Halloween

It was time for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Rhea insisted on picking out the tiny pumpkins while Stephen wanted the "super huge" ones. We always have fun at this place and never seem to have enough time or energy to play with everything.

Corn Maze

Tractor Races

Cow Girl

Climbing Area

Digging In

Stephen was trying out his new costume with Daddy's Help

I can't remember if I bought an extra one for Daddy or Rhea??

Our Lioness

Sorry for the double picture; she is just that cute

Handsome Knight

OK, so this is where Halloween night comes in. Let's see, how do I put this delicately...... First, I have the most wonderful husband in the world, but he wasn't high on the popularity list this night. There is only ONE holiday of the year that I can't change and it happens to be Halloween. The neighbors seem to look down upon knocking on their door after the fact and explaining that we are here to trick-or-treat since your husband knowingly scheduled a gig on Halloween. Did I mention that I have the most wonderful husband in the world. I really do, but he bugged me a little this night. The kids actually made it easy on me since it was the shortest trick-or-treat run we had ever done. No, I didn't encourage them to quit. They were happy going home to hand out the packages of goodies they had prepared earlier in the week while looking through their own treasures. I think darling husband plans to be home next year.
Even Mommy Dressed Up

Rhea's Birthday

Rhea's birthday was a huge hit. Her theme was a tea party complete with a chocolate cake iced by her own little hands (and mouth).

Time to open presents!

Rhea's new butterfly kit

Rhea's big birthday present this year was a new table and chairs. I was going to attempt to do the painting myself before finding this wonderful set!

The big tea party cake was quickly sang and wished upon before the grand tea party began. Stephen was very excited to serve his sister as they sat in their new imaginary world.

An October Wedding

The begining of October marked a huge milestone for us. Well, I guess it was mostly for my brother, David considering it was his wedding. But, for us (lol), it was our first airplane ride. I will be honest by saying I was only slightly terrified to put two kids on the plane by myself, but we had a very positive experience. Tom was only allowed to drop us off at the door, so I prepared myself by teaching Stephen how to drag his car seat. Rhea earned a new, lightweight foldable car seat for the trip and I was just hoping that she would actually stay in it. It mostly worked for her, but I put her back in the old car seat for another month or so upon our return. Back to the plane trip....

To my surprise, when you travel alone with kids, everyone will move mountains for you. It was the easiest time in an airport I have ever had. The kids understood that we needed to stick together and really didn't say a word from the time we entered the terminal until we got on the plane. I kepts Rhea in pull-up until after the trip, but I realized that I needed to take her to the bathroom before getting on the plane anyway. We were of course all ready at our gate with the bathroom at the opposite end. No problem. We walked back down (Rhea in the stroller), and about ten women motioned for us to go ahead of them. I thought this was unessecary, but I didn't turn it down either. Once on the plane, the kids were very excited and enjoyed trying to find our luggage on the trucks outside the plane. We turned on the movie after awhile and I kept the snacks and drinks flowing. Rhea then needed to use the bathroom right as we were about to land which was an interesting situation, but we made it. The return trip was a bit more challenging since both kids were exhausted. Rhea threw a fit resulting in me restraining her on my lap with the guy in front of us giving us dirty looks. I honestly didn't care what ANYONE felt at that point. She settled down and sat in her own seat long enough to eat a snack and watch a movie. After a trip back to see the bathroom, it was about time to land. However, the captain came on and said we were in a holding pattern and it would be about 20 minutes longer before landing. Great! I was getting a sinus infections, so my ears and head were killing me. I prayed for us to land soon and someone give me a break along the way. Both prayers were answered when the pilot then came on and said that we were landing. The captain then let Stephen play with the windsheild wipers in the cockpit since the previous on our flight to Dallas didn't let him in. We exited the plane and was met by another mom that didn't have her kids with her. She was just coming from a MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) conference. She helped me get off the plane since Rhea had since passed out in my arms. We managed to get her in the stroller along with a stuffed tiger the lady had given her. God does answer prayers.

Children being tortured and forced to pose for pictures

Stephen and Rhea had a GREAT time with their cousins. David got married somewhere in there, but you will have to see my sister's blog for that since I was too busy shoving cookies in Rhea's mouth during the ceremony. Right about the time they said "I Do," Rhea blurts out "I was to go home," followed by "I want to go home NOW!" More cookies?
We made it back to the hotel without incident and without grandma and grandpa. The kids decided to take advantage of their side of the room to build a fort and throw roses at one another. We managed to get everything cleaned up before the grandparents made it back.

Tired Grandpa