Lubbock Fun and Cousin Love

After our fun weekend in Fort Worth, we headed to Lubbock last Sunday. We had a wonderful dinner on Sunday night with Jane and Charlie and a fun week hanging out with family and relaxing during a week off of school. Greg worked in New Mexico while the boys and I stayed in Lubbock (he didn't have a such a fun week after driving over 3000 miles in 6 days). We were going to leave on Friday, but Greg stayed in NM an extra day so we didn't leave until this morning. The positive of that is we got to go to Jacob and Olivia's Fall Festival last night. The negative was that I didn't have the boys' costumes with me - but we did have new TCU jerseys, so we made impromptu football costumes.

Ryan took the roll of the tough football player very seriously.

My beautiful sister and her beautiful kids. Olivia was a fortune teller (although she wasn't willing to read anyone's palms) and Jacob had the cutest astronaut costume ever.

Probably the biggest hit at the Fall Festival was the endless supply of Silly String.

Jacob's astronaut costume was a huge hit with Ryan and Luke. Ryan was especially enthralled with it and played by himself pretending to be an astronaut for about an hour (he's not always very good with playing by himself and creating his own stories - so I was impressed). I got a cute picture of Ryan in the costume, but he didn't have the visor up. I know what we'll be getting him for Christmas this year.

The boys surprised Jacob on Monday by picking him up from school. He was so excited to see them and immediately embraced them both in a big hug.

Jacob's 6th birthday was on Oct. 4 - but we celebrated a little party for him on Monday.

Ryan was a big fan of the ice cream cake.

Nana made Jacob a quilt for his birthday - he had so much fun looking at each of the panels and telling Conny about the story on each picture.

Right before I took this picture, Olivia had her arms around Luke.

On Sunday night we went to a Jack-o-Lantern thing at a park - there were several hundred carved pumpkins-I really liked these Day of the Dead ones.

Grandad and Luke

The boys and Grandad painted their own pumpkins on Wednesday.




Nana and I took the boys to a pottery place on Tuesday to let the boys paint their own pottery while I made new Christmas plates for myself with Luke's footprint and Ryan's handprint. Ryan picked out a robot to paint and then later wanted to paint something for me - so he picked out a gingerbread ornament.

Luke made a mosiac and also painted a pumpkin.


Nanny and Mr. G came over for lunch on Wednesday - it was so nice to spend time with them both. Nanny hasn't been feeling too great the last couple of times I've been in Lubbock - so I've only been able to see her for a short visit at her house. It was great to see her feeling a little better and spend some time with her Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. G is such a delightful man. He is so good to Nanny and he enjoyed watching the boys play and draw pictures.

I finally got a somewhat decent pumpkin patch picture - after several attempts. Pictures from previous years - 2009 2008 and 2007



Below -the pumpkins each boy picked out to paint.



Not much in Lubbock is better than nightly bedtime stories with Nana and Grandad. My favorite part is that the boys then go to bed in Nana and Grandad's room and I get a night of uninterrupted sleep and I get to sleep in past 7 (I even made it to 9 one morning).


We're home just in time for Halloween tomorrow - we're not doing too much this year - but we are going to take the boys to the Wildlife Experience and then some neighborhood trick or treating.

Homecoming at TCU

We were in Fort Worth this past weekend for TCU's Homecoming. This was my 10 year reunion so it was a great opportunity to get together with my old roommates (thank you Dalis for convincing us all to come). We had the best time and the boys had an absolute blast. TCU games are very family friendly, so there was a Frog Fest on Friday night complete with a Homecoming Parade and bounce houses. The boys had so much fun at the game on Saturday. All the kids (called the Bleacher Creatures) are given a TCU jersey to wear and then they can run on the football field with the football players at the beginning of the game. The boys thought that was the coolest thing ever and Ryan was so cute running the entire 100 yards down the field before kick-off. The game was even complete with an Air Force fly-over during the National Anthem - which was really loud but the boys thought it was really neat.

Me and my boys in front of Frog Fountain. Greg missed the Friday night festivities because he was meeting with our tenant - but I was glad to get a picture of the boys with the fountain, which is a landmark on campus.

Ryan, Luke and Mackenna hanging out before the parade on Friday.


Luke was pretty fascinated with the seal.

At the game, after our run down the field. Be sure to check out the video below of our run.

The boys even got to meet the Air Force Falcon.

Lunch (at our absolute favorite restaurant, Mi Concina) before the game with my old roommates. We all lived in our first college apartment together during our Junior year. Above is Ines and her son, Nash, Kim, Dalis and baby to be, and me with Ryan and Luke. We had a monsoon rain come in all day on Saturday and we were afraid that we were all going to get drenched that night, but the skies cleared about an hour before the game.

