"Pumpkin Patch"

We went to two "pumpkin patches" yesterday. The parenthesis is because they don't seem to have the kind of pumpkin patches where you pick your own from the patch/field here. Anyway, the first one we went to was Pine Creek Christmas Tree Farm........it was 30 minutes away. We got there and there were only about 20 pumpkins in sight and the activities looked lame. It cost $4 a person to get in and extra for the activities. We turned around and left. At least the drive was scenic.
We ended up going to the small "pumpkin patch" 5 minutes down the road from us at Helotes Hill UMC. There were no activities but plenty of photo ops, more pumpkins, and it was free to go in.

School Projects, House Party, & Cute Avery

In the past month Allie has had to do 3 projects for school.........

They are learning about Communities for Social Studies right now. So each child was asked to choose a business here in Helotes and use a box to create it. She originally chose Sonic but about half of her class is doing that so she switched to Dairy Queen.

Each week someone at school is the line leader. When you are the line leader you are supposed to make a poster about your class and it hangs up in the classroom all week.

Allie's Dream Board 2012 {very similar to last years.......I guess she knows what she wants} Doesn't take after me, I'm so indecisive.

I recently got selected to host a House Party. I was so excited.......I love getting free things. This particular party is a "Kellogg's Rice Krispies Halloween House Party." I basically just have to throw a Halloween themed party and promote Kellogg's Rice Krispies. I received my box of goodies today.........!!!!

And finally, I just have to document something cute Avery said the other day on the way to school. "Mommy, do I look pretty?" Of course I said yes.........she's always adorable. "I think my teachers will like my shirt. They'll think it's pretty. I wanted to look pretty today because we are learning p-p-puh, P today."

And for fun........a picture she took of herself today.

We Miss Mony & Papa

It was so great to have my parents here for 10 days. It went by so fast though! I am extremely grateful for all of their help with the kids and the daily household duties. I think I got a nap in just about every day too. Being a "single mom" and having those duties all to myself was tough and exhausting. It's non-stop. While I am so thankful for all of their help I'm just happy that they could come and spend some time with us. After dropping them off at the airport, Allie cried just about the entire drive home........and Blake was waving and saying "buh" (bye) for 5-10 minutes after they left. Can't wait to see them again in a couple months!

at the hotel w/ Mony & Papa

It was very apparent that the kids had a lot of fun while they were here.......and were exhausted too. Blake took a 3 hour nap yesterday and Avery, who refused to go to bed, ended up falling asleep on the floor...

Sunday the kids had their Primary program at church. We weren't sure either of the girls would say their parts. Allie was really nervous and Avery is so unpredictable. Surprisingly, they both said their parts and they were fantastic! After church they wanted to put on their own program for us.........

***will someone please leave a comment and let me know if you can see these videos, thanks***

**notice Blake's mouth moving like he's singing too, lol**

American Girl Store & Gruene, TX

On our way home we stopped at the newly opened American Girl store in Houston. The girls were in heaven, especially Allie.

Then we went a little out of our way to meet up with my Mom & Dad's friends in Gruene and ate at one of our favorite Restaurants, The Gristmill Inn.

practicing her skipping

After we ate we stopped by the famous Gruene Hall. A lot of big time country stars perform here. Garth Brooks is actually going to be there sometime this fall. The movie "Michael" with John Travolta was also filmed here.

inside Gruene Hall

Schlitterbahn & Rainforest Cafe

The next day was spent at "Schlitterbomb", as Avery says, and dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Schlitterbahn is mainly an outdoor waterpark but the one in Galveston temporarily makes part of their park indoor during the fall/winter season. It was the perfect time to go because we had the place pretty much to ourselves. It was only a high of 60 that day.......colder in the morning. We had to go outside to get to some of the different areas. It wasn't bad though. We all had a lot of fun.

Dinner was a toss up between a hole in the wall place or Rainforest Cafe. I think we were leaning towards the hole in the wall until we passed the Rainforest Cafe which was way to cool looking to pass up.

We celebrated Derek's 30th birthday too!

he had to act like a gorilla or they wouldn't stop singing.