After many hours of volunteer work and preparing for our school carnival, October 24, 2009 finally came!!! YEAH!!!!

There was a silent auction for the school and each class was to donate a basket of some kind to put in the auction to help raise money for the PTA. Our class picked Build A Bear as our theme. We arranged 3 separate baskets for the auction. I think they turned out fabulous! We also had a booth at the carnival to run for our class and we had to work the Alien Coke Toss. We had parent volunteers from the class work our booth during the carnival. We played a ton of games, saw lots of school friends, and we even got to see D and her family there. We invited M and her family to join us at the carnival since she helped me last-minute with watching Z that week while I worked on carnival stuff. We got to bid on a Lego basket and a ceramic tile party for 4 at the silent auction and won those items. I also won the duck race for the school volunteers. It was a super fun time at the carnival.

After the carnival was over and our booth was closed down and we picked up our auction items, we headed to Chuy’s with M and her family. And it was nice to see B again; she joined us for dinner too.

We are ready for the fun!

My husband is a volunteer with the school and is part of the WATCH D.O.G.S. program.  WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) is a father involvement initiative of the National Center for Fathering that organizes fathers and father figures in order to provide positive male role models for the students and to enhance school security. On October 16, 2009, my husband worked his first day as a Watch Dog at Z’s school. He first met with the vice principle and was given a schedule for the day and then worked in many different class rooms and at recess. WATCH D.O.G.S. make the rounds throughout the school and kids really notice their presence. They get to eat lunch with their child and at some point in the day, they end up working in their child’s classroom. When a “watch dog” walks the halls children are in AWE and give high fives and are thrilled to have them there. When I walk down the hall, I may get a “hello Z’s mom” if I am lucky. For more information on WATCH D.O.G.S. please visit the following link: http://www.fathers.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=60

On October 16, Z’s principle did the school wide morning announcements from his class room. The kids were thrilled. I worked in the library that morning and then joined Z and hubby for lunch. It was a great family day at school.

Sunday, October 18, 2009 was such a beautiful day outside. Hubby got up and mowed the yard while I did a few chores inside. Then I took my car for an oil change and got both our cars washed. Z played with the neighbor boys down the street and hubby worked on our Halloween decorations. It was such a great day! While I was at the grocery store, Z and hubby carved our pumpkins. Hubby took some great pictures for me and the pumpkins turned out great!

After we ate dinner and while Z was getting his shower, I packed a big boo bag for him and left it on the front porch. So just before bed, I asked the guys to show me their pumpkins. When Z opened the door his eyes lit up! He was thrilled that he got booed and with such a big bag! I had some magnetic monsters for him, some reflectors for Halloween night, a cool cup, tattoos, his favorite full sized candy, his own gum, and some cookies. He was on cloud 9. It was such a great day! And we are so ready for Halloween! (Of course I didn’t get a picture of the boo bag. Hey I had to rush….)

Starting out small......

It is the headless Z! Cool pumpkin dude!

Our scarecrow after a few additions.

Scooping out the pumpkin.

EEWWW.....that's a lot of GOOOOO!

Carving time.

Z looks so proud showing off his work!

What great looking pumpkins!

Hugs from the scarecrow.

On Saturday, October 17, 2009, some of our playgroup went to the pumpkin patch in Marble Falls. We went there last year and had such a great time, we couldn’t wait to go back. So with our husbands and lunches loaded in the cars, we headed out to the farm. We went with D, T and C’s families. It was such a beautiful day and the farm was busy but not unbearable. The kids immediately started jumping on all the hay bales for many photo opportunities. There was so much to see and do it was hard to decide what would be first. They played for a while on the hay bales, played in pumpkin filled boat and truck, picked out pumpkins, ate our lunch, fed the goats, went on a hayride, picked fresh flowers, ran through the corn maze, painted pumpkins, and stuffed a scarecrow. We even ran into K and her family there. And of course in between all that we took many pictures!

The day was not over yet….we stopped at Dairy Queen for a quick ice cream cone and the stop turned into over an hour because the kids played and I chatted with D and K for a bit. Then for dinner we went to this wonderful seafood place with D and her family. We got home after dark! What a long fun day. And hubby and Z were sunburned from the day at the farm. Sorry for not putting sunscreen on you both.

Posing for the camera while on a large rolled bale of hay!

Hanging out with friends on a beautiful day!

I pick this pumpkin....and that one over there too.....

I will shoot you with my gun gourd.

