Two Face

Taylor and Hunter got real creative with their pumpkin faces this year. Hunter decided he wanted to do Two Face. I must say he did a good job drawing it. Jake was nice enough to actually cut it out for him. And Taylor's is sticking out it's tongue. That seems to be the thing my kids do lately when I'm taking their pictures. I have tons of pictures with them sticking out their tongues. Pretty funny till I'm trying to get a good one of them. So it was appropriate that one of our pumpkins is sticking it's tongue out.

Pumpkins

Picking out pumpkins this year was not as exciting as it's been in the past. There were no fun little pumpkin patchs close by so we just went to the local nursery to buy some over priced pumpkins. They were nice and big and the kids liked them so I guess all is good. Next year we are definitely finding a pumpkin patch to go to.

Homecoming....we WON!!!

Have I mentioned football here in Texas is BIG!! YES, it is a BIG deal here. Yesterday was homecoming and there is a tradition here for homecoming that has to do with fake mums. Last year when we got here we had NO idea anything about mums other than they are a flower. WELL, we sure did have alot to learn! Apparently here in Texas mums play a HUGE part of the homecoming festivies. All the kids at school wear them. It is a BIG to do. There are stores here where you can buy the mums already made, partially made or you can buy the stuff to make them from scratch. The fake mums come in small, medium and large, and with one or more mums. It is just CRAZY. You don't just wear the mum, you have to adorn them with ribbons, teddybears, sports items, cheerleader items, band and choir items, anything that you want to make it personalized. You usually get them in your school colors, BUT if you are a senior you get to be really fancy and have a white and silver one. So of course wanting to get into the spirit of homecoming last year I made the kids mums to wear. Oh and the boys mums are on a garter by the way which they wear on their arms. Yes, even the elementary kids wear them. This year Jake didn't want to wear his, but the other kids did. Of course Amber had to have a senior one, so off to the mum store I went. And anyone who knows Princess Amber knows how much she LOVES the color pink so we had to throw alot of pink ribbons in it and of course a crown. It turned out really cute and she was especially pleased because hers was truly an orginal. Not only do the kids wear them to school, but they also wear them to the game. It is quite a tradition.




Mum making party....















It was a nice crisp night for the game. I do believe it was a sell out. They even opened up some of the visitor side seats for Forney because they ran out of seats on our side. We sat with some friends from the ward and had a great time. The half time show was really good. I did take some pictures of the other teams show, because even though they didn't have as many band members they were really good and their show was really good. Our band is big and good, but unfortunaly their performance while good, was a bit boring. After our team started off strong we fell behind by two touchdowns and were getting a bit nervous that we might lose. After half time they came back really motivated and won by two touchdowns. It was VERY exciting!!

F is for Forney

Amber has ALWAYS loved music and has always LOVED to sing. As she got older she didn't like to sing in front of us and so she mostly sang in her room or very quietly in the shower. Occasionally I would hear her singing and realized she had a really good voice and wanted her to sing more, but she wouldn't sing for us. I was thrilled when she decided to join the choir when she got to high school and we soon were going to concerts and finally able to hear her. She has stayed in choir all four years. We have enjoyed all the concerts we have attended and this year she lettered and got a jacket!! To be honest I had NO idea you could letter in choir. Tonight at the fall concert she was presented her Letterman's jacket. We are so excited for her. She CAN'T wait to wear it tomorrow. Thank goodness we are having a cold spell so she will be able to wear it and not sweat to death.
WAY TO GO AM!!

tailgating

Ok so football is REALLY big here in Texas. Our high school football stadium we think is pretty big, but apparently it is small compared to some of the other high schools. They even have reserved seats for season ticket holders. Can you believe it?? Last Friday was a home game and we tailgated before the game. We went with our friends whose daughter is Amber's bff and also performs at the halftime. We grilled hotdogs and hung out till the game started. It was a great time. Especially watching Jim and Penny put the legs on the little grill AFTER the charcoal was lit! It was a good game and the Jackrabbits were hoping to make it 6&0, but unfortunatly they lost. We had an interesting guy in front of us. We weren't quite sure if he was one of the refs planted in the staduim to see better or what! It was a toss up, what was better watching the game or him! Can't wait till next game.....GOOOOOO JACKRABBITS!!



Those are some good looking dogs!!

The unofficial staduim ref





Amber and BFF Carlie

Amber, Jake and Hunter after the game.

Yes, another birthday post!

Wow seems like all we do around here is celebrate birthdays!
Amber's birthday was this past weekend, the 11th to be exact. She turned 17!! Yes, I said 17!!! What the heck?! Aren't I still 17, how can I have a daughter that is as old as me?
Her friends came over at midnight so they could wake her up and be the first ones to wish her a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"!











They then all piled in the car and went to IHOP for breakfast. As you can see from the pictures, everyone was a bit sleepy! They eventually woke up and ate tons of pancakes, well Amber had the tradtional breakfast meal of chicken strips. I think that the people at IHOP were glad when we left. We tend to get a little loud!



HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY AMBER!










For dinner Amber wanted to go to Red Robin. Good choice!! The food was great and the service was fast.



Loving those birthday kisses!




Gotta love a Vickie's card!!

Annie are you alright?, Annie are you ok?...

Dave took a CPR class thru his work and was able to get a mini CPR kit and so he felt it was important that the kids should learn how to do CPR. It came with this SWEET little MiniAnnie doll, dvd, and some minikin wipes. Hunter had a little bit of a hard time doing the chest compressions at first, and choked MiniAnnie when he tried to do the breathing, but eventually he got the hang of it. We had fun learning how to do it, actually a little too much fun! Poor MiniAnnie.




















But my question is....Why do they make such chessy dvd's to go along with stuff like this and WHY did MiniAnnie have to be so homely?

Stay off the roads...Amber's driving!

Yes, folks Amber passed her driving permit test yesterday and she is on the road! My fellow Texans BEWARE! Actually, she is doing a great job and I've only had to grab the "OH GEEZ" stap once or twice so far. Of course I did have to rub it in when she went over the curb at the Sonic drive thru because she ALWAYS gets onto me for doing that. She is VERY excited and drives whenever we have to go anywhere. So, if you see us out and about and I'm missing some hair or have an unusual twitch you'll know why.
Congratulations Amber....you are on your way!


Her first "LEGAL" drive...Dave let her drive home from the DMV

Showing off her permit


Driving to Hunter's Soccer game, Taylor and Hunter are a tad bit scared!

Going thru the drive thru for the first time...ON THE CURB!

SNAKE!!!

Dave found this in our yard yesterday, in the bushes right by the house....AAHHHH!!!
It was about the size of an earth worm. We don't know what kind of snake it was, but I'm sure it was really mean! We kept him till the kids came home from school so they could see it and then Dave let it go. I'm just glad no one wanted to keep it as a pet!