Dresses, Dove, Candy, and more

Hello and Happy Halloween! I say that but I readily admit that I H-A-T-E Halloween. I think it is a waste of candy, money and time. It is always a fiasco and it's fun for about 2.2 seconds then just get hyper and then quickly after that the meltdowns and exhaustion set in - and that's just me! We did our usual - get dressed, walk our side of the loop and a couple cul de sacs in the neighborhood, and then we retired to lawn chairs on our front walk and passed out candy until the baby started screaming. Such is life. We did not have cocktails this year, although I did envy the parents walking in a posse with beers and laughing it up, seemingly enjoying this awful "holiday."

The kids looked cute! Ella was a spooky witch (not cute, she is SO OVER looking cute anymore) and Kyle was a "Texas Gig'em Aggies Football Man" per his own description. It is a couple sizes too big still, made more remarkable by the fact that he refuses to wear the shoulderpads so the jersey just eats his little arms up! So cute. The helmet is the best part. He slept with it in his bed the first night he got it, and he carries it with us on errands and to take Ella to school in the mornings :) So fun.









I love these last two pics because Kyle and Ella are making the identical face, and you can actually see Laney in the last one




We had the annual Dove Cook this weekend, which is supposedly a feast comprised of the dove that our huntsmen traversed far and wide to shoot and feed their families with. Let me just say that the grocery bill was high this year, because the bird count was not. All the better though, I don't actually even eat dove. But the people were fabulous. Lots of good friends came by over the course of the day and the weather couldn't have been better! I loved it.


Uncle Jon missed, he was back home already. He's tyin the knot this December and pops back into town every now and again to do this or that. It's a family affair, as Josh, Ella and I will be IN the wedding, not just AT the wedding. . . Mom, Grandma Sweetie Pie and I took Ella to have a super girly day and try on dresses in the mirror at a local bridal shop. She was so cute, and she even got her own little book about being a flowergirl and a (rather Halloween-y) bouquet of flowers! Love It! She really enjoyed the try on session, she didn't really get to be in the spotlight the first time we went. What can I say, my girl likes the floof... Just don't call it cute!


With her new goodies



I wish trying on dresses made me feel that good


Well, other than all that, we are just chugging along through fall at an alarming rate! Ella is loving soccer this year, she got to do a little clinic at A&M with the women's soccer team, which was "cool." I just can't believe how old and "big girl" she is, and it is just made more remarkable in the contrast between she and her siblings. So fun...




And her first real slumber party! She had a blast, they "stayed up super late talking!" -The mom tells me they crashed at 10:30 :)


Laney Bug is doing well, too. Growing tall and strong, just like brother and sister. I absolutely adore her fluff of white-blonde hair. I always hoped I'd have one baby that sort of resembled me (the others were just carbon copies of their old man) and Laney is it. She looks so like me as a baby I love it. :) Not that I play favorites, I am paying for it because she is certainly the most "difficult" baby, but still manageable.

OMG a new HEB!!!

Seriously, this is all the rage in town right now. Although I can't be too snarky about it because we did load up and head over to the Grand Opening. But in all fairness, it was in support of my fab cousin who runs the Cooking Connection there. We love our Aunt Rae!
The store was - a big grocery store. I'll probably go at some point today if I can find the strength to put on big girl clothes. My jammies are just so comfy. Now that it is a little cooler, I can wear my comfy long pants again, and it's like coming home. I never want to change! I'm slowly assembling my list. Someday I'll make it there. Really I'm hungry, and hoping they'll have samples out, and Rachel told me they'll have steak and bar-b-q beans at her stand, so I may hit it up soon...
Any-who-
Right after Laney was born we had a photographer over to do some pics for us. Something I haven't done with the other two, I am working opposite of what they usually say, no professional pics of #1, but great ones of #3! The few she's posted on her blog are fabulous, and I am so excited to see the rest! You can see us here: http://butterflychaserphotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/laney.html

Kyle went to his first ever football game recently, or "Doot-Dall Dame" since everything he says starts with a "D"


OBVIOUSLY Daddy dressed him to go: Considering whether to go near Reveille


with Mimi and Jackie Sherril


And speaking of firsts, Ella had her first real soccer GAME! ! She's done soccer before, but never in a league where they have actual games. So this was new and super exciting. Guess who the coach was?


Ella and Coach Daddy


Kyle showing his excitement


Ella, the tiniest player EVER. I swear she is only 5. And a half.

And we went to a wedding in Huntsville, which was one of the few I've actually taken the chirruns' to. They had a ball. Well, Laney just slept, see Exibit A:


Ella ran the show, orbiting the venue and following her daddy around (who was a groomsmen)


And Kyle got the chance to shamelessly love on his main squeeze Della. Poor Della held him up and danced with him at least 100 times.

Mega Post, formerly known as: Butterfly Garden Gameday

Well, the Aggies are off and running this season, very exciting- I love how the whole town starts to buzz on gameday. I like it even more when I actually get to leave the house, but that's okay, I'm not bitter. While a small posse collected and shipped out from our house yesterday, destination: Kyle Field, the kids and I got ready for more of the same. We watched a movie, painted our toenails (Kyle excluded), went for a walk and bike ride, and finally planted some plants for the "butterfly garden."


Ella the shopper, after buying "Butterfly Plants" with Mimi

Just so you know, Ella only fell off her bike a couple times, but managed to land in the grass, which Kyle thought was awesome and proceeded to fling himself into the grass every few steps until mommy told him he could either fall down in the grass OR hold mommy's hand, but not both. I'm so happy to report he chose to hold my hand. I love his squishy little sweatty hands. So sweet.

