Thanks!

It's so nice to live close enough to family for holidays!  We drove down to Dallas for Thanksgiving and spent the weekend with James' brothers and family.  We stayed with Jeff and Brandi in their beautiful house and Lilah was in heaven with cousin Natalie!  We also got to see David and his girlfriend, Julie, for a little bit. Ethie was in Ohio, so we missed him, but he got to come home Sunday to see cousin Nathan before we headed back home.  We spent Thanksgiving eating lots of yummy food, playing lots of board games, taking walks, playing basketball, going to the Sea Life aquarium, and eating lots of yummy food!  It was just right :)

Such cute girls!

After Thanksgiving dinner naps (for one of them at least)

This doesn't show the score, but it was a 500.  I was very proud :)

Yay, big fish!

I love this!

Lilah was happy.  She just doesn't like posing :)

Our town

I love exploring our new town and finding fun things to do.  It is always my quest to try something new on Saturday and today we hit a jackpot!  I read that the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa was having a free family fun day today, so I took the kids.  I was a little worried that they would be bored or too loud since it was at an art museum but oh my goodness, it was so amazing!  

First of all, we drove through the most beautiful historic neighborhood in Tulsa with the prettiest autumn trees I have seen here to get to the museum, which was in the middle of all the big beautiful houses.  I felt like I was on a movie set.  Then we walked in and there were lots of kids and so many activities for them, but right in the middle of this big, lovely art museum!  We went on a guided puppet storytime around the art, made tissue paper paintings and turkeys, got free art kits to take home, watched a movie about children's art, and got to see some of the beautiful paintings. 

The best part was the scavenger hunt around the most lovely, sprawling gardens.  Ethie had a blast finding each of the sculptures or architectural landmarks and making crayon rubbings of the small stone replicas they had placed beside them.  We spent about 2 hours exploring the beautiful gardens, while the kiddos were so entertained looking for landmarks, and I got to just enjoy the perfect weather, cute company, and gorgeous surroundings!

Doing his rubbings

Haha... Ethie was being the "thinker" and this is Lilah's new picture smile

Halloweeeen!

Well, now that it's November (can't believe it's here!), I guess I should update with our Halloween pictures.  The kids were so cute and had so much fun, so I must share!

First, we had the church Truck-or-Treat.  James and I were pretty much the only adults who dressed up, but what better way to make an impression in a new place?  Lilah was a witch, because I got the costume on clearance last year. She is such a cute little witch!  Ethie wanted to be something scary and violent, so we settled on a shredded corpse, which was only scary.  They had fun with all the other cute kids! 

We finally got around to carving our pumpkin the night before Halloween.  They were all out of little pumpkins at the store, so we all collaborated on one, with James being the master carver.

Eww, guts.  (Please excuse the laundry day in the background)

I think James is trying to look like the pumpkin.

   And then finally, Halloween night!  We went to a new friends' house for a chili cook-off and trick-or-treating.  The kids had lots of fun with all the other kids and it was nice to get to know people better.  Plus, the kids got lots of candy, which is the most important part!  Lilah was pretty shy about trick-or-treating at first, but she got braver once she realized they were giving her candy.

This was the closest Lilah would get to the other kids.  Our shy girl!

This man was giving out full-size candy bars.

Cute and scary!

Pumpkin patchin (part 2)

This weekend, I had a groupon for Livesay's Orchards and James was able to come with us!  There were lots of pumpkin games for the kids, a hay maze, a bug lady, homemade fried pies, and a hayride to pick a pumpkin out of a pumpkin patch. Perfect family day!

Pumpkin bowling

I think this was Ethie's favorite part of the day

Worn out!

Pumpkin patchin

I love this time of year!  There is so much to do and the weather is beautiful and the holidays are coming and it feels nice.  I think fall is my favorite.

I took the kids to Pumpkintown last week while James was working on his thesis and they were so cute together!  I love it when they get along and love each other.

Lilah's first pony ride!  She wasn't sure at first, but once they started moving, she kept saying, "Ohhh, cute pony.  Good boy!"

Still a little unsure, but so brave!

Seriously, could I be any more blessed?