Last Friday delivered a special, unfamiliar surprise to our doorstep... SNOW! We spent a festive, wintry afternoon playing in the snow after school was let out early. How fun to drink hot chocolate and wear thick warm socks with chilly wind howling outside; a true rarity for these here parts.
First few flakes flutter down:
Direct hit:
Brendan specifically requested the above title in honor of his soccer season coming to a close, and to match Caleb's similar post heading below. Here are some highlights from another great season:
Go Steelers! Great job Big B. We love you.
This year's family photo shoot was a success thanks to our friend Jim (www.jimboud.com). Here are some of our favorites. Wishing you a happy holiday season...
My sister and her husband just welcomed their first child into the family. He's so adorable, I couldn't resist posting a photo of little Emerson:
The Iron Chef, his assistant in training, and their 2 cute cupcakes hope you had a happy Halloween!
Not at all healthy, but OH so yummy...
2 packages chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
orange food coloring (optional)
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, mix cake mixes, eggs, and oil until well blended.
Drop 2 inch balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheets. Flatten balls slightly with a spoon.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until firm. Let stand on baking sheet for a few minutes after removing from oven.
To make filling, beat cream cheese, sugar, and orange coloring until very smooth.
Spread between 2 cooled cookies. Yum!
Inspiration and help from my extraordinarily talented friend led me to create matching dresses for the girls. Although I took out many seams and had to redo a few sections, I was suprised and pleased at the final product. I was so excited about the outcome that I even made matching hairbows. Having little Caleb there to whimper and crawl around me throughout the process extended the total finish time considerably; I'll probably wait a while before attempting it again. ;)
Columbus Day weekend marked our big camp trip to Garner State Park. The park is in Texas, about a 5 hour drive from us. What a terrific time we had! Our good friends came along and we enjoyed relaxing by the campfire, hiking to Crystal Cave, swimming in the extraordinarily clear Rio Frio (means "cold river" for those of you who may not immediately understand the spanish translation), playing in the misty forest, a full play production by the kids complete with stage curtains (beach towels on a rope) and a wooded backdrop, amazing food prepared in our outdoor kitchen, and swinging in the hammock. Camping seems to be so much work, but always so worth it to spend good quality time outside with wonderful people we love. 
The lego phenomenon has caught hold of the girls… especially Audrey. Brendan passed on his lego building wisdom and Audrey designed her own little village, complete with its own duck pond. These two architects would spend entire days creating structures if they could. Here is the latest of Audrey's creations:
This year we spent a relaxing Labor Day visiting Stewart Beach in Galveston. The sand, sun, and good friends provided an ideal play day for our four busybodies. Brendan and his buddies spent hours building in the sand; Audrey learned to boogie board with me; Madeline ran around with her cute girlfriends; while Caleb lounged in the mud and under the shade canopy with dad. Some of us mommies tried our hand at body surfing and had a blast playing in the waves, watching from afar as the dads did their best to keep track of all the kiddos. What a fun excursion!
We did receive several unfortunate sunburns, and spent the week rubbing aloe plant leaves all over our arms and backs (thanks Maren & Megan for your generous donations to the sunburn cause). We are now back in business and enthusiastically watching as the poor burned skin relics peel away. So very relieved to be done with the tender skin stage. One tip for future beach trips: sunscreen lotions work so much better than sprays!
