Happy 35th Daddy!

We had a fun day celebrating Neal's 35th!  He took the day off of work to hang out with us and we started it off by taking Meredith lunch at school.  Then we included Piper in the celebration with a trip to the dog park.

Photography by Jillian at the dog park

Daddy with 2 of his 3 girls.

After Meredith got home from school, we continued our Hostess cupcake tradition (thankfully Hostess was back in business by the time this birthday rolled around!) Meredith dug out 2 "3's" and added 2 single candles to add up to 35.  And she was excited to sing Happy Birthday via mic.  No chance we missed hearing that! 

That evening, we picked up some friends and the four of us went out to dinner in Fort Worth and hit up the drive-in movie for a double feature.  The night became extra memorable when it got COLD.  The wives ended up abandoning the husbands and bundling up in the back of my minivan for the first movie.  The guys wised up and joined us inside to defrost for the second!  

Happiest of birthdays Neal!

1st Grade Bible Presentation

Our Children's Minister, Mr. David, holds a special program for the 1st Graders each year, presenting them with their very own Bible and praying over each kid.  Meredith was excited for this presentation - we love our church and all those that love on our kids!

Howdy Folks!

Nothing says Fall like the State Fair of Texas!  Bubbie treated us to a trip to see The Lion King at Fair Park, which meant we could also go to the fair.  We snuck Meredith out of school a bit early and headed up to have some fun riding rides and eating fried food!

We headed straight over to check out Big Tex

Say Aahh! The girls each chose a few rides - Jillian, of course, loved the train with the hippo. 

Meredith got to be a ballerina in a Circus show - Jillian preferred to be a spectator and cheer her sister on.

After a dinner of yummy Fair food, we headed to see The Lion King - it was such a great show and the girls loved every minute!

Pumpkin Patch Family Day

For the past who knows how many years, I have taken the girls to this great pumpkin patch in Flower Mound.  We started this tradition with our playgroup and would go on a school holiday.  And since Aunt Katie and Landon were on our way out to the Pumpkin Patch, most years they came, too!  This year, we weren't going to be able to go during the week, so we decided to plan a weekend trip.  And the great added bonus: Daddies got to come too! It was fun getting to do this with both of our families - especially since we got to introduce Baby Carter to the Pumpkin Patch.

Meredith and Jillian sitting on one of the HUGE pumpkins

There is a cute pumpkin house with all these little pumpkins lining the walls.  The kids decided to load Uncle Neil down with more than he could hold.  They thought it was a hilarious game!

Besides Pumpkins, this place has bounce houses, hay rides and a train!

Meredith and Landon teamed up in one car.

Jillian was a little sad to be left out, but Uncle Neil came to her rescue and she was super excited for the extra time with him.

My biggest goal of the Pumpkin Patch day is always a cute pic of the kids on the pumpkins. It usually is a disaster (with one or both of my children crying - then if you add in a cousin or two, you know how that is going to turn out!) This year, I was pleasantly surprised!

Cousin photo! And all 4 are looking at the camera and smiling! Winner!

Just my girlies

And we of course utilized having Aunt Katie around to take a picture of the whole family

There are also tons of fun wooden cutouts for photo ops.  This one is one we do every year - so fun to see them as they grow!

How did she get so tall?

Jillian too? 

Pumpkin Patch-ing can work up an appetite, so we headed to Mooyah for dinner - the kids spent most of the time writing on the chalkboard and getting covered in chalk.  

This might be the start to a new tradition!