13 years...

Sweet Gracie has been a part of my life for 13 years now.  Crazy to think it has been that long.  She survived college, marriage, Belgium and all of Europe (yes, she has an active passport) and Knox.  She is currently surviving Finn, though she's not a huge fan of this new addition so late in life.

I know it's crazy, and I know she's just a dog, but she's more than that.  She's family.  She has been there through the happiest and toughest parts of my life, and I can't imagine life without her.  Seeing Knox love her just as much as I do is the icing on the cake.

All day yesterday he would ask "Where is the birthday girl?," seek her out and give her hugs and kisses.  All day.  She felt loved, and she LOVED her scrambled birthday eggs.

We love you, Gracie dog!  Happy 13th!

Thankful Craft

One last November post...I forgot to blog about our Thankful craft this year.  We did a pretty similar one to last year's tree (see it here), just gave him a little more creative freedom this time.

I found a blog post somewhere in the land of the internet where the mom let the kids blow watercolors to make fun abstract art.  I thought it would be a cool way to get the tree drawn instead of me just doing it.  He LOVED getting to blow the paint all over the paper, but we had a few spit globs as a result.

All in all, he had a great time doing both the tree and leaves, and I think it's adorable!

(all pics are from my phone, so ignore the grainy texture)

Finley

Sweet Finn entered the world on October 7th.  I feel sure she gave her mom a run for her money from the get-go.  She's spunky, on-the-go and full of life.  As much trouble as she can be, she sure is the cutest dog ever!

Knox was so excited to go get her.  We coordinated with her owners to grab her the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  We figured we would have a few days to let her acclimate before meeting all of her extended family while we hosted Thanksgiving over here.

We had a few solid days of rain in Austin, and her owners have an outdoor kennel that they use for the puppies and their parents.  To say she was muddy and a little stinky would be an understatement.  We got her home and promptly gave her a warm bath.  Knox had to be in the mix...

Once she was cleaned up, we directed her to her new bed in the living room and she had her first siesta.

I mean...can she be any cuter???

Knox woke her up, and we've been working on this ever since...if she's sleeping, do NOT disturb.  I'm thinking this will be a good lesson once the baby arrives.  We NEVER wake sleeping babies :)

Since her arrival, she has been a really good dog.  Sure, she's had a few mistakes on the journey of potty training, but WAY less than I had anticipated.  She doesn't cry in her crate and goes back to sleep right away when we wake her in the middle of the night to go potty.  She listens pretty well when reprimanded for biting or chewing on one of Knox's toys, and we're starting to train her in the art of sitting, staying and fetching.  Stay tuned on our progress!

She fits right in, and Gracie and Bella have taken to her pretty easily.  Can't ask for much more!

Snuggling Blakely

Working out with Daddy

Her favorite game...chasing Knox and biting his pant legs

Being sweet to her sisters

Knox pretending to sleep alongside her...they really are besties!

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a great Thanksgiving, full of family and friends and the occasional puppy snuggle.

The festivities started with Knox's class feast.  He was so excited to show me his headdress, and loved having me in class while he at lunch.  

Caught him peeking during the prayer

Getting his grub on at his table

Running Horse

His cute Turkey placemat

Mid-cupcake stache (and the wattle (yes, I googled it's name) was in red icing, so it looks like he's bleeding)

We're very thankful for his teachers and his school...so we had to shower them with some yumminess!

His class cupcakes...see the wattle?

For Thanksgiving, we hosted the lunch at our house.  It was as crazy as you can imagine with 11 adults and 8 kids under 6, but we wouldn't have had it any other way.  

Everyone brought their own additions to make the full buffet of goodness, and we were all stuffed when all was said and done.  We had two turkeys, a ham, candied yams, cheesy potato casserole, squash casserole, stuffing, rice, mac and cheese, a veggie tray, green bean casserole, cresent rolls and cranberry fluff.  I feel like I gained three pounds just typing that. 

