Lubbock Visit

We headed to Lubbock for the weekend to help my nephews Logan and Dylan celebrate their birthdays. Greg had to stay home for work, so Mom rode with the kids and I. It was a very long trip. Caleb would not be distracted with a movie but continued to ask "how much longer." He was mad that we stopped to eat lunch since that would take up precious time.

We stopped off in Abilene to see Shae's new baby boy, Mikah, and play with Dakota. We finally made it to Lubbock Friday evening, where Caleb became Logan's shadow for the weekend. Logan's and Dylan's birthday party was at a local party place full of Bounce Houses. The boys were off as soon as we entered.

They were running and jumping everywhere. All was going well until Caleb noticed Logan was showing his friends more attention. He became disappointed and pouty, while at the same time Dylan was done jumping and ready for his cake. He too was sad when told "not yet".I was able to capture those precious pouting faces!

Lex loved the toddler jump area and even laughed going down the big slide with me a few times.

She loves adventure. The child is not afraid of anything! After pizza and cake, we were ready for a nice long nap.

That night we headed to a local maze and pumpkin patch.

The kids enjoyed all the props they had to play within and on. Lex enjoyed laughing at the silly boys.

The maze itself was huge, and very easy to get lost in. The boys loved it! We had to answer clues to find our way through the maze. After 45min in the maze, we decided to head over for the hayride.

They had lots of pumpkins carved with designs of all types.

It was lots of fun for everyone. The trip home was much smoother. Caleb gave into to watching a movie and napping. Yhew! What a trip.

Zoo Adventure

I took the kids to the Zoo for our day off together.

It was Lexie's first time to really get to see and interact with the animals. she was so cute waving at each animal we stopped to see. Caleb was our tour guide since he knows where all the animals are now.

This time we actually stopped at the rock climbing wall so Caleb could climb. He did so good making it more than half way up.

Then we headed to where the lions and tigers were kept. We actually got to see and hear the Lion roar which Caleb loved. The lions are usually taking a nap when we pass by, so this was a real treat.

After a quick lunch, we stopped to play at the "barnyard." Lex really enjoyed the farm animal displays and climbing in and out of all the models.

Finally we headed back to the carousel for Caleb to get in a quick ride, then ended with the train ride back to the entrance.

It was a wonderful outing with the kids.

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Greg as been such a joiner since we moved to Ft Worth. He currently volunteered to be a Committee leader on our HOA. Every year the HOA apparently have a Neighborhood Fall Festival, so of course Greg volunteered to help in the planning and working of the Festival. We started the day with Caleb's soccer game. GiGi was in so she got to see Caleb score 5 goals for his team.He is doing so well at soccer, I have been very impressed. After soccer, we met Greg out at the Fall Festival. They had lots of cute booths set up with a variety of items on sale; just another opportunity to spend money.

They also had a bounce house for the kids, an ice cream truck, and even a train ride available. Caleb had a blast.

He even wanted to pose for a few pics at the mini "pumpkin patch."

Well Child Visits

We had the kids well child visits today. Caleb had to get his 4 year shots. Since Caleb didn't do so great with the flu shot this year, I decided to recruit Greg for the visit. This time we had him go first and told him he had to show Lexie that it wasn't so bad to get a shot. Surprisingly he cringed but never cried, I was so proud. He is such a good big brother. He even tried to reassure Lex before she got her shot as well. She wasn't very happy though and let us know it too. Caleb has decided he is an artist. He has been very creative with his drawings and tracing things from nature. He applies his new "title" to everything he does. At dinner he asks "does artists eat this?" or when we are getting dressed "does artists wear that?"Yesterday he told me he needed to finish coloring all his pictures because then he could put them on facebook. I love it! Lex has decided to use our chairs as her walker to get around the house. She could go up and down the halls for hours if you let her. I know she is close to taking her first step. Scary! They are growing up too fast!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

I took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch as is tradition now. Caleb was very patient with me while I took pictures of both of them.I introduced Lexie to the pumpkins and she had a blast trying to pull them over and pick them up. It was fun to capture her on camera enjoying her first pumpkin and hay experience.

Caleb is a pro by now, knowing just which places to go for pictures and then play time.We had to make a stop at the "My First Pumpkin Patch" bowl, just as we did with Caleb our first year at the Pumpkin Patch. He was just over 1 year old at that time.

Lex really enjoyed the "pumpkin house" pulling down the pumpkins to play with them. While Lex explored, Caleb took off for the bounce house and slides.

Then we all enjoyed a nice hay ride where Lex kept trying to escape out of my arms and hang over the side. By the end of the three hour stay, we were all exhausted and ready for a nap.

The kids did just that on the way home.

"Mama"

Lexie has finally been consistent with saying "Mama" this week. I'm loving it! She has also finally stopped the army crawl and is now doing the real thing. I'm excited, but also exhausted trying to keep her contained. She is definitely more independent than Caleb was at that age.

Today was my day off with the kids. We went with Greg to pick out the final plants with the guys doing our landscaping. We have our deck in, so the plants are the last part. I'm so excited to see the final product. Then we went to get Caleb's first big boy bike.

He had been talking about it since we visited his cousins and rode their bikes to the park Labor Day weekend. Then I took the kids to a bounce house place to get all remaining energy drained. Haha! I was surprised to find that Lexie enjoyed it just as much as Caleb. She climbed her way up the bounce house ladder behind Caleb by herself, then enjoyed sliding down the big slides with me. We even did some jumping with her in one bounce house. I was ready for a nap after our busy morning. I made Caleb a nice healthy meal later that he apparently did not want to eat. When I asked him to sit and finish his food he said, very seriously, "Oh Mom! I forgot, I'm allergic." I asked him if he knew what that meant and he said "that I can't eat that." What a toot! But nice try though.

Here are some pics from his friend Jonah's birthday party. His Mom let the kids make their own cupcakes. Caleb's was very original!!

Caleb's Soccer game

Caleb has his first soccer game with his new fall team.I love the red and black! Only 2 of the other kids on his team have played before, so Caleb had an advantage over the other kids. He played the entire game since a few kids didn't even want to get on the field. I was so proud of him, he did awesome. But I had to remind him a few times to let his teammates kick the ball too. He would get all shy after making a goal like it was nothing, but of course welcomed the cheers.

Lexie enjoyed watching the game with Daddy.

She was content getting to sit in the shade and people watch.