"Are we at Little Rock yet?"

Late Friday afternoon Paul called me and asked if I wanted to go to Little Rock, Arkansas. He had some meetings he needed to attend there (reasons I will go into later.......if it pans out). "Sure," I said....."do we need to make flight reservations?" His response, "I thought we could rent a car and drive." Oh, wow! Let me just say this is a nine hour drive......without stops. Throw two kids under the age of six into the mix and it becomes a ten and a half hour drive. We spent most of Saturday getting prepared for the journey of a lifetime. The furthest we had ever driven with the kids was back in July when we went to South Padre. So this was a journey in my mind.

We picked up the Tahoe from Enterprise and then began buying lots of car snacks. We also had to find accommodations for our 62 pound baby, there was no way we were taking Jules. Our sweet next door neighbor offered to dog sit and keep her at her house. We told Tyson we were planning a road trip to Little Rock. "Oh awesome......what's Little Rock?" My son loves a good hotel breakfast and a road trip. I don't think he knew just how long of a road trip this was going to be. We were on the road by 7:30 am and arrived in 10 short hours. The kids watched movies and the portable DVD players....and by movies I mean they each watched their own. God forbid they agree on the same one to watch, that would be too easy. They snacked-----A LOT. Tyson counted to 100 at least twenty times and read EVERY road sign we passed and Emmy sang songs that only Emmy could understand. All in all the trip was pretty good, the kids did suprisingly well. I'm pretty sure the highlight of the trip for the kids was the fish pond in the lobby of the hotel. You got to love Embassy Suites. Every morning the kids would go down and "see the fishies" before they ate breakfast.

We spent most of out time there driving around and checking out the local scene and eating out. Little Rock is a beautiful place. It was actually fall. They have seasons there. We explained to Tyson that these trees had different color leaves due to the cooler temperatures (ie. fall) not because there had been a drought and the trees had died, like at home. As we drove through the neighborhoods the leaves blew in the wind. It was quite scenic.

The drive home was a little longer, it took us close to eleven hours due to some rain and the fact that we happen to hit Austin at 5:00. Anyone who has driven the I35 stretch knows you NEVER go through Austin at 5. Well, we did and I was ready to throw myself out the window. But figured that would just prolong the drive even more. So I remained in the truck an played with my new phone(mine died while we were there). Anyway, we got home around eight Wednesday night, threw the kids in the tub and they were in bed by nine. Ahhh!!!! Home sweet home.

Pumpkins.......

It finally feels like FALL!!!! The temperature has finally cooled off and that warranted a trip to the nearest pumpkin patch. Em couldn't wait to go the "punkin pach!" And Tyson always loves picking out pumpkins to carve and little ones to paint.

They just have the prettiest eyes....thanks Paul!

checking out the all the shapes and sizes

"whatcha got there, Em?"

My handsome little boy doesn't look so little anymore!

try not to be blinded by all of that blondness

I sure wish Em would have looked at the camera, oh well.......take what you can get, right?!?

Picture Day at School

Em had her first school picture day on Tuesday. I am curious to see the proofs in a few weeks. I have to work pretty hard to get a smile on this child's face. I am just wondering if the photographer worked as hard.

I have to admit, I often think of Em as my own personal doll to dress up.

We may not have the same hair and eye color but those noses are the same

.....still trying to master the "pose"

2 Down.....18 more to go

"Mommy, now I look like a jack-o-lantern."

Tyson has spent the last day and a half wiggling his bottom tooth, the one next to the one he lost last week. Tonight Paul gave it a good tug and out it came. Tyson is so excited to loose another one. He is ready to get to bed, just so the Tooth Fairy can pay him a visit. This time the the tooth fairy has appropriate funds to pay out.

Strike a Pose

Last night when the guys were at baseball practice, Em and I decided to play with the camera. Em may be cute and photogenic; however model material she's not. We use the term "pretty pose." It should be a hand on the hip look, but often it looks like this:

she is trying to master this hand on the hip, head tilt pose

she's not sure where to put her arm and which leg to bend

here she is trying the head resting on the hand position

I don't know what look she's going for here

Sunday Lunch with the Fam.....

I played hostess today and cooked lunch for the family. Mom and Dad came in town for the day and Jenn and Chris even came over too. Grandma Grace can't come over without goodies for the kids. She brought them the Snow White movie and Pokemon cards for Buddy and an endless amount of candy corn and other Halloween treats.

watching Snow White with her "gandma"

two peas in a pod

Now that Em is bigger she's not giving up Grandpa that easily, she wants her equal time too

there is a lot of JOY in this picture

Sweet, Sweet Emmy with her Grandpa

"No! You cannot wear your boots to bed!"

"I don't care how stinkin' adorable you look......"