happy halloween!!

a little something to wear to school on Friday...

the ladybug

who needs candy... what's in this jack-o-lantern?

doing pretty well...

You know... in my pediatric nursing rotation they encourage play-therapy with the kids because their actions reflect alot about their home-life that they are unable to express otherwise. I wonder what Grace is trying to say about our parenting??:)

the frazzled mother

It cracks me up to watch Grace. She's had this doll since her birthday and had no interest in her whatsoever. So much that if I put her in the play stroller, Grace would fling her out. All of a sudden Sunday night she has started to try to sit the doll with her on her special seat. It has only expanded from there to taking her for stroller rides (in the form of bumper cars) and at the end of the day she puts the doll to bed. That part is at least reassuring to me about Grace's perception of our parenting :), its really cute to watch her cover her up with the wadded up blanket and then pat the doll on her back to help her fall asleep.

Things have been pretty good/interesting/busy here. I'm not sure where the month of October has gone, I thought it just started... Dan has hired an assistant coach that can't start soon enough- he's been incredibly busy. Their season is about to start with the team heading to Little Rock, AR to swim in an invitational this weekend. Coaching must be rough; I woke up last Thursday morning to a text timed from 6:34 a.m. saying, "I think I broke my ankle." Hmmmm... Luckily (I guess) it was a high ankle sprain. Thank goodness for the on-site care of the athletic trainers. It has gone through a rainbow of colors, looking pretty impressive.

I ran the LiveStrong Challenge 5K with my friend Jodie and our girlies rode along with us in their strollers. I think Grace liked cruising at the faster speeds. I was bummed that I did not catch a glimpse of Lance Armstrong though.

We went to see Third Day in concert last week. It was Dan's birthday present. The concert was awesome!! It was a pretty intimate setting. The music is much like the praise music from Hope Chapel in NC or Celebration Church here x 10. It felt like we were at the best Sunday morning praise ever. They were so down to earth. At one point when it went dark between songs, the band reappeared in the middle of the audience and played acoustic, taking requests from the crowd. Awesome!!

I think it is finally safe enough to mention that our house is sold. We were set for a 10/22 closing but then there a few paperwork hold-ups and it was put off to 10/29. So here we are the night before, a thousand signatures done and notarized, monies in place, papers overnighted to San Antonio and hopefully no last minute phone calls!

carving the jack-o-lantern

Fall

Miss Pretty

Grace Church, circa 1881, in downtown Georgetown, TX

Here are the yellow bikes that are part of what makes Southwestern University famous. These yellow bikes are all around campus with the understanding that you might ride one to class and then someone else will ride it to lunch, as long as they don't leave the campus

pumpkins galore!!

Today we headed west into the Hill Country to the town of Marble Falls to go to a pumpkin patch. The Hill Country is beautiful, its like a miniature version of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And its only 30 minutes away! It was tons of fun and believe it or not, the jacket and fall-ish clothing was not staged. It was only in the 50's today and it felt great!

It was a good night to make chili and Dan has the gas fireplace going as we speak. No, its not that cold nor is our blood that thin, but you have to take what you can get sometimes. Just 2 days ago it was in the 90's!

the many faces of Grace

It must bother Grace for Baxter to be naked. She picks up his collar, brings it to him and tries to put it on him or hands it to him expecting him to put it on. She also likes Baxter's bed (yummy...dog hair....) He humors her while she's there and the moment Grace moves on to something else, Baxter reclaims his bed with a groan of ownership.

' Equinsu-Ocha'

Let me guess, White Devil, White Devil

piggies... way too cute!

touchdown!! or just a really good banana

so mature...

a cheerleader in THIS house???

The first Saturday of college football, Notre Dame was playing Nevada and Dan asked if we had anything Notre Dame to dress Grace in for good luck. I pulled out her cheerleader's outfit (thanks Maryellen!) and he asked if we had anything else (not a cheerleader's outfit!!). Nope. Next thing you know, she comes running out and someone was asking to have his picture taken with the little cheerleader. Too cute to resist!

And I'm sure you'll see much more of Grace's new best friends, Snoopy and Woodstock. It was her first day of daycare and we decided last minute that we should send her with a stuffed animal along with her blanket for naptime so Dan grabbed Snoopy. They are inseparable! According to her teacher, Snoopy even has his own seat at the table for lunchtime next to Grace. It's like her security blanket, a close second to sucking her fingers. Grandma Pat-Pat gave Dan and I Snoopy & Woodstock very early in our marriage and Baxter tried to claim it as his, especially Woodstock. Who knew it would be Grace's best friend.

Maybe the flowers of the chives plant didn't tast too good...

Football season is officially here! Go Colts!!

Little Glamour Girl putting on her jewelry along with her Colts jersey

It looked pretty ominous last weekend and we finally had some rain deliver when it was forecasted! I was telling Grace about it and realized that it has been a rarity in her life. I think we've had rain worth mentioning only 5 or 6 times since she was born!