October Roundup

October was busy, busy, busy. I love this time of year, but the beginning of the holiday season also means we never seem to have a "normal" week with nothing going on. Our calendar has been pretty full! We had out of town guests twice this month, which was wonderful. One of my biggest hesitations about moving out to Amarillo was that we would feel isolated, but so far we've been lucky enough to have visitors every few months who are either just passing through, or who come to stay awhile. I have also started to make some good friends and normally meet up with people a few times a week so the kids can play while the moms chat.

Here are some October memories:

The kids had dentist appointments. We changed dentists because I didn't like the last one, and everything went well this time. Davey watched Sophie, who did awesome, and then he did very well during his turn. He was nervous, but we brought Yellow and I was able to sit on the chair with him and hold his hand. 

Davey is growing up and starting to fight naps more. He still needs them most days, even if he insists otherwise. It's amazing how fast he can go from crazy to sleeping if you can just get him to hold still for a few minutes.  Luckily I've also gotten really good at transferring from his car seat to his crib since he often falls asleep in the car. 

Charlie and daddy sleeping in

Fall weather is perfect for morning walks. Davey wanted a turn to push and ended up going a few blocks with the stroller before turning it back over to me. 

Both boys had cold at the beginning of the month, and then again at the end of the month. It's definitely the start of sick season, but I hope things will get better for us instead of worse. 

Davey colored himself at the library while I was picking out books. The librarian came and found me to tell me that he had stopped coloring his paper and had moved on to his face. 

Davey wanted me to make a pumpkin on the lite brite. I tried my best and it turned out recognizable!

One day our garage didn't raise all the way and I hit it with the top of the van while I was backing out to go get Sophie. Luckily I was able to push it up manually to get the car out and get to the school, and then we had a repairman come the next morning. He was able to just switch out the bottom panel that was damaged instead of the whole door - phew!

Third times the charm! We got another new rug. Our first rug was very nice, but shed everywhere and was too small. The next rug was too thin, hard to keep clean, and was already starting to look worn (it was cheap). I put a lot of research into our last rug (since Dave wouldn't let me order a fourth) and it is AMAZING! It's super plush and comfortable, doesn't show dirt, and looks great in our room. I love it!!

More Discovery Center fun. Can you tell we come here a lot? The employees all know us by now.  

Someone got a little turned around in bed during nap time

Davey loves to help me check out at Sam's Club with the scanner gun. He knows how to look for the "zebras" (barcodes) and then "beep" them. 

One day I came out of my room to this scene. He totally thought the pillow would hide the fact that he was eating a carton of strawberries on the couch.

Freddy's had 30 cent custard for their anniversary. We went over for bed time snack, and you should be able to tell from their faces how they enjoyed it :)

Charlie even let us sneak in a few bites before he realized what was going on and rejected the spoon

My friend and I signed up for a play group at the library in Canyon. It was on Fridays and they just had a big room of toys where you could play with your kids. Davey loved making "blue trains" but every time one of the cars would tip over he would stop the whole thing and put them up straight again. He's a bit of a neat freak like his mom :)

After library play time we would stop by to visit daddy on campus since we were in Canyon

Someone in the neighborhood decorated the fire hydrant in their yard for Halloween. We thought it was clever and the kids always like to keep their eye out for it when we were driving around. 

My gym is about a 15 minute walk from our house. One morning I decided to take the boys over in the stroller for my workout instead of the car. It was a nice walk over, but I was sooo tired for the walk home. Next time we went back to driving. 

Davey scattered the box of 200 hair ties while I was feeding Charlie. It's lucky he also likes to clean up. 

Sophie drew this picture for Davey to hang in his room. It's all of his favorite things. I don't know what all the objects are, but I thought the robot and dinosaur were cute. Sometimes she can be such a sweet sister. 

Sophie's kindergarten class went on a field trip to the pumpkin farm at the end of October and Dave was able to go with her as a chaperone. 

On the last Sunday before daylight savings ended, we went on a family walk to soak up the sun, since this time next week it will be dark. 

Video clips from October 2018

Our INCREDIBLE Halloween

This year we did an Incredibles theme for Halloween. With the new movie that came out this summer it was a popular costume choice, but we would have done it anyway because we had the perfect family set up - dad, mom, big sister, middle brother, and baby boy.

