HALLOWEEN FUN!

We had a fun night on our street last night. Briley was Madeline, Braden was a pirate (he was Batman at Family Fest on Sunday but wanted to try something different last night), and Blake was a giraffe (a willing participant even!). Each year we end up going to just a few more houses. Now that we have three collecting candy, we had quite a load of junk by the time we were done with our little section. Doug coommented on how well the kids behaved while we were out, listening to directions, even Blake. I said I wasn't surprised because it was something they wanted to do - listen to mom and dad = get candy. Easy concept, right? If only it was that easy all the time. The kids had fun seeing all the decorated houses (some of which were scary) and then dumping all their candy on the floor and eating to their hearts content. (one night a year they get to do this, so its not too bad, right?!) After several pieces of candy, Briley got up and said, "Mom, can I have a piece of cantelope?" I thought this was hilarious - I guess eating fruit justifies the hundreds of grams of sugar intake??! Well, she gets it honest - I made myself go further and faster on the treadmill today to make up for my "samplings" (you have to make sure they are safe, right???). Well, I am sure I didn't put a dent in it but at least I tried. Blake even got into it this year, walking up to every house and then trying to get inside each house. That was a problem. Especially if there was a dog in there - he LOVES dogs! Now, onto Thanksgiving and Christmas. . .

Charlotte's Web Party

We had a Charlotte's Web "Party" after months of reading the book because we took so long! So we ended up at the perfect time of year with all sorts of spider paraphanelia at the stores! We had Wilbur cookies and Charlotte candy, popcorn bags, and even decorated the mantle with her web, complete with gummy flies and spiders! It was fun and Mommy almost made it through the whole movie awake. . . (it was a long weekend at opera!)

Evidently the Cowboys had played (and lost) that day because I came home to Blake dressed in his jersey! He even got his own popcorn bowl and thought he was big stuff!

My handsome boys!

Birthday Parties Galore!

Briley's party was a Princess Party and we had 11 princesses dressing up, putting on make-up, making crafts, eating, and having a blast! Mommy made the cake, and it was not too shabby, if I do say so myself! Anything for the Princess. . . (not!). You are only 6 once though! Oh, those were the days.

Braden had a Hot Wheels party at the park and we had so much fun. We raced in little coupes, played Red Light Green Light, had lunch, cake and ice cream, and played with hot wheels of course! What more could a 4 year old want?! And no, I did not make his cake (as if you had to ask. . .).

Happy Birthdays and Scary Storms

Well, the Waddills weathered Hurricane Ike and aren't too much worse for the wear. Unfortunately, for the Houston area, that is an uncommon story. Seeing and hearing of lines for gas, food, and water everywhere around is really humbling. Because the storm hit Galveston and headed north, we were on the "clean" side of the storm. Stories of neighborhoods less than 20 miles more towards the east were so much worse. We were literally spared by a few miles. And the night was horrible. I can't imagine those closer in. It was very scary. Lots of downed trees and fences, but our neighborhood has power and is doing well. The grocery stores have limited resources and we can't find milk, etc, but otherwise, we are fine. Since Doug is working in Brenham, he was able to get gas today and will hopefully get milk after work.

Anyway, Wednesday was Doug's 32nd birthday and Friday was Briley's 6th birthday.

We had scheduled her party for Saturday but Ike made us postpone. However, since we had no school that day, we celebrated at home with donuts for breakfast and presents and cupcakes after lunch.

That evening we let the kids "camp out" in the closet under the stairs and after Braden climbed in, he said, "You know what would make this really like a camp out? A fire and those white things!" Well, since we were not about to "roast" marshmellows in the closet, we opted to let them eat them room temperature in bed while they read books by flashlight (we had lost power by 9pm). They finally went to sleep and Doug and I listened all night to howling winds and sheets of rain pound our house. It was crazy. The pictures you see of the sunset are of the sky in front of our house that evening as the sun was going down. At this point it was already windy but the sky was eerily beautiful. A sign of what was to come.

Sunday we had some neighborhood friends who had been without power over for dinner and Blake snuck up on their plates while they were playing. . .

Busted!!!

Yeah, I did it, so what?!!