My sister brought a few pumpkin pies, one paleo and the other full of yumminess, and my mom made a pecan pie.  I have a rather (ahem) picky husband who requested a cherry pie, so I tried my hand at baking.

I thought it turned out pretty good!

Then I found this recipe for individual apple pies for the kiddos...they were really good and I still am enjoying them nuked in the microwave with a little BlueBell, but let's keep that between us!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Halloween 2013

We had a lot of fun this Halloween.  I think he understood the gist last year, but this was the first year he really got it all.  The hype, the door-to-door walking, the costumes...it was awesome.  He let us know weeks before Halloween that he wanted to be a Firefighter.  Mimi and Aunt Kelly were in town soon after he decided, and Mimi got him his adorable outfit.  He wore it a million times before the big day, but I think that helped with the anxiety most kids feel when having to put on a costume and leave it on while trick-or-treating. 

We also had a lot of festivities we attended this year.  First, the Galleria near our house had a little festival.  The kids could go to each of the stores to trick-or-treat, and they had bounce houses and bands/performances well into the night.

This picture was taken that night...framer!

Then the next night we attended the Lakeway Regional Medical Center's "Trunk-or-Treat" with the cousins.  I of course failed to get all of them together for a picture, but they all had a great time.  It was PACKED, and a little hectic, but we enjoyed it.  And Knox loved the clown and balloon animals!

Next up was his class Halloween/Fall Festival.  They had a little carnival and then we had a lunch for the kiddos afterwards.  The boys in his class all looked so cute dressed up!

His class!

The costume breakdown...the "popo" killed me.  Yes, he was a police officer!

And finally, Halloween arrived.  I planned a little neighborhood playgroup for the kids on our street, and then we hit the streets in search of candy.  I set up a little photo-booth in the house to get pictures of the kids before the chaos ensued...the pictures turned out cute!

Stephen and my brother, Jeremy, were out of town for a work meeting, so Lindsay came over with the kids to trick-or-treat.  They were all so cute!

Don't they look like they need a theme song?  So "Entourage!"

And how could we forget little Blakely?  Here is a picture of us in Vegas a few weeks ago.  I'll need to do an update for her soon!

Pumpkin Pics

Hey, at least I got to this before Thanksgiving...and I'm going to post Halloween next.  Totally on a roll!

Knox wasn't too keen on going to a pumpkin patch.  I would mention it every so often, and was always met with "I don't want to see pumpkins," or "I don't want you to take my picture."  Then we heard about a small pumpkin patch at Revival, a local artsy/interior design place, and I knew he would be sold.  Why, you ask?  Probably because of Hamlet, the resident pot-bellied pig that runs freely on the grounds.  Yes.  He was sold.

In front of the store, they had this old truck and pumpkin set up, so I tried to take advantage--while battling the wind.

Just a swinging with Hamlet.

The forced smile

A more natural one

And then pure joy, when I finally let him do what he wanted to do the whole time...ride the horsies!

Chosen Marathon-Go Papi, Go!

One of these days I'll actually do more to my photos than just upload and put on my blog...but I haven't had time to breathe, much less edit pictures.  One day...one day.  I figure I'm so far behind, it's best to just get them on the blog as soon as I can...so here you go!

A few weekends ago we had the honor of watching my dad (Papi) complete his first half marathon.  He has been training for the past few months, and we were so excited to cheer him on and congratulate him on this accomplishment!  The event also coincided with a great cause, Adoption.  My sister and her husband are in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia, and this race provided them with another way to raise funds while doing something they both love: running!

Knox and I decorated a sign and we were off, stopping only for some warm coffee and chicken minis.  My sister ran with my dad, and when Matt had finished his race he ran back to finish with them.  It was a pretty cool moment seeing them round the last curve, and our cheering section was loud and proud!

I'm so proud of my dad, for not only committing to doing it, but setting an example for others that you can do anything you set your mind to!  He's pretty great!