Tim, Stephanie and Mackenna in front of Frog Fountain - they are another couple that met at TCU - so the campus means a lot to them, just like it does to us. It was funny walking to the game with them on Saturday. We were pointing out all of the important buildings to the boys (who didn't give a flip) - like my dorm, Greg's dorm, the building where I had most of my history classes, and the chapel where we got married. Stephanie pointed out her dorm and to the door where Tim almost kissed her for the first time, but chickened out. Tim said he was probably afraid that Stephanie wasn't going to let him kiss her and she said that he was probably right.

We went over to Tim and Stephanie's house for breakfast on Saturday and the boys had a great time making their own Belgian Waffle. Their favorite part was putting the whipped cream and chocolate chips on their waffle before eating it.

Mackenna enjoyed the book that Greg read to her.

The 3 kids in their TCU garb.

Video of the boys running down the football field. The kids are allowed on the field while the band plays their pregame stuff and then they run to the right of the band while the football team runs through the middle of band. It is really a very cool thing, especially to kids who get to do it in front of 40,000+ cheering fans.

Video of the boys playing with Tim before the parade. We had been in the car all day so they were so glad to have the opportunity to run around and be crazy - and Tim was willing to do it with them.

We left for Texas Thursday night after school and drove to Dumas (which is about 6 hours away). The boys did so well with 2 days in the car. They entertained themselves by drawing and watching movies. Ryan had the best time. We don't ever let them eat in the car or eat dinner with the TV on, so when we stopped at Sonic in Pueblo and allowed them to eat junky fast food in the car while watching a movie, it was Ryan's dream come true. If he were given the opportunity to be a couch potato, he would be a very good one.

We didn't get into Dumas until midnight - but both boys fell asleep long before that.

I am so glad that we were able to take the boys to our college campus and to a football game. I know they had a great time. Before we fell asleep on Saturday night after the game, Ryan whispered to me, "Mama, the TCU game was so much fun. My favorite part was running on the football field."

Fall Harvest Fun

The boys' school had a Fall Harvest Festival on Sunday. We had a great turnout and the boys had a blast with all of the fun activities.

Ryan built a pencil organizer and then got to paint it. Luke built a butterfly house and then proceeded to paint all over his arm.



Tommy and Jenny joined us for part of the time - Tommy was a big fan of the boys' classrooms and the petting zoo. He liked picking up the hay off the ground and feeding it to the animals.



Both boys had their arms painted, neither liked the idea of having paint on their face (which would have been more painful to remove later). Ryan wanted a ghost that Boo and Luke wanted an Eagle.

Other activities that they enjoyed - petting zoo, band, balloon master (who worked her rear end off the entire 3 hours with no break), arts and crafts, pumpkin painting and a storyteller.

Last weekend the boys created their own store out of their playset. Luke made the King Soopers sign (our local supermarket) and both boys stocked it full of toys from the house. They then gave Greg and I money and credit cards to go shopping.



Another recent game has been building spaceships out of Legos for their friends. Below is Ryan's spaceship for Bear and Luke's Borg like spaceship Baby Tiger.



We are going to Texas this weekend to visit Fort Worth and take the boys to a TCU game and then spending some time in Lubbock for a few days.

Our Little Artist

Luke has started an art class at school. Most days when he comes from school, he pulls out his crayons, pencils and paper and goes to town drawing a variety of pictures. He also brings home a portfolio of drawings and paintings every day from school. Because the boys go to a Montessori preschool, Luke is free to spend every day creating pictures if he so desires. They are often a variation of a car that can fly or of a person - but he loves it and he comes up with some pretty creative things (like the laptop that he made, for example). I left work early today so I could see him do his art class - it was really cool and I can tell that he loves it.

Week 1 - this is either a panda bear or a lion - I've heard him say both.

Week 2 - a Bald Eagle (they are focusing on endangered species the first few weeks) - apparently the tail is on the bottom and the wings are on the top.

Today - a buffalo's head. The art teacher talked to the kids about buffaloes and that they are really bison in the North America. She then asked the kids if they could give him a name. One little girl named him Sylvester. Luke raised his hand and named him Baby Buffalo.

Today's medium were pastels and colored pencils.

This is a sweet picture that Luke made for my Aunt Jane earlier this week.

Ryan is taking gymnastics at school. He is loving that - he likes to demonstrate what he gets to do each week. I'll have to send Greg to watch and take pictures one day - it is right after lunch and I'd have to take off a whole day to see him (I took him to gymnastics for 6 weeks earlier this year). I love that they have their own distinct personalities and interests in things.

Saturday TCU Game

Greg and I went to Ft. Collins today for the TCU v. CSU game. The weather was beautiful and it reminded us of the game we went to this same time last year at the Air Force Academy. It was so miserably cold - I think the official temperature was something like 15 degrees and there was freezing rain the whole game. Today, we both got sunburned enjoying a nice fall afternoon. TCU played ok - not the most exciting game, but we were glad to be able to go.



I love SuperFrog - I especially love how he always comes up in the stands during away games. I think the boys are going to have a blast when we take them to Ft. Worth in a few weeks to see a game at TCU.

And just to highlight the difference in weather - here we are last year in Colorado Springs in early October. Boy were we miserable.