Dallas Arboretum

Fall at the Dallas Arboretum.  It doesn't get much prettier.  Last Friday the gang and I headed out to see all of the pumpkins and enjoy a really beautiful day outdoors.

Right after we arrived, Daddy Long Legs hopped up on this huge pumpkin.

On our way to the pumpkin patch, I snapped this pretty picture.

After the little one refusing to wear the tutu at first, we finally convinced her it was not that bad!  There were many factors to contend with, such as babies and birds.



If Lila saw either one of those, she was off and running towards it!  By the way, there are many babies and many birds at the Arbo.



Another hurdle was Madison's alter ego, Batgirl, who decided to come out during our pictures.  So random!  Months ago when Jackson decided to be Batman for Halloween, he tried very hard to convince Maddie to be Batgirl.  She declined, rather adamantly at times, and I didn't blame her.  For some reason, though, she decided last Friday was the time to channel her inner superhero!  Here she and J are both showing off their superhuman strength...

...and here again with a really mean face!

One of the main reasons we went this year was to see Cinderella's Pumpkin House.  I thought Maddie would be in heaven.  When I saw this carriage, I thought her head might pop off with excitement.  Needless to say, she was not all that excited about the carriage, but I thought it was really cool! 

After a picnic lunch it was time to go pet the animals.  Lila's favorite was this horse.  He was in his own stall and she could reach over and pet him.  The horse was very laid-back.

Unlike this baby goat who pursued Lila quite a bit!  We guessed it was her fancy tutu that caught his eye.  She was not amused, though, and we had to leave pretty quickly!

J, on the other hand, told me that he could stay in there and brush this goat for "a week." 

As soon as Lila escaped from that silly billy goat, she found her some more black birds and was off and running.  That's pretty much how we spent the last hour at the Arboretum--chasing laughing children.  Their smiles were infectious, but we just did our best to keep up!

World Series!!

Right before we left for church yesterday Jared got a very important call.  Two tickets to Game 4 of the World Series had just become available!  I didn't even have to hear him say anything because the look on his face said it all.  When he hung up I had tears in my eyes and told him to tell J the good news. 

 A few hours later, dad and son were at the ballpark ready to cheer on the Rangers!  No one else deserves to go see the Rangers more than Jackson.  He is such a loyal fan!!

 Right after the national anthem was sung, these two cool choppers flew over the stadium.  The night was off to a fantastic start for our little guy.

 When you sit up at the very top of the stadium, you can get some awesome shots of the field:)

They had such a great time.  They ate jumbo dogs, although Jackson waited until the 2nd inning to eat his (b/c that's what he had done at the last game--our Mr. Creature of Habit!), drank lemonade and then flagged down the Cotton Candy guy when it was time for dessert.  They swung their rally towels and hollered loudly the whole time, even chanting "Na-po-li! Na-po-li!" as Mike Napoli stepped up to the plate.  Seconds later the stadium erupted as Napoli hit a three run homer.  Awesome.  So very awesome.

 

The Rangers pulled off a huge win and the boys stayed until the very end.  I am certain that J will remember this for the rest of his life.  World Series at age 4.  Pretty darn amazing. 

Let's go Rangers!!

Pumpkin Carvers

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin carving party with Jared's coworkers.  We brought our own tools and stencils and Jackson worked long and hard with Daddo to carve a really cool pumpkin.  By the time they were done it was time to enjoy burgers from the Hamburger Man, so we just brought home Maddie's pumpkin to do later this weekend.

That time came after we got home from church today and all three kids were set and ready to help out.  No time to even change out of their church clothes!  Madison chose a scary witch to carve.

After Daddo cut a hole in the pumpkin, Maddie helped clean all the goop out of it.

And tada!  Two really cool pumpkins.  It's a little hard to tell without them being lit up, but there are two ghosts on the left and a witch on the right.  We are all set now for Halloween night:)

Owens Country Farm

Fall is here and it's that time of year again when we get to visit Owens Country Farm!  It was a really pretty, although slightly warmer than I would have liked, day and we enjoyed it to the fullest at one of our favorite fall places.

