Recycled Halloween

Halloween is kind of a big deal around here.

Okay, maybe just to me and Michael, but still.

We love it. It's a big deal.

But not this year.

Since I have been sick for the entire month (literally!) and we haven't had many kids coming to Bible Study (which is where we have our Halloween party)

we decided to go more low-key this year.

I We didn't want to spend all the time, money, and energy to find costumes and go all out with the party, just in case only two people showed up.

So last week we agreed we were not going to dress up.

If you know us, you know we were DYING!!

 And 1 hour before the Bible Study, Michael comes out in a costume!

Which meant I had to put on a costume too!

Good think we both have gigantic buckets full of old costumes!

Here is how we turned out:

Peter Pan and Mickey Mouse

Of course we couldn't forget little Buster!

His costume was recycled too, and coordinated with me!

His hair bow lasted approx 30 seconds, and the dress lasted about 5 minutes.

But he was just so stinkin cute!

And this was the most comfortable costume I've ever worn.

There's our costumes for you!

Nothing amazing, but we just couldn't go a Halloween without dressing up.

More about the Halloween Bible Study/Party to come.

West Texas

Last weekend we took a trip out to West Texas to visit some of our college kids.

4 of our seniors from this past year are at ACU, 

so we went to spend time with them, and encourage them in their first year.

We also had a couple kids drive down from Lubbock to meet us, and we picked up Allison in College Station so that she could join us on the trip.

Some really important things happened over the weekend:

1 - I found out there is a town named after my family!

I was pretty excited! 

So excited that I made Michael and Allison get out of the car and take my picture!

Baird! We aren't just bread!

2 - The Sooners pretty much dominated the longhorns 

Surprisingly, we weren't the only OU fans in Abilene!

We actually got some cheers when we walked into a restaurant with these shirts on,

but then almost got kicked out of a family's house later that night.

Totally worth it be the Red River Rivalry Champs!

3 - We were given a great tour of the ACU campus, and all the statues that live there.

And then we reinacted their poses...not very successfully.

4 - Michael got a ticket. 

On the way home.

The cop was a jerk. The car was a rental without cruise control. Michael was not happy.

5 - and most importantly, we got to spend time with some amazing college kids!!

Cade and Allison showed us all over Abilene, and even more.

We had such a great time spending the weekend with them, and the others that were there.

Everyone seems to be doing well, and now we are counting down the days til Thanksgiving when they all get to come home and visit us!

A Moment of Silence

I'm not sure if you heard the news yesterday or not,

(but if you follow any Texans on any social media sites I'm sure you did hear)

but Texas lost one of it's main men.

There was a tragic event and Big Tex burned to the ground.

Some friends of mine found it funny to post awful pictures of a charred Big Tex,

but I will only remember the good days.

Being welcomed into the Texas State Fair by his outstretched hand,

eating corny dogs with him, 

 and introducing him to some of our best friends.

Now, lets all take a moment a silence to honor Big Tex.

*I hear he is coming back bigger and better in time for next year's fair!

Big Tex

I've been a little absent lately.

Mostly due to the fact that I have been fighting bronchitis for almost 3 weeks now.

I've had many days where I did nothing but eat (sometimes) sleep, and take medicine.

I even had to miss work 2 days last week - which killed me.

After a steroid pack, antibiotics, a narcotic cough medicine, and many other over the counter products, I am finally on my way to healthy.

Which is good, because I needed to be as healthy as possible for this past Saturday 

at the Texas State Fair.

We have been planning this weekend for a couple months now,

and there was no way that a little bronchitis was going to stop me.

*As we walked from the car to the park in the mid 50 degree weather, I seriously questioned my judgement about this though.

The best part of the weekend was getting to spend all day with these two!

And once we got inside, between all the booths and rides, it was really quite warm.

Our only goal for the day was to eat as much fried food as possible.

And we definitely succeeded.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Trey with fried jambalaya, Claire with a funnel cake, Michael with a belgian waffle, me with my corny dog, and the boys with fried cactus.

We also tried a fried picnic on a stick, fried mac and cheese sliders, and curly fries.

Yum, yum!

The boys also scored some sweet new sunglasses!

It was such a fun day, with the best of friends.

We are so thankful to have Claire and Trey in our lives.

Every time we are together, we find more ways that we are exactly the same.

And we just love them so much!!

Thanks for spending the day with us (and my cough!)

College Visit

Every fall Michael takes time to visit our JV Youth alumni at their various universities.

Last weekend if was College Station!

We have 3 kids there, and we got to take 2 of them to dinner, along with one of the boys from camp this summer. 

Of course, we couldn't and wouldn't go to College Station and not see Claire and Trey, 

so they joined us too.

We ate at a delicious place called Koppe Bridge, where you can eat the best fried pickle spears in the world, and carve you initials in the table.

 We also took a few of our high school girls because they missed their BFF.

We had so much fun spending time with all the college kids.

It was way too short, but so wonderful!

*On a related note: Texas A&M University is HUGE!

Like, gigantic.

My little OC self was not prepared for the vastness of campus, or the large quantities of people walking around.

I would not make it.

Man of the House

Last month, in this post, I wrote about the generosity of the youth group parents,

and yesterday, we got to pick up our gift.

We have been wanting a chair, or recliner to go in our living room for quite a while.

We really needed the extra seating, 

and Michael wanted a "man of the house" chair.

We looked around a little bit at Home Goods, but didn't find anything we loved.

Then I remembered that when we ordered our couches, there was also a chair in the set.

Lucky for us, there were still a few left!

We love it, and Buster loves it (he has a clear view of the front door)

We did have to change the set up of the living room a little bit, 

but we are pretty happy with the outcome.

We felt overwhelmed by the generosity of the parents the day they gave us the gift, 

and will continue to feel blessed every time we sit in our new chair.

God has truly blessed us with amazing support through our parents and teens, and we could not be happier.

Real Life

Sometimes I get annoyed by modern phrases.

For instance: 

1) Yolo - You Only Live Once. 

Obviously, but why do you have to keep pointing it out? 

2) Smh - Shaking my head

Are you really shaking your head?

I didn't think so.

3)Is this real life?

No. You're in a dream. Like Inception.

Of course its real life!

Today I had an "Is this real life" moment though.

There was really no other statement that could cover how I was feeling.

It really doesn't seem like real life in Houston.

But I am loving it, and I hope it continues!

*I also get really annoyed by screenshots of the weather app, 

but that's for a different post!

I guess sometimes the only way to express oneself is through modern annoyances.

And yes, I am calling the post (and myself) annoying.

But only today.