Halloween 2012

Ok.  So I'm a little behind on posting pictures.  But our Halloween pictures are worth sharing although they're a month late.  Of course, I think every picture of my kids is worth sharing because I think every picture they take is adorable.

Halloween for us is like a trip around the world.  We start by visiting our neighbors.  Then he we head to Great Grandma's house and walk around the block.  Next we drive on over to the Fall Festival to visit Granny.  Then we're off to Nana and Popo's house.  Finally, we drive out to Welcome to visit Stephanie, the kid's godmother.  It's is literaly a trip from one end of the country to the other.

I had deciced a while back that Brazos would be an American soldier, because he had Army fatigues given to him by his Aunt Emilie last year while she was in boot camp.  He finally fit into the outfit this year, so it was perfect for Halloween.

I really wanted Sandy to be something that coordinated with Brazos's costume.  During the summer I had found an outfit that was covered in camo ruffles.  But it was sleeveless and really didn't match his costume at all, and it really bothered me that I didn't make her costume.  I made Brazos's first costume and I really wanted to make Sandy's first costume, too.

After a lot of thought, I finally came up with her costume and made it the week before Halloween.  She was a nurse!  I sewed her little dress and made her a hat.  I found her white stockings and white shoes.  It was perfect and she was the sweetest nurse I had ever seen.  My mom had bought her a winter coat that she also wore with her dress because it was cold.  The coat matched her little outfit so well and she looked like a World War II nurse.  I was in love with my two kids!

 

 

We also went to Burton Elementary's Halloween Carnival with my two nephews.  Cody wanted to be something scary this year and Cullen was the cutest sleeping dragon.  Yep...he slept through it all, but he did a great job looking cute in his costume.

 



Brazos and Sandy were allowed to dress-up one day at their school for a little Halloween party.  Brazos's army pants were too big and kept falling down, so I thought it would be best not to wear them to school.  I don't want him fighting off the girls just yet....hehehehe.  Anyways, he still fit into his Einstein shirt from last year so that's what he wore.  Sandy wore a cute little spider jumper because I didn't want her getting her little white dress dirty before Halloween.

 

I just love dressing my kids up and I think I already have a plan for next year!  I'm so excited!

Fair 2012

Our county fair was in September, but I never got around to posting the pictures we took at the fair.  I really love the fair.  I mean I LOVE the fair.  It could be because I was crowned the Washington County Fair Queen way back in 1999.  Being at the fair just feels like being at home.  I really enjoy walking up and down those hills of dirt and gravel.  I love hearing the sound of music in the background and the sound of animals making their presence known.  I love watching all the old-timers sit around and admire their tractors and engines.  I love seeing all the kids running around without a worry in the world.   I love seeing the neon lights light up our town sky for one week out of the year.  I love eating an ear of corn and sharing a funnel cake with my mom.  I just love being at the fair.  And I am grateful to be able to share the fair with my children.  They will grow up running up and down the same dirt hills and gravel roads I did.  They will grow up learning how to care for animals in the same barns that I and their dad did.  I hope that they will grow up loving the fair just as much as I do. 

We didn't miss a day of the fair.  We went to Cajun Fest the first night.  We went to Gospel Fest the second night.  We watched the crowning the fair queen.  We participated in the fair parade.  We watched a rodeo or two.  We ate an ear of corn and shared a couple of funnel cakes.  We fed the ducks.  We played on the tractors.  I think we did it all.

The kids rode in a red wagon for the fair parade with our church group.  Their little troop was called "Party with the Animals."  Sandy was a cow and Brazos was a pig.  Their Granny was a lively yellow chicken leading the pack.  The kids were all so cute dressed up in their costumes.

After the fair parade we headed down to the fair grounds to enjoy a tall glass of sweet lemonade, do some serious train playing with our new "Fair Train", play with Granny some more and watch them crown the newest fair queen.  Maybe some day Miss Sandy will be the fair queen!

 

The next day we went to Gospel Fest to listen to some good-ole' country music for the soul.  We even played in the dirt and shavings.  I think my kids have already found their favorite part of the fair - dirt!

 

We walked through the Country Creations Building and admired all the creativity the townspeople have around here, from beautiful flower arrangements to scrumptious cakes.  I entered three pictures in the photography contest and each one recieved a blue ribbon!  In a few short years Brazos will be able to enter his pictures in the fair contest, cause you know he likes to click a camera just as much as I do.

 

 

The kids enjoyed getting up close and personal with the farm animals.  Cock-a-doodle-do and MooMooMoo!

 

 

It's always a little boys dream to be able to climb all over the tractors.  Brazos spent lots of time climbing on tractors and kicking dirt around.  He even fed some ducks by hand!

 

 

You don't experience the fair to its' entirety without tasting some country fried food!  A high school friend of ours', Callie, has a local restaurant called Smitty's.  She had a booth at the fair and we gave her goodies a try.  Matt chomped on a Red Velvet Whoopi Pie, while I tasted the Fried Cookie Dough.  Brazos was the sensible one and stuck to a hot dog.

 

 

While in the food court we even ran into Brazos.  No not our little Brazos, but Big Brazos.  Yes, he was the inspiration for naming our Brazos.  I had this young man in my second grade class SIX years ago.  Well, I also had him in the fourth and fifth grade only three and four years ago.  Whew...that sounds better than six years ago.  He was the most darling little second grader and I wanted to keep him as my own.  Since I couldn't keep him...I just had to get my own.

 

 

The rest of the week was spent climbing on more tractors, feeding more ducks, listening to music, and Matt and I participated in the Back Seat Driver Contest.  He was blind folded while driving a lawn mower while I sat in a trailer behind him yelling directions on how to steer through an obstacle course.  We didn't do too well.  I was laughing so hard most of the time that I couldn't yell a word to him.  And at times he didn't know if he was stepping on the gas or not, so we would go slow and we would speed up.  It was a crazy ride!

 

 

It was a glorious week in Washington County and we can't wait for another year to roll around so we can experience the fair all over again.

 

 

 

 

By the way....I learned of this cool new website called PicMonkey that lets you create photo collages for free.  As you can see I tried it out and I really like it.  You should try it too and create yourself a little collage or two.



 

















I Clicked It Up a Notch

This is the last month that the blog www.clickitupanotch.com is going to do their photography contest.  I've only entered once before, which was last month, and the author of the site commented on my photo!  I felt like I had written a letter to a celebrity and they personaly responded! 

On a side note, I was one of those teenage girls who wrote letters to celebrities just hoping for a response.  I wrote to Jonathon Taylor Thomas and he sent me a post card {ok....so it wasn't his actual writing, but a photocopied letter in his handwriting}!  I also sent him fishing supplies for his birthday because I had read in a magazine that he liked to fish.  Wonder if he ever got it...   Then I was part of the Hanson fanclub MOE {Middle of Everywhere}.  Oh...those were the days of dreaming I would one day marry a celebrity.  Do girls still dream of this?  When I taught second grade a few years back, I remember one of my students just knew she was going to marry Zac Efron from High School Musical...he would have only been 15 years older than her.  No biggy.

So here is my favorite photo from October.  Sandy had stood up in her crib for the first time.  She was all smiles when I walked in; but of course, I had to go run and grab my camera to take her picture.  I returned to a crying little girl so sad that her mommy had walked away.  I love this picture because you can see the big tear running down her cheek.  A bittersweet memory.