Halloween 2012

Well, it's that time of year again! Dress up time! I have been surprised at how much fun I've had each year coming up with costumes for my kiddos. This year, they were rather simple, but totally appropriate, considering we moved to TEXAS. 

My three little cowpokes!

He had to ditch the hat since he was gettin' so darn hot wearing it! It's still hot for Halloween down here in Texas!

and...the cowboy steals a kiss from the cute lil' cowgirl. So cute! 

We're excited to go trick-or-treating! Someone advised us to bring along our red wagon in case the horses get tired - good idea :) Our new neighborhood is all decked out and ready for all the kiddies - every time we're out walking or riding bikes, the kids just get so excited about all the houses/yards with cool decorations! I told Sawyer that next year we will have a house with a front yard to decorate...I think we're both excited!

Wishing you all a safe and Happy Halloween!

Five Little Pumpkins (a family movie)

Five Little Pumpkins from Tysha on Vimeo.

Pools and Pumpkins

Last night, Jacob and I had a rather large tiny meltdown.

We were homesick for Seattle.

But today...I tried to embrace Austin. It's not that hard to do, really. It's an awesome city and we're lucky to be here - it's just we were reminiscing about mountains and beaches and friends and...well, if you've ever moved from a place you love, you know how it goes. But we're here now. 

I've missed the autumn leaves and the crispness in the Autumn air more than I knew I would. BUT here I am, almost November, and I can take the kids to the pool! And instead of colorful leaves, we've got blossoming flowers all around us! Plenty of sunshine and daylight. It felt like the best of summer in Seattle today, so we embraced it - wholeheartedly!

I also embraced the camera, with my kiddos, all three. I wasn't even going to bring Annie (my big lug of a camera) but decided at the last minute, sure, why not? I propped her up on a table, set the self-timer - hopped in - and wa-la: a little souvenir of this absolutely lovely day, and our afternoon spent at the pool frolicking and playing (when I hear several states got their first snow today). Awesome!

I let the kids bring along their jack-o-lanterns, which proved to be good fun and hours of entertainment!

We stayed aaaaaalllll afternoon. Skipped naps. They had, after all, been great sports all morning when we ran errands. The past couple of weeks have been crazy - our church asked our family to head up the annual Halloween Carnival and "Trunk or Treat" - which  consists of a dinner, carnival games, and then the trunk or treating - 300 peeps expected, budget of $100 bucks. It was an exciting and fun challenge to take on - who doesn't love to plan a party? But slightly stressful to, with a lot to do in about two weeks time. Anyway, I digress. The kids have been troopers and we've spent a lot of days in preparation mode - gathering supplies, me being a maniac about details and centerpieces, etc. Anyway, I thought we all needed a break - the party is tomorrow after all. So, we skipped naps (except Miss Hazel, who took a dip in the pool with me and then took a nice nap in her stroller) and stayed until our fingers and toes looked like...craisins. Awesome!

I hope y'all have got your costumes ready - Halloween is right around the corner! I think this is one of the best parts about being a mom - dressing the kidlets up for Halloween! At least so far, I've looooved it! Good luck with all of your preparations!

Sweetberry Farm

Since it's October, we had to make our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Patch. I just asked around about which one to go to and we decided to take a little drive out to Marble Falls (about an hour from Austin) to Sweetberry Farm. I learned that they have fun things going on the farm pretty much all year round. We're really excited to go back in the Spring to pick some berries, too.

I have to be honest and say that adjusting to summer weather for the majority of the year has been a little harder than I thought it would. When we woke up, it was a little cloudy - so from our air conditioned apartment, the clouds made it seem, well, kind of like fall should be. So I wore jeans and a sweater and threw the kids jackets in, etc. BUT the minute I stepped outside, I remember - we're in Texas now. It's not just warm - it's still pretty hot! While we have yet to experience true summer heat here, the weather is still warmer than Seattle summers are. So, we wore sweaters and we sweat :) But we had fun while we were sweating :)

I'm not gonna lie - I love having girls! Of course I love my little boy, too - but now that I have a couple of girls, I think my earlier aspiration to have SIX BOYS AND NO GIRLS was completely CRAZY!

Aspen and her "princess" pumpkin. She was really set on getting a white pumpkin, and for some reason, was determined it was a "princess" pumpkin (maybe I called it that? It was right next to the "fairytale" pumpkins after all) She was so cute about it. 

She was also really cute when we were getting ready that morning. Jacob had run to the ER to get his stitches removed, so we were killing time waiting for him. I decided, for the first time ever, to blow dry her hair and try to make it straight, to see how long it was etc. Just for fun. Since I was blow drying mine for the first time in months, I might as well do hers, too :) Anyway, it was long and pretty and we decided she looked like Rapunzel. And as she was on the bathroom counter for her hair-do, she noticed my jewelry box and begged to wear one of my necklaces - the one with the little star (a gift from my twin sister years ago, my favorite necklace). I let her. She was in HEAVEN. 

