The Pumpkin Patch and Air Show

Tyler and Will at the pumpkin house


Am I the only one who thinks she's terrified of a pumpkin that large?


Will and Maggie, Ethan and Caleb
Look at my mischevious children-planting hay in Ethan and Caleb's hair while they're obliviously taking pictures!
This was a little confusing for Maggie
Hopefully not a sign of things to come!

Supposedly one of the largest inflatable slides ever
Will thought it was neat that the tires were so big

We made a return trip to the Pumpkin Patch this past Friday. We had never been on a weekday before and I was expecting a lot smaller crowd-the first hour or so was perfect...beautiful day and not many people. Then the school buses arrived. It was nuts how many people showed up in about a 15 minute interval. We made the best of it and went next door (for the locals, I know we're not supposed to support the "other" FM Patch) where there were about 15 people. They also had pony rides and a petting zoo, so the kids were thrilled. All in all, it was a great day.

Saturday we had t-ball, then Eric took the kids to the Alliance Air Show and let me come home to watch the OU/Texas game without interruption. What a husband! They had a great time and Will was already asking Eric on the way home when they could go back again.

The first Pumpkin Patch Visit

I'm not sure who they were looking at in this picture, but I've decided the attempts at getting both of my children looking and smiling at the same time are futile!

This is him in the recovery room. Such a sad sight, but let me assure you that he was loving all the popsicles and stickers and he was sad to see that moveable bed stay behind when we left-this boy was LOVING the giggle juice they gave him!
Will with one of my brother's new dogs, Sugar
Maggie with both of them
Her first wagon ride through the pumpkin patch this year
Maggie in the wagon last year-how do they change so much in just a year?
Will teaching Maggie how fun it is to play with straw last year

Will sat here the whole time we were on the hayride (when I wasn't trying to get a family photo) watching this tractor. Maggie sat on the ground, playing with the straw Will introduced to her last year!

on the hayride-I don't know why we try this every year while bumping around on a trailor! Will just wanted to reclaim his front row seat to watch the tractor

The annual "sitting on a pumpkin" picture. This may be the last year for that one!
This is not the best shot of Tyler, Maddie, Maggie,and Will, but that thing to the right of will is a BEE flying in front of the camera. They were everywhere!


I have to say that we've been waiting for this day for a long time-I think Will has asked about the pumpkin patch every week since last October! It was the first Saturday it was open, so we had planned on going-the only problem was Will had his ear tube surgery on Friday, and Saturday was Home Depot day and he had a t-ball game. No problem-we just squeezed it all in somehow! Needless to say, there was some serious napping today!

Like I said, Friday Will had his second set of tubes put in. It's been such a long process, and definitely one that's taught me the importance of advocating for your kids! Our ENT seemed to be dragging his feet, waiting for it all to correct itself-meanwhile Will gets an ear infection every time we turn around and cold/flu season is coming up. I don't like confrontation, and I know there's a reason that we go to a specialist, but I just knew he needed tubes. He finally agreed to go ahead with them, and when he came to get us in the waiting room, he said that his poor little ears were just completely full of fluid.

Hope everyone is having a great Fall so far! It's one of our favorite times of year because there just seems to be so many fun things to do all the time! Maggie's really starting to enjoy her MDO program, and Will is learning a lot this year in school-when did 3 year olds start going to computer lab and math class?

T-ball and Gymnastics

He was so excited about his uniform!
"Baseball Ready"

Telling the "third base coach" where he's running next
His favorite thing-running home!






Little Miss supporting her big brother!
Will and the birthday girl
Will and Carter in the foam pit-all my action shots of
him jumping in turned out blurry



Okay, I know I've been the worst blogger lately, so here's to getting back on track. We've started t-ball now, and it's crazy how adding just one extra curricular to your schedule changes things! Will really enjoys playing, and I have to say it may be the most entertaining thing I've ever seen! We're also going to start gymnastics this week, at least to try it out. Will went to a birthday party at a gym and was so sad when it was over. I've been wanting to get Maggie into it for awhile now and they offer a Mommy and Me for 18 month to 3 year olds and that means both my kids are in one class!

We also finally went to a Ranger's game last week. We went really early so that Will could see batting practice and get autographs from the players. Eric was explaining to him on the way out there and he said "What do you do with an autograph? Do you drink it like lemonade?" Oh, to be three again. He's been saying lots of funny things lately and I really should be writing them down. The only other one I can think of is the hilarity of him learning the books of the Bible. Matthew, Mark, etc. is one of his current favorite songs, but he WILL NOT include First and Second Peter, and if you try to add it in, he starts over and deletes it again. Now we've started on the OT a little, and it's Genesis, Accidents, Leviticus...

Maggie's finally adjusting to MDO. We tried it out with Eric taking her in the mornings, and it's going a lot more smoothly. I'm really enjoying those 6 hours a week all to myself! I went to the eye doctor last week for my yearly exam and found out I have some eye issue that's usually caused by old age. Talk about the worst 30th birthday EVER. I was sick the day before, of, and a few after, then find out I'm officially old from my eye doctor!

Will is having his second set of ear tubes placed this Friday. Here's hoping for a cold/flu season with no ear infections!

Are You Ready for some Football????

