FUN in Giddings!

We were lucky enough to get to spend some time at our friends house in Giddings. Lisa and Marty Lindner live on about 50 acres outside of Giddings, with their 5 year old boy Luke. When we pulled into their driveway, Owen says, "I guess we can really get in touch with nature out here."
Anyway, their place is just beautiful, and Marty and Lisa were so nice to help us "cityfolk" have some country fun. The boys got to shoot guns and ride horses. And when the sun went down, we went to a place called the Lights of Texas, where there were 800,000 lights, a zip-line, bounce houses, hayrides, light shows-- and most importantly LARGE firepits so we could keep warm. (Although I am not complaining about being cold since Uncle David had 17 inches of snow in one night last week in Minneapolis.)


I am usually not scared of things, and let my wild boys pretty much do anything they want to, but I had to put my foot down with this zipline. (Well, with Truett anyway)
It was complete blackness, except for a few Christmas lights, and Owen had to climb up a 3-story high tower and harness onto a line that zipped him out into the dark woods and then back again to be let down the very tall ladder. I was glad when he was successfully back to earth, with his feet on the dirt.
Truett had to settle for trying the climbing wall, which he was not too happy about.

Truett is giving Marty's calf-roping horse a scratch under the chin.

Everyone is loaded up and heading down to the pond.

And what is it with boys and ammunition anyway? Both Owen and Truett couldn't get enough of shooting guns.

Truett and Owen on Peanut (which is Luke's horse).

Soccer season is over

The first soccer season for Truett has come to an end. Both boys got trophies, and Truett was so excited to have his first one. Owen of course jabbered on about how he has played for 8 seasons.
And at the closing ceremonies, the men got together and played a game of soccer. Look below and see that B.O.B got into it. I was actually impressed the 37 year old man could move that quick.

Owen's team went for breakfast at McDonalds after their 8am game. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Thanksgiving Holiday

LIGHTS OUT!

Meemaw and Grandpa came to visit for Thanksgiving. We ate A LOT (of course). And we went up to Georgetown to see the lighting of the square, drink some hot chocolate, and listen to some singing-- which the boys actually got to be a part of as you can see in the picture above.

Truett is so happy to pose for a picture with his grandparents.

Grayson came over to stuff himself before taking a big nap. He had to go to work at Best Buy at 3am for the black Friday shopping madness.

HALLOWEEN

Taking a small candy break.

This year, we were lucky enough to trick-or-treat with our friends Mazzy, Artie and Gwen, in their Hyde Park neighborhood. The neighborhood closes off a couple of streets and most of the houses get really into it. Decorating like crazy, dressing up, and one house even built a small maze for the kids to go thru. It was a lot of fun.

We also went to a celebration at the library in Hutto, where Owen won for best costume!

Truett was Hiccup the Viking and Owen was Toothless the Dragon from the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon". (I made both of the costumes, so don't judge too harshly).

Artie the cat man, and Mazzy as Sally stop for a pose with the boys.

They had sooo much fun trick or treating.

We dressed as creepy day-of-the-dead people. I was glad Robert let me make up his face. I wasn't sure if he would participate in that, but he did.

There is a 2-story house on on the corner of Speedway and 42nd that every year does an awesome job decorating their house. The person who answers the door is dressed in a full gorilla suit and throws the halloween candy at the kids, while someone on the 2nd story drops a scary skeleton man down on the trick-or-treaters. Last year, the boys wouldn't even go near the house, but this year, they wanted to go to the door again and again.

Sweetberry Farms & Pumpkin Carving

We did some pumpkin carving at Papa and Carolyn's house. It was fun, and not too messy. Truett's pumpkin is on the far right, and Owen's is next to that. Mine was the ghost 2nd from the left. The other 2 are Kayla's and Carolyn's. And poor Jackson, he wanted nothing to do with that slimy stuff that comes out of the pumpkin.

SWEETBERRY FARMS

Owen had an early-out day at school, so we went over to Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls. There was a hay-ride, corn maze, small petting-z00, and scarecrow stuffing. The boys had a really good time. One of the funniest things happened on the way there, when in the car Owen asked "how much longer?" And I told him that everything takes a while to get to in Texas, and he said, "Not everything-- it doesn't take you long to get to Walgreens." And with that, I almost pissed my pants. Should that be a commercial for the drug-store on every corner, or what?

The boys at the start of the corn maze.

Uncle Jeff turned 40

October was a BUSY month, so I am just now getting some things posted. My brother turned 40 on October 13th, but was in town for a visit on the 20th, so we had a small celebration at our house. The hot tub was on and the kids went swimming. And those crazy children were swimming in the big pool too-- which was about 70 degrees. That is the wonderful thing about being a kid, you just aren't aware of how crazy swimming in that cold of water really is.
Anyway, it was a good visit, and I still can't believe he is 40 AND a grandpa.

Truett helped blow out the candle.

Jeff, Denaee and Mimi went shopping for some Halloween costumes and Jeff came up with this crazy wig, and Denaee came up with a witch costume, but had fish net stockings too, which she didn't want to take off. Should we be worried about this???

Swimming in mid-October. Only in Texas...

Old Tyme Days (& my 1st 5K)

I was certain that Truett would be able to start the military helicopter if allowed to touch the buttons!

We went to Hutto's annual town festival called Old Tyme Days on Saturday. I really like being able to walk from our house to a festival. Anyway- Artie hung out with us after he spent the night before at our house. This made Truett very happy because he hasn't been able to get much "Artie Time" since Artie started kindergarten.

Checking out the hot-rods.

And here is the proof. I completed my 1st 5K. I had two goals: to run the entire time, and not come in last. I accomplished both of my goals and finished in 31 minutes. And thanks to Jennifer for slowing her pace and running with me!

Another funny thing.... I obviously registered us well in advance of everyone else, as we were numbers 1 and 2. I decided that stood for pee-pee and poo-poo, and of course, I ended up being poo-poo!

Owen decided to "ride" on this human powered whirly-gig thing. I don't think it was that exciting, and he didn't even get dizzy (so he says).