We had a real good time.

This past weekend we went to Austin to celebrate my friend Caroline's 30th birthday.  Caroline and I met in high school, but reconnected after we found our kids were only 7 days apart.  We get to watch our kids grow up now, which is so fun, and because of her I have met so many great girls that I consider great friends!  We had an amazing time, tasted some delicious wines and ate way too much yummy food.  My kind of birthday bash!!

Caroline and Mark have a favorite winery just outside of Austin, the Duchman Vineyards and Trattoria Lissina Restaurant.  We were treated to a wine tasting that featured the vineyards top 5 wines.  They were delicious, and we were able to learn all about the process of wine making.

Once we were done, we headed outside to play a little Bocce ball and wait for our dinner reservations.  The grounds were amazing.  We took advantage and had a few photo shoots...

The restaurant

The guys

The girls

Everyone

Stephen and I

The vines

Once our reservations were ready, the rowdy bunch headed in.  Stephen and I sat by the Robisons and Williams, and we laughed hysterically and ate enough for the week.  I'm so thankful for such great friends!

Alice and I

The birthday girl and her birthday dessert

The table

And our dessert...yummo!

A year and a half...

State Fair of Texas

It's been a family tradition since I can remember that we go to the State Fair while it's running.  Even when Stephen and I lived in Belgium, I came home during October and made it.  This year was no different, except that we barely made it...on the very last day.

Knox had a stomach bug all weekend, so I didn't know if he would make it or not.  He definitely wasn't his normal happy self, and we didn't stay too long, but I think he had a good time with what we did do.

We rode the DART, which was good and bad.  We didn't have to pay for parking or gas, but it took us about 2 hours more than it would have driving (both ways of course).  Once we were on the grounds, we started by taking pictures near big Tex.  His voice has changed, and he sports Dickies instead of Levi's, but he's still Tex.  Knox only got excited about him once he was on Dad's shoulders.

We then headed over to the petting zoo and dog show.  Knox wasn't thrilled about the petting zoo, mainly because the animals that he could touch were enormous, and I think he would have preferred to be left to his own devices.  Unfortunately, it felt like everyone at the fair was in the cramped zoo...so we didn't spend too much time there.

The dog show was great.  We weren't very close to the action, and the dogs were running and jumping at warp speed, so my pictures are all mostly blurry.  Knox loved it.  They had dogs that chased frisbees, dogs that long-jumped into the water, and jack russell races.  Most of the time he looked like this:

And saw things like this:

Once we grabbed lunch, we headed to the cars.  This was BY FAR his favorite part of the fair.  Really, it's his favorite part of any day.  From the moment he wakes up he asks about cars, points at cars and wants to watch the movie "Cars." So, we figured he'd enjoy the car show.

And we even ran into some friends.  Katie and Matt were there with sweet Caleb.  Knox loved trying to put Caleb's paci in :)

And then it was back to driving cars.  He drove SUV's, sports cars, Hybrid's and even a minivan.  He was in heaven.  Here he is mid-word..."Vroooooom."

 We already can't wait until next year.  They have so many fun things for the kiddos...he's going to be in heaven.

A day in the life of Knox.

 

He's a pretty lucky kid!  

(these were all taken with my iPhone, sorry for the quality)

Boo!

My friend Amanda recently framed some of her daughter's artwork, and it got me thinking.  I'd really like to showcase some of Knox's cute doodles, and I could probably just switch it out in the same frame to keep it current.  Hobby Lobby always comes through, and I was able to get all of our materials on the cheap.

I started by using black construction paper, and cut a ghost out of white to use as a guide.

Knox was most interested in putting the glue in his mouth at first, hence the paci.  

Then he realized how fun the pom poms were.  These ended up all over the living room floor.

See?

I glued a couple down to show him how.  I was really surprised that he was able to copy and do it himself, though his aim was a bit off at the start.

Then he wanted to just throw the balls to land on the glue.  He was actually semi-accurate with this technique.

And in the end I decided to let him go to town with the glue.  The OCD side of me didn't want him to ruin it.  I mean, who's craft project was this?  I am going to have to chill out on the next projects and just let him have his way with it.  To my surprise (again), he knew exactly what to do because he had watched me do it first.  Incredible how able he is.

 Stephen reminded me that it's not meant to be perfect, it's meant to be his.  I'm sure his Thanksgiving piece will reflect that.

I thought the final product was pretty cute.  I added the "boo!" before hanging it in our kitchen.  Can't wait to see how his art changes month-to-month!

Pumpkins

We recently went to the Arboretum.  It's gorgeous this time of year, with tens of thousands of pumpkins to take cute pictures of your littles...if they cooperate.  Unfortunately Knox was having a "no smile" kind of day.  We'll just have to go again and hope for some with his cheeky grin.

He loved walking in and out of the goard house.

This is completely over-exposed, but I had to include it because he did this the entire time...picking them up and not-so-gently setting them down.

He wandered aimlessly among the different patches of pumpkins.  I was sweating.

And the only shot where he looked at me.

Don't let the pictures fool you...he had a great time.  We'll be back.

Cheers!

If we're friends on Facebook, you've already seen this.

I think it's too cute not to post, though!  Love him.

Mo, Mo!

I made blueberry muffins for the first time in a few months.  We (I) got a little lazy and have just been doing bananas and nutragrain bars in the mornings, and I figured we all needed a change. 

Well...that has backfired in a way.  All I hear all day is "Mo, MO!" (more) coming from the kitchen...

He's obsessed.  It's a good thing that he likes them, I just might have to find a new place for them to hang out during the day to stop the torture.

Since I had my camera out I snapped a few other close ups of my little guy.  I chopped his hair off, and daddy and I have cutter's remorse.  We know now we prefer the shaggy mullet, crazy as that sounds.  When I spike it up it looks fine, but as is it's a little silly looking.  It grows, though, right?  Hopefully fast!

 

Yummy.  Pretzels.

Adventures in Fall decor

I was so excited to decorate for the Fall.  I had found some pinspiration, and set out to make the porch look warm and inviting...

Now it looks like a crime scene.

Yes, the squirrel escaped with my ear of corn.  It was the last of the 6.  Sad.