Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I love Halloween. I think the spooky holiday is one of my favorite. I love making the costumes and seeing my kiddos enjoy wearing the costumes. This year Taneal carefully planned the costumes. She drew sketches and picked the colors. Just in case you can't tell from the pictures, Taneal, Camie, and Audrey are the three faries from Sleeping Beauty. Notice the detail of the from the wings to the wands and capes. I not kidding when I say Taneal very carefully planned the costumes.

Danielle was a beautiful blonde Snow White. The black hair color was too hard to wash out so I decided to leave her blonde. Spencer was a lion. No, I did not make that costume. My mom bought that costume for Taneal when she was Spencer's age. It has been a great costume worn by all my children.

I did not get much video footage, but hopefully enough to share some of out holiday experience with you. We love living so close to family. I am about a 10 minute drive. We trick-or-treated in Audrey's neighborhood and kiddos got way too much candy. SPencer was so cute. He would say "trick-or-treat" while we were walking from house to house but not when we got up to the door. He insisted on walking and carrying his candy bucket which was way too heavy. He had a great time but eventually gave in and let me carry him. Danielle did the same but only wanted Aunt Beckyto carry her. Danielle loves her aunt, and I'm pretty sure Becky feels the same towards Danielle.

God Blessed Texas

In June, the Blacks had a family reunion. I captured some vidoe and put it to music. My kiddos love to watch the video over and over and over.

Got Frogs?

Tyler loves frogs. Tyler is my nephew that lives close-by. He goes to the soccer games and plays in the "forest" catching frogs and seeing other "wild" animals. During one of the games he brought one of his frogs over to show Spencer. The first time Spencer held the frog, it startled him so bad he squeezed his hand instead of letting go and nearly squished the frog to death. The next time I had my video camera out and you can watch the video and see Spencer's reaction.

Danielle's black hair

I have some requests to see Danielle's hair that was colored black for the ward Halloween party. I don not think I will be coloring it again-- it was very hard to wash out and also to clean the tub afterwards. She went around with grey hair for a few days until the color FINALLY came out.

A Preview to Halloween

Saturday night was our ward Halloween party. We had it a little early because there are four wards that share our building. Taneal and Camie's costumes aren't complete because their cousin, Audrey, wasn't there completing the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty. We plan to go trick-or-treating with them so you will see more of the costumes. Danielle was pretty pleased with being Snow White (and wearing Camie's costume from a few years back thus saving me a lot of sewing time). The only problem with her being Snow White is she looked a little different with her blond hair. I got some of that black hair spray, which I will never use again, and colored her hair. I had one heck of a time getting it washed out! She went to church today with blond and grey hair. I also colored Camie's hair, but the black wasn't quite so drastic.

Spencer was a lion, as you cannot see in the picture above. He did not like the costume at all!!!! I managed to get a picture of him before we left for the party. This picture shows just how unhappy he was about wearing the lion costume. Evan took Spencer outside while he was getting ready for the "trunk-or-treat". That is why Evan and Spencer are not in this picture. Spencer really enjoyed putting candy in every one's bags. He even learned how to mumble "trick-or-treat!"

I look forward to Halloween so much every year. I think it is probably my favorite holiday. I love making the costumes and seeing how excited the girls are in planning what they are going to be and then having them watch me through the process of making the costumes. I think I've taught them to love the dressing-up as much as I do.

Is this a BOY thing?

. . . because my girls never did this!

Horse Walker

Who would have thought that of all the activities we did at Oil Ranch that my children's favorite activity was the horse walker. I think the Ranch called it an Indian Sky something or rather . . . We used to play on one of these down the street at the Cunningham's house. It was a lot of fun, I never thought of it as being something special. Of course a lot of the things at Oil Ranch were things that were all around me growing up in Texas.

I Finally Get to Ride a Horse!!!!

Taneal and Camie have been talking for years about riding a horse. I was so glad I pulled them out of school to go to this ranch because they finally got their chance. Danielle wasn't too happy about riding the horse and did not want to ride one again. Camie and Taneal kept hopping back into line to ride the horse over and over and over.

Mom, can we have one of these?

Taneal and Camie LOVED milking the cow. As we were leaving the ranch, Camie asked me if we could get a cow. She explained that it could be in our backyard and would be quite convenient because if we ran out of milk, we could just milk the cow instead of running to the store.

I was very glad Danielle got to see where milk really comes from. A few months ago when I was still nursing Spencer, I decided to ask Danielle where milk comes from. She pointed at me. I told her milk came from a cow and she refused to believe me.

we also went on a hay ride. As we were boarding the trailer, we were handed cow pellets to feed to the cow. Little did we know that the cows would come right up to us and put the HUGE heads in the wagon and lick our legs and hands.

