happy halloween

brendan's first halloween was a multi-day event.  we kicked it off with our ss class party at our friends' house saturday night.  the flame, as our class is called, is a really awesome group of people that have become some of our really good friends and always love on brendan.  they were the first to witness his awesome costume specially made by grandma and mailed just in time.

i also want to include a couple of shots of the adults who dressed up for the party...some of the costumes were really impressive!  check out the shrek family and our friends who are expecting (and incorporated that into their costumes).

i decided the best time to buy a holiday-themed shirt is about a week or two before the actual holiday because babies r us will have it marked way down.  brendan sported his first halloween shirt today at his sitter's house, and his costume made an encore appearance this evening as we greeted trick-or-treaters at the door.

touchdown!

giving thanks

at thanksgiving and all throughout the year, we are thankful for the following...

dear friendships that distance cannot waver (and 2 future babies will make even better...meaning adam and coriell are having TWINS, not one baby from each couple!)
true fall in all of its glorious colors
sisters...and japanese hibachi grills :)
family...the extended family with open arms to all and those closest to us
football and everything that rivalries bring

fall fun

we are currently in alabama and a future post will come from this weekend. first, i wanted to cover the past two weekends.

two weekends ago, we spent the weekend in college station. much to my surprise, it was also the weekend for the recruiting tailgate for pine cove, a camp i worked at in college. it was a great chance for me to see old friends including my friend pair who was also in our wedding!following the game, we went to the garretts' house to enjoy the birthday festivities for their youngest two kiddos, abby and jennings. they ripped through their presents faster than any kids i have ever seen!sunday brought a surprise trip to the pumpkin patch. katy knew my desire to visit one this year and we made an unexpected stop after breakfast by the one in college station. this very farmer's market/pumpkin patch is also home to the largest pumpkin in texas weighing in at a hefty 1198 lb. we rounded off the visit with choosing a couple of pumpkins to carve, racing through the hay maze, and gazing in awe at the array of fresh fruit & vegetables.last weekend we traveled to louisiana for the first time in three months to visit with mr joe, the allens, and the morrows. we love visiting family and are amazed each time at how much the kids have grown between each time we see them. i forgot my memory card for my camera so the only picture i have from the weekend is jonah proudly displaying his bird house project from the weekend.speaking of jonah, we are so proud of his new cross-country efforts. he's making better and better times with each run. we are so proud of each of our nieces and nephews, including the ones in san francisco. we can't wait for everyone to be together at christmas!

p.s. - sorry that all of these pictures are fairly poor quality. i did not have my memory card in my camera for two weeks so they all came from my phone or lee's.

decor update

for those who may remember, i mentioned a very smart method of hanging a picture frame collage on the wall a few weeks ago. i attempted this method but had to wait a while for the pictures to come in. well, they came in and now they are finally up on the wall!
also, the cooler weather rolled in this morning which means it actually feels like fall around here! my thought is if it feels like fall outside, it should look and smell like fall inside. therefore, out came the fall decor tonight...thank you, aunt beth, for the fall decorations as birthday presents last year! we do not have a table right now so i improved and spread my fall table runner out on the counter...is that ok, decorating friends? :) (i feel the dish of pretzel m&ms completes the look). i also added this delicious-smelling candle and its fall wreath to our end table. combine that with a tasty cup of hazelnut coffee tonight, and i would say fall started off just right.

the most wonderful time of the year

no, not christmas. the other best time of the year. fall.

fall means football and changing leaves and my birthday and cooler weather and even better reasons to go to starbucks. well, as i mentioned last year the two about cooler weather and changing leaves never really happen here in houston until somewhere around december.

football, in particular, is something we both really enjoy and enjoy watching together. when we are not at kyle field in college station cheering on the aggies, we are watching as much as sec football as we can on saturdays and the texans (and others) on sunday or monday. such a great sport!

last saturday was our first saturday in college station together (lee went to the first game but took no pictures). lee's dad was also in town so we all met up with katy, tiffany, and aaron for lunch. later, we headed to campus for pre-game festivities. i had never experienced "step off" where the people follow the band from campus to the stadium, but katy, tiffany, and i met up with the garretts and did just that. first, there was a loud cannon and then lots of people trying to follow a loud band...very interesting experience.

the aggies did a really nice 9/11 tribute and a sweet flyover before the game began. thankfully, the aggies pulled out a pretty significant victory despite quite a few fumbles on special teams. we left at halftime and got to watch most of the second half of the bama game!

fall

football

cooler weather (which we are still waiting on in houston)

colorful, changing leaves (again, still waiting here)

caramel apple spice at starbucks...thank you, shauna :)

decorations of pumpkins, scarecrows, cornucopias and more are everywhere you look

alabama football

caramel green-apple suckers on sale in stores for their once-a-year appearance...yay!

birthdays

our anniversary

new seasons of our favorite tv shows

time with family

the first cool night that requires long-sleeves and a warm drink

football :)

...these are just some of the things i look forward to this time of year. i can't wait for all of them to actually happen (specifically, the cooler weather in houston).

to those of you already enjoying a true season of autumn, enjoy it for the rest of us and send any extra down here!