All I want for Christmas is...

Blissful Sleep

Is it too much to want 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep? I'd even take just 6! That's not too much to ask for for Christmas I think. But I bet the kids won't give it to me until my birthday...next June...

Not for the weak stomach...

The other morning I opened the front door to find this on our front porch...

A Rat

Oh, is it sleeping? you may ask...

No, fortunately it was already dead. I am actually holding it by its tail (with a paper towel!) so I could throw it away. Man, the things I have to do when Dan is out of town!

So if you are not totally grossed out by the above pictures and still reading this post (Mom - it's ok, I understand if you've already closed the window), you may be wondering why we had a dead rat at our door. You see we have a front-yard cat that we feed and who has taken up residence in the bushes in our front yard (hence our name for her is "front-yard cat" so original!), and apparently she feels the need to thank us for feeding her. This was the 4th dead rat that she has now brought us. At first she was leaving them in the front yard, GROSS but at least we didn't have to step over them. Then just before Dan left she delivered a huge, bloody rat right on our front door mat - I was so glad Dan was here to throw the rat and mat away! It made me gag just looking at it. After that occurrence I told the cat she did not need to "honor" us anymore with yucky dead rats!

And then she brought us yet another.

We may or may not be taking the front-yard cat with us when we move.

Things that make me smile

Natalie was in her very first Primary Program this past Sunday. She missed last year's program because we moved right before our ward had theirs, and our new ward had already done theirs. I was so sad that I wouldn't see my little Sunbeam sing and wave to me from the stage last year, so I was REALLY excited about this year's program. We practiced the songs all year so that Natalie would be comfortable with them (we even listened to a CD with the songs in the car). The part they gave Natalie was for her entire CTR 5 class to memorize. I wasn't sure if Natalie could memorize several lines yet - but she did! And made it look easy too!! She was a little nervous about the program (probably because I was making such a big deal about it) but I told her that it was for Mommy and I just wanted to see her sing. So when it came time for her to go up there she went right up to her spot and sat down, then her class was the first to stand up and say their part together - Natalie was too busy watching me wave to her so she totally missed saying her part but that's ok! I knew she knew it :) And she sang every single song!! Can you tell how proud I am of her?! I almost took the camera in for pictures (I mean this is for posterity, right?) but thought better of it in the end. We're so sad that Dan had to miss it, but don't worry, he got an even longer version of this story than what I'm posting here!

Natalie right before church started

Natalie loves to climb the tree in our front yard and has gotten quite good at it...

Apparently heights don't bother her!

She is such a sweetie!

One morning as we were getting ready I found Nathan like this...

What IS THAT you say?


See, Mom? It's a bandaid!

(don't worry, it's clean)

So of course Natalie had to get her own "bandaids" too, and just look at that face Nathan is making - pure mischief!!

What you aren't seeing is that Nathan was also wearing my shoes. But to keep this blog clean I couldn't post those pics (seeing as how the pads and shoes were ALL that he was wearing!)

I had such a good laugh with the kids!! They keep me smiling all the time and I am so thankful to have them for my family.

Enjoying a Sunday Afternoon

Now that Fall is here I decided it would be nice to take pictures outside in the afternoon - something you can never do during the summer in Texas! Of course only Tyler was excited about this activity...

Yep, it's like herding cats to get all three of them

Cute brothers :)

This one's for you, Dan!

Tyler at 6 months

Our little baby is now 6 months old- how the time flies! And he's not such a little baby anymore either. I took Tyler to his 6 month check-up at the doctor's office this past week and he weighed in at exactly 21 pounds - definitely not little! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's in the 95th percentile for weight AND height, I mean he is already wearing 12 month clothes. It's so funny to see Tyler wearing clothes that Nathan wore when he was one and walking - Tyler just started sitting! And we are so happy for him and all that he is learning everyday, we truly enjoy watching him grow and be a part of our family. So here's this past month's highlights...

Tyler can sit now!

Gotcha! What is in your mouth??

Tyler loves candy wrappers (just wait til he tries the candy!)

Have you ever seen anything more precious?

No that's not rabies...just lots of bubbles!

A baby and his *bling*

(plus all the books Natalie insists on putting on his highchair tray)

In case you couldn't tell, Tyler LOVES to eat! He's been a pro at eating baby food from day one. If he sees us eating then he wants to eat too. He definitely fits in with this family!

Just a little busy...

I know I've been a bit behind on updating our blog recently. These last few weeks have been a little crazy for me! Dan's sister, Karin with her son, Arthur, as well as his grandma, Betty, came to town from Utah a few weeks ago. They came for my neice, Katy's blessing. We had so many fun activities while they were here - a fun girls' night at Cheddar's, lots of shopping, halloween activities, and a big family birthday celebration for Carla & Karin (they share the same birthday). Unfortunately, a stomach bug made it's way through the family while they were visiting but we still were able to have a great time together. Most of our plans were flexible. :)

It was so much fun seeing Karin's son, Arthur. He's only one week younger than Tyler so those two had a great time with each other. They spoke the same language - lots of babbling and bubbling! And they were so fascinated with each other! We got lots of laughs watching Arthur and Tyler play together. We wished they lived closer!

During all the festivities we found out that our house in Kyle will be availabe for us to move into on December 1. That's less than a month away now! So we've begun de-junking and organizing so we're only moving what we need to. I want this to be the most efficient and organized move yet - wish me luck!

And in case we weren't quite busy enough... Dan had to go to China this past week for work and will be there until the week of Thanksgiving. He was, of course, very excited about this - and I'm excited for him too, but I must say the timing stinks! Now I have the joy of packing/organizing to do myself. Plus 3 kids. I will give Dan his credit though - he went through and organized all of his things/areas of the house before he left (which let's face it were the most junked up). So I'm actually looking forward to getting everything in order for this move. And I'm always up for a challenge!

With all that's going on, please be understanding if you don't hear from me for awhile... like say January. I'll try my best to keep everyone updated on our status. And a huge thanks to all of you offering help/support right now, we really appreciate it!

Trick-or-Treat!

We went to Michael & Michelle's house in Kyle on Halloween this year. We all brought finger foods to share - the highlights were Michelle's biscuit pizzas and spider cupcakes, Yummy!! It took awhile to get all the kids in their costumes, then there was of course lots of picture-taking followed by a visit from the local witch (Grandma Carla)! The kids loved seeing her all dressed-up, and fortunately weren't too frightened. :) The weather was perfect for trick-or-treating and we walked around the neighborhood for over an hour! All the cousins and friends had so much fun and got tons of great candy. We decided that this will now be our yearly tradition - Halloween in Kyle. Thanks for hosting Michelle, we had a blast!!

Georgetown Library Halloween Party

We went to the Georgetown public library's Halloween party for our preschool field trip. All the kids dressed up in their costumes and went on a "parade" around the library. Then there was lots of treats and goodies to eat and dancing to spooky music - what fun!

My little Pumpkin :)
Introducing...Buzz Lightyear!
My kids weren't exactly dancing
Natalie - the Butterfly Fairy!

Scooby Doo Halloween

We kicked off our Halloween celebrations on October 25th at the Scooby Doo Halloween party in Dripping Springs. All of Dan's family came plus his Grandma and sister, Karin, with her son visiting from Utah. The kids really enjoyed the fun activities - decorating their candy bags, fishing for candy, ring toss, face painting, and the cake walk!

After the party we went back to the Bischoff's house for some AMAZING fajitas, and lots of cake (thanks for the free dessert scooby doo!). What a fun time!