Posing with the pumpkins. What pretty colors.

Feeding time for the goats. They also loved my carrots I didn't eat from my lunch.

Barking up a tree.....

Time for a hayride!

Hayride with C and J.

Hayride with T and her family.

Hayride with D and her family.

What pretty flowers!! Z picked a bunch to bring home.

Caterpillar and a butterfly. Very peaceful!

Ringing the bell in the corn maze.

Painting pumpkins.

Z and Daddy stuffing the scarecrow.

Ok, so Z played in the hay while hubby stuffed most of the scarecrow.

Putting the scarecrow together.

Time to draw the face.....

Two guys proud of their work!

Now that is just wrong!

October 14, 2009 was our 20th anniversary. Hubby was in Canada for a business trip but got back in town around 5:30pm. He was able to meet Z and I at The Olive Garden for a quick dinner. We had to be downtown to see the broadway musical Grease by 7pm to pick up our free tickets. Yep, you read that right. I won 4 free tickets through ParentWise:Austin magazine. We had fabulous seats and Z was thrilled to see his first musical. Hubby and I have been to many musicals together (I just love them!) and we had already seen Grease twice before. Poor little Z fell asleep after intermission but what he saw he says he loved. It was a great night with the ones I love most!

Happy 20th to my wonderful, loving husband! I love you more and more everyday! I remember the day I walked down that aisle with you and have loved every minute of our lives together since. Yes, we have had our problems, who hasn’t, but we made it though each of them with a stronger bond! We have beat the odds that were against us and I look forward to another 20 years with you! I love you!

Our wedding day, October 14, 1989.

Z and hubby outside the Long Center before the show.

Z and Mom before the show.

My wonderful family before the show.

WOW these are great seats!

This is one excited kiddo!

Z is always silly when the camera comes out.

I only had 3 tickets in this picture but the 4th one was in my wallet. It held our souvineers and my purse.

I go to a bunco group the second Tuesday of each month. This month the theme was “Wicked” and we all wore witch hats and a couple ladies came in full costume. It was such a blast! I even won first prize $30!! Z just loves bunco night because that means he gets to play with daddy, but this month hubby was out of town. So Z went to M’s house to play and stay over there. It was a fun night!

Z being silly before I left for bunco.

My witches hat.

The head table.

Table 2.

Table 3.

Table 4.

Ok, last Halloween, we carved pumpkins on the back porch. Well apparently we didn’t do a good job at picking up all the seeds. Look at what we have now. We think it is pretty cool! The flowers it bloomed were really big and quite pretty!

This thing has a mind of its' own. It grows more and more everyday. It is about 15 feet long as of the 10th of October. I am sure it is way longer now that a couple days have passed.

This is an itty bitty pumpkin growing. It will be huge soon I am sure.

Friday, October 9, 2009 was a fun Halloweeny day for us! After school we went to a M’s house for a playgroup craft. We called it a witch craft. Apparently it was a melting witch made out of pudding cups. The kids just loved it and it was so cute! M had so many yummy snacks for the kids and moms. The kids all played very well together and it was a super playdate! Thanks M!

After playgroup, we picked up hubby and went to a Kindergarten field trip to watch the bats fly out from under the bridge at dusk. We got there a little after 6pm. Tons of kinder kids came and Z had a blast running around. There were even a few teachers there and the kids thought that was awesome! Well, after playing until dark (almost, we realized the bats weren’t going to fly so we called it a night. But not before heading to McDonald’s for a yummy/fast dinner.

This is going to be fun!

Check out my witch craft....

I am just going to eat worms....

B is here. She loves to hug on Z.

A classmate, N with little R in the background.

This is L, another classmate.

Not sure if daddy is being scary or just goofy.

You can't hide B.

Another classmate, J.

Ok, it is dark, time to stop horsing around.

Z got a kaleidoscope in one of his Halloween Boo bags this year. I guess this is what it would look like if we had a bunch of little Z’s running around here.

How many do you see?

Monday night, October 5, 2009, we took a drive over to the lake at Brushy Creek to see how flooded it was. Well, it was crazy flooded! The new park they just built with baseball and soccer fields were completely under water. The park where Z and his daddy go fishing was completely under water too. It was absolutely amazing to see. In this photo the water is right next to the parking lot which used to be next to tons of grass and trails. We couldn’t belive our eyes. And yes, we have been getting a lot of rain!!!!

Hang on tight.....you don't want to get carried away.