Farmer's Market + Oktoberfest = good times!

Ahh, Fall.  It's a great time of year, especially in Texas, b/c now we can FINALLY enjoy the outdoors again.  The weather has been ideal as of late and we're having a good time exploring new places here in Dallas.  Plus, let's be honest, I have Becca's help, so I'm a lot more keen to go exploring with an extra set of hands.  obviously! 

A favorite we've found is the McKinney Farmer's Market.  Darling location.  Trees everywhere.  And, did I mention they had live Celtic music?  Very charming.  We've actually gone a few times since we took the pictures a few weeks ago, and we're fans.  Especially of the bread vendor.  Oh my word.  Talk about CARB-HEAVEN.

Let's take a look around, shall we?

The kids were big fans of the drinkable yogurt.  Can you tell?  I love how focused they are.

This particular day was a busy one.  We wanted to check out the Farmer's Market, but there was also a Oktoberfest celebration that day too (did I mention that they were two blocks away from each other?).   On our way to the Farmer's Market we saw a little antique/garage sale thing going on.  Don't you worry, I SCORED some awesome finds.  I'll show you pictures later.  I couldn't believe my luck.  If you're curious, it has EVERYTHING to do with the first photo on this post.

ANNNYWAY, Since Aaron now works most of the day on Saturday, we opted to do the Market and then head home for lunch/naps/etc. and wait for Aaron to go back to the Oktoberfest fun.  It was fun.  One day I'd like to go there with no kiddos in tow to check out all the fun little shops they have.  There were some darling window displays.
Overall, it was good.  Let's see what we saw:

This INDEPENDENT kid has a mind of his own.  Don't worry, the street was blocked off.

I thought these chairs could be cool recovered with some fun and exciting fabric.  But alas, I have no idea how to really reupholster things, and I have enough projects on my hands.  So, I kept walking.  Those darned interior design blogs/pinterest gets my brain thinking all sorts of new things these days!

Kind of funny, this next one Aaron looks confused/sad/mad?  But, trust me, he is glad.

Cool artwork.  Loved the tangerine background especially.  Makes me miss painting.

I don't know what this maze was for, but the kids sure loved it.  Can you spy Cal and Tillie?  Cal---he's about to get run over by what appears to be a cat girl.

Cal didn't quite understand the whole "staying within the lines" concept.  

just happy to be here!  and can I tell you how much fun it is to have Becca as a Team Texas member?  Yes.  Good.  Sorry her face is cut off here.  

On the other side of this white thing is a German landscape for people to pretend they're celebrating Oktoberfest IN Germany.  Clever.  But, there was a long line that we didn't want to wait for.  So, let's do a family shot on the backside.  As they say, "Das es goot."  Calvin especially thought so.

Gotta love the running Tillie.

And, that awesome Texas sky.  Very cool.  Sorry, you'd think I was a meteorologist with all the sky photos I've been posting as of late.  Maybe there's a little tiny meteorologist living inside of me.  That'd be creepy, right?  I mean, can you imagine a little weatherman living inside of me?  Weird.  Let's be done with this thought.

The end.

P.s. one day I'll stop doing the "scrapbook style" blog and let you know about all the random things/thoughts that go through my brain (you're probably thinking, "Uhh, if it has to do with a tiny weatherman taking over your body, I'm not so sure I'd like that...").

  But for the moment, "scrapbook style" is much easier.  

And, if you know me, you know I love easy.  So, there you have it.

I should get an award or something.

Okay, maybe I don't deserve an award, but I FEEL like I do.
Guess who just put together 5 blog posts from earlier in the year?
That would be me.

You want to see the fruits of my labor?  Okay.  I'll oblige.
Once I really catch up, my psyche will allow me to do current updates.

Here 'tis:

Middle of May 2011

End of May 2011

(yes, super clever titles)

Early June 2011---We're Posers

June/July 2011---Little LizBert comes to town & we ring in the 4th

Cal's Half Birthday!  18 months!

the utah marathon/summer trip is coming up next.
oh, and in case you were thinking I literally RAN a marathon in Utah... think again.  I just took a billion pictures.  obviously.

oh! and did you catch the fact that Aaron did his very own little blog post about the Boy's Trip that happened a few weeks ago.
Enjoy ALL the fun here.

