We LOVE the Pumpkin Patch!

We made our way to Medina this morning to the Love Creek Apple Orchard for a fabulous day at the pumpkin patch. I went there last year with some of our students for a field trip and had to bring Maddy and Logan this year. Maddy was ready to run around and explore every corner of the farm. I forgot to charge my camera so Logan's phone took all of the pictures. The drive through the hill country was amazing on our way out there and back. The sun was shining and 72 degrees was beautiful. Oh how I LOVE the fall!

Maddy was eager to ride this pony...and all of the ponies. She was a little confused that Dancer wasn't there to ride as well, but hopefully we will see her son.

The maze was the perfect place to run away from the camera.

We saw another pony and fed some goats and sheep. Maddy really liked feeding the animals and wanted to crawl in their pins with them.

I was blinded by the sun, too Cari. Oh well! I definitely think we need a train like this for the little ones at the ranch.

We painted a $1 pumpkin that is now sitting proudly on our porch.

Lastly, we thought we might as well head to Kerrville since we were about 20 miles away. Where else to go but Mamacita's!

Go Mules

If you know me, you know I always wanted to be a cheerleader. After two failed try-outs I quit and pursued other things. Maybe this little cutie will have the cheering gene? Who knows! We got this cute little AH cheer outfit from some friends of ours last weekend. I thought for sure if wouldn't fit, but it does! For now! We know just who to give it to when she is finished with it. Now we have an outfit for the Mules, Frogs, and Vols! The captain of the AH cheerlearders is in my bible study and she said Maddy could join the team if she can land her back tuck. We'll work on it!

Babysitters club

We have been so blessed to find people in San Antoino that love our girl and want to spend time with her when we are away. Last night, Maddy spent time with one of her favorite babysitters, Jessie. Jessie, also happens to be one of my favorite people too. We are both SLPs so we speak "speech" to each other often about our different workplaces and share a deep love for chocolate, running, children, and the Lord. She makes watching Maddy easy by playing outside, floating sticks down the "river" of water on our street, spinning on stools at Freddy's, and eating as much frozen yogurt as a 2 year-old can imagine. Thank you, Jessie, for being an amazing friend to all of us. You are a joy!

Jessie and Maddy on the swings at the park near our house.

Jessie is a NOLA girl and an LSU alum so she brought back Maddy a Tiger onesie. I think she was about 6 months here maybe? My how time flies!


During my final days of working with Jessie, I made all of the co-workers Native American headdresses...you know, out of construction paper and sentence strips. Jess' was purple and gold for LSU and her name was Princess Tiger Lilly. I think we celebrated that day with cookies from Ruby Tuesday's.


The fearless Christmas play director after the show! Jess has volunteered (or been volunteered) to lead her school's Christmas play for the past few years. It is always a huge success and she is a great leader to all of the kiddos and teachers!

Oh Zeke, You Stink!

For a long time, I've relished in the fact that I have a horrible sense of smell. During pregnancy was the only real time in my life that I can recall having a strong sniffer. Well, Zeke trumps my olfactory glands' inabilities with several fragrances that are brewing in our house. I'll let you guess what they are, but they are not pretty. Good thing we're burning our Scentsy candle right now. Thanks Nat!

Friend Visits

We visited a few more friends at the end of summer! Here is a small recap.

Becky was in Austin and we got to meet Justin...along with the rest of the deHaro clan.

She managed to get into the deHaro's pool that evening despite my best efforts to keep her out. Since we forgot a swimsuit, she finally just got into her birthday suit and took a dip in the shallow end. After dinner we headed down to the lake to watch the sunset. It was such a great evening and we were so glad to see you Becky while you guys were in town!

We also got to see Jane and Scott when we celebrated my family's August birthdays. I don't have any pictures from the birthday celebration, but snapped a few from when we crashed Russ and Stacey's pool.

Maddy wasn't very interested in playing with Jase, but loved watching the big kids go under the water to catch a small torpedo they brought.

Jane then posted this about Maddy after we left their house that weekend. I swear I didn't know she had your sunglasses. We need to mail them to you Tia. So sorry!

Labor Day fun

Marme and Jimbo came to San Antonio for a short Labor Day trip. We headed to the Witte as soon as they got here for the last weekend of the Dinosaur exhibit. Maddy loved seeing the baby dinosaurs up close and the big guys too.

Maddy ran all over the "tree house" exploring the science toys. This one is a favorite of hers.

This was in January at the same spot. Look at how big she has gotten and how long her hair is now!

This was supposed to be a teenager T-rex. Did you know they had hair all over them until they were full grown? This ferocious carnivore was a furry little guy at first!

This was the mama dinosaur that had a baby next to her. Maddy kept asking, "Baby are you ok?" when he would growl.

Marme and Maddy making their way through the Witte. Maddy wasn't too sure about all the growls and dark lights.

Ready...

Set...

Go! Jimbo and Daddy can swing her a lot higher than the rest of us. She really loved walking with Jimbo.

My dad is laughing because on the way up to see this big guy I had a serious blonde moment where I asked, "Do you think that fence is real?" Obviously, I was thinking of the moment where the boy in Jurassic Park grabs the fence and pretends to be shocked. It was out of safety that I asked...not stupidity....let's hope.

