Birthday weekend surprise!

Charles outdid himself for sure this year!  He arranged for Gamee and Grampee to keep the kids for 2 nights so that we could do a weekend away.  I finally made him tell me where we were going so that I knew what to pack.  When he first said Waco, I was thinking that was an odd place since we are in Waco a lot.  Then I found out all the cool things we were gonna do!  First, we ate dinner at Diamondback's (Texas Bistro) Friday night which is a few doors down from where our first date was at a restuarant named Gratzi's (Gratzi's is no longer there).  It was an AMAZING dinner to say the least and it was so nice to have nothing to rush around for.  Saturday morning we slept in before doing some shopping and winery tours.  We fell in love at a place called Waco Wineries where we did a tasting and then we were able to just walk through the vineyards.  There is nothing like nature to take away stress.  Then we made a quick jaunt back to Chuy's to eat before the BIG finale.  I was SO EXCITED to finally get to see the Baylor Bears, Joy and Lady, up close and personal.  Of course we cannot pet them (they are not fond of that)...but I got to see their enclosed habitat, feed Joy a treat of peanut butter on a spatula, make them do tricks like "up" (they spread arms/legs and stand tall), "smile" (they open mouth real big), and of course "Sic 'Em"!  We were amazed at how well cared for they are.  It has always been a dream of mine to be close to the bears, so this was a check off my bucket list for sure!  Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel before walking the lake and geocaching on our way out of town.  Talk about a GREAT weekend!  Thanks to my sweet hubby Charles and especially Gamee/Grampee for spoiling the kids (2 weekends in a row this time) while we got away.  I feel so loved and ready to turn 36 years old.  Ha!

Some random delights...

Gamee & Grampee are AMAZING!

Charles and I wanted to go to a Baylor game on Saturday, so Gamee and Grampee decided to take the kids for an amazing trip to Grapeland, TX.  We always love it down there (likely because the cell phones do not work, ha!) and wish we could go more often with our membership.  The kids not only LOVE being with Gamee/Grampee, but they were so excited to go to Grapeland and cousin Andrew got to go as well.  They were able to fish, cook hotdogs/smores, and see "Trolls" the newest released movie!  Although the Baylor game did NOT make us smile and UT won, the pictures of the kids throughout the weekend made us smile so big.  All 4 of us are blessed by Gamee and Grampee's love!!

Happy Halloween!

Introducing... Caelin as Shimmer (from "Shimmer and Shine" series on Nick Jr) and Cade as Dipper (from Gravity Falls on Disney XD) for this Halloween's adventure!  We had to buy Caelin's costume this year, but Cade helped make his with the additional purchase of the official hat from Amazon.  I thought they looked rather cute...but I know I am biased.  We celebrated the evening with neighbors and enjoyed the beautiful weather walking around.   Cade adventured into the haunted house with Daddy, while Mommy and Caelin walked home early as Caelin was not feeling well.  After we all settled in at home, we gave out candy for a bit before heading off to bed.  It is always fun to see so many kids out and neighbors being together in the neighborhood.  Until next year Halloween...

Fall Festival

This year we visited Houston NW Church for thei fall festival with Gamee/Grampee, Christopher/Heather, Andrew and Jacob.  It was fun to spend time watching the cousins get into the Halloween spirit.