Time marches on...

Yes, that is my beloved paper holder.  The one that cost about $70 a few years ago.  The movers set heavier things on top of it---then blamed the "wimpy material it was constructed out of..."  Hello, I didn't buy it because it was made out of superior material, I bought it so it could hold my card stock.  And, it did that well!  Boo.  Oh well.  Since this was the worst of the damage, I'd say we faired pretty well in the move.

I have a great story about a replacement paper holder situation---a happy ending, if you will.  But that will have to wait until another time so I can show you pictures!

In the meantime, let's talk about a fun little event called "Trade Days" that we decided to go to one afternoon.  Apparently, it only happens once a month and it's basically a big flea market.  They had a little bit of everything there---from handmade wooden objects, little tinker toys brought over from China, random old cd's and dvd's, antiques, yard art, and your choice of puppies!  There was this huge aisle full of little playpens with all different breeds of puppies.  It was crazy.  And, yes, I thought about buying one.  They were SO darn cute!!

Anyway, here are some of the pictures (Aaron was working this day, so Becca and I took charge):

Can you tell I was loving the yard art?  One day.  One day...

Puppy Row.  Tillie was as enamored as her mother.

 Loved these keys.  I'm going to go back and get me some.  

I have a small (in comparison) print like this guy's US map.  The real deal would be SOOO much cooler.  But, alas, I don't have the money to spend on his delight.  Until then, I'll enjoy looking at it.  The birdhouses made out of license plates are pretty rad too, right?  Agreed.  Our friend, David Martin, makes similar maps of Texas out of old TX license plates too.  (see right side of picture)  In fact, I bought one from him before we left San Antonio.  I'll have to post pictures soon.  I love it.  So much.

::: Get a load of these Texas skies.  Amazing, right?  I couldn't believe how the rays of light were streaming out of the sunset one night.  Amazing!  Luckily, I had my camera in the car.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing this awesome-ness like we did.  I love that quote by Frank Lloyd Wright that says, " I believe in God, only I spell it Nature."  Amen.

not too bad for driving down the road with our point and shoot camera, eh?  

::: Oh, and lately we've been big fans of making BANANA BOATS.  Peanut butter on bread, then wrap it around 1/2 of a banana.  Delicious.  So easy, even a three year old can do it. (kind of like those geico commercials with "so easy, even a cave man can do it.) 

With this next photo you can see the new map we bought for our big wall in our kitchen.  Aaron is a big map guy and has always wanted one of those humongous ones, which I fully support.  One day, we'll get a big big one and frame all the other random maps we've been saving in one great room.  Until then, we're really enjoying this big one we found.

::: We've also been enjoying trips to different parks in the area.  Good news, there are TONS of them!  And, obviously, Tillie and Cal love that.  Luckily, we've made a friend (hallelujah!) and she's great at inviting us to come join her and her kiddos.  So great!

trying out new braids on Tillie.  One of my new favorite past times.  And, they actually STAY in!  And keep her hair out of her face without a ton of little clips.  Win. Win. Win. 

::: Last but not least, Tillie loves to sleep in crazy positions.  Here are a few different ways we've found her lately:

Okay, normally, her room doesn't ALWAYS look like this, but since she can either choose "Quiet Time" in her room, or take a nap each day---well, let's just say on this particular day she chose both. 

The funny thing is that on days where she plays and plays and then konks out, she usually is able to find her way to her bed beforehand.  On this day, she opted to lay down right on the floor.  Paper/Fabric doll dress in hand.  So funny. 

 And, if you're curious to know, yes, that is a pink diaper cover she has put on top of her little shorts.  Perfect ensemble to nap in, if you ask me.

Here's another shot of her one night while she was in bed.  Or should I say 1/2 in bed, 1/2 out of bed?  