 Since Lila seems to always be frowning in all of our pictures, Maddie decided to do a little bit from her stand-up routine.  She imitates Froggy from the Little Rascals really well and Lila just cracks up every time.  It worked like a charm and got Lila to smile...but then we had Maddie making a goofy face.  Jackson didn't seem to think any of it was funny:)  Can't please 'em all, I guess.




Aunt Colleen came with us today, too.  The kids were way too intrigued with all of the elementary school children in matching blue shirts to be bothered with looking at the camera anymore.



The only way we got their attention was telling them to make a scary face!

Sweet smiles from Lila Lou!

This girl is a pumpkin fan!

J doing a little pumpkin surfing...

and all three just being their silly selves.

After playing in the pumpkin patch, we walked over to feed the goats.

You'd think that the goats would be pretty full after eating all day, but they were hungry!  Lila was a big fan--here she is saying "Hi!" and waving to this big white goat.

The kids were looking for the barrel ride that they have riden in years past, but this year it was replaced with a fun train.  They hopped on up, but didn't go anywhere because the driver was no where to be found.

No prob!  They hopped on off and went over to take a silly pic as a big pumpkin and two flowers.

After that it was time to go for a fun hayride.  Lila loved the "truck" that pulled us around and all the kids enjoyed the ride.

After the hayride we sat down for a picnic lunch and then moved on to see some animals.  These horses were too busy eating hay to come say hi, so they just waved to them through the fence.  I'm pretty sure Lila would have climbed over if not for Gigi hanging on to her!

On our way out we checked the train station and found a driver this time.  Even though the ride only consisted of going in a big circle three times, the kids loved it. 

We ended the day letting J and M play on this big bale of hay.  The boy got some air!

What a great afternoon.



The New Mr. and Mrs. Hays!

Our whirlwind weekend continued on Saturday and by 4:20 that afternoon we had cheered on Jackson at his tee ball game, went by my parent's house to finish up the decorations, bathed all three kids and gotten ourselves dressed and ready for the wedding!  Phew!  Just thinking about it again makes me tired.  Anyways, after we got to the church, it was time to get the little girls dressed.

Miss Maddie in her first appearance as a flower girl.  Love the tulle!

Jackson standing with all the big boys during pre-ceremony pictures.

While we were waiting for Lyndsie to get ready, our family snapped a few quick pics on the altar.  I was so excited to get a good one!

Memaw and Poppi with the three musketeers.

Uncle Andrew got in on the fun, too, and when the kids wouldn't stand up, he just laid down on the steps with them!

I really have no words for how adorable I think this is--simply makes my heart melt.



While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, the girls had fun doing puzzles.  It was a nice change of pace from Lila's sprinting the night before!



Mrs. Jared Hays, the almost Mrs. Scott Hays and Mrs. Warren Hays.  Lyndsie made a beautiful bride!
The wedding went really well.  Lila got stage fright and opted not to walk down the aisle.  Oh well, maybe next time!  I did the reading from 1 Corinthians and didn't flub up any lines, so that was a plus.  And then I spent the rest of the time trying to make sure that Miss M didn't get too crazy up on stage!  She wiggled a lot, got down on the floor a time or two, whispered to Jackson about how excited she was that they were going to get to pick out a new DVD after it was all over, but overall did pretty good for a 3 year old!  It was really cute watching them onstage and I was very relieved when it was over:)



After the ceremony was over, we headed to my parents for the reception.  Here's the happy couple before they made their grand entrance.  Their get-away car was this awesome 1955 Thunderbird!



After we all ate dinner, it was time for the fun stuff.  Bring on the cake!

Then Lyndsie's maid of honor gave a sweet toast...

followed by Jared's funny one.  Cheers!





After the toasts, we had the three first dances.  This is one of my favorite pics of the night.  Scott and his mama.  So sweet.  I tear up even thinking about how that will be me and Jackson one day.



We could not have pulled this off without all of the help from these three awesome ladies.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom, Dale and Louann!



When the dances were done, the party moved outside to really get going.  DJ Maria did an awesome job:)



Everyone had a great time gettin' down.



And Jared even got his mama out on the dance floor, I heard!



Right before we wished them well with sparklers galore, we got one last pic of us three couples.

  We had a fantastic night celebrating with everyone. 

Congrats, Lyndsie and Scott Hays!