Only in West Texas...

can you rake the leaves while wearing shorts and still see green grass!

Baylen's Groovy Birthday Shindig

October 31st, 2009

Nine years ago, I went through great pains to not have a baby on Halloween. I really don't know why I bothered waiting a day, as we almost always have her party on Halloween anyway. She has thus come to believe that we should all dress up for her birthday, so we did. This was the first year she chose a party theme not related to her Halloween costume so we actually had a costume change afterward to go trick-or-treating. She gave peace a chance, and we threw on our grooviest threads and went far out man!

School Fall Festival

October 25th, 2009

Tracy told me to get Dravyn some pirate clothes since Baylen keeps dressing him up as a princess. Does this really make him look more masculine?

Since it was so hot, Sayer had to trade in her full length velvet fur suit for a leotard and tights. We decided she was a witchitty, part witch part kitty!

Baylen was a vampirate. She couldn't make up her mind so she was both! She really got into character.

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!!!!!

Dravyn and I have been going to the duck pond since the girls went back to school for a little mommy and me time. I thought a nice leisurely stroll and feeding the ducks would help keep his mind off missing his sisters.

Not so much. Moments after I took this picture, the goose closest to him, bit him right on his upper thigh. A delivery truck drove by and the driver yelled, "run little boy, run!" I'm just glad no one turned me in for allowing my child to be eaten by wild animals while I stood around and took pictures!

Soon he was fine, although the bite did leave a bruise. This is how he walks around the duck pond now, always looking over his shoulder. When we ask him "what does a duck do?", his quick response is "BITE YOU!"

Question?

We all know the saying about a bear pooping in the woods.

But, does a wooden bear

poop

WOOD?

1st Day of School Pics, Finally....

August 24th

3rd Grader!

1st Grader!

They both picked out SpongeBob lunch boxes this year since I wouldn't let them have the iCarly or Hannah Montana ones they really wanted. I said "no" to real people's faces on backpacks, shoes and clothes as well. Sayer argued a real person is the voice for SpongeBob. Sometimes the only answer really is "because I'm the mom, that's why!" Sayer has also never seen a Spiderman cartoon but still thinks it's cool and doesn't care what the other girls think about it. I hope that notion sticks around for a long, long, time. School kinda snuck up on me, so they were a little shaggy without their usual back-to-school haircuts.

September 4th

Baylen went in wanting just a trim, but decided in the chair to cut off a few inches. Makes it that much easier for me to blow dry in the morning!!

Sayer really just got a trim but I can now see her big blue eyes!

Dravyn always wants his picture taken too. The only problem is that he is either in his p.j.s or half naked and I'm trying to get the girls off to school on time. So I have a about a million pics of him like this, with a big ol' head and itty bitty body.

I don't know if he will blame me more for this someday, riding a pink motorcycle with his ears sticking out. To be fair, he put the hat on himself!!

Summer Vacation

We finally took our family vacation a week and a half before starting school. Talk about cutting it close! Initially, we were going to San Antonio because we still haven't been to Sea World in all the times we've been, but the thought of chasing Dravyn around in all that heat made us rethink that decision. We hadn't been to Ruidoso since Bon and Grandad John left, so off to the mountains we went.

Tiny's Burger Barn in Tatum, New Mexico

Dravyn spilled Baylen's Dr. Pepper

all over himself and needed the first of

many changes of clothes!

Refreshments at the cabin.

Like I said earlier, this was the first time we actually had to pick and pay for a place to stay since my grandparents no longer have an available b&b at the ready for us. It was hard to narrow it down at first, but this place had an indoor pool which we ended up having all to ourselves and the river was right across the street, so it ended up being perfect. It never got over 83 degrees and we even got to witness a couple of mountain rain showers. We packed almost everything in to these 3 days that we could think of: bumper boats, putt-putt, Monjou Lookout, a Misty Mountain candy store binge, buying junk trinkets at Thunderbird Curio, a hike around a lake, playing at the wooden castle playground, keeping an eye out for bears, both wooden and real, pointing out what's new and what wasn't there when we were little, for example the mountain my cousins, my brother, and I explored all over and rode horses on, is now a Wal-Mart parking lot!!!!!!, and finally taking their pictures in front of an indian!

I'm just so glad they fell in love with Ruidoso. The putt-putt down by the river is gone, but the one with the bumper boats is pretty good and Sayer even made a couple of holes-in-one. Baylen started planning the next trip and we hadn't even made it to the cabin yet. Dravyn asked me the day after we got home, "where did the mountains go, momma? I miss the rocks." I was afraid it wouldn't be the same, and while some things were sorely missing, (Bon's pancakes for one!) the spirit of adventure and the smell of the cool pine air remains.