out in the pasture: happy thanksgiving

we were so fortunate to have a week off for thanksgiving. it was heavenly. we spent 5 beautiful days in central texas with gary's family. 

so let me tell about my man. my man turns into a country boy when he goes back home. therefore, my man spends his time with guns. his days were spent shooting his ar-15 (he built it!) quite a lot while i, got to spend a lot of time with the kids (don't I always?), playing games, crafting, and eating yummy food. my in-laws have a large piece of land and several times during our stay, we would take rides into the pasture to say hi to the cows and goats among other country things...

the days were gloriously and sunny. 

and a sidenote: i am loving this parenthood thing!!! the part i love most are those teaching moments, where they learn something new from either gary or me--heck, even papa & nana (they are the wisest, don't you know? winky face.

one day, andrew watched me pick a few pecans in the front lawn at the house. he was so fascinated by the idea that his nana suggested we go into the pasture to pick up some of the larger ones that grow. we went, and well, they were all gone (thanks, deer) and they barely managed to pick just a couple. needless to say, they were a bit disappointed. 

so the next best thing? throw sticks at the water. they could have done that all day.

while they threw sticks, daddy took care of loading up the rifles for the boys.

....and they really have to work at their aim....something about closing one eye and focusing on the other and standing up straight is super hard for a 6 & 4 year old. but the boys did really well their first time shooting the "chipmunk."

little girl was hilarious with the big ear thingies...(the name escapes me at the moment)...jonah got a great laugh out of it, as did i. just look at her beautiful face!

i am forever grateful for that time to just enjoy the moments. even though i didn't get to shoot off the guns with my country boy like we did here, it was still pretty sweet to see the kids enjoy the time out in the elements--the wild outdoors!. andrew even took my camera a few times and discovered 'new plant species' which he enjoyed telling everybody he came face to face with. he was also fascinated by the thought of going hunting. but maybe in a few years...

i'll post the pictures of our actual thanksgiving later this week. how did you spend your thanksgiving week? was it wonderful? i hope so.
'til next time,

Pre-Thanksgiving week

Hey!  If you're visiting for the Pinecone DIY, check out the new updated post here. Thanks for all your support! 

You guys, I love Pinterest. I have a Holiday board filled with lots of goody crafts for the boys.

These are so simple! We made them with hand-prints and construction paper. Came out cute, didn't they?

Well, it's here. The end of 2012. Well, almost.

It's only the week of Thanksgiving, guys. 

I think it's crazy this year is almost over. 40 days and it's gone.

The saying "Days are long, but years are short" rings SO true to me.

And honestly I don't want it to end.

I just want time to stop so I can spend eternity with my munchkins and my handsome man.

It would be so sweet. 

But HELLO. That's not gonna happen, so in the meantime, I have to keep them busy and make sure they learn to tie their shoes, wipe their own butts, pick their socks up, and be polite little-beings.

I've been teaching Andrew about how Thanksgiving came to be in school.

We made Indians and Pilgrims and told the tale of the early settlers. I tried explaining what it is to be thankful but I don't think he's truly caught on to what it actually means.

The library has provided something for us every week and I truly am grateful for them. The kids love it.

They love love love the handicapped button at the library doors. They run to see who's first to push it.

My little builder keeps busy everyday. Building robots and taller robots with swords and weapons.

And if one collapses, another one transforms magically from the same exact blocks.

We were building animals and he built an alligator--by himself. 

We don't craft everyday. Just once or twice a week.

I think it takes me longer to decide what to do with them actually.

A couple of days we went out for 'nature walks' and picked sticks up, got bit by fire ants, chased by dogs, and got pricked by our prickly pinecones. 

The boys don't like pinecones, by the way.

Our neighborhood is not walk-friendly I suppose. We don't live by the forest walk ways that the town next to us has. But we make the best of it and learn from each trip.

Well, I had to do something with the pinecones, didn't I? :)  

 Neatly painted by hand with acrylics, then tied around some ribbon and found a hoop!

They were prickly, but oh so pretty! Now, they're my favorite!

Check out the new pinecone diy here 

Our cats seem to be adjusting well together. I love that they're both waiting for us when we come through our door. However, when night falls, their nocturnal instincts kick in and hardly let us sleep. 

So we've begun to cage one of them a night. If they don't have each other, they don't run across our sleeping bodies at night and knock things down downstairs in the living room. Seriously, they're LOUD. 

This whole week has been full of sleepy heads. Not sure if it's the dropped temperatures that makes all of us keep snuggled under our blankets or if we've just been staying up too late. 

I have several blog posts in mind, just no time to actually produce them. 

I've been snapping away with my camera, thinking of holiday cards, list of family members, locations to snap a family pic at, Christmas shopping with budgeting involved, along with doing my daily wifey duties, school and giving into my creativeness {which is totally temperamental and I can hardly stand it}.

Can't wait to see my family finally!