Obviously, this big guy wasn't surrounded by a huge electric fence, but a fake one.

Bye bye dinosaurs. Bye bye Marme and Jimbo! We sure had fun seeing you!

A Corpus kind of weekend

A few weeks ago we packed up and headed for the beaches of Corpus for the last weekend of Summer! We celebrated Johnna's birthday at the Adamson's house the first night and then went to the beach with everyone on Saturday.

Maddy is fearless when it comes to the waves. Normally she was running the other direction out to the shore!

Lauren took some great pics even though her lens was foggy from the heat. I stole pretty much all of these pics from her blog. Thanks Lo!

Maddy loved playing with Rio, Robbie's dog, and wanted him to follow her all over the beach. He was busy chasing birds and playing fetch for our little girl, but she didn't mind. I think she is saying here, "Come on Rio."

That night we went to Water Street for some seafood and to say we went to dinner for our anniversary. It was crowded and hot so our dinner was not the greatest night of our life, but it was good to spend more time with friends.

Before we left, Lauren and Trevor treated us to free tickets to the Aquarium. It is big enough to be a full morning, but not as crazy as Sea World. If you know my love/fear of aquatic life, you know I can only take so much. We got to see...

a river otter...

a shark (I cringed, of course)...

a bunch of sting rays...

Nemo and Dory (Maddy did not understand why they were not on her DVD screen and swimming around in a tank)...

and Mr. Turtle (this is about as close as she would get).

Maddy loved the dolphins and would follow them as they swam in the tank.

We tried to pet a sting ray, but Maddy really just enjoyed putting her hands in the water and watching them swim around.

Like her daddy, Maddy is not always so agreeable when it comes to posed pictures. I thought this bench with the name and the waves in the background would be the perfect shot, but she wanted to see something else so we moved on.

One of these little guys only had 3 fins.

Amazed...
In the end, we did get a family shot with the ocean in the background and the sun in our eyes.


Thanks Lauren and Trevor for an amazing weekend. And everyone else! We can't wait to come play in Corpus again soon!

Holding on to you

Today we went to the opthamologist to see about Maddy's stye on her eyelid. It turns out she is going to have to have a minor surgery to remove the little stye since it is just not going away. Her little eyelid has been holding onto it since the beginning of June! We've been battling it all summer with several rounds of antibiotics, ointments, and countless warm washcloths on her eye. The other day I put a cool washcloth on her head after she got a little overheated and she insisted the washcloth be placed on her eye. Like I said...she's seen a lot of washrags close up this summer.

After we left the doctor's office, we went to Starbucks before they dropped me off at work. She was standing between Logan and I and all of the sudden turned around and grabbed the first harry leg she could find...NOT her daddy's! The young gentleman she grabbed was very sweet (and shocked) and gave her a big smile. I don't think she even really noticed her squeeze wasn't well-received, but it made us all laugh. My mom always tells a similar story of me doing the same thing in the line at Black-Eyed Pea, but I kept going up the line grabbing the next leg until I found my dad.

Knowing surgery is in her future and learning about a co-worker losing his 22 year-old son in a tragic motorcycle accident have made me hold onto Maddy a little tighter this week. We are blessed and thankful for every moment.

Dog days of summer

(Sorry Andrea...I stole your title!)

We have a dog! After months and months of begging Logan and a weekend of brainstorming countless names, we are now the proud owners of a 8 week lab puppy named Zeke! He is pretty quiet and lazy right now, but I'm sure the excitement will pick up soon. We were up pretty much all night last night and we're hoping we will get a better sleep tonight. I'll get some better pictures soon since these are just from the built-in camera.

Sweet Girl

The other day I was pretending to nap in our bed so Maddy would nap also. Instead of sleeping Maddy reached over and gave me several big kisses on the cheek.

When Maddy was younger, I would complain how she never cuddled or wanted to be held. Now we hear all the time, "Hold you, hold you" when she wants to be picked up or snuggled with. I assume this phrase comes from us asking her, "Do you want me to hold you?"

Just now Elmo was on TV. He always kisses a baby at one point of the show by saying, "Kiss, kiss baby." Maddy just said, "Kiss, kiss, Daddy!"

There are days that living with a 2 year-old is tough, but these sweet moments are worth it!

Tennessee trip

Here is a little more of the fun we had in Knoxville and at the cabin in Townsend. The weather cooled off for us a little and we loved being outside as much as possible.

We didn't plan on playing in the Market Square fountains, but Maddy did as soon as she saw them. We had a change of clothes handy and she loved the splashing followed by ice cream.






Oh Nana and Papaw...they love orange, can you tell?


Poppie got down to the river for the first time in about 10 years. These are just a few of his many adoring fans.


Maddy loved playing in the sand, dirt, and rocks at the river. She squirted water guns and dug in the sand between snack and sunscreen breaks.


Adam got Maddy a chair for the river at her birthday party. She loved sitting in the river and throwing rocks. For a while I was able to get her to say, "ice cream," to smile. She said it here, but the smile didn't quite follow her.