A Thanksgiving in Texas

We made our annual pilgramage to my home town this week. Arlington, Texas is a place I could never live again but I love to visit and get that homey feeling every once in awhile, but never in August. In just a few short days I had the chance to catch up with an old friend , spend lots of time with my dad and test my metroplex driving skills. We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo, played football on Thanksgiving, watched football on Thanksgiving, went fishing, ate our catch and finished it up with a great trip to Six Flags.

The pictures tell the whole story, it was fabulous... and tiring. :)

 

The Force is Strong with These Padawan

 

What a fabulous day we had!  It was 70 and sunny which is so rare for November in Iowa. We set up the party outside and it was perfect. Quinn was thrilled to have all his friends there and had so much fun. All the boys seemed to love it. The obstacle course seemed to be the best part. I love throwing a borthday party and if we do say so... we threw a mean Jedi party today.

The pictures above are of our Jedi obstacle course- 1) Escape from Endor, 2)The Rebel Alliance Headquarters, 3)Gungin City, 4)Down the Garbage chute in the Death Star, 5) Somersault past the Storm Trooper, 6) Climb into the Death Star and blow it up from the inside 7)Escape down the hatch 8) receive your lightsaber.

 

Here you can see some of the other activities, defeating Vader, making pizza in the Jedi Council, and breaking apart the Death Star pinata.

Lastly, here are a few pics of the prep and the friends. The fare of the day was Jabba the Pizza Hutts, Yoda Soda, FruitSabers, and Wookie Cookies to top it off. I love the smile on Quinn in these last ones, it is one of pure happiness. Just the way it should be on your birthday.

Quinn turns 7

7 years ago today we enlarged our family from 2 to 3 with the addition of Quinn. We love celebrating birthdays in our house and today was no exception. Quinn picked everything, right down to the Star Wars shirt he was wearing.  He loves the excuse to be the center of attention too. We took him to Chipotle for dinner and came home to eat Halloween candy and open presents from family. He is so fun to buy for. To him, each gift is the best one ever.  My favorite moment of the night is when Quinn opened the gift from Nolan and raved and raved over it and Nolan being so happy Quinn liked it. The bottom collage is dedicated solely to this moment. Precious. I love seeing the boy Quinn is becoming but I am starting to miss the little person it seems he just was. Happy birthday Quinn!

Halloween Fun!

What could be more fun than seeing Batman and ObiWan Kenobi run around the neighborhood telling ridiculous jokes in exchange for candy? Doing it on a night with a perfect Halloween moon. I love Halloween.  The jokes make the night for me every year. Quinn's joke this year was "What do you call a Jedi who uses meat instead of a lightsaber? Obi Wan Bologne." and Nolan's was "What do you call a dog who gets a sunburn? A hot dog!"  always followed by "Get it!?".  What's not to love about that? Happy Halloween everyone. 

Rain or Shine, Fun Will Be Had

This past weekend we hosted the 5th annual Lynch family pumpkin party at Jim's parent's acreage. Throughout last week we had nothing but rain which made the prospects of having a great leaf pile, bonfire and hay rack ride seem highly unlikely.  We woke up to beautiful sunny and somewhat warm Saturday morning which gave us some hope that we could actually pull off the beloved fall festivities. When our guests arrived late afternoon the weather was great. We carved our pumpkins, rode the horses (or at least those horses that cooperated), bobbed for apples and even jumped in the giant leaf mountain Jim raked for us before it started to sprinkle. We quickly sprinted to the hay rack in hopes of getting a ride before the hay got too wet.  As usual, Jim's dad gave a mean tractor ride and we got back just in time to have a great meal. The adults braved it under the tree for protection from the rain and the kids ran to the garage to stay dry. The rain washed out our bonfire and marshmallow roasting but it turns out that 4 out of 5 people think you can make a smore with any type of marshmallow.

This is one our favorite family traditions and we would put this show on rain, shine, snow or sleet and gratefully our friends think it is fun enough to brave the weather too.

These Boots Are Made For Hiking

These boots have hiked over 100 recorded miles of Oregon and Washington trail since I have had them. 7 years ago, when we moved to Iowa and had chidren, they got shoved to the back of the closet to collect dust and mourn the distance between them and the Pacific Northwest. I was sure they would not reemerge for active duty again. I may have been wrong. Thanks to scouts these boots have seen some pretty wonderful hiking right here in the flat midwest in the last month. I have also seen that our love of hiking and nature is starting to rub off on the kids. These boots may very well be 2 miles into their next hundred, but this time with little hikers following right behind which makes me very very happy.

Back At Work...

As I was looking ahead to this school year with both boys in school everyday, I knew I would be working a lot more than I had since Quinn was born but I didn't know what e.xactly I would be working at. Subbing made the most sense but it is not a job I love (or even like for that matter). Two weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in teaching 3 year old preschool for the duration of the year to which I said "Sure! Why not!". So, on Monday I started teaching this adorable group of 3 year olds. I am surprised at how much fun I am having and how happy they seem with their new teacher. The hours are great and it involves a steady paycheck and lots of hugs. Who wouldn't love a job like this.