Gangland

We managed to kick all four out at once near dusk the other day.  

It wasn't until later I noticed how very much dressed in all black all of my children were.  

They never venture out for long, so made it back before the sun fell thankfully.

That Happened

This guy showed up one day and dug a hole. 

Then he left this.  I have no idea who he was. 

He came back and took away the dirt and left the rocks. 

It was a good way to meet the neighbors, since more than one stopped by to see if I would mind if they helped themselves to my rubble pile.  It was two weeks before the last guy down the street took the last rock.  Easiest ditch repair I've ever made.

A Labor Day Hike

At a lake down the road. 

(It was a little hot.)

But we saw the nature. 

There are two. 

Three. 

And four. 

Believe it or not, about a split second after taking the photo, Nick broke out in a smile.  

Much like the phase where he never wanted his photo taken at all, our new game is to capture the boy smiling.  

I will win eventually.

That he is now wearing one of Patric's t-shirts from when he first joined the Army, makes me aware that I am running out of time.  

I Still Love Watching People Watching Us

I went to show the woman the receipt to prove we paid for these as we walked out of the store. 

With a smile: "Oh Dear, I've been watching.  We all know you paid for these."

And in another effort to recreate my own childhood, I tell the boys: "Go away.  Get on your new bikes and go away.  Go to the park.  You can handle this, can't you?"

And they are coaxed out of the house and on to the bikes.  The huge world in front of them, permission to cross that big street and go to the park, the forest, wherever their little legs take them.

Failure: They return after half a hour, with full tales of their adventures. Super excited, and back within 30 minutes.

Weren't they supposed to go away for hours?

A Little Fun in the Forrest

The Devil, after the angel costume that we originally went to order was not in stock, Elaine went straight for this one.

 The Witch, the cutest ever.

The Wraith, the Harry Potter something-or-other, and at last he just said he was a soul sucker.  Of course.

The zombie ninja, if you can get past those eyes, you'll see the throwing star stuck in his forehead...

 Favorite Trick-or-treating moment number one: After taking off the hat, then taking off the leggings, she was still hot.  So she just asked at one of the houses if she could have a glass of water.  They were apparently obliging.

Favorite Trick-or-treating moment number two: after I couldn't find red shoes for the devil, Dorothy stopped by the house and offered to trade.  Dorothy in silver shoes--just didn't see her mommy agreeing to this, particularly when their whole family went together as the cast, her daddy was even a good sport about being the scarecrow.

An Evening Walk with the Ladies

Slash crawl with the ladies

Pretty sure these neighborhood pod markers weren't meant for this type of activity.

Sunday Afternoon

Rolling Down the hill,

and fishing at the lake down the street.

A Pretty Cool Christmas Twist

 Christmas Eve, the children run outside to scatter their reindeer food all over the lawn.

I was inside locating the broom for the later sweeping I would have to do, perhaps shaking my head.

And Patric comes in, "Hey Soose, you might want to see this."

And magically, as two houses on our block had stepped out to spread glitter and oatmeal for the reindeer, Santa came riding up on a scooter.  And I found myself running about in an excited frenzy looking for my camera, tripping over the broom I had left in my wake.

(We'll pretend David is Nicholas, who was a little too skeptical to hop on the stranger's bike.)

November: Scout Meeting

 Hosted at the Stubers, so we could give a little lesson on the flag, watch some School House Rocks, and then make our flag  treat.

 With the ladies of course.

 And then off for a Scout nature hike.

With a bit of a daddy lecture on terrain and rivers.

Nicholas, hearing about the how the river carves its path: "Daddy, we already know all this..."

November: A Dirty Mess

The angle doesn't really do the hole they dug in the park justice.

They were a dirty mess.  But had so much fun.

Shovels to fill it in after, were a bonus.

ET in The Dark

First Heritage Trail Court "big screen" screening of ET last weekend.

My favorite line of the night:

"It really shouldn't be this humid at 8:30 at night."

Shorts, bug spray, and given-up-on hair-does prevailed as the adults watched and the kids left for the park.

New Obsession All Around

 As long as it isn't raining,

 and it's been raining a lot lately,

you'll know where to find us this weekend.

New neighbors

I met our new neighbor, just down the street, the other night.  They're not from around here.

"One of the things we weren't ready for was all of the animals!"

I laugh to myself, preparing for a horrifying armadillo story.

"Yeah!  Look what we saw at the bridge the other day."

And he shows me these creatures.

Then he shows me the dead armadillo photo.

"Shot that with a 22 in our backyard," he says.

We like, very much, the new neighbors.

Weekend Before Last

Daddy was able to come home for a day.

At least he could do the ceremonial jump all over daddy duty with the aid of water this time.

And this little gem of a water park--just down the street.  We live there now.

First Swim Meet

 One false start.

 Watching the boys backstroke the length of the pool.

Who knew they could do this?

And I missed Alida completely.

Funny--they all look the same in their caps and suits standing off at in their starting line-ups.

No ribbons for the Stubers, but we have time to get there.

Gator of the Week

In Kindergarten.

The exact same week they found the following outside of their school (follow the link):

A Gator Of A Different Sort

The Innagural Block Hunt

 Saturday evening was perfect.

 For a little pizza with friends.

(It's good to live across the street from the pavilion so you can just take it.  If you get kicked out, who cares?  We didn't.)

 And our first scramble for Easter eggs in the park.

 Success.

Then they all sat down in a pile and ate candy.

I love these kids.

Higher Daddy!

Brazos Bend State Park

 Gravel Angels.

 Sweet Angels.

And an aligator sighting.

Perfect day.