Pumpkin Patch

I have been waiting for a couple of weeks for the perfect pumpkin patch weather. I thought it would never come...we had some of the windiest days (shocker), followed by cold and windy weather, followed by super windy days. But alas, yesterday ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day, and we had a great time out a the patch...

I love this one of Will : )

You never know what you're going to get when guy walks up and offers to take a family photo...
I was VERY happy when I came home, uploaded the pics onto the computer, and found this beauty! Thanks Mr. Anderson!

Paying for the pumpkins the picked out...

I LOVE that they will put their arms around each other and smile for pictures these days. It's priceless!

...and they were bummed to leave the patch...


A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE:

October 2007
Will on left, Levi on right
5 months old


October 2008
Will on left, Levi on right
1 1/2 years old

October 2009
Levi on left, Will on right
2 1/2 years old
(I'm not sure why Levi looks so much taller than Will. They are pretty much the same height.)

Have fun Holloweening tonight! We are going to enjoy some trick or treating along our street, and then I will run home to greet all the trick or treaters at our house. I LOVE little kids in costumes. This is one of my FAVORITE holidays!

CHiPs is back.

Happy Halloween week from Ponch & John!

more pictures coming soon...

Discipline Has Begun!

Don't worry, we started disciplining the boys a loong time ago, but for the first time today, I got a spanking from one of the boys...

Will: "Mom, catch dis ballll"
Me: "OK, throw it to me, I'm ready"

Will threw the ball, but I missed it and it fell to the floor nearby. I reached to grab it, but Will ran over saying... " nooo!! I get it!"
But it was too late. I had already picked up the ball.

Will: "No No NO NO NO! IIII get the ballll. Do you understand???"
followed by him giving me three spankings on my leg.

Then he kept on asking me, "Do you understand?" until I said (between giggles) "Yes, sir".

My little outlaw demands respect in this house!

Kiva!

My lovely friend, Summer, posted a blog about a website that she had found called Kiva. I just spent about 2 hours browsing this website. Yes, I have no life.

Anyways, it's really cool website where you can go and send a $25 loan to an entrepreneur who is trying to start a business. Many of the entrepreneurs are from third world countries where it only takes a few hundred dollars to get a business up and running. Many of these people are trying to open up food markets, transportation companies, raise agriculture, or small markets where people can buy clothes, material, house supplies. You can loan a minimum of $25 to whichever person/group you choose. Then you get email updates about the company's progress and notified when your loan is repaid. Pretty amazing, huh?!

After looking through too many profiles, I finally settled on loaning to two different men.
1) Aamache is from Lebanon, and he owns a car mechanic shop. He is asking for $1200 to buy some tools and enlarge his shop. He and his wife are raising 6 kids.
2) Aquilino is a 69 year old man from Peru who has an Agriculture business. I don't know much about him because his profile was in Spanish...but he is the cutest little Peruvian man, and I had to do anything in my power to help him out. Check him out here!

I really do feel like this is a ministry. The goal of Kiva is to begin eliminating poverty by using the internet as a tool for microloaning around the world!

Go check it out! www.kiva.org

From the mouths of babes..

A few quick stories:

* At about 3am last night, Zach and I awoke to Will running down the hall crying out 'No hurt Innneeyyy, nooo hurt Inneeyyy'. Zach went after him and brought him into bed with us. It took us a few questions until Will agreed with us that he was saying 'Don't hurt Indie'. Indie is Zach's sisters dog. Will doesn't really like dogs (or any animal for that reason), but I guess he doesn't want them to get hurt either!

* This morning, Will was eating his breakfast and watching 'Dorge da Money' (curious george) while I was paying bills at the computer. He started crying like he was really hurt. I ran into the room to ask him what was wrong (thinking that Levi had snatched some of his breakfast...or something along those lines), and he pointed to the TV and said, 'Dorge's DOLF BALLLLS' (George's golf balls). Will was still crying like he was personally hurt, but I soon realized that Curious George's golf balls were being stolen by a squirrel who thought they were nuts. Will was really feeling George's pain. It took a few minutes for Will to calm down...

* Recently, Will has randomly been telling me, 'Mom, ur bewtful'. makes.my.heart.melt.

* This morning, I was getting Levi ready for the day. I was putting on his pants and shirt, and he told me he wanted to go to 'Itney Unc-Ted's hoowwwwws' (Whitney & Uncle Ted's House). I told him that we might go there later today, but we had some other errands to run. Then he looked up at me and said, 'I wanna go Dod's hooowwws'. I didn't understand him until he pointed up and said, 'I wanna go Dodddd's hoowws'. Then I realized he was saying he wanted to go to God's house. He got so excited when I repeated back to him correctly what he was saying. Holding back my tears, I told him that God has a special house that he will get to go to one day. He got very excited and started running around saying 'God's Hooowwss!!!' It really reminded me of the joy we should have when thinking about God calling us home to his house.

I might have mentioned this before, but there are so many times where I feel like the Grinch when his heart begins to grow. As Will & Levi are growing up, communicating sweet words, and wanting to snuggle all the time, I truly feel my heart growing. They are such a beautiful part of my life, and I am so thankful to God for having this time with them.

5 Year Anniversary Trip

Our anniversary was back in June, but we decided to wait and take a big trip after all the summer traveling calmed down. A BIG thank you to family members who helped all of this come together. Some helped out by gifting us with a time-share they have, and others helped to watch the boys while we were gone. We realized once we were in Florida that this was the longest trip Zach and I have ever taken with just the two of us! We stayed 5 nights at an AWESOME hotel right on the beach in Hollywood, FL. Most of the time I spent laying out by the pools/on the beach while reading books. It was soooo nice to sleep in, roll out of bed, put a swimsuit on, and sit in a lounge chair all-day-long.

This is a picture of our resort. Our room was waaayyy up there on the 24th floor. BEAUTIFUL views of the ocean and of North Miami.

This was my favorite spot at the resort. It was near the pools, but high enough to get a great view of the ocean and feel the ocean breeze. One day I literally spent 8 hours in this same chair. It was dreamy.

We did have one 'fun day' where we drove inland and went on an Everglades Air-Boat tour. So much fun! My favorite part was just driving fast through the everglades, but it was also cool to have a pretty close encounter with a mama gator protecting her nest!

This guy was crazy. He would do all kinds of tricks (stupid ones) with the gators. He was missing part of one finger, and had a fresh gash on his arm along with scars all over his legs. Eek!

We had a GREAT vacation! We definitely miss the ocean breeze and beautiful views, but we are back home where we belong (with west Texas winds and Big Country views!). We missed the boys WAY more than they missed us. Thanks to all of our families for their help!

First Day of School

I attempted to get a good 'Front Porch First Day of School' picture...but I think I need to lower my standards of what a good picture is! Will & Levi are always on the go these days...

The boys are very blessed to have two great teachers this year! One of whom is a very good friend of ours, Leslie! She is going to have a fun year...
And, it's always nice to be close to the boys during their school days. I work right down the hall from their classroom, and I know that it doesn't get much better than that!

Attempt #1: Levi cheesin' it up, but Will was a little distracted...

Attempt #2: Levi getting up to 'wace mama!' and Will looking very confused...

Attempt #3: pretty darn good!

I told the boys to remember to be kind to their friends, and this is how they responded...
i leervve em!

Random: Today I caught Levi feeding his lunch to his baby. Sweet boy.