Halloween around our house...

Just thought I would show you a bit of what Halloween is around our house...

I buy good candy for the trick-or-treaters...

I planned to do lots of Halloween crafts this year...didn't work out, luckily a friend had this cute hand print bat craft all set-up for the kids.  Love it.

I did break out the sewing machine and whip up this adorable table runner that I have on my island in the kitchen...

Got the plan from here.  And that was the extent of any craftiness that went on.  Oh well, maybe next year...

On second thought, the boys costumes (well, really just Connor's) took a little creativity and craftiness.  The boys decided (okay, Connor decided) they were doing to dress up as Woody & Buzz from Toy Story.  Connor was dead set on being the cowboy, so I set out to make his shirt, which included finding a plain white button down shirt, dying it yellow, then hand drawing every single plaid line!  Talk about tedious.  But I think it turned out pretty cute.  And made the vest.  Well, actually Grandma did that part!  And love his hat, Wranglers, belt buckle, and boots.  He loves his costume.  So sweet.

Just look at him...

And here is our sweet little Buzz Lightyear...

So adorable. Both of them.  We had my MOMS Club Halloween Party this afternoon.  It was a huge hit and lots of fun.  I took pictures with my good camera, so I will upload those and post more pictures soon.  Promise.  But for now, camera phone pictures will have to do!

And tonight after eating tons of cookies and sweets, Dylan asked for a banana, so we sat at the table and here is what he did.  Love it...he cracks me up!  (Obviously from all my laughter from the video...again, sorry for the annoying loudness!)

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State Fair of Texas!

Obviously, I love love love the fair.  Nope, not for the rides, but for the FOOD!  I finally talked Chris into going a couple of weeks ago.  And for some reason, it ended up being late Friday afternoon.  It was full of teens!  And busy.  But I think it is always busy.  We hit up the Fletcher's corn dog stand right away.  So yummy!  We all shared a couple of delicious corn dogs.  Then, found some relatively cheap Shiner Bock on tap, gotta keep Chris happy while I eat my way through the fair ;-) We also had a blooming onion, some fries, and ice cream sandwhiches.  YUM.  But my FAVORITE thing was the deep fried Snickers bar!  It was the best treat ever.  If I could figure out to make it, I might have one everyday.  But since that is highly unlikely, I will just continue to keep my stash in the freezer!  Mimmm...I love frozen Snickers!

And you can't miss BIG Tex...

We walked through the chickens, the boys were fascinated with them.  And I couldn't help but want a chicken coop of my own!  Ahh, fresh eggs every morning!  And they were SO pretty too.

We got to see the Texas Tech semi truck pull in, we couldn't help but imagine the Cougars having a big truck like that, lol. 

Then a few minutes later we saw the Baylor semi truck.  Pretty cool.

And before we left, I had to take a quick shot of the Ferris Wheel.  So pretty lit up at night with the lights of the Midway below.  Love it.


The boys didn't want to ride any rides, so we just made it about the food this year.  Pretty sure one day they will be begging to go on the rides!

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St. Louis Pumpkin Brew 5K

Last weekend, I took a quick trip back to St. Louis to see some friends.  All by myself.  Traveling by myself was easy and painless.  But I felt like I was always forgetting something or someone.  And it was quiet.  LOL.  I had a great time.  

First of all,  I love St. Louis.  Just look at this amazing arch.  Love it.

And I talked Kelly & Cheryl into doing this fun 5k race with me.  I had never ran with either one of them, so I was excited.

Kelly wanted to finish in around 30 minutes and Cheryl had set a goal of 28 minutes.  I was just excited to run.  So, we set off and ended up running a lot faster than originally planned, but I felt great.  Kelly was thinking bad thoughts about me the entire race since I told her not to bring her iPod and that I would talk the entire race.  Oops, sorry Kel.  We got separated at the start.  However, Cheryl got to listen to me talk for the first 2.5 miles.  Here is how I finished: time of 25 minutes and 28 seconds.  I came in 6th in my age group, 68th overall out of 438 people.  It was a pretty flat course and a lot of fun. 

