day 158 - i scream

Enjoying an ice cream with good friends at Hermann Park.

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note: The food dye in these character ice creams is alarmingly "permanent." It's not a treat we indulge in very often. Surely it won't hurt them to have one or two (or three or ten) over the course of their childhood...right?

day 157 - kind of reminds me of someone...

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Not sure if you can tell in this photo, but her jack-o-lantern and M have the same snaggle toothed smile.

day 156 - pumpkin carving

Mama and Daddy came to carve pumpkins with M and G.

This is the 2nd year in a row they've come to do it.

So, since we're Aggies - it's a tradition.

day 155 - the coolest costume ever

So, G wants to be a Ghostbuster this year for Halloween.

Which is a little embarassing because we only realized about 3/4 of the way through the movie that it is entirely inappropriate for a 4 year old and a 6 year old to be watching this movie.

But...he wanted to be a Ghostbuster.

So, I called and then drove all over Houston to find this costume for him...

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And then paid entirely too much for it when I finally found it...

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But it was totally worth the look on his face when he had it on...

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And it really was a cool costume...

day 154 - field trip

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I helped chaperone a field trip to the Houston Zoo for M's 1st grade class.

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Lots of fun...a little crazy, but lots of fun!

day 153 - fire!

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Another favorite from our day with the pirates at the Houston Musem of Natural Science.

I think I've mentioned before how much we love this place!

day 152 - argh!

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I absolutely love this picture.

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What you don't hear is the, "Arrrgh!"

day 151 - random

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Another random picture to fill space.

day 150 - young life

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Our involvement with Young Life Heights as committee members has been such a blessing.

To have the opportunity to support volunteer leaders who spend their free time earning the right to be heard so they can tell kids about God's great love for them and the gift of grace thru Christ is truly humbling.

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This night was a resounding success and confirmation that God is moving here in the Heights thru this ministry.

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Praise be to God!

day 149 - granny

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I remember doing this exact same thing when I was Grady's age...exploring and examining nature with Granny Carrie.

day 148 - the sandy place

The "Sandy Place" is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

It is a little piece of land in Austin County that belongs to my grandparents.

I have spent countless days fishing & enjoying nature with the Luedeker family.

I'm so glad Morgan and Grady have the opportunity to do the same.

I hope their children will too...

day 147 - a favorite picture

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Due to my sabbatical, I'm missing pictures from 50+ days.

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I've decided to fill in the blanks with favorite pictures, new and old.

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This is Grady and Chad "pouting."

day 146 - jus' talkin'

Here are G and M, "jus' talkin' " (in G's words).

I overheard a snippet of the conversation...

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G: "Morgan - I had a willy bad day at school today."

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M: "Really? Tell me about it."

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I pray that they will always love and trust each other like they do today...and will continue to have conversations like this for decades to come.

day 145 - random

sometimes I just have fun taking pictures of random things with my super cool camera...

day 144 - security system

Don't worry...it's not real.

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It is G's Storm Trooper Blaster.

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I keep finding it positioned this way - which kind of cracks me up!

day 143 - oops!

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Stuck!

day 142 - Sam Houston

day 141 - feeding time

This is one of our very favorite things to do in Houston.
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We pack up our old bread and head to Hermann Park where we feed the ducks...and the pigeons.

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day 140 - good bye Bobby

I have to admit it...I got a little teared up when the Braves lost tonight and Bobby waved goodbye to the fans.

And then I cried when he got choked up and misty-eyed in the press conference following the game.

day 139 - the Tomahawk Chop

Chad is in Atlanta today doing the War Chant and Tomahawk Chop with his oldest friend Matt and thousands of other Braves fans as they cheer on "America's Team" (Chad's term, not mine) in the playoffs.

day 138 - Oktoberfest

We threw such a fun party today...the first annual Hester's Oktoberfest...and of course, I didn't get a single picture!

note: My idea was to call it Wurstfest a.k.a. Sausagefest. Chad vetoed.

day 137 - bluebewie smoovies

I don't have a picture, but I always want to remember that G and I made smoothies for his pre-K class today.

This is his recipe for smoothies (smoovies):

frozen (fwozen) blueberries (bluebewies)
milk
fruit (fwoot) on the bottom yogurt
banana

"Put it all on the blender and push the button. That's it."

day 136 - she always will be

...my princess.

day 135 - sabbatical

You might have noticed that I've been on a bit of a hiatus from blogging.

The reason is actually very simple: I've been on a sabbatical.

I know, I know...some of you are rolling your eyes - but really, according to Wikipedia:

"sabbatical (from Latin sabbaticus, from Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e. Sabbath, literally a "ceasing") is a rest from work, or a hiatus, often lasting from two months to a year...In recent times, "sabbatical" has come to mean any extended absence in the career of an individual to achieve somthing."

So here's how my "situation" fits the definition above:

1. As my last post was on November 19, 2010, I literally ceased posting for exactly 2 months and 5 days. (I'm actually about 110 days behind...but who's counting?)

2. I voluntarily took an extended leave of absence from my new "career" as blog-ess.

3. I achieved...well, I didn't really achieve much - but I have been keeping track of posts and I'm pretty sure I can make up for every missed day.