Faith, Trust and a little Pixiedust!

Elizabeth with her pixiedust

I'm not dead and I didn't forget about you guys.  I'm sorry I've ignored this blog for so long.  I just keep getting distracted and not posting much.  There are a bunch of things I want to write about and I hope I don't forget anything, but I guess if I do I can always write another post.  Sorry this is a little disjointed.


Poor Jeff had a hard week last week.  He was so sick he came home on Monday and stayed home on Tuesday.  We got a ton of rain last week so when he got back to work the mine was flooded and one of the roads was washed out and a bunch of other issues were going on that he is working on fixing.  He worked so late he almost missed trick or treating with the kids on Halloween and worked most of the weekend.  I've almost forgotten what he looks like!  Poor guy is working so hard!

This year for Halloween Jason decided he wanted to be an Astronaut.  Elizabeth had been telling us for months she wanted to be Cinderella, then about a week ahead of time she saw me get her a pair of dress up wings as part of her Christmas present and decided she wanted to me a butterfly.  I was finally able to convince her she was going to be Cinderella and she happily went trick or treating.  We started at the town's "Boo on the square"  which was kind of a bust because it had been rescheduled from the night before so there was only one person there handing out candy.  So we headed back home to trick or treat around our neighborhood.  Jason practically ran from house to house and I had to tell him a few times to wait for Elizabeth and I.  After we got home Elizabeth was mad that I was handing out candy thinking it was from her stash.  We did finally get them back to bed a little late.


Dressing up has been a theme for Elizabeth lately.  She loved to wear her Cinderella dress before Halloween and is pretty excited for the wings and pink dress she saw me get.  The day after Halloween went to the Target in Waco to get discounted costumes.  I got her Belle, Minnie Mouse, a Doctor, a Cowgirl, a Fireman and some heeled shoes.  All those things are going to make an amazing dress up stash she will get at Christmas.  When we were looking around for Jason's astronaut costume we were in a Halloween store and Elizabeth fell in love with a bag of pixiedust.  She has worn it for about the last month and always wants to know where it is!

I had another stint there where I tried out a bunch of new hairstyles on Elizabeth.  Some looked cute at first then fell out after a few hours and some just didn't turn out the way I thought they would.  At least it was something new to see.



We have been exploring Texas a bunch over the past month.  We went to the Aquarium in Austin and Camping near Temple.  We visited a military museum in Austin with Aunt Michelle and visited the Zoo in Waco with cousins that moved to the area.  One of the most exciting trips was one I took in the middle of the night.  Jeff has cousins that moved to Fort Hood, about 3 hours from us, and the wife, Sarah, was pregnant with their second daughter.  I agreed to watch their older daughter, 3 year old Rachel, when she went into labor.  I got a call in the middle of the night one Sunday that it was happening and I had nighttime adventure picking Rachel up.  We got to meet the new little baby, Riley when we were most recently camping near Temple. 
Waco Zoo with Rachel:




Austin Aquarium:

Jason said this was his favorite

I thought this one was my favorite until I read that it was a Piranha



We pet the stingrays

Military Museum:







Baby Riley:


does he look like he is ready for another one?

I'll try to make sure it isn't so long before I post again.  By the way, it's only 50 days until Christmas, YAY!

birthday, school, sewing and hair

We are getting into the swing of fall even if the weather is still in the 90s.  It seems like Jeff and I are always ringing in our birthday at his parents house and this year we were in some good company.  Jeff's cousin was graduating from basic training in the area so his wife and their precious 3 year old little girl came down to see him.  The kids also had a great time seeing Great Grandma, who came in from Florida.  They will actually be moving closer to us soon so I hope we will get to work out some play dates.  I completely forgot to take my camera out except for when we opened our gifts from each other so I didn't get many family photos.

When we got home the kids were ready to get out some energy and dance!  Good thing we received the gifts from my parents.  Jeff hooked up this nifty gift (can you tell I don't know the name?) to the stereo and was able to play music from his phone where ever he was in the house.  I got a rapid strap for my camera so I could zing my camera right up to my face to quickly capture the moment.  Jeff doesn't understand why it's so great, but I am in love!

