Lake McMurtry

If you know our family very well, then you know we are very outdoorsy folks! We love to play outside, eat outside and take adventures outside. We have had several "camping" trips to our backyard, where we pitch the tent and sleep overnight, but we've been near modern conveniences. In the spring, with friends, we overnighted on their land but we've never been to an actual campsite until a few weeks ago.

We loaded up and headed to McMurtry (just so happens to be where we got engaged!). Our campsite (there were only three camping sites being used this weekend, which we found ridiculous b/c the weather couldn't have been more perfect) ended up being right around the corner from our good friends, the Ramseys. We had smores together!

A few pics: Grant off exploring on the rocky wall at our site (it was a HUGE site, too, with a great area for fishing).
The boys preparing our campfire to roast our hot dogs and chili on! (disregard the blue lighter at his feet - I am just SURE that Jason got it all ready by rubbing two sticks together with his bare hands. wink wink).

Kyle was really into fishing at this spot. Grant could have cared less. I caught one and I think Kyle caught three. Jason was just busy putting worms on the lines, fixing broken lines, and putting the fish back in the water to fish much!

This shot was priceless. We had just finished unloading the car and getting settled. I look over and the boys had put their chairs next to each other and were just staring at the lake. Pretty much says it all to me! I LOVE that they LOVE each other, too!

Today

There will be a day when I look back on October 28, 2010, and laugh. I'm just not quite there yet... this has been one for the record books.

The following is just one teensy-weensy taste of our day:

Grant puked in the car. As we were cleaning him up at Jason's office, Kyle managed to find a phone and dial 9-1-1. And then our neighbor, who happened to be on duty, came to the office in his patrol car.

The bright spot of the day: Grant scored way above average in his elementary school's testing. Parent - teacher conferences were tonight, and the teacher had nothing but excellent things to say: from his reading ability, writing skills, counting, socialization, etc, etc, etc. He is thriving in his class in all aspects of his development!

Running pics

Here are the much-anticipated (!!) photos of Jason and Kyle in the Juke Joint Jog. You can see from the running ones how serious Kyle really was this year! Fear the Blonde!
This one is at the finish line - I am on one side and they are running in....
The runners!

and this is the start line (out of order). Jason is just smiling away with friends and then there is Mr. Serious Stride.

This was his favorite - Joe and Buffy!!!!

Dear Grant

Dear Grant,

• You snore so loud in the mornings that I can hear you from the bathroom doorway. Bless your heart!
• Your favorite thing about school is... why, of course - learning! followed by a close second of football on the playground.
• It's basically impossible to get you to sit still. Only when I want to do writing games or color or something will you actually sit at the table. Even at mealtime, you have one foot on the floor,... always ready to go.
• "Hey, Mom!" is your favorite thing to say, followed by "will you play _____ with me?" (insert any of the following: golf, soccer, catch, football, hockey, basketball, tennis) when you get out of the car from school, up until about 6:30 when it becomes "Hey, Dad!"
• Did you know that you have the prettiest skin and eyes and eyelashes I've ever seen? Even your teeth (those sweet little baby teeth that will soon be replaced by those HUGE ones from your x-ray) are pretty. :) you're my pretty boy! and a real "boy" at heart.
• I watched you today on the playground before our lunch date, and I saw you share the football several times with some other boys. that makes me proud ("that makes Jesus and Santa happy" is a quote Dad and I use sometimes to you guys).
• You could care less about your clothes. You wear whatever we lay out together the night before.

Just wanted you to know what is going on at 5 1/2 with your life! I love you so much!

Your Kissing Hand,

Mommy

New Determination

My baby (ha!) has a new found determination and leadership!

In the past month, it's like he has grown up - physically, emotionally, and mentally. He has a new attitude (less whiny) and asks to help set the table, etc, to be helpful around the house, and picks up without me asking.

