It has been hardwired into my psyche that every fall pumpkin patches should be visited for fun harvest pictures and for hand-selecting the best pumpkins for Jack-0-lantern carving before Halloween. However, considering that our girls are quite young AND that we were too busy/tired prior to the holiday; we improvised a little and we beat the crowd this year...
Thanks to our local grocer for the pumpkin and our great friend Dani for sharing the push-pin jack-0-lantern face parts, Savannah was able to do a "Mr. Potato Head" style pumpkin this year. It was a great, no mess and fun way to decorate a pumpkin with an eighteen-month old!
We did get a cute "harvest" picture taken as a family at our church holiday party. The irony is that the pic is so zoomed in that you can't tell we were sitting on bales of hay and next to an adorable scarecrow scene...
Okay back on point, so I mentioned that we beat the crowd...who would've thought that farms with pumpkin patches extend the holiday, therefore we were able to make a trip to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, Texas on Sunday afternoon. It's always fun to go to new places and watch Savannah take in the world around her. We enjoyed walking through the kid corn maze, taking a hay ride, watching the farm animals, going on a pony ride, and of course capturing as many moments on camera as possible. It was a gorgeous day (hence the overexposed bright pics) and we all had a great time together as a family. We're looking forward to next spring when we'll be heading back to the farm for berry season where we can pick our own strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Yum.
We hope that your Halloween was spooky and fun. We had a great time at our ward's "Trunk-or-treat" last night and then at "Howa-ween" tonight. Thanks everyone for the fun and for spoiling all of us! Our Halloween adventures are highlighted in the following collages:
Savannah is starting to say a few words and so "trick-or-treat" even managed to work it's way into her vocabulary. Of course candy is a great motivator! We'll do our best to get a video posted of her cute vernacular. In the meantime, happy Halloween!
In preparation for Christmas, we made arrangments to do family portraits. So on Monday last week we went to Sears for thisOn Tuesday the girls and I with auntie JoAnna took a road trip to Houston so that my sister could meet Michaels' sister.
On Wednesday we relaxed a bit and enjoyed our last day with Auntie Jo.
On Thursday we went to Round Rock donuts and then dropped JoAnna off at the airport. That afternoon we had our little friend Evan over for a few hours while his mom and dad worked on moving and then later that night Savannah had a fever of 102.7 and didn't want to sleep...
On Friday morning she was sneezing and had a runny nose so I took her to the doctor where she was tested for the seasonal type B and also type A (which the H1N1 strain is from)... the diagnosis - the type A flu. Immediately after returning home I began the process of airing out the house (luckily the temps were agreeable), laundering EVERYTHING, and spraying every surface with SolUGuard (my Melaleuca disinfectant spray) after a thorough cleaning. As proof of Savannah's ill health, she took a three hour nap during my cleaning spree (twice as long as her usual nap time). I canceled our day plans and geared up for what looked like a dull weekend in. BUT we were able to follow through with our weekend plans in Houston after some convincing from Michael's family who had already had their bout with the flu last month. So late that night we packed up the girls and drove to Houston.
On Saturday the girls and I slept in while Michael went on a bicycle ride with his siblings. When they all returned we freshened up and met the rest of the Owuor family at the Picture Me studio for family potraits.
As you can see she is all smiles for the picture because she was feeling great. In fact we had last given her Tylenol at 10pm Friday and she has been fever free since that time. While at the portrait studio Lexi felt a little warm and had a low grade fever which she slept off during our dinner with the Owuor gang. And that was the end of the flu in our household.
We are feeling blessed and our prayers go out to all of those whose experience has not been so easy. Now I just pray that the next four months + of this flu season will be uneventful in our house and the homes of all of our loved ones.
Because Michael has been working from home since early this year, he hasn't had the need to keep his hair short for the office. I've enjoyed his hair being a little longer and him wearing it more natural.
Well for the first time he is now wearing corn rows. He just got 'em in last weekend while we were visiting family in Houston, compliments of his sister Kiki. I'm not sure how long he will keep this look though since he says his head feels tight.
These are the before and after pics.
After the braiding process he insisted that we not put our girls through braids because it hurts. I do believe that Kiki and I were able to assure him that girls get used to the tugging and pulling of hair styling, so the girls will not be so uncomfortable as he. At one point during the braiding, Savannah and our little niece Kioni were trying to console him with hugs and kisses through the grimaces. It was pretty sweet.
It's been a fun few days having my sweet sister JoAnna here for a visit! The girls have absolutely loved smiling, playing with, and performing for Auntie Jo. Thanks so much for coming to see us before you go off to serve a mission for 18 months. We're all looking forward to you getting your call and having the great adventure/experience of serving the Lord. Love and hugs from Texas!
When Savannah is asked if she is ready for bed or a nap, she responds "no."
When we are in church and try to help her open her fruit snacks OR when the dogs are getting a little too close to her toy/high chair/etc OR when we are in the car and she drops her shoe that she has just removed (love those velcro sneakers) OR when she doesn't like that Mommy/Daddy has told her that she has to wait for something; she yells emphatically "NO!"
Now I know that it's just a stage and one day I'll be nostalgic for these moments but it doesn't stop me from cringing and proceeding to remind her to use nice words and her inside voice when she yells. Our friends the Howa's love Savannah and her little quirks, so when they came across this t shirt (or in Savannah's case a nightgown) they just had to buy it for her.
Sometimes clothes do really fit a personality! lol
Sometimes the sounds and words of our girls are not so sweet but these videos are the best of our special ladies. Bare with us boring adults for a few seconds before Savannah explains her "show" to Daddy and Lexi sings to Mommy. Enjoy.
It has been hardwired into my psyche that every fall pumpkin patches should be visited for fun harvest pictures and for hand-selecting the best pumpkins for Jack-0-lantern carving before Halloween. However, considering that our girls are quite young AND that we were too busy/tired prior to the holiday; we improvised a little and we beat the crowd this year...
Thanks to our local grocer for the pumpkin and our great friend Dani for sharing the push-pin jack-0-lantern face parts, Savannah was able to do a "Mr. Potato Head" style pumpkin this year. It was a great, no mess and fun way to decorate a pumpkin with an eighteen-month old!
We did get a cute "harvest" picture taken as a family at our church holiday party. The irony is that the pic is so zoomed in that you can't tell we were sitting on bales of hay and next to an adorable scarecrow scene...
Okay back on point, so I mentioned that we beat the crowd...who would've thought that farms with pumpkin patches extend the holiday, therefore we were able to make a trip to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, Texas on Sunday afternoon. It's always fun to go to new places and watch Savannah take in the world around her. We enjoyed walking through the
kid corn maze, taking a hay ride, watching the farm animals, going on a pony ride, and of course capturing as many moments on camera as possible. It was a gorgeous day (hence the overexposed bright pics) and we all had a great time together as a family. We're looking forward to next spring when we'll be heading back to the farm for berry season where we can pick our own strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Yum.
