Glimpses of Fall

We've had some glimpses of Fall.  We have most definitely enjoyed being outside more- playing, eating lunch, walking to and from school...  all are so much more pleasant now.  Last week we did a most traditional Fall event, the State Fair of Texas!  The big kids were out of school so we could go on a weekday, also MUCH more pleasant :-)  We got out of there only spending $92.  That included $15 for parking, the kids free tickets, my $5 Dr Pepper Tuesday ticket and Huck's free admission.  So what did we get for the remaining $72?  2 hotdogs, 1 corndog, 2 Sprites, and 1 water, (sadly no funnel cake...), 3 rides each for Bubba and Dutch and 1 for Huck, 2 games each for big kids and 1 for Huck.  I think that is it.  But we did lots of free things like The Barnyard, the farm experience, saw the butter sculpture, saw Big Tex, the greenhouse...  So actually on second thought I guess it was not a ton of other things.

 

 

 But it was fun.  Except for poor Huck.  He REALLY, REALLY wanted to ride this kiddie ride.  He pointed, pulled, spoke loudly about "that, that, that!"  and fussed even louder about when I tried to talk him out of it.  So I gave in and spent $2.50 and here is what he thought of it:

He is getting much more adventurous.  He is learning to jump and can sometimes get both feet off the ground at the same time.  He also jumps from the coffee table to the couch, which gives me a heart attack every time.  He can climb up into the playset in the backyard but does not like to go down the slide.  He was doing a good job of waiting for me to get him down, but now he has decided to try to climb down the ladder.  More heart attacks for Mom.  He has decided that he wants nothing to do with his own bed.  If we try to put him in his bed (awake, near asleep, asleep) he screams and cries until you get him out.  No matter how long we let him cry, he will NOT go to sleep until he gets in our bed.  Then he'll sleep.  Uggh.  I mean I love him but I also like sleep.  So. 

 

awake at 10:30 at night...

...and 20 minutes later

We also attended the neighborhood's National Night Out again.  Bounce houses, face painting, running around with friends= fun!

School is going well for the big kids.  Bubba got his first report card and it was all good. Bubba is really enjoying the new group at church.  He is in the 2nd-3rd grade group and they start each week in large group which usually has some kind of skit.  So after church Sunday I was asking what they learned about that day.  He went on to tell me about two characters who had a cafe and cooked roadkill.  There were a lot more details that I don't recall.  I asked what roadkill has to do with the bible to which he responded "nothing, it has to do with agility."  Then the elevator came so I did not get to follow up.  I asked again later and he said "It is about agility, Mom.  Don't you know what agility means?"  I was still not getting how this was connected to a bible lesson.  Luckily later I saw a post on Facebook from church that said "Ask your kids what they learned about integrity today."  Ah, ha!  So I asked Bubba if he meant integrity instead of agility and he said "yeah, Mom.  It means do what you say and mean what you do."  So he got the point of the lesson, just not the vocabulary!  We are reading the Harry Potter books and he is loving it.  He wants to be Harry Potter for Halloween.  He is loving ballet still, most espicially partnering where he does things like assist the girls in jumps or spins.  I am very proud of him for keeping it up.  He is realizing more and more that it is unusual for boys to do and has had to answer questions about it from his friends.  He speaks openly and proudly about it and for that I am proud of him.  He has mastered bike riding and likes to ride his bike to school. 

Cub Scout Pack 890

 

 

 Dutch is doing well also.  She talks about her new friends and reports on who is misbehaving.  She has homework every night, but it is something like write the letter S five times.  She enjoys it and thinks she is so old because she has homework.  She wears 2-3 outfits everyday...  She wants to be a fairy for Halloween. 

 

The Hubby had the crazy TX-OU weekend last weekend so he worked pretty much straight from 5PM Friday till 5 PM Sunday.  He got 2 hours sleep Fri night and maybe 4 hours sleep Sat night.  But it seems to have gone well, the boss was pleased so that is good.  The Boss is taking all the staff to the fair today as a thank you. 

My work at Children's is still unclear.  I should know soon what exactly my assignment will be, but it will not be my current one in Radiology.  The whole place is in turmoil as they have announced there will be layoffs, or "workforce redesign" as they are calling it.  Right now it is confined to administrative assistants and mid-level managers.  But they won't announce exactly who will be laid-off until February.  So.  A real culture of trust around there. 

Coming up in the next few weeks:  Grandma With the Spiky Hair is coming for a visit!  She'll be here for Halloween.  Bubba and the Hubby are going on the Cub Scout fall camp out in a few weeks.  The school Fall Festival will be the Saturday they are gone.  My doula partners and I are having a family picnic at the arboretum this Saturday.  I am exited to see some of "my" babies grown up!