Publicly, he is a spitfire. Here are a few recent things:

• The Juke Joint Jog - this was going to become an annual exercise event for us after our family family run last year. When it came to be the day of the race, Grant said he didn't want to do it, so I sat out with him, and Kyle was still full-force ready to run. He did SO much better than last year. The last .2 of the race, he ran as hard as his little body would take him to the finish line. Of course, everyone was cheering. I got a few pictures but couldn't swap over to video quick enough and still get pics. He was a DOLL!!!
• Fire Engine - we attend the public library story time every Monday. Being Fire Safety week, the firemen came out. Kyle, while raising his hand, informed everyone that he is supposed to go to the mailbox if his house gets on fire, and then whey they asked what to do if your clothes caught fire, he raised his hand and said "I"ll show ya!" and proceeded to stop, drop, and roll for the entire room. Outside, the firemen let all the kids spray the hose in to the parking lot (that was his highlight).
• Yoga Master - this is a phrase I am pretty sure would never come out of someone in my family. Kyle's preschool class has a certified yoga teacher, and she sometimes does yoga with the kids. At the Open House on Monday, Kyle was the only kid to go to the yoga area with the teacher and demonstrate for the teachers. Oh, how I wish I had my video camera! He was doing the Sun Salutation, Child's pose, Tree, and who knows what else with just the biggest smile! when we got home that night, he acted like he had never heard of the word 'yoga' and wouldn't do a thing! oh well... baby steps!

just had to document!

4th Annual Visit!

One of my husband's favorite things to do is to visit the Grider Farms pumpkin patch. Here are a few pics from Visit 2010.

and they are a-growing this year! We've decided the pumpkin patch is "a pattern" (thanks to Grant).... good year, bad year, good year, bad year! and this was a good year!

We hit the pumpkin patch the first of October. Wes and Anne asked to join us a few months ago as neither of them had done that before. Not so sure Wes enjoyed the whole farm life but Anne got in there and cut a few off the vine. :)

Come visit our house and office and see how pretty they look as decorations!

All Things Orange!

The season is now fall! In our home, that means it's All Orange All the Time! It has been great for our family to have season football tickets this year. It's the first year we have braved taking the boys, and 95% of the time, Grant is paying attention. Kyle is around 60%, and the rest of the time he can be satisfied to have popcorn in front of him!

The boys are Pistol Pete Partners. Below are pictures from a variety of weekend events - football player party, the game vs A&M, and just orange Friday attire!
Here's the view from our seats. We ended up being near friends so it worked out great! Family photo! The gal that took this ended up being the Stillwater Homecoming Queen the following night!!! and to make me feel really old, her mom was my advisor at OSU!

Playing tag outside the stadium (during the OSU comeback of the A&M game). I wanted to be INSIDE and not out... I just love the pure expressions on these faces below!

Dr. Pepper and Cute Boys. If you read one of my fav blogs, ihategreenbeans.com, then you will know why we took this shot!

Picture with G before going to the game!

Our 2010 shot with Pistol Pete. Probably the best one yet.

Playing on the football field during the Partners party. Fortunately, we got out there to play and were finished just about the time it downpoured (not the wet hair above).

So that's All Things Orange at our house!

September

UPdates haven't been too frequent lately. For that, I apologize! Guess life is just fun and busy (and it is taking incredibly long to upload photos lately so who really has time to sit for so long?!!?! I did discover how to make the photo size smaller so that should help... we'll see!)

Soccer and friends describes a lot of our time during September! Grant has just taken off and really enjoyed soccer. His teammates are mostly fellow Kindergartners at his school, and its been fun for him to talk about seeing them on the playground, cafeteria, etc. Our coach is just awesome, too - he is a parent, but has played soccer for 35 years, so Grant is actually LEARNING and not "just" exercising. It's a great season!
We have a great group of friends but don't often times get together, ALL together. It is usually a few moms and a few kids, or the dads are out golfing, etc. That is what is going on in this picture! Jason took three friends golfing so I had the families come over and we ordered pizza. It was fun for the kiddos to get together, but not so sure it was as of a relaxing evening for the moms as it was for the dads!!!

Let me introduce you to the new duo: Gyle. Gyle likes to scream each other's name when they see each other... even if it's only been 3 minutes of playing separately. and I mean scream. They are so unified when together that G's mom of Gyle gave them the nickname since they are inseparable. It fits. We had a photo shoot and this was the best shot.

Girls Weekend

My three besties in Stillwater and I went on a road trip a few weeks ago. We took one camera to capture the fun! However, Kristy beat me to the blog post, and hers is un-matchable, so why don't you just go read all about it for yourself! Click Here!