Busy October and November

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays.....

Oh and Halloween & Thanksgiving were in there too!

This is a long entry full of tons of pics...but October and November are just busy months.  We started October out by celebrating two of our favorite people's birthday.  Cousin Connor and Uncle Harley are "Birthday Twins" so we all got together to celebrate in Austin.

 They may look harmless in these pics, but trust me they are going to be trouble as they get older!

 Happy Birthday Uncle Harley and Connor; we love you!!!

 I have tons of pics of these two running all over the place.  They are so much fun together

Then we moved on to Halloween.  

Growing up, one thing I loved about Halloween was going to all of my friends & families homes and getting tons of candy....I know that is what every kid loves, but in Spearman it was different.  Every one knew who you were and were expecting you to show up.  They had great candy ready for you and always invited you in from the cold to talk for a few minutes.

I wanted nothing more than to have that same wonderful experience for Ava as she grew up.  Well, God is good and has sent us to an amazing town where we have so many friends that treat us like we are family.  We set out with the Wilsons at 4:00 for Trick or Treating and by 8:00 we had made it to 7 homes and were pooped but so thankful for our great friends.

Levi is getting so big 

 Grace was the perfect Tinker Bell

And Ava was the sweetest Grape you have ever seen!

Let me tell you a little bit about our costume, at the first of October, Grace had the Halloween costumes planned.  Both she and Ava would be Tinkerbells and Levi was Peter Pan. Obviously that was not how the Halloween costumes ended up.....Ava was on the phone with Pancho and Tee and Pancho asked what she wanted to be for Halloween and she said purple.  By the end of the phone call, Pancho and Ava decided that a grape was the 2010 Halloween costume for Ava, and Tee was in charge of making it.  Tee did a great job with the costume and she had many compliments on her grape!

 The fairy and the grape ran around like Wild Indians until at 8:00 they were pooped and joined Stevie for some candy giving.

The funny part was that Ava & Grace were very selective on who they gave candy to.  They did not like the big kids so those guys only got one candy and it was the "bad ones."  No suckers or chocolate left there hands for a big kid, according to Grace.

November = Ava's Birthday!!!

This November we celebrated 3 birthdays for Ava; just like we did last year.  We started off the trilogy in Rockport with Pancho and Tee.  The Wilsons joined us down south and we had all these plans to watch the birds and collect seashells. BUT, of course the one weekend we go down to the beach it is freezing cold. Nonetheless, we attempted some sea shell collecting

And bird chasing

But in the end, took a quick picture and went to the local seashell shop and bought some seashells to remember the trip

While we were hunting the boys went fishing.  They had about the same luck as us and were quickly back at the house settled in for the big party!

Grace and Ava are so funny together. Grace will be 4 in January and tells everyone that Ava is her "sister," and these two act just like it. One minute they love eachother to death and the next minute they are at each others throat about something. 

When the car came out we had to do some negotiating on whose turn it was

But in the end we all enjoyed cake and ice cream

 Happy Birthday my sweet baby - I cannot believe you are two.  Time has passed so fast and I have loved every minute of it.

Birthday #2 - KK, Uncle Chunk, & Ava

Inside this envelope is the most annoying birthday card you have ever heard.  It plays the chicken song over and over again.  We probably listen and dance to the chicken song every night.  Thank you so much KK.

 Daddy just loves Ava's new rain coat and boots.....I, of course, fell in love with them the minute I saw them!

 KK bought Ava her own special tree for her room.  Ava turns it on every day and loves to just look at all of the pretty colors. I think Christmas will be so fun this year because Ava is starting to grasp what everything is. She might not understand the meaning of Christmas but she certainly understands who the major players are.

 After trimming the tree together, KK thought it would be fun to decorate a cake with Ava

 This was the sweetest cake you had ever tasted.  

 Happy Birthday to you again, my sweet baby.  

 Birthday #3

We went to Spearman for Thanksgiving and celebrated birthday #3 with my family.  Ava is the princess just about anywhere she goes but in Spearman I think Ava is the QUEEN.  She ruled the roost up there so a crown was very fitting.  Also, by this time celebrating Ava's birthday was expected by the Queen.  My mom had a banner in the dining room that said Happy Birthday.  Ava walked in there everyday and sang herself Happy Birthday.  

 Rosie had a great time playing beauty shop with Ava.....  

 and Ava loved her pretty fingernails too.

 I love this picture because of the memories I have with it.  My Uncle Peter made me this horse when I was two and mom brought it down from the attic for Ava to play with over Thanksgiving.  Ava loved it so much and affectionately named it Woody.  We might not be very creative but we are accurate.

 Oh Charli Brown you have grown up so very much since the last time we saw you.  I think this will be the last picture of Ava holding Ms. Brown.  Next time I think it will be the other way around.

Now this cake was delicious, but don't be deceived, Ava did not help decorate it. Grandma did this cake all by herself. :)  Love you mom - it really was good.  I am so glad you bought a new oven after Thanksgiving.

Uncle T-Bill, Aunt Rosie and the Birthday Girl

Finally, THANKSGIVING!
This was the best Thanksgiving in a very long time.  There was no rush and no expectations.  My dad had his knee replaced the Monday of Thanksgiving and Travis and Miranda came up early to tend to the farm and cook the Thanksgiving meal.  Tracy brought his very sweet girlfriend Kate in for the week and we got to take her out on an adventure ride with the horses.  Mom and I had every intention of making for sure the horses were dead tired before we put Kate on one, but in the end it brought back hilarious memories of Kasey and Jenn riding Charlie during high school. Adam and I drove through the night on Wednesday night and got in at noon on Thanksgiving day. We stayed until the Wednesday after Thanksgiving to help around the house, and I think we both enjoyed the time away. Adam even dusted off quite a few of his old cowboy skills.

Spearman has changed some since I left but the memories will never die; it was very nice to take a few days off to just be home.  I didn't get many shots of Thanksgiving but we all got together and for that I am so thankful.