and there goes November...

And at the end of a busy first week of December... Preschool Christmas program was last night. The kids wore their cute matchy outfits- thanks Grandma!

My precious girl! The dress is so pretty, but it's hard to really tell when she is doing a silly pose.

Such a handsome boy! Don't even think about calling him cute, it offends him.

"I'm not cute, I'm big!"(Barely got the tree out of storage and put up yesterday...

hope you didn't notice how badly it needs to be fluffed and of course decorated.)

Swinging while its snowing, you'll just have to trust me on that, nothing accumulated on the ground

Carly's winter dance show

Here are our November photos:

This is our November family picture, to compare to our Sept picture (to see what we looked like when we still had tans)

Thanksgiving DayYum!

Shhh!

Playing in the yard with Barkley

I thought this drawing of Ashlyn's was too cute!

Enjoying a cupcake as we celebrate Daddy's birthday ...Well that month went by fast!

Halloween pictures

We went to San Antonio for Halloween weekend, and what a fun-packed weekend it was!

Started out spending a little time with Paul's family at his sister's house. We tried to get a pictures of these cousins, but it was difficult b/c Ben was terrified of Ethan with his clown mask on. To be fair, he was pretty scary looking!

This is where he preferred to watch the action from

For trick or treating, we went with the Chances in their neighborhood

after having spent the day with them at Seaworld first. (BTW Carie, I did not get a good picture of all 4 kids in their costumes, can you send me one?)

They are so cute!The LITTLE kids (but don't try telling them that)The silly BIG kidsSee ya!

This year and Last year

Hard to believe but we have now lived here over a year. This is a photo comparison of last year to this year...

first day of school Sept. 2009

first day of LBC Sept. 2008

Ashlyn all dolled up for her date with Daddy. She had so much fun going to this year's Father-Daughter banquet.

2009see how much older she looks in only one year!

2008

September '09

Fall family picture

Doesn't it just feel amazing outside?!?! I doubt the cool weather will stick around long, but it makes me hopeful that maybe it won't be over 100 degrees again any time soon.

Here are playtime pictures from the end of our summer when it was that H-O-T out

Here are the kids' new bestest friends Ellen and Carter. They're kind of like 10-years-older-versions of our own kids. We were invited to go to Lake Marble Falls on Labor Day with their family. Super fun!

summer family picture

After a very busy and fun end to the summer, we have plunged headfirst into the new school year. Ben is starting his first year of preschool and Ashlyn is starting her last year of preschool (tear!). Both kids are enjoying their classes and are learning a lot. I am teaching my first year of preschool, I am in the nursery class with the 18-24 month kiddos. It works out wonderfully- only 5 hours long and just 2 days a week. I am really enjoying my class too. Paul's job is going well, he has been traveling regularly but not too, too much. That is all I have as far as updates about us. We are looking forward to an awesome autumn!

A couple of pictures from Eric and Alison's wedding

These were a sampling of the pictures that my Mom sent following my last post... Thanks for your quick response, sorry it takes me so long to hold up my end of the bargain! There are some pictures that are less chaotic looking, but I thought these were the funniest ones. Oh, the wedding was beautiful and so much fun! Alison's aunt made her dress, it was the most gorgeous wedding dress I have ever seen!! Didn't hurt that it was being worn by a beautiful bride!

For us, it was quite an eventful day to say the least- Ben scared me to tears when I found him in his bed after nap time with his finger in an "unbulbed" lamp (thank God everything was okay), we were rear-ended on the way to the wedding, somehow left Ben's shoes at home (I thought I left them in the car!), couldn't find Ashlyn's hairbands (later found them in my makeup bag, which I know I looked there), I was barely ready and dressed in time for pictures...

... it was otherwise a lovely day in which I got to watch my brother wed the woman of his dreams and the love of his life. It was a blessed day - I could not be more glad to have Ali as my sister-in-law!! The ceremony went well- Ashlyn the proud flowergirl was upset that she forgot to toss any petals, but I was thankful she was more concerned with navigating the rock steps that were a bit more treacherous for her little brother the ring bearer who was hanging on her arm. When they made it to the front, she quickly tossed out several handfuls of petals... and so did Ben since he could easily reach into the basket. Ashlyn spent the first few minutes of the ceremony picking up any petals that Ben threw down. I don't know how noticeable it was to everyone else.


Love you Eric and Alison!! Congratulations!

Away for so long

Sorry I've been M.I.A. for awhile, no I am not quitting the blogging gig. As is the case for most everyone, this summer has been SO busy!! Since I have left out about 1/2 of our summer activities, I will just hit on the recent highlights:

• Eric and Alison's wedding (actually photos are just from the rehearsal dinner unless my mom wants to send me some pictures from the wedding day...)

dinner was at The Oasis, it was a beautiful sunset!

The Happy Couple

My family

• After the wedding, we had a day to pack and get ready to go to Mo Ranch, which is a family retreat with our church. This was our first time to go as a family and it was a lot of fun: we swam and floated down the river, played at the rapids, Ashlyn did the rope swing, Paul and I played volleyball with the other adults and the kids played on the many playgrounds. We also did a lot of singing and worship. Thanks to my parents, Ben still got in some quality naps but we had some difficulty getting everyone to sleep in the same room. By the last night we finally had it figured it out.

Although I didn't have my camera with me most of the time, I did manage to get a few pictures on the last day. What I found so sweet was that all the little babies that I used to hold and play with when I was a teenager are now teenagers and are the ones holding and entertaining MY little babies!!

What we've been working on

#1 BLOWING BUBBLES!

She is SO proud of herself and wants to practice this new trick all day everyday!



#2 SWIMMING:


Ben has an unnerving LACK of FEAR in the water. He has mastered using the life vest- he can balance himself and refuses to be held onto unless he gets cold. His favorite thing to do is to climb out of the pool and jump in by himself, over and over. He doesn't want me to catch him, so he goes under for a second or two until his life jacket brings him bobbing back up. He always surfaces with his eyes wide open and a huge grin on his face.

I have been dragging my feet to put Ashlyn in swim lessons this summer, but so far she seems to be remembering what she learned last year and is making progress on her own. I am so pleased with her interest in learning different swim strokes. She is unwilling to use any flotation device for assistance- makes swim time fun for mom!

While at the pool, my hands are on Ashlyn and my eyes are on Benjamin... what do people do in the water with more than 2 kids ??