Great Wolf Lodge

The plan was for me to leave for a fun girls trip to New York City but, the Texas weather had another thing planned.  My flight was supposed to depart one hour after Lindsey and Shea's.  They got off just fine but, after 6 hours at the airport and a cancelled flight, it was time to call it a day. 

Fortunately, it was the best of both worlds for me because instead of going home, I got to go with my family to Great Wolf Lodge for the first time!  I had already shed a small tear that all my family was going without me, even though I was excited about my girls trip.  It ended up working  out perfect that I got to do both!

I arrived after hours at the airport to these three sweet faces so excited to see me.  It was so fun.

We ate dinner then the kids went trick-or-treating. GWL was all decked out for Halloween so here were multiple places for them to go an get some candy around the hotel and the wolf ears were all orange.
 
 After trick-or-treating the kids put on their pjs for storytime.

Only Kinley was interested in a pic with Violet.
 
After storytime, we went to the arcade to play some games.  Ben won a stuffed animal for Kinley right away out of the grabber machine.  I don't know how he can do those so well but, he wins almost every time.

 

We went to bed and I got up the next morning for a new flight to NYC. The kids got to eat breakfast and swim with everyone.

It worked out perfect and was so fun!

More September and October happenings

A few more things that have happened lately that didn't make the blog yet...

We went to McKinney Octoberfest to support Kristen and Allison at their Celebrate-Always booth.

 It was a fun night full of hot dogs, carnival rides, petting zoos and shirt sales.

 They did a great job.

 Ty and Dylan and I stopped before baseball class one day at the Gateway indoor play area. It was fun to just take the boys to play a little and Dylan is really getting to where he can get around and climb over everything. They had so much fun together.


Ty's show off day in his baseball skills class. He still totally loves it. I don't know how long we can hold him off from playing real teeball.

I've been spending a few mornings with this sweet angel, Easton Scott. He is the perfect baby. Never fusses and just is smiling and happy when he's awake and immediately falls asleep without a peep when he's tired. He is precious.

  How cute are these matching brothers in their dino pjs from Aunt Minnie and Uncle Alex?
 
 This sister is the biggest help. She can pretty much do everything for Dylan. Lift him out of his crib, get him out of the carseat, swing, high chair, even though he is half her size, and hold him for a bottle.
 
I LOVE ending our day each day all reading together.
 We usually pick a fun book and a bible story and then we all pray.
It is chaotic sometimes with Dylan climbing everywhere but, it is perfect to me. 

 In the car waiting to pick up Kinley.
 We usually park in the parking lot and play around if we are a few minutes early.

  Our after school routine...Dylan up from a nap usually eating or drinking a bottle, Kinley doing homework...math, spelling and reading to me, and Ty is staying busy usually outside.

Anson turned 1 on October 5th and we had such a fun time at his first birthday party. Olivia did an amazing job on his pjs and pancakes party and he was just precious!
 Oh how I love my nephew!!!

Kinley went early with me to church one weekend I was singing.
 She loves being at rehearsal and riding the bus with me.

Kinley and Ty went to a new dentist because ours retired to stay home with her new baby. We ended up loving him and both kids got great reports.

Dylan slept the entire visit in his car seat that he is about to outgrow. I am just keeping him in it as long as I can for convenience factors like this.

We also went to Trader Joes for the first time in Southlake.

 I was truly obsessed and so were my kids. It was the easiest grocery run I've ever had with all three of my kids. It was small and so manageable with tons of options.I've gone back three times already.

 

 We took Kinley and Ty to get haircuts at Sharky's. It was pricey but they did a good job and my kids were all three entertained the whole time we were there so, I call it a win.

Monday nights the kids and I have alone while Ben goes straight from work to Bible Study Fellowship at church. He usually gets home after they are in bed. It makes for a long day and we miss daddy but we try to make it relaxing and fun.

 We watch movies while we eat dinner or have picnics outside since the weather is getting nice.

 We text dad that we miss him!

  Ben and I had our last Bass Hall show for the season. We so hope to renew and get new tickets again next year. The last show was Kinky Boots and it was a great way to end the season. Had to take a pic with the boots!

