Christmas in October

It has been a busy month of house-guests, girl scouts, boy scouts, pumpkin patch and lots of fun....

Grandma came for a visit and had a great time going to see the kids at school..... 

After two weeks of Grandma being here, the kids and I went to the airport to pick up Nana....and Papa too!!!

Caroline's face when she realized that Papa we here too!!!

We ventured out to New Mexico for a visit at a farm and pumpkin patch.  Kind of strange going to a pumpkin patch when it's 80* outside, but when you live in the south, that's the way it goes :)

tryke races....

duck races....

hay ride!

pumpkin carving (sadly the pumpkins haven't lasted very long.....  it's too hot to carve them a week  before Halloween!)

And on to the tree.... 

With Joe being gone and possibly not being here before Christmas, I knew I was going to need some help getting the tree set up.  So, since Papa was here, that's what we did....  and the train too!

And since the tree was up, we stuck some Halloween stuff on it :)

Maybe next we'll do some turkeys for thanksgiving and then move on to Christmas eventually!  

Our little Boy Scout

We officially have a Tiger Scout in our house....  Nicholas just started Boy Scouts this month and so far he has really been enjoying it.  We got his little uniform (still need all the patches) and he loves wearing it.  It has been fun to see him excited about this. 



 

We had our first Den meeting last week and yesterday we had our first Boy Scout event.  It was the Rain-gutter Regata and each of the kids were given a small wooden sailboat kit to put together and decorate.  Then we all met in the morning and the boys got to race their boats against each other.  The trick was, they had to blow through a straw to get their boats to move down the gutters...

Nicholas and his boat...

practicing with his straw...

blow, Nicholas, blow!

He came in 3rd place for the Tiger Dens!!! (he wasn't so happy!)

Getting his patch for coming in the top 3!!!  He was bummed it wasn't 1st or 2nd, but I was proud of him for trying and doing as well as he did :)

These are some new Lego's Nicholas just got, and he wanted to take pictures of them so Daddy could see....

September

Here are some other pics of September Happenings...

The kids got fish....  M & M (caroline), Sergio (nicholas), and Fishy (molly). They were so excited to finally have a pet.  Sadly, Fishy #1 didn't last too long, but we were able to get Fishy #2 and Molly was happy.  

Molly and her friend Morgan checking out the fish...



Silly kiddos

One of my very best friends, Becky, made a trip down for a few days to come hang out with us. It was so wonderful seeing a friendly face.  This deployment is/has been an interesting adventure for me and the kiddos... and it was great to have a distraction and some adult company.  We had a few "happy-hours" together and she got to meet a couple of my new friends down here.  I hate how far away I am from some of my friends, but love that we can pick up where we left off whenever I do see them.....

Just after Becky left, Nicholas lost a tooth....  He always waits till the last minute and loses them while he's laying in bed....  not much prep time for the Tooth Fairy!

The kids school had "bring your daddy to school" day and thankfully another family with their daddy deployed had a great idea for the kids to take their Daddy Doll's with them to school.  The kids were happy that they were able to take part in this special day even if their daddy wasn't here to go with them to school. 

Silly Molly.... she has been obssessed with this hat for the last few weeks and will wear it with any outfit and in any weather (90* doesn't seem to bother her a bit!)

Alamagordo Balloon Glow

We ventured up to Alamagordo one afternoon to check out their Balloon Festival Evening Glow with some friends.  We have never been up there and the kids were excited to go check out some hot air ballons.  We packed some food and blankets and were ready to watch the balloons take off in the early night sky...   Sadly, this is all we saw of the ballons....

 It was supposedly too windy for the balloons to take off or even have the balloons on their baskets.  The people who did have their baskets out were kind enough to provide some entertainment for the kids and lit their fires on an off for about 20 minutes. 

Thankfully, the kids had fun hanging out with each other and running around!

Hatch Chili Festival

Yesterday we ventured up to Hatch, New Mexico for their annual Chili Festival.  Green chilis, especially, are a big thing around here, and Hatch is famous for thiers.  A couple weeks ago at the grocery store they got their annual delivery and would roast the chilis for you.  I had high hopes of getting some, however I had all 3 kids still and everytime we were near the store, the line was 30 people long....   anyway, I got my hands on some and have them in the freezer for anytime we need :)

The first thing we did was watch the parade... 

the kids picked up lots of candy along the way....

Nicholas wa impressed by this car!

Caroline & Taylor and all their loot!

brotherly/sisterly love... kind of :)

Roasted corn was a big hit...

the 3 m's...  Morgan, Madi, and Molly   {notice the read cheeks?  it was 100* out! And not a lot of shade for us to hide in!}

These two had lots of fun throughout the day

Aww.... a little corn love 

We went back to our friends after for a swim and "make your own pizza" dinner.  The kids and i were wiped out after a long day of fun!

Our new little "pet" that we picked up yesteday....

And it continues....

It's the weekend again, and Nicholas gets to sleep in "daddy's spot" in my bed.  {his spot is to the left of this picture..} We had a VERY long and busy and fun day yesterday.  The kids were tired....  I left Nicholas as he was getting his "spot" ready and went to tuck in Caroline.  When I came back to check on Nicholas, this is how I found him.  It looked as if he hadn't even made it under the covers and he certainly wasn't on his side.....  silly boy!