I chose to make our costumes again this year and spent a long time searching second hand stores for red clothing for the entire family. I had to resort to eBay to get a red sleeper for Charlie, but in the end I was able to find stuff for everyone. I also ordered iron-on logo transfers from eBay because I didn't want to attempt making them on my own. The last big piece was creating masks, which actually turned out to be way more challenging than I planned. It turns out I am no good at measuring faces, or cutting eye holes that actually align with a person's eyes, but they worked well enough for the short time we were wearing them.

We debuted our costumes at the ward Halloween party. It was actually a great costume theme because the red made it really easy to find everyone throughout the night. And there was no question about who the kids belonged to, so we let them wander freely, even Charlie! We brought his walker and he just cruised around the church gym looking at things. The YW were in charge of the carnival and party, so I was busy making sure everything was running smooth and didn't take many pictures, but it was a fun, successful night. 

Sophie with her friend Bodie, and Davey at the cupcake walk. I was helping him and it took us about 15 rounds before he finally won. 

We carved our pumpkins the day before Halloween this year. I let the kids choose what design the wanted and Davey requested Chase from Paw Patrol, and Sophie wanted a cat. I did a passable job on Chase, although his face got a little wonky near the end, and Grandmari did Sophie's cat. Both kids loved their pumpkin, and that's all that matters. 

Halloween night was very cold, but at least the forecasted rain never showed up. We bundled the kids up in coats, hats, and gloves before heading out into the neighborhood. The boys only lasted about 10 houses before Davey started asking to go home, so I took them back while Dave went around more with Sophie. They stayed out another hour before heading back to count up the candy. 

Sophie with our orange dinner of mac & cheese, carrots, baby oranges, and orange jello

Our house decorated for Halloween. We live at the end of a dark court, so I tried to make our house bright and fun so people would know we are there.

Happy Halloween 2018!!

First Trip to Palo Duro Canyon

We had some beautiful weather right before Halloween and decided it was a great time to finally venture out to the canyon. We've lived here for over a year now, but had never made the trip out because I didn't feel confident enough to take the kids out for the first time on my own. On Monday, however, I was able to go with a friend and a group of her friends who knew the area and could show us around a bit.

Palo Duro is the second largest canyon in the United States, after the "Grand" one of course, and although there is no comparison between the two, it is pretty great compared to the flatness of Amarillo. When we arrived, we stopped at one of the scenic lookouts to admire the view and meet up with the rest of our group. Davey has no memories of our time in Utah surrounded by mountains, so this was pretty amazing to him. He was excited that we were going to go "down into the deep" for our hike.

Overlooking the canyon with his friend Jaxon

View from the Visitor's Center. We only stopped in to use the restroom, but next time we'll give ourselves a little more time to look at some of the displays. 

Our group decided we were going to hike the "little cave," which is something I never would have found on my own. It's not on the map and the trail was not marked. I'm so glad I was able to find friends to go with! It was a easy hike to the cave, although Davey took awhile to work up the courage to walk without holding on to my hand. He hasn't done much hiking and the uneven ground and sand made him nervous. All the red rocks were beautiful and it almost felt like we were in Southern Utah instead of Texas. 

Our group had 9 kids and 4 adults. Here are the 6 "big" kids and then we had 3 babies in packs.

I didn't take any photos while we were climbing through the caves because I needed to use my phone as a flashlight and it was hard work moving through with Charlie on my front, and dragging Davey. We made it though! The photo below was after emerging from the longest tunnel section. The cave was an upward climb, so after we reached the top we went back down on the surface of the hill. There was lots of loose rock and Davey kept slipping. I was holding him, so he never fell, but it made him a bit panicky and at one point he refused to keep moving. Thankfully there was another mom there that wasn't carrying a baby, and she was able to take him and guide him to the bottom. Strength in numbers!!

Davey was very happy when he reached the bottom, as was I. Carrying 20 pounds of Charlie was starting to get tiring!

After our hike we let the boys run around and throw rocks. Davey had a fantastic time, but I eventually had to pull him away so we could hike back to the car to eat lunch before heading home. 

One last view before leaving - I'm glad we finally made the trip out there. I can't wait to go back!