 

 

The very next day Jason was off to his first day of preschool for the year.  I can't believe this time next year we will be getting ready to send him to kindergarten and Elizabeth to preschool!  They are growing up so fast!  He was so excited to be going back and thrilled he had the same teacher as last year.  Mrs. Ashley has 4 boys of her own so she knows how to handle a class full of them! 

A little while ago I told Jeff that I thought I might be putting sewing on the backburner because I wasn't feeling the urge to do it right now.  Of course he knows me so well and got me new scissors anyway and he was right.  The first week we were back I finished up 5 projects I had been thinking about for a while.  I finished a pillowcase dress and bandana skirt for Elizabeth, a new water resistant apron for both Elizabeth and I and some Mickey Mouse shorts for Jason.  I will need some more fabric for the next few projects I have in mind so I am taking a little break now to tidy up the craft room and organize, but I'm sure I'll be back at it soon! 

 

The final bit of news is we had one of Elizabeth's last firsts on Saturday!  Elizabeth got her first haircut!  Her hair was starting to look a little ragged at the ends.  Although you can't tell from the photo below the front was a few inches shorter than the back and when you're only 3 feet tall a few inches makes a big difference.  I cut it myself and it isn't even lopsided.  She was so good and sat very still talking to her Daddy.  It seems to not really have phased her in anyway, but I think it makes her look so much more grown up!

Whew!  New ages, new school year, new clothes and a new haircut!  I guess we have been going through a ton of changes in the past couple of weeks and we seem to be adjusting well!  I'll leave you with another adorable photo of our pretty girl.

 

August review

 

Maybe I should do what some other bloggers do and just announce I am going to take a break over the summer.  I never seem to keep up with writing very much during the summer months and it isn't for a lack of doing things.  Many of the weeks we spent at home, but we went camping a couple of weekends and loved spending time together as a family

 

 

 We headed down to Austin for a long weekend and checked out the capital.  The kids had a bit of trouble walking around the capital building because it didn't hold much to entertain them, but we did find a few things they enjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

That evening Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Michelle came up from San Antonio and we hiked around McKinney Falls.  After that we visited Zilker Park in downtown Austin to swim in the springfed lake.  We knew it was supposed to be cold, but we were shocked at just how cold it was.  We all got quite a shock as we jumped in and Elizabeth begged for us to get her back out.  After we got in we were told we could not have the kids with the life jackets in that area and needed to move down to the end of the pool which would have been a good area to start since it was much shallower there and the kids could stand when it wasn't too slippery with algae.  It was also much warmer in the shallow area and if we were to go again I think that is where we should set up camp.







While we were at home we have been finding ways to entertain ourselves.  Elizabeth got Daddy to play princesses with her and lately has taken to wearing her Cinderella dress any occasion we let her.  We have kept cool by playing in the pool quite a bit.  Elizabeth has learned how to swim by herself with her life vest on, of course we are always close by to help her and keep a good eye on her.  Jason has recently found he loves jump and be thrown into the water.  Unfortunately life isn't always fun and games, Miss Elizabeth is the average two year old who is prone to tantrums.  The one that I took a photo of below was because she wanted something to eat.  Notice the plate full of food in front of her.











The weekend before Labor Day weekend we took a last minute trip to Galveston.  We enjoyed the beach and the water was so warm, but I was too afraid to bring my big camera and get any good photos.  The next morning we went to the railroad museum and although it wasn't the best one we have been to the kids enjoyed it.  The next day we decided to see the Bishop's Palace.  It looked beautiful from the outside, but we were disappointed that there was very little furniture and not much history on the family that lived in the house to help you connect to them.  Elizabeth was not very happy with the Palace at all, although it had more to do with not being able to walk around by herself and touch every thing.  I believe we provided good birth control for everyone who visited that day.  After we left the Palace we walked around the neighborhood a bit and got to see some of the other lovely houses.











This post has gotten too long already, but I will be sure to talk about our birthday, our trip to San Antonio and Jason's first day of pre-K in the next post.