Aggie football

Vic and I had the opportunity to go to the Texas A&M vs. Nebraska football game this past saturday. It was so much fun, we actually had not been back for a game since graduation. We went with my college roommate Sarah and her husband Chris, and it was also so great to see and catch up with them. We got to walk around campus (we felt ancient compared to the students though!) and saw a fantastic and most importantly, victorious, football game!

Getting ready for Christmas!

If you know our family, you know we love to decorate for Christmas and our philosophy is you may as well do your decorating early enough to enjoy it! So about a month ago (yes, October), we let Luke pick out a small tree and decorations for his room.

Then a couple weeks ago, we put all of our indoor decorations up. Luke was such a good helper with the decorating this year, he helped Vic assemble the whole tree, and then put most of the ornaments on. Abby....umm, she was not so much help, she broke the first ornament she touched.

We should have known that this was trouble!

Luke and Granddad decorated a gingerbread house together while he and Grandma were babysitting. The report I got was that Luke ate more candy than he put on the house, but I think it turned out great!

Halloween 2010

I am really behind in blogging, but will try to play a little catch-up. Here are the kids on halloween...unfortunately, poor Abby took one step outside the house and fell face down on the front porch, so that was the end of her evening. It was a much more successful evening for Luke, he understood the trick-or-treating thing a lot better this year and did not try to go into people's houses!

Disney World!!

Vic and I LOVE disney world and we have looked forward to taking our children there since before we even had kids. Last week we went with all of our parents and had the most fun week ever!! The kids both loved the rides, the characters, the parades and fireworks....they got up early, stayed up late, took a few stroller naps when necessary and kept on going. It was so exciting for us to get to see the months (and I do mean every single day of those months) of Luke talking about disney world become reality for him. Luke says his favorite rides were Peter Pan, the Haunted Mansion, Snow White and Buzz light year. He cried all the way home from the airport telling us he wants to go back....I agree with Luke!

Luke's 1st ride at the Magic Kingdom - he was crying because as soon as we walked into the park, he spotted Pluto....Pluto was on his way out for a break and Luke got so upset that Pluto didn't stop to talk to him that he cried for a long time...not exactly the entrance we had hoped for!

Abby loved the characters from a safe distance, not up close!

Luke got dressed up as a pirate at the Pirate League...he refused to have his face painted, but agreed to a tatoo and the sword :-)

My little princess had to have her own princess dress, she was Cinderella :-)

Abby loved dancing at the Disney Playhouse show!

Oh no, those characters kept sneaking up on Abby!

We took Luke to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and it was awesome, he got dressed up and got to play games and get candy all over the park, and ride tons of rides because there were no lines!

Waving goodbye to characters in the parade the day we left :-(

Dewberry Farms

We took our annual trip to Dewberry Farms with our MOPS group, and we had a blast! I love outdoor field trips - my kids do best in an open environment where they can run, get dirty and be loud :-) They enjoyed seeing animals, picking pumpkins, climbing in the hay and playing with friends, I can't wait to go back next year!

Exploring and playing on the farm

Jessica joined us with Kate and Sterling, Luke had a great time playing with Sterling!

Casey and Aaron were able to enjoy the trip too! I think Casey and I were more excited than the babies though :-)

On the hayride to pick pumpkins, except there was no hay this year....too many allergies

Large inflatable areas where the kids can jump (not the mommies - which I found out when they nicely yelled at me that the inflatable were not designed for adults!)

My little monkey swinging from the rope at the haystack

What a great day!!

Just for fun, this is Luke and me when we came 2 years ago to our first Dewberry Farms visit...time goes by too fast!

Calgary

Last week, Vic had a work trip in Calgary for a conference he was attending, and I was able to tag along and leave the kids behind with their grandparents, yea! It was wonderful, the weather was beautiful and we just enjoyed having adult conversations, eating meals without anyone screaming or throwing food on the floor, and no diapers to change! I spent some time at the conference with Vic, well pretty much just to hear his presentation, which went really well. Other than that, we went to the Calgary zoo and spent an afternoon being driven into the foothills and having a nice dinner out with a coworker that lives in Calgary. We missed Luke and Abby, but it was amazing how a few days away made the kids seem so loud when we got back! We really do appreciate our parents being willing to watch the kids, it was such a nice break for us and hopefully our parents won't remember how worn out they were at the end of the week so they might be willing to do it again someday :-)

Downtown Calgary

In the foothills

At the Calgary Zoo, the changing colors of leaves were so pretty!

They had the Dinosaur Alive exhibit like we have right now in Houston, I took a few dinosaur pictures to show Luke :-)

Happy 1st Birthday Abigail!

Abigail turned 1 last Saturday on September 18th, I still can't believe it!! We had a fun day, we had all of her grandparents and a couple friends of ours come over. Abby ate pizza, cake and enjoyed opening her presents. She is definitely a little girl, she loves all of her new baby dolls and girly stuff!

Our birthday princess!

Abby has changed so much in a year, she is about 19 pounds (going for her check-up tomorrow for official stats) and still feels like a lightweight compared to Luke at that age! She has 3 top and 2 bottom teeth, she is still taking just a few steps at a time, but is getting more brave. Abby has always been a good sleeper, she sleeps for about 11 hours a night, and is transitioning to 1 afternoon nap of about 2 hours. She will give high fives, likes to clap and my favorite - she likes to give kisses!!! Abby is almost finished nursing and loves drinking from a cup, and her favorite foods are cheese, crackers, mexican food, spaghetti, and most fruit. Abby loves to play with baby dolls and girly stuff, but also loves Luke's cars and action figures. My favorite thing about Abby is that she is very social and enjoys the attention and affection of others, especially her big brother Luke! We are so blessed to have her, I love having a baby girl and Abigail has been everything I have hoped for!!

I made her cake, it was my first cake attempt and so much fun!

Abby seemed a little confused when we were singing Happy Birthday!

Abby loved her strawberry cake :-)

Abby's friend Kate really likes cake too, they were sharing very nicely!

Opening gifts - Abby loves her dolls, new dollhouse and doll accessories.

Did I mention Abby loves her baby dolls??