Milestone

Tyler lost his first tooth!!!  He came to me at the beginning of the week and said his tooth was hurting when he ate or brushed his teeth.  I took a look and realized it was loose!  He was so excited!  Throughout the week he would wiggle it.  On Thursday he came home from school and showed me how loose it was.  I took a look and realized it was ready to come out.  I asked him to go look in the mirror and I would show him how far back it would go.  I got a kleenex and managed to pull it without him ever realizing it!  He was thrilled and was super excited about putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy!

Happy Halloween!

The kids had so much fun on Halloween this year.  They all got to wear their costumes to school.  Cooper's school had a parade where they went through all the older classes (1-6) and the older kids gave them candy.  The older kids went crazy over Cooper's costume.  I must say it was my favorite!  

Cooper and some of his favorite girls in the class getting ready for the parade!

Cooper's class posing for a picture!

Later that evening we headed over to Cooper's school for a Trunk or Treat and Festival.  Then we headed over to Uncle Lynn's and Grandma's for a little Trick or Treating!

 The King Pig, A Pretty Ballerina, and Clone Trooper

 I love Coop's costume.  We had to stuff him with two pillows to fatten him up!

 Tyler the Clone Trooper

 My little ballerina who calls herself, "Stinkerbell"

 Uh oh, somebody found the cotton candy!

 Sugar High!!!

Fall Fun!

We have had a busy fall around here filled with lots of activities.  A couple of weeks ago my parents came down for a visit and we packed in lots of fun while they were here.  Friday morning we headed out to eat lunch with Tyler at school.  He requested that we bring him pizza, so that's what we did.  He was very excited to see us and we ate a quick lunch with hundreds of crazy kids!

Friday night we headed to the Donna Corn Maze and had a great time.  It was a nice evening and we had the place almost to ourselves due to the Friday night football games around here.  We did the smaller corn maze made for kids, rode the oil barrel train, rode on the hayride, played tetherball, jumped on the blob, and rode the big slide.  We had fun!  Here are the pics from Friday night before my camera lost battery.

 Gram, Papa, and the boys before the corn maze.

 They boys found a marker!

 Tyler enjoying the hayride.

 Tyler on the big slide!

 Cooper on the slide- his expression never changed.

 Daddy got in on the fun and raced the boys down.

Saturday morning we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's, Harlingen's newest fine establishment!  It is very close to our house and the kids have been begging to go since it opened.  We thought we would save the joy of Chuck E. Cheese for when Papa was here!  We went at 9 am and the kids had the place to themselves.  We finished up our tokens and rushed home to watch the Aggies play.  

Saturday afternoon the boys headed to a fall festival while the girls headed to a birthday party for one of Claire's friends.  It was a super cute tea party.

 Claire and the birthday girl, Paisley, enjoying some afternoon tea!

 More, please!

Sunday morning we headed to the pumpkin patch fundraiser at Claire's preschool.  The boys picked out two big pumpkins to carve.  We headed home to do the carving.  

 Cooper watching Papa scoop out the guts!

 Papa getting ready to start the Angry Bird pumpkin!

 We headed inside because it was blazing hot outside.  Cooper was super excited about his yellow angry bird!

 Tyler and Daddy working on Darth Mahl.  Of course Tyler picked out the hardest one he could find!  His was so hard!!!  Papa cut off one of his eyes at one point and we had to get the super glue out!!! 

 Cooper and Papa working hard!

 The kids with the final products.  

The pumpkins lit up.  They turned out pretty good!!!

Sunday afternoon we headed to the airport to drop Papa off (Gram got to stay for a week).  Then headed to church to finish off our weekend.  Gram was awesome to have around for the rest of the week.  I think she did every single item of laundry that I had and she may have done the kids more than once.  I tried to convince her to move down and live in the guest room, but she left on Friday.  :(  Thanks for coming, Gram and Papa!  We had so much fun!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

This year we let the boys pick one activity outside of Awana that they could participate in.  Cooper choose T-ball!  So we signed him up and we have had so much fun watching Cooper play!  He is enjoying it and he is doing really well.  This week he got a great hit and finally got to touch home plate! 

Travis and I definitely get our fill of comedic entertainment each week.  Grandma and Grandpa have been able to come watch him several times and next week Gram will be in town and will get to see him play!

I can't even stand how cute he looks in his uniform! 

 His biggest fan!

 Warming up for the big game!

Getting ready to hit!

Tyler is starting basketball at the Boys and Girls Club soon!  He is super excited about it and we can't wait to watch him play!  

Desert Song

I'm not really sure how Claire learned this song, but I think Travis had been singing it around the house and she picked up on it.  Now, it's the only song she wants to sing before bed.  So today I asked her to sing it on the computer so we could capture it.  During the middle she gets a little distracted with seeing herself in the computer!  :)

P.S.  Just ignore my beautiful singing in the background!

First Day of School!

The last of my kids started school today!  The kids are all at different schools this year and they have had a staggered start.  Claire started first on the 13th, Cooper on the 16th, and Tyler finally started today.  Cooper and Claire had a great start.  Tyler had a little bit of a rocky start this morning.  I took him to school by himself this morning and walked him to his room.  When we walked in their were kids sitting at two tables which were already full, so Tyler sat at a table by himself.  He started tearing up when I asked if he was ready for me to leave.  He said he was upset because he didn't recognize any of the other kids in his class from last year.  I knew there were a couple of kids that were going to be in his class so I waited until they showed up.  He still wasn't his happy self when I left and it was really hard to leave him.  But when I picked him up from school this afternoon he was much better and told Travis he had an awesome day.  I'm so glad that his day turned around!

Ready for 1st Grade!

 Cooper ready for Pre-K!

 Claire and Coop saying goodbye

 Cooper and Brooklynn ready for class!

 Little Miss Priss needed her picture taken!  This picture cracks me up because it shows how tall Claire is.  Brooklynn is almost 5 and Claire just turned 2.

 Claire ready for Ms. Estella's Class!

Master Bedroom... Check!

After almost three years of living in our house, we FINALLY (well, almost) finished our Master Bedroom.  I still have a few things I want to tweak, but that will have to wait until I have some extra moola.  Anyway, we didn't really do a whole lot of remodeling- mainly just painted and changed the flooring.  It just took me a really long time to figure out what I wanted to do bedding wise.  But I'm REALLY happy that I waited until I found something I love.  I love how it turned out and I actually want to make my bed.  Shocker, I know!  

I have to give a shout out to my amazing Mother-In-Law.  She sewed the beautiful curtains and euro shams and saved me some big bucks!  Here are the pics!

BEFORE

AFTER

The fabric for the curtains and shams are from Ballard Designs.  I totally lucked out and found the ruffle spread and ruffle shams at Marshall's for a total of $39 for everything!  I love ruffles!

Below is a chest I bought off of Craigslist before we moved.  The mirror was a Goodwill find that I purchased before I moved as well.

Here is a closeup of the curtains.  The chest I found at Canton this spring.  I want to find a similar one for Travis' side of the bed.  The little mirrors to the right were another Canton find.  The lamps were the ones I painted and described here.

Here is a closeup of the bed.  I found the old corbels at a little antique shop near my parents house.  I think they are fun and unique.

BEFORE

 AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Close up of the frames.  These are old window frames that I found from Canton for $3.  I found some frameless frames at Hobby Lobby and lined it with the fabric from the bedding and placed a picture and a poem on top.