They had a ton of fun little games and carnival type things to do at the farm. We went all out and got a bunch of tickets and had a blast. The kids did this big bouncy bubble thing that was fun - Sawyer particularly enjoyed it! We've GOT to sign the boy up for a tumbling class - he's scarily good at gymnastics. 

There was also a little barrel train ride that the kids enjoyed. It actually started raining, which was kinda fun (cooled us off a little!) It was warm rain. So it made it even more humid. Warm/hot, humid and then the sun came out. We seriously should have worn out swimsuits instead of sweaters. (Oh the lessons we learn :)

We met up with some friends, too - though I have barely any photos of them. My photos were sporadic because I was wearing Hazel in the Ergo and trying to juggle her and also keep my camera safe out of the rain. As you can see, Aspen was thrilled to sit by her little friend, Teresa. And Teresa was so sweet to share a flower. Oh yeah - no fall leaves here. Just pretty blooming flowers. 

Can you tell the Hay Ride was Sawyer's favorite part? He looked forward to it all day and we saved it as our last "ride". He was giddy and had a blast! And so much for Aspen's hair - the curls came back with the rain and humidity. Good thing she's cute no matter what :)

My ticket choice was $3 for a cup - and then you got to go out into the field filled with flowers and cut as many as you could get into your cup. So for $3 I go this rather pretty boquet of fresh flowers. It was a little weird, honestly, cutting pretty flowers in the fall - but it was beautiful and fun and there ya go: fall color.  Sawyer was thrilled to have a pair of scissors to help me cut the flowers out in the field. Great little helper!

I'm trying not to compare too much between where we came from and where we are, because we are where we are, right? But in Seattle, we would bundle up and go to a farm, ride out to the field and pick our pumpkin from the vine. We'd come back to the farm, look at some animals, have maybe some hot cider, warm kettle corn - something cozy. 

In Texas, we shed our clothes, if possible, because we overdressed and it was too warm. And our treat was FRESH homemade strawberry POPSICLES! AND homemade, yummy PUMPKIN ICE-CREAM! The temperature was about 30 degrees warmer than in Seattle. Quite the difference. But SO YUMMY. No complaints!

We spent the entire day at the farm and we were one of the last cars to pull out of the parking lot. We had a blast. It's always fun just being together as a family. And you can't go wrong with homemade ice-cream!

Embrace the Camera

We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday! 

I haven't had time to blog about it yet, but today I wanted to show the evidence that I was there, too!

Me, and my girlies.

I love them so so much!

And can I tell you? Pumpkin Patches in Texas are a whole different ballgame than in the Pacific NW. Oh yeah! The same, but different. As in...we should've worn our swim suits instead of sweaters!  I will post more...eventually.

But for now...

I'll admit it (just ask Jacob!) I feel less-than-stellar these days. Not that I'm not happy about my life, it's just that I feel like it's taking my body longer to bounce back after baby #3...my boobs are still leaking (and squirting her in the face! her surprised face is both sad and hilarious when it happens!), and my jeans are still a bit tighter than I'd like...I have bought a variety of new t-shirts lately, not fashionable ones, just very much on-sale ones in multiple colors because what's better than a burp cloth? A burp t-shirt. You know, where you can just toss your t-shirt in the laundry because you're soaked? Yep. And my hair is falling out EVERYWHERE. Anyone else get that wonderful gift of no hair falling out your entire pregnancy but almost like clockwork around 3-4 months later it falls out in such handfulls that you're almost wondering if you have some weird disease. Yeah. Bring it! There are many joys that come with having a baby, and then a few crazy side effects you wish you could skip over. At least, I feel that way sometimes. Anyway, I know I'm wordy (but this is my journal/blog, so it's okay)...but my point in sharing my feeling about being my less-than-stellar self lately (okay, I've even said it "Jacob! I'm FAT!") is that when I read THIS ARTICLE (come on, you've GOT to read it too!) it made me think. A lot. And even cry. A little. Not that having a baby (or 2, or 3) is an excuse to be overweight or give up exercising (it is, however an excuse to give up showering! ha!) but sometimes we need to remind ourselves that it's all a process. If you drink water, exercise, and eat right, your body WILL bounce back. Don't give up! BUT the little moments with our kiddos...they'll never be back. So quit caring so much about the size of your jeans, your burp t-shirts, and your hair loss, and get in the picture! I fully admit that the two frames I shared this week are the one and only time I tried to do my hair and splash on a little mascara since the babe was born 4 months ago (with the exception of an occasional Sunday). I'll be more "real" and less "staged" in weeks to come, I promise :) I love Emily Anderson's weekly nod to getting Mama's in the picture. I've only linked up once, but I've decided to try and be better about jumping in front of the camera instead of always being the one behind it. I hope you'll join me! Head over to Em's blog and EMBRACE the Camera with your littles today!