November + Two Thanksgivings

November was full of family activities! We hosted Thanksgiving with the Walker family a few weeks early when Corey and Amber were in town from Idaho.  While they were here we took a family outing to the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park.  It is the perfect aquarium for a large group of small children--not very big and lots of hands-on exhibits! 

We got to pet and feed sting rays at Sting Ray Bay outside. Poor Dax leaned in for a touch and got completely soaked! They splashed a lot on the surface.

Dax loves his Boston! He always asks for Boston and loves spending time with him.  Bossy is a good big cousin.

The Nydeggers came for a quick overnight visit, and Erin helped me with meal prep for the Walker Thanksgiving the next day (which I didn't get any pictures of, sadly!)

Not Thanksgiving-related, but just a classic example of what happens when I try to be domestic:

Jamie is the Cubmaster in our ward, so he got to present Boston with a belt loop at the last pack meeting. 

Thanksgiving week was spent mostly at my parents' house with  my whole family plus Mimi and Papa from Mississippi.  First things first: Auntie gave Avery a haircut! I have trimmed the back of her hair several times to keep the mullet under control, but Erin gave her a proper bob with layers and I couldn't love it any more!

Before:

During:

After:

More scenes from Thanksgiving:

Mimi and Papa were our honored guests! It is not easy for them to make the trip to Texas, but they keep making it work to spend time with us.  I am so glad my kids will have memories of spending time with their great-grandparents.

Mimi was so sweet and brought gifts for everyone.  The boys got bedtime story books and the little girls got dolls from her doll collection.  I have so many memories of being a little girl, playing with Mimi's dolls.  She was so thoughtful to pass some of them on to the great-granddaughters.  She gave Erin her thimble collection, and I received a ceramic tea pot that belonged to her mother, my great-grandmother Brannon.  Priceless treasures!

September

Some fun photos from September…heavy on the selfies for some reason!

Mommy and Avery ready for church:

We have been so blessed with good neighbors and friends since moving to Midlothian.  Our neighbor, Emma is the sweetest.  She is an only child and loves to play with our kids.  She is especially sweet to Avery! These girls got to come with us moms to get our nails done, and Avery even got a pedicure, which she thought was really special.

There is a little fishing pond in the neighborhood; we went to feed the ducks one night for Family Home Evening. 

School picture day! {4th and 1st grade}

We went to Corsicana to celebrate Papa's (60th!!) birthday.

The little ones and I enjoyed lots of picnics outside in the yard or at the park.  (Also, pretty sure I kept Sonic in business for a while there!)

One of the best things about moving to this new house is that the elementary school is in the neighborhood! I love that the boys ride their scooters to school; I just walk them to the corner in the mornings and meet them there after school. I also feel better knowing they aren't far away if something happened.  Every now and then we will go have lunch with them. Hudson and Avery feel pretty big having their own lunch boxes.  Hopefully this will help Hudson feel more comfortable starting kindergarten next year!

Another selfie with this girl…I have a lot of photo opportunities with her since she's pretty much always wherever I am. 

October Happenings: Halloween Week

I am kind of a Halloween Scrooge. I'm just not a big fan.  I definitely would skip right over it if I didn't have children.  But since I do, and there are so many of them, I will be celebrating Halloween FOR-EVER…

Don't worry, we did all the requisite Halloween activities.  This year we painted pumpkins rather than carving.  With how young they are, I feel like carving is not worth the effort.  Jamie ends up doing all the actual work, I have a huge mess to clean up, and they are over it in about 10 minutes. So we got some mini pumpkins and some glitter glue and decorated pumpkins for Family Home Evening this week.  Everyone liked it because they could do their own thing.  

Hudson was very focused on his globs-of-glue design. 

Avery's turned out the best with a little help from Daddy...

I helped put together our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday night. We just did trick-or-treating in the parking lot, with hot chocolate and finger foods.  Simple, but fun for everyone.  We threw together some costumes from our dress up bucket.  Boston was an Air Force Pilot, Cade was Bumblebee the Transformer, Hudson was a dinosaur (for the 3rd year in a row…he loves that costume!) and Avery was the cutest stinkin' cowgirl around. 

Ready to score some candy with friend, Jon

Avery and her bestie, Alice, aka Tinkerbell

Thursday I got to go with my favorite Kindergartener on his first field trip to a pumpkin farm.  I just love being involved with his class and getting to know his little friends.  He actually surprises me with how outgoing he is at school.  It didn't take him long at all to adjust to the school environment. 

Probably the worst possible spot for a class photo…staring straight into the sun!

Buddies Caleb and William.  William kept telling me, "Cade is my best friend!"

  

Everything was going along great until it was time for the corn maze. I was seriously having a mini panic attack.  I must have a touch of PTST, since last time I went through this corn maze I almost didn't make it out.  I'm not even joking.  

But don't worry, I made it out of that corn maze LIKE A CHAMP! {But let's be honest…I stayed with the group, and we were basically herded toward the exit by a farm employee.  Maybe they learned their lesson after a mom and 4 students got lost in the maze three years ago?} After that it was smooth sailing  for the rest of the trip. 

Cade said his favorite part of the field trip was…wait for it…the bus ride! Silly boy. I would have thought he'd say feeding the cow was his favorite part.  He was brave and got right up in there with his bread! 

IMG 5180 from ashley walker on Vimeo.

October Happenings: Odds and Ends

The little ones and I took a day trip to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch one day to meet Melinda and Dax there.  These little cousins love playing together.  Avery talks to Dax in a baby voice.  I have a feeling he'll catch up to her in size before too long!

This little farmer is deep in thought

Last weekend I worked an extra shift to help out, so Jamie headed to Plano with the kids for some more family time.  Avery scored a cupcake at Mawmaw's house! I think she looks like Hudson here.

We have been enjoying the cooler fall mornings with more time outside.  Avery and Hudson love when I get on the trampoline with them.  I like to just lay in the sun and take in the fresh air, but it usually ends in a dog pile on Mom.

He taught her his classic fingers-in-the-lips silly face pose