2 boys...there is never a dull moment around here!

Songs of Salvation

This weekend I drove to Fort Worth and back, all by myself, so that I could visit friends and family, see my favorite volleyball team play (Go Warriors!), as well as get some things accomplished for Worthy of the Prize. As always, it was a good trip and the drive time gave me lots of time to think, dream, praise God, etc. If you know me at all, you know that I am a daydreamer, so I of course LOVED the long road trip alone, even though most of you may think I am crazy....if not for the driving by myself, then for leaving my 2 yr old and 4 month old alone with my husband for 2 days!

I listened to the Laura Story cd, 'Great God Who Saves,' all the way there and back. It is a new favorite and I tend to do these kind of things, it is part of my passionate, extreme personality. When something speaks to me, I listen! One time I listened to the same SONG (not cd) all the way from Arlington to Waco, and back. I think I was with my dad...need I say more!

All this to say, I would like to share the choruses of 2 Laura Story songs with you, they are as follows:

'Mighty to Save'

Savior, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever, Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

'Great God Who Saves'

I would have despaired
If I had not believed
That you would come to me
Great God who saves
In my darkest hour
Your mercy and your power
Are reaching out to me
Great God who saves

Wow! Talk about powerful words. Every time I hear that phrase, "He can move the mountains," I am filled with great hope! If Jesus can move the mountains, then there is nothing He cannot do, no one He cannot save! Whatever is keeping you from Him, it is my prayer that He would move that mountain in your life!

I am pleasantly reminded of Psalm 40, which is in my opinion one of the most comforting passages in all of scripture. It says this, "I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."

Praise God for His overwhelming grace! Not only does He give us the gift of salvation, offered freely to those who put their trust in Christ, but He also promises to lift us out of the pit. He does not say we need to get our life together and then come to Him. Instead, all we have to do is cry out to Him. He will change our life!