Not to be outdone by his sister, here's Cal.  You see, on days that Tillie opts to play quietly and then sleep, Calvin has his mom and Becca all to himself for a while.  Cal is one of those babies where you say, "Are you ready for nap time?"  He nods his head, and then proceeds to lay down on your shoulder. This is one area of life that he definitely SUCCEEDS in!  

Here he is post-nap, applying chap stick (one of his favorite activities).  

For the record, Aaron thinks chap stick is a conspiracy theory.  

Love you, Aaron.  

AND, I love my chap stick.  

So do our kids.

p.s. yes, those are little mosquito bites all over his head.  Those darn mosquitos get us every time we venture outside.  Hopefully our new bug spray will keep them at bay!

that's all for now, folks.

final day in San Antonio...

The last few days in San Antonio were a whirlwind.  Here's the schedule:

8th (Thursday): Aaron flies back to San Antonio from working the past week in Dallas

9th (Friday): Some of Aaron's best friends fly into town for the big BYU/UT game in Austin (and, of course we wanted them to stay with us!) MORE pictures to come (that deserves a separate post).  Let me just say this, it was SOO much fun having them around.  I love this shot with Kevin's shirt draped on top and Aaron doing a muscle man pose.  Very fun.

10th (Saturday): The boys all drove up to Austin for the big game, the kids and I went to the funnest (yes, that is a word) birthday party.

The party was for our little friend, Brooklyn.  I'm good friends with her mom (we used to work together at Moon Mippy, then found out we lived just 2 minutes away from each other!).  Anyway, they invited us to a train themed party in New Braunfels.  It was darling and such a perfect little party.  We LOVED it.  Here are pictures from our time there while Aaron and the boys whooped it up in Austin.

this was a crazy huge old oak tree---they built that brick support to help it from toppling over.  amazing.

how cute is the conductor?  hello.

Cal even took a swing at the pinata.  So funny that it's bigger than he is.

Brooks, Brooklyn's dad, decided to give it a go.  :)  In case you were curious, yes, he broke it open.

Kristen, Brooklyn, and us.  It was a happy day.  I am posting two almost identical pictures, b/c in the next one Cal is doing a TRUE grin.  I love that my kids get SO red faced like I do.  Sorry, guys.

11th (Sunday): Church normal, good.  Remember what happened 10 years ago with the terrorist attacks.  So crazy that was 10 years ago. The boys went downtown after church.  Then we all hung out and had perhaps TOO much fun on the Sabbath.

12th (Monday): Boys leave to airport after about 1 hour of sleep. Adam, another one of Aaron's BFF, was able to fly into San Antonio and hang out for the afternoon/evening.  It was so great to hang out with him.  We love that he is a pilot and we get to see him in our city!!  Then my sister, Becca, flew into town late that night.  That girl has great timing.  :)
Yes, these pictures below gave me a heart attack.  And, yes, my mom (denise) would NOT approve.

13th (Tuesday): Packed frantically all morning (luckily, with Becca's help now too!), movers came at 3:00p.m.  They loaded up the truck (we barely fit!).  We do last minute clean up. Take a few more pictures in front of the house for the last time.  Load into the van and little car and head to Dallas around 7:00p.m.  Arrived to the new city/new house around 1:00a.m.  Crrrrazy.

we plugged the kids into movies all morning while we packed.  :)  Luckily, they like movies AND each other.  So sweet.

Some of our sweet friends dropped by to wish us well.  I wish I would have taken a few more pictures with some of the other friends that came.  Man, I miss y'all!!  THANK YOU.

The kids loved running around all the EMPTY rooms after the movers left.

 

We loved our neighbors.  I wish we could have had time to go around and take more pictures with them!  (Kelli! yes, I'm talking about you!)  But alas, we were down to crunch time. 

RJ was not happy we were moving.  I think he's trying to be "tough" here.

Cal really does love RJ, but was acting shy here.

 

crazy our garage was SO empty!

family shot with RJ.  :)

Last REAL family shot before we left to Dallas for good.  Crazy that Aaron and I moved into this house as a young couple with no thought of children in the near future.  5 years later, we're a legit party of four.  Amazing.  Good times in San Antonio.  Dallas pictures coming up soon.