The Pumpkin Patch

Friday I pulled Taneal and Camie out of school and we headed to a nearby Ranch(probably considered a "dude" ranch) for a day of fun. After all the activities of the day, which you will see in posts to follow (I took lots of pictures), each child picked out their own pumpkin. The girls helped Spencer pick out his pumpkin, "the small size appropriate for a baby".

While you were sleeping . . .

My mom recently found my photo albums and brought them to me. I discovered these photos and just laughed.

My children laugh every time I tell this story. And I forgot I had pictures to prove it. So when I discovered these pictures I was delighted. So, the story goes . . . I loved to play tricks on my brothers. My friend Heather and I would get together. One night she spent the night at my house and when everyone was sleeping, we decided to put make-up on my brothers. Proof is in the pictures. I don't know if the pictures are from this particular story, but once when Heather and I put make-up on my brother, Eric, he awoke the next morning and hurried out the door to scouts. My older brother Rob, took him to scouts. Eric didn't bother to look into the mirror and Rob didn't bother to mention anything to Eric. Well, you can imagine what happened when Eric walked into scouts with all that make-up on.

Well, I enjoyed the pictures and hopefully you will get a kick out of seeing them, too. Pass the word on to those who know Michael, Eric, or Charles.

Danielle's 3-year-old pictures

No, the pictures aren't three years old, They were taken when she turned three. I am just a little late getting them posted. To be quite honest, I forgot I hadn't posted them. Anyways, she's a cutie and I love her. She loved getting her picture taken, if you can't tell from the photo's. She knows she's a cuties, but she doesn't like you to tell her. I have this saying that quite annoys her. I ask her "How'd you get so pretty?" She used to answer, "Because I look like my mom!" Well, she quit with the cute answer that I taught her and just gets mad. What is it with being like your mom anyways?

Taneal and Audrey play soccer

Taneal and Audrey signed up to play soccer at the YMCA. While Becky was signing them up, she decided to be the coach of the team. They have had a great time playing. Taneal has loved having her aunt as her coach and has decided that she like soccer so much better then baseball.

Danielle and Lindsay

Taneal and Camie get their hair cut!

I'm not sure if it was Evan's pressure over the years for Taneal to have shorter hair or if it was the Houston heat, but Taneal finally decided she wanted her hair cut. After her decision, I let her think about it for a few days to make sure it was really what she wanted, and she still wanted it done. So, Monday after school I cut about 6 - 7 inches off her hair. She looks so cute. Her hair has a little bit of natural curl. It is so cute. She was so excited with her new look and was sure nobody would even recognize her at school the next day!

As soon as Camie saw Taneal's hair she immediately told Taneal it looked terrible! I couldn't believe it! Within minutes Camie had changed her mind and wanted her hair cut. I told Camie the same thing that I had told Taneal-- that she needed to think about it for a few days to make sure it was what she really wanted done. Camie has wanted her hair long for so long and it was finally getting long. She was always talking about how she wanted her hair down to her waist. She said she didn't realize just how cute it would look. So, today after school she was persistent enough that I cut about 4 inches off her hair.

Do you really think I could cut Taneal and Camie's hair without Danielle wanting something done? Yep, I had to cut Danielle's hair. I only cut maybe an inch, but she was pleased.

Katie and Maddison come to visit

Dan and Tonia decided they needed some time to go on a vacation by themselves. So, I was the lucky aunt who got to take Maddie and Katie. The two girls showed up at my house on Sunday night and stayed through Friday morning. We had so much fun. Dan and Tonia have two wonderful children. Seth, their third child, stayed with Grandma.

We did several things, although our numbers were great. I had six children for almost a week under the age of seven. Katie is 5 and Maddie is 3. We went to the mall and rode the carousel, played in the play area and went to the pet store. One of the days we hit story time at the library, had a picnic lunch afterwards and played at the park that evening during Taneal's soccer practice. One evening the older girls took a bubble bath in the Jacuzzi tub. I didn't realize it could make that many bubbles! Another day we went to the zoo and rode the train afterwards. I think the train was the highlight of their visit. Katie commented how she loved how the wind blew through her hair while riding. We had a lot of fun. My favorite part was the look I got from everyone in the store when it was 7pm and I realized I was out of milk. i had to go to HEB with all 6 children. I had Spencer in the front of the cart, Maddie and Danielle in the back, Camie under the cart on that lower shelf, and Taneal and Katie walking beside me. The comments and looks just made me giggle. We had fun, made it though the week without any tears, well, at least not too many, and not injuries. I loved getting to know my two nieces better. They are wonderful girls and a lot of fun.