So I realize (or rather have been told) that I am leaving out a huge chunk of familial activity. Basically the last year. There's just no way that I can go back, but I'll give you some of the recents!
About a month and a half ago (or so) Josh and I went to Minnesota for a wedding of some friends. This is essentially the last of the weddings from this particular group of friends. Josh has been tight with them since tee-ball, and somehow they've all managed to stay close, and we do a few get-togethers each year, generally centered on eating outdoors, beanbag tournaments and drinking copious amounts in an effort to forget we are all 30 years old. Well, not me, I'm the young one.

Anyhow, long story short, we went to St. Paul Minnesota and stayed for 5 days. It was - well, eerie to be honest. We didn't really have much to do so we basically bummed around and haunted the same bar called Bulldogs- but we preferred to call it "Mad Dog 20/20's" because we are mature like that- and ate. The boys had a few things to keep them busy, getting tuxes, playing golf, etc, and Della and I hung out at the Hilton Garden Inn, drove around, got pedicures at the worlds most ghetto nail shop by these hilarious ladies. We had an enjoyable time, and basically our itinerary was "1. show up at rehearsal dinner, 2. go to wedding."

Anyhow, the wedding was quite nice and the reception was beautiful. despite some hicks making the DJ play In Spite of Ourselves. Okay, it was us. But we really love to dance to that at weddings! Here are some fun pics from the patio at the reception.


Della and I


Josh and I (and Laney)


Boys Being Boys


Pulled it Together

Before the wedding, we had gone to the Woodlands Resort for our annual summertime trip. We love that place, it is so close and easy and a great vacation. We went this year and met Josh's entire extended family for a reunion they put together every other year. It was a lot of fun to see everyone.



And of course Laney, our sweet little pink piggie. She's so great and easy, just eats and hags out, sleeps and eats. The kids are as in love with her as we are, and I can't imagine we hadn't planned on having a third-



We Gals


Just the Three of Us

Laney Bug

She's here! And we are so excited.



Ella Bean also started kindergarten a couple days after Laney was born, so things have been very exciting for everyone. It was okay, though, because I was able to go to Meet the Teacher Night, (and orientation, which was not at ALL enjoyable- picture a 9 month pregnant lady sitting on a 10 inch diameter cafeteria stool for an hour and a half) Anyhow- she loves her new school and her teacher has been fantastic. I am just so so glad there are girls in her class! I may be sexist, but after spending her last month at church school with just she and 4 boys in a class together, her behavior has definitely changed, for the worse.

Here's Ella trying to lift her bag 'o school supplies, it was quite the show...





And here are she and daddy on their way to the first day!



Here's Kyle reveling in the knowledge that Ella had to go to school and he didn't. About 5 minutes later he started asking "Where'd Ella go?" and didn't stop until she came back from school HOURS later.

Egregious Foul

This is my new favorite phrase. It also describes my wanton disregard for all things blog. I had so much fun the last few times I was killing time at the computer, because it had been a while since I checked up on my favorite blogs, and it is fun to read several entries at once! It's like a phone conversation after a month or two of not talking. Except you can't hear their voice, and they don't know they've communicated with you, and it's 100x creepier. . .

Any-who! Still working, and still liking it. I have a neat job, flexible, fun and interesting all at the same time. I have had a bit of an initiation into the working world now, I've been yelled at, complained to (probably about as well), complimented, brushed aside, put on the spot, everything that makes it fun! At very least it is something new and interesting almost every day, which is what I enjoy.



The kids are AWESOME! They are loving their new rooms at school, Ella's actually looks like a little classroom, with desks that all face the teacher at the front, and Kyle is in a room of only 5 kids! Which is so perfect because they still need lots of love and individual attention at only 15 months old! He is literally running everywhere. And yelling. And he has perfected this open mouth cry that carries really well across the house, so as to alert every living being in the vicinity he would like attention immediately.



He's really fun and hilarious to watch. Like many kids his age, he picks up everything. Nothing happens without his noticing and committing it to memory, and he can replicate anything! The way I eat, Ella writing, daddy combing his hair. He tries to put on his own socks, which is so funny, and he loves baby powder. We have to hide it, actually. He can pop the lid off a chap-stick post-haste and paint the wall in a jiffy. He loves to throw and has quite a little arm. He threw a block which caught my head and left a welt! And I was standing up. . . no lie

Well, that;s a basic rundown of the tots. I'll give you my favorite pic as of late.

THIS is why I think Kyle is too skinny..

Mommy, Daddy and Ella at the pool, summer '05




'Nuff said.

Knit-tastc

My newest obsession, well, besides the awesome Apple Airport Express that enables me to blast ABBA and Bread in my kitchen, is these cloths my grandma has been knitting for me! They are the size of a standard washrag, she uses 100% cotton, and they are so fantastic! She intended them for use in the kitchen, and they are so great. They are soft and clean so easily, but the loops/stitches make them grab stuff/scrub really well. I have started buying them from her (I insisted, since I have like 15) and use some in the kitchen and some for bathing the kids she is so great she just takes the $ and buys more yarn!

Here are some pics, since I am so obsessed I thought I'd spread the word. I never would have thought of these. She also makes gorgeous baby blankets. She definitely logs some hours under her OTT-Light :)