 

Me and my hot date in the green room at intermission

I love the fall! 

Taylor Swift - 1989 Tour

The night of Leslie's baby shower, we got to go see Taylor Swift with our best friends. It has been a few years since we went to see Taylor on her Red Tour.
I was a little more impressed with Taylor on the Red Tour, I have to say.
 There is just something about seeing her with just her and her guitar singing all her own songs that totally impressed me last time.
 The more "adult" theme and smoke and lights and backup dancers, in my opinion, took a little away from just her raw talent.
 She's so good on her own she doesn't need the "show."
But, it was a fantastic show.   You just can't beat singing at the top of your lungs all the words to every song.  It makes for the best concert.

It was so fun that Ben got a chance to go with Kinley and I this time.
The company was great and the SHIRTS were perfection!
I loved that we all got custom shirts but they were all different.
Kinley's idea for her shirt was one that said "I stay out too late" from "Shake it Off" and Kristen made it happen just for her.

 

Ben and I both got shirts with Taylor's face on them!  Like a true concert tee.  

It's Ben's new favorite Celebrate-Always tee.  

He rotates between about 5 of their shirts and this one is the new fave.  He even wears it to the gym....just a man working out with Taylor Swift's face on his shirt...no big deal.

My best Taylor impersonation

 

 Pretty much could NOT hold a candle to Avery's impression of Taylor on her shirt.  

I die. 

I think watching Avery was my favorite part of the night. She knows every lyric to every song and sings it with motions and such passion. She was even Taylor Swift for Halloween. She's just a natural. So fun to see.

 

Couldn't take enough pics of these cute BFF kiddos. 

 

Sawyer and I in our matching tees 

 

My favorite mommas 

 

Me and my favorite girl 

 

Come on back Taylor, we can't wait for the next album tour!

Leslie's Baby shower

At the same time Stacee and I were planning Ty and Ryland's party, we were working with Lindsey on Leslie's couples baby shower. 

It was a football-themed diaper shower during the Texas A&M vs. Alabama game. 

 The Bartels are a self-proclaimed football family and there are few things in life they enjoy more. It was the perfect way to celebrate sweet baby John Wyatt who will be here any day! 

A little bit of party decor. 

 The football pumpkins were the CUTEST way to greet the guests of honor. 

 

 I loved Stacee's mason jar football vases with the white flowers.   

 We used the big chalkboard for this party and we set up a squares game to make the game even more exciting. Each person got to pick 5 squares and, if at the end of a quarter, the score ended in the digits of a square you chose, you got to pick from a grab bag of prizes. 

It was so fun! 

 

 Third time to use the photo booth, score! 

We kept the green paint from the ninja turtle/golf party the week before and added some footballs. 

The mum was our most exciting surprise for Leslie. Lindsey made it and it was just fabulous. We made Leslie wear it the whole party. She thought she was super excited about the football pumpkins until she saw they mum! 

She loved it and we knew she would.

  

We all signed a football for John Wyatt to keep in his room. 

 

And we had diapers for people to write on too. This was one of my favorite things from my diaper shower for Dylan. I laughed at what people wrote on these for months to come. 

 

 I couldn't get over the vision of a big field goal made out of diapers.  

 It was a much better idea in theory than in execution. Turned out cute but, was not super functional. We only got to use one of them and had to tape it to the wall to show it off. Wah, wah, wah. 

 Not all ideas come to fruition the way they do in your head. 

But, the food table did turn out so cute. I love all the Alabama and A&M stuff we got. The banners and balloons were so cute! 

 

 My favorite thing were there cute personalized team forks! How cute!

  

For food we pretty much had typical game day food, popcorn, nuts, wings, sliders, brats, and Stacee carved the watermelon football helmet. 

 

For dessert we had football cupcakes and brownies  

The drink station was one of my favorites too.  

Party pics pretty much consists only of group girl pics...sad I didn't get lots more! 

Congrats Eric & Leslie! Even though the game score didn't turn out quite how I would have liked, it was so fun to shower sweet John Wyatt and spend some fun time together.

We can't wait to meet that sweet baby so soon!