Halloween Festivities

Halloween always sneaks up on me. For 2 years now, we've forgone the whole Pumpkin carving craze and just propped out our "light up" craft pumpkin... Hey, it works. At least this year I can somewhat blame my wrist for the lack of decor.

But the kids have a ball every year -- whether we are the most or least decorated house on the block. They don't care. They don't even care about how much candy they collect -- For them, it's all about the TRADE.

After they trick or treat, they dump out all of their candy on our table and start trading each other. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen. They'll go on forever trying to make the best trades. Charlie doesn't like chocolate so much -- Tyler, well...he loves anything containing sugar. So Charlie typically trades out most of his chocolate -- and Tyler is happy to help out.

They were Ninjas this year -- courtesy of my mom who has made quite the tradition out of providing them their costumes. She started out sewing them when they were babes but then quickly realized that you can buy some really cool costumes for a fraction of the cost of making them!

Oh, and it was Andrew's birthday too! We love that his Birthday is on Halloween -- but sadly with young boys, it can often take a back seat to the crazy festivities of the day. Daddy got to kick off the day by opening presents and then when he went out to his car, he realized that I had written graffiti "Happy Birthday" all over his windows. :) It's hard to surprise him these days but I think that caught him off guard and got a smile!

All in all, October has been a GREAT month! Tyler turned 6, Mom and Gary came to visit, Andrew turned 35 -- and a new job for Joy. Whew. We need a vacation -- oh yeah, that comes in NOVEMBER! Yippee!

Tyler's 6th Birthday!!!!

Can you believe Tyler is 6 years old?

And he is so wise! (that stinker!)

We told him he could choose between his very expensive bday gift request (a Nintendo DS) or have an official birthday party. He didn't hesitate in his decision -- he wanted the D.S. Ok then!

So we went out for an official family-only birthday dinner celebration at a local hibachi grill (YUM!). Tyler CHOSE this place. (yes, over Chuck E. Cheese!) The boys have found a new love for hibachi grills. And quite frankly, so have we! The boys are very entertained by the cooking and we wind up having a great meal! After our dinner out, we had a small family gift opening ceremony. My mom even made him his own homemade cake which he loved!

On his actual birthday, we surprised him by taking him to the Rainforest Cafe with a neighborhood friend. He then got to play a ton of huge video games at Sega Gameworks. All in all, since his birthday was on a weeknight, he celebrated a little bit over the course of 3 days and so he was well spoiled.

Hard to believe my baby is 6 years old. Thank God for Tyler -- I'm so lucky to have TWO awesome boys!

Basket Ball Shoot Out

So I realize I'm not the best blogger. Add it to my list of things to improve on! Seriously! Don't worry, I've been giving myself a crazy guilt trip for not updating it more often but with the start of a new full time job, the blog has been moved to the bottom of the list!

Nonetheless, I've been taking pictures with the good intentions of someday, updating all who care to know about what has been going on with us in Texas!

So recently my mom and Gary came out to Texas for a whirlwind visit -- jam packed with tons of activities. One of which was the Basketball shoot out that Charlie insisted on participating in. I was so proud of him for giving it his all. All of the kids had to shoot on a 10 ft basketball hoop (crazy high!) and Charlie never gave up despite the many air balls that ensued.

He won honorary mention (at least in my book) and got a bottle of vitamins for his participation. Which normally, Charlie loves vitamins -- seriously, he asks for them all the time. But when he realized these weren't the best tasting vitamins, he promptly turned a little sour on the whole competition.

Oh well, better luck next time!

Baseball Days!

I've missed so many baseball games this season! Whether it's been my hand that's been the reason for my absences or something else that has pulled me away, I have missed a majority of the season.

We are down to some of the final games and now we are running into scheduling conflicts where Charlie & Tyler are playing at separate fields at the same time! That makes coaching extra difficult for Coach Andrew!

So today, I went to root for the 6U Angels team while Andrew coached the 8U team. (This is one of Fozzy's favorite past times as well. He gets so much attention!) Tyler had a great at bat where he knocked the ball into the outfield! And I seized the opportunity to take some pictures! (Which you all know I'm horrible at that!)

Highlighted is someone who I am very thankful for, Amy Allen. She is our team mom and has brought an enthusiasm to the team that is bar none! She is a servant, through and through. And I really don't think we would be surviving the "coaching two teams" thing without her. She is a true girlfriend! You know, the kind who you don't even have to ask anything of them -- they just find ways to make your life brighter! (Love ya girl!)

My Helping Hand

Yes, I need a helping hand these days since my right hand doesn't work so well! So it was perfect timing that Charlie's class had asked for some pictures of the kids helping around the house so that they could be used to reinforce their "helping hands" segment!

So here are a couple pictures of my big helper, Charlie.

I've had a lot of help lately (thank you to all of you know whos) -- it's quite humbling.... And really, Charlie has been helping out so much over the past several weeks too! Soon, I'll have him doing all the laundry too! (HA!)

An Amazing Honor

Well, I'm resurfacing to tell the tale of an amazing honor. One of the 6th graders in our youth worship ministry (Shout Out) asked if I would baptize her! Sweet Christina Owens is now heading into her 3rd year of worship ministry at Irving Bible Church. I know it sounds purely too sappy to be true, but really it has been a joy to see her grow in her faith during her time serving the Lord.

She is not only incredibly talented, but has developed such a humble spirit and a huge desire to follow Jesus. Her smile lights up the room -- and she is a daughter of the King of Kings! You can only imagine the chill bumps I got when I found out that I was able to baptize her! What a high privilege!

Now, I've never baptized anyone before so in case you are wondering, I was completely more nervous about all of it than Christina! I thought for sure I would come down with some disease that would make me say inappropriate things or just forget what I was supposed to do. I mean, can you have momentary Turrets Syndrome symptoms? Let's see, take the Microphone, put it on my head (with my crazy brace), don't trip, help her into the water, speak clearly so that everyone can hear, don't poke her in the back with my crazy brace, help her get back up out of the water, walk out of the baptismal -- oh wait, hand the microphone to Pastor Andy, don't loose the crock shoe off your foot as your exit.... It's a lot to think about, PEOPLE!!

Couple that with that it's a memorable day for all, the cameras are flashing, the video is magnifying your face to 100x it's normal size -- whew!

All in all, Christina and I did it together. Which is really a beautiful way to get baptized! We were both excited, nervous and joyful. And I was so proud of her -- and so humbled to be a part of such a grand day.