My little Cowboys

I know it looks like we're obsessed with the Cowboys, and, well, I guess we kind of are, but not in that really annoying way (at least to those who are also obsessed). I promise I usually only let the kids wear their jerseys on game day, but we were going to Brandon's first football game, and Will had just gotten his new cleats (for t-ball), so he thought he needed to wear it. And what Will does, Maggie does. She calls hers a "Romo." There was obviously the game on the field, then there were some other kids playing behind the end zone, so Will and Maggie started their own little pick up game.

Eric had to go all the way to New York to find my birthday present

for this year!

Oh wait, I guess he just went for the Yankee game...

Then to Boston for a Red Sox game. There was a Mets game involved

somewhere too, but is that really worth blogging about?

Preschool is still in the "transition" phase for Maggie. She cried, make that screamed, for about 45 minutes yesterday, and when we went to the pediatrician today for her 18 month checkup, they actually had to do a throat culture to make sure she didn't have strep because her poor little throat was so red. Unfortunately the pedi didn't have much new advice to offer on that topic. Maggie ALMOST got to the 20 pound marker today. I fed her all the way there and had her drink a cup of milk in the waiting room and she was just one ounce shy. Maybe next time. The doctor said she's still following her growth chart and that she's not worried about her weight.

Will is getting another set of tubes on October 3. It wasn't easy talking them into it, but I just couldn't bear to watch him suffer through cold season and all the ear infections that are bound to come with it.

The Beginning of Fall!!!

I am planning to get Maggie a jersey, but she's so little and I haven't found one that doesn't fall off her shoulders! She'll have to be a cheerleader for now!

Maggie and her friend Vance at their first Cowboys party

This is most of the babies Maggie will grow up with at church-Zane, Darcy, Maddie, Vance, Maggie, and Caleb. Now I've taken plenty of pictures where I can't get everyone to look at the same time, but this is my first where NO ONE was looking!

She's very into summersaults these days. I've got to get this girl into gymnastics!

Outside the school on our very first day!


Will showing Maggie how fun it is to walk in! She did fine, right up until we got to her classroom door.

Will and Tyler getting to go to school together for the first time.


We always have to stop and greet the fish on our way in.

Maggie loved all the kids and toys, as long as she could see her Mama!

I guess she was tired after a long first day of preschool.


This is one of my favorite times of year! Really I love all changes of seasons I guess, but the beginning of fall means cooler weather, new wardrobes, school shopping, the holidays are coming, and of course, football season. We went to a party at church Sunday night and we had to all wear our Cowboy gear!
We decided to switch schools this year and go back to the program Will attended when he was Maggie's age. It was a tough decision, but it made it easier to have Tyler and Ethan switching too. Will was so excited to go to school with his friends and he loves his teacher.

Maggie, I knew, was going to be a little trickier. All the cute monogram backpacks and telling her how much fun it was going to be were not going to matter much once I left the room. We had orientation last week, and she cried for about 20 minutes once I left. I know, most babies "cry it out" but that's not really her style. She cries until you give her what she wants. Her teachers are wonderful, and they invited me to come in and start the transition process a little more gradually. So I got to go to school too! Our first real day was today, and there were two other parents "invited" to stay as well. All the kids had a great time, and Maggie barely acknowledged I was there, but if she looked up and I wasn't within eye shot, it was a different story. Looks like my errand running child-free will have to wait.

The Cold that Never Ends...

"Of all the things I have to play, I'd choose my brother any day"
I borrowed this quote from my friend Amber's blog and I just love it. Maggie really adores her brother, and I'm pretty sure he likes her okay too!

I know they're going to kill me for these bathtub pictures someday. Here they are checking out each other's mohawks.


I don't have many updates because unfortunately, we are all still trying to get rid of this cold that started two weeks ago. We've managed a trip to Chuck E Cheese, several shopping days to get ready for school, swimming at Uncle Scotty's, and a few other fun things here and there, but for the most part, we've been home, santizing every surface with bleach or a lysol wipe. I'm totally off my game, so I've taken only a few pictures, but we had Meet the Teacher at school this morning, and I managed to grab a few on the way out the door. We're very excited for the new school year, and we're all crossing our fingers that Maggie won't scream the teachers into deafness when I leave the room!

As for updates on the kids, Maggie is really starting to talk, adding new words everyday and combining them now. She still thinks she can do everything Will does, and won't usually accept any help. One day last week while I was trying to sanitize the house, I let the kids play in the backyard by themselves (Eric and I could both see the backyard and Payton was guarding the gate!). I had gone into the laundry room for a split second and Will came in the backdoor laughing. He said, "Do you want to see something funny, Mom?" I told him "of course", so he led me outside and Maggie was on the top rung of the tallest ladder on the playground. I didn't want to panic and scare her into falling off the ladder, so I slowly walked over to guard against a fall, but by the time I got there, she had shimmied through the tunnel and was laughing at me from the other side. I'm used to her getting into the trampoline by herself, climbing into her chair at the table and demanding food, and climbing into the bathtub because she wants to play in the water, but that was a new one for me. I didn't even let Will climb the tallest ladder alone until this summer.

Guess that's all. Will starts t-ball soon, and I'm hoping to find Maggie a good gymnastics class!