Building a Bridge with Grandpa 11-10-2009

So, Brett had this idea that he wanted Grandpa to help him build a bridge over the creek bed behind our house. Grandpa obliged and came over one afternoon to help Brett build his bridge. They found a dead tree and cut it down and then Jace and Grandpa used the come-along to pull it across the creek bed. Instant bridge!

Jace and Grandpa working the chain...
Jace and Brett riding the log...

Thoroughly enjoying themselves...

Jace on the bridge...

Brett crossing his bridge...

They had fun that afternoon...

Happy Rainy Fall! 11-08-2009

Look! We have fall leaves! In San Antonio! OK, so this is one vine that we didn't even know was there until it turned red in our backyard. I thought it was pretty, though, especially since we never see color in the fall here.
And when we left for church, it was kind of misty, rainy outside but definitely not pouring, and when we came out of church it was still rainy, a little harder than before, but nothing big. When we got home, the boys asked to go check the creek (we have a creek bed behind our house that is normally dry and they always want to check to see if water is in it every time it rains). Anyway, we found the water higher than we've seen it so we must have gotten plenty of rain while we were gone. The video isn't very good except that under my narration, you can hear the water, which is cool, but the main thing is that you can see the in-progress tree house!

Matt and Linz's first 5K run 11-07-2009

Matt and his sister, Lindsey, ran their first 5K! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the event, but we are all so proud of them for doing it. I don't think I could have finished one! Congratulations!

Update: HA! I found Matt's race number...so I have one picture from that day, even if it has no people in it!

Walking with Dinosaurs 11-07-2009

On Saturday, the my dad treated Jace, Brett and Kade to a show about dinosaurs that came to San Antonio. It's so fun when we get the cousins together, especially when they get along! The did so well...here they are in Grandpa's driveway running around before we left for the AT&T Center.
We got there kind of early, so we walked around and took pictures...here are the boys by the Walking with Dinosaurs poster...

Grandpa, Kade and Jace looking over the side of a "tower" we climbed at the AT&T Center...

I love this picture of Kade and Brett's backsides!

The view off the "tower"...

The kids LOVED the show, and I'll add more pictures from my dad's camera of the actual show after he sends them to me...it was really neat! Thanks, Grandpa!

Happy Halloween! 10-31-2009

Our Halloween didn't turn out the way we planned this year. My friends Margaret and Alisa invited our family to their annual Halloween party and trick-or-treating for the kids, but Brett got sick on Thursday and ran a fever until Saturday morning, so we decided he better stay home. So Jace and I were headed toward the Halloween festivities when we realized Jace had pink eye! Don't know how I missed that while spraying his hair black and putting a scar on his forhead, but I did...so, we decided we better not go, either.

But both boys did go trick-or-treat at Grandma's and our friends next door to them, the Boothe's. We got home, ate Chick-fil-a for dinner, put drops in Jace's eye (luckily I had some from last time he had pink eye), and then Matt took Jace to the neighborhood next to ours anyway because he was super sad about not going to the party and I put Brett to bed. Anyway, they both did get to dress up, but it wasn't how we planned it to be!!! Here they are in their costumes...

Jace as Harry Potter...good, huh?

Brett as Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars...same costume from last year, different name! I'm glad Jedi's generally dress the same!

My poor little guy...you can see it in his eyes that he just didn't feel great!

Halloween at Brett's School 10-29-2009

On Thursday before Halloween, they carved their pumpkin at Brett's school. All month, they took turns drawing faces on it with marker and leaving it for a few days, and then when it came time to carve, they each got to draw part of the face. Brett got to do the mouth, and I think he did a great job!
Here's Mrs. Elliott, Brett, the jack-o-lantern and Brett's friend, Anders.

Unfortunately, Brett got sick Thursday night, so he missed out on the Halloween party Friday! You'll get to hear our unfortunate Halloween story in the next post! HA!

Funny Blast from the Past

So, the other day, I was tidying up for our open house that we had for UBuildIt, and I ran across a sticky note in some piano music. It made me realize how "nice" we were to each other growing up! I thought Heather and Kat would have a laugh over this one...

Here's Heather's name in the "bubble letters" we all struggled to make well...and then at the bottom it says "so kick her!" I have no idea when this was written or in what context...it was probably us joking around but it's not very nice! Funny now, though!

Donimoes! 10-13-2009

The boys new favorite thing is setting up dominoes and knocking them down. It's a bit frustrating for them at times, but they've learned to be patient (which is good for them)! Here's Jace with a favorite design...

Jace's Bike Rodeo! Practice: 10-10-2009 Rodeo: 10-15-2009

OK...so here's Jace at his bike rodeo...Matt was awesome to take time off work to go since I was in Colorado visiting Kat!
Jace getting ready to go, talking to one of the volunteers...

And these are my favorites, and you'll see why in a second...these are of us practicing. Matt and I had planned to take the boys to ride bikes...on our way we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's to return a ladder we had borrowed. Well, when we got back in the truck, it wouldn't start (dead battery)! Matt ended up taking me and the boys and Grandma to practice (after Grandpa jumped the truck).

Jace riding...

Brett wants to practic, too...

And my favorite pictures...Grandma taking a turn on Jace's bike!

She's so cute!

Tetherball was a good idea until the ball hit him in the face...

So, we'll all take a turn on the swings!

We had fun in an unexpected way!

Pumpkin Patch with Brett's School 10-08-2009

We got to go the the pumpkin patch with Brett's little class early in October. I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Here's Brett checking out all the different kinds of pumpkins...here's the warty pumpkin
The veiny pumpkin...

The white pumpkin...

The kids with their faces in pumpkins!

Their favorite part...running through the rows of pumpkins!

More running...

All tuckered out...

And Anders, Isaac and Brett on the pumpkins...

They have a little story time about how pumpkins grow...

And then we got to go on a hay ride!

A little hay fight...

My friend Alisa, Anders' mom...

Mrs. Elliott with the prize-winning pumpkin...well, the one they voted to take home...

They had a great time!

Jace's First Pack Meeting 10-09-2009

So Jace had his first pack meeting for Cub Scouts in October. It went very well, even with Matt impromptuing the awards (thanks to his amazing wife who organized all the awards for him...yeah...). Here are some pics to describe the activity:

Here's the boys doing skits...this one was called "Invisible Bench" where the boys all went up one at a time and pretended to sit on this "bench" and then Jace was the last one and he came up and said, "What are you doing?" and the boys said, "Sitting on an invisible bench!" and Jace points behind them and says, "I thought it was over there!" and then all the boys fall on the floor...it was cute. I know the picture is dark...I thought it would be OK...but I'll fix it in the blog book...

Then they did the "Is it time?" one where they all have their legs crossed the same way and they pass down the line, "Is it time?" "Is it time?"...and then the last person says "Not yet!" 3 or 4 times...and then finally he says "Yes!" and they all cross their legs.

Getting ready for the pumpkin rolling relay race...

Brett was really good!

Even Grandpa participated (although he broke off the pumpkin stem)...

And of course Matt...

And then it was time for the awards...Jace got his Bobcat badge...

The bobcat badge can't be held upside down, so the scout has to be turned upside down so it can be pinned on right side up...then the scout can turn it the right way after they have done "a good turn"...or a good deed...

Matt's in his element...

My Jace...

And Jace was in charge of leading the flag ceremony...