After the race beer...YUM!

Then I met up with some of my favorite girls for margaritas and Mexican food.  What a great night catching up with everyone.

 Such a fun weekend catching up with friends and hanging out.  I sure missed my boys though.

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Pumpkins galore...

We went back to the Dallas Arboretum a couple weeks ago and then went to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins...so fun for the boys!

WOW!  Sorry for all the photos, I just couldn't decide and they are all so cute.  And the blog was overdue for some cuteness ;-)

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Fire Station Tour

With our MOMS Group, we scheduled a field trip to a local Fire Station.  With the older kids in school, it left all the young ones, which as you know, can be hit or miss!  And all the kids were wonderful!  We had a great time, the kiddos were wonderful, and I think we may have learned a few things ;-)

Of course, I took a few pictures...

This might just be one of my favorite pictures of Dylan.  Love it!

Connor loved the truck and had even more fun honking the horn on the BIG fire truck!

And getting a group shot of most of the kids was nearly impossible...but still cute ;-)

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'Easy' Week!

It is officially my 'easy' week this week!  This was not planned, but apparently it was very needed.  After Saturday's race, Sunday morning, I met Lesley & Robin (my crazy marathon training friends) to run at 5am on Sunday.  We did 14.5 miles, which happens to be my longest distance to date.  I was hurting!  My legs (well, really just my right one) was rebelling.  I could breath just fine, but legs were done for.  I have spent all week icing and taking hot baths.  I feel much better now.  So, to make all my friends & family who have told me to take a break, give my body a rest, you were right.  And I did.  Hopefully next week will be back to normal.

And today I got my Road ID ankle bracelet in the mail.  I ordered it last week.  It has my personal info on it as well as 2 emergency contact people, just in case anything should ever happen while I am running.  Makes me feel a little safer.  And they come in cool colors, of course, I picked pink. No surprise there ;-)

I promise to post some cute pictures of the boys very soon.  Even I am sick of all these pictures of myself ;-)

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Vineyard 5k Race

For the first time, I set a goal for my race.  I was determined to run the 3.1 miles in under 26 minutes.  My last 5k race I completed in 29 minutes, so I was hoping to shave off 3 minutes.  A pretty big goal. 

Well, even though the start was a little intimidating and there were 2 HUGE hills, I made my goal!!!  I crossed the finish line in an amazing 24 minutes and 25 seconds!!!  Woohoo!  I was SO excited.  And amazed.  Apparently, free wine tasting is a great incentive for me to run real fast ;-) 

Here are the results:  Time of 24:25, which is 7:52 pace.  I came in #119 out of 1,218 people.  #5 in my age group.  Very happy with my results today.  It was a fun race.  I ran with Becky again for a majority of the race.  Started with Lesley, but got lost at the starting line.  Since it was an out and back course,  I was able to see her and cheer for her on the course.  And I saw 2 other friends out today as well, Maurea and Heather!  So fun to see so many friends out running!  I love it!!!

And of course, there are pictures...

Pre-race photo with the grape vines in the background.  It was a chilly morning.

 

 The start...holy moly there were a lot of people!!!

You can kind of see me crossing the finish line...

And then after the race, having a little wine...we earned it!

Andy & Becky had invited us over to their house after the race for some amazing smoked pork!  What a great lunch.  So, we bought a bottle of Sweet Texas Red from Delaney Vineyards to have with lunch.  It was like a red dessert wine.  Yummy!  Lunch was great, wine was good (so was the beer), and company was amazing!

Becky & I even took a quick dip in their pool.  I mean, who could resist this...

What a fun day!  And thanks to my 3 favorite boys who came to cheer me on!  Love you lots!  I am a little sad that I don't have another race next weekend.  Today was the fourth weekend of races in a row.  I think I am officially addicted ;-)

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