I Can't believe it!

Yesterday I ran out to run a few errands and this is what I saw:

Can you believe it? I never thought I would see the day when gas went below $2.

Pumpkin Carving!

This will be Dave and my 5th Halloween as a married couple. We started the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch and picking out a pumpkin together to bring home and carve five Halloween's ago. We have had so much fun with the addition of Emily and Ally and getting mini-pumpkins for them to play around with. Today we went and picked out our pumpkins at a patch near our house. We were surprised that along with growing pumpkins, the owners of the patch also farmed llamas. Emily kept wanting to pet the llamas that were walking around us but neither Dave nor I know anything about llama friendliness so we told her to just look and not touch. We brought our pumpkins home and tonight we spent some quality time around the table carving, painting, and throwing pumpkins. Here are some pictures of the day. They are a little bit out of order but still fun to look at!

Ally's first pumpkin. She was more interested in eating it than carving it.

Emily and her 3rd pumpkin.

Dave teasing Ally...

...and Emily

Emily painting her pumpkin.

Ally telling us about the pumpkin.

Dave's finished product all lit up (and in case you can't tell, it is Snow White, Emily's choice).

Emily giving her approval.

Ally got bored of throwing her pumpkin overboard. We had to entertain her in other ways.

Emily proudly displaying her finished pumpkin.

Dave carving the top out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORCAS!!!

We love you Dorcas and we hope you had a great birthday today!!

It has been another crazy week! Recovering from our last two traveling weekends was not that difficult. The girls seem to have adapted to that sort of lifestyle and have been doing well coming home and getting back on a schedule. I have been going through some issues with my co-teacher that have had me stressed out and to top it off, I got sick again on Wednesday. I kept telling myself that I refused to miss another day of work and that I would go to school on Thursday no matter how bad I felt, but then Wednesday night I started throwing up so I knew I was doomed. I had to miss another day of work. Fortunately the girls have shown no sign of getting sick this week but Dave unfortunately got what I had. Today was a very relaxing day and the first day I have felt back to normal. I spent the morning out shopping with Emily for new pillows. I really had a fun time just spending the morning with her and she seemed to reciprocate the feelings. I even introduced her to Raisinets which are my favorite candy. She loved them too.
I wanted to share something Emily said to me today that cracked me up! I was asking her questions about school and what she does there. I asked her the names of her friends and the names of her teachers. She has two teacher, Miss Robin and Miss Jessie but today she added the school director Miss Becky in when she named them. I asked her what Miss Becky does and she said, "Miss Becky spanks Casey."
She is so observant ;)

Family, fairs, and fun

This weekend we went to Dallas to see Dave's parents and to go to the Texas State Fair. It was a very quick weekend but we had a great time. We got into Dallas late Friday night. Saturday morning, Dorcas and I started out the day by going to a few garage sales. When we got home, we got ready to go to the Fair. Some highlights from the Fair included corn dogs, funnel cake, and Emily participating in the Backyard Circus show. Emily was a butterfly in the show and it was so much fun to see her entertaining the crowd. After the Fair, we headed back to the Weir's house for dinner. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast and packed up. After saying goodbye to Jeff and Dorcas, we headed over to my sister Jennifer's house to go out to brunch. Her husband Wes and my brother Andrew joined us and we had a good time catching up with them. We left Dallas around 11 am and after three different stops, we made it home around 3:45 pm. The girls were very sleep deprived so it was a rough evening for all, but they are finally in bed and sound asleep. We are so blessed to be able to have two sets of grandparents be a huge part in Emily and Ally's lives. We are so thankful to be in Texas were we can make weekend trips to see them.
Here are a few pictures and a video of the weekend.

Dave and I pretending to be circus bears.

Trying to get a family photo.

Pit stop number two on the way home. Everyone enjoyed goofing off on the playground.

And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for! Emily on stage! Enjoy!

Reading with daddy!

Update time!

I am not sure were to begin on updating everyone on what we have been up to. I guess I will begin with Dave. On the 5th of this month, Dave was invited to a Texans game with his boss, the salesmen at his company, and the customers they work for. They sat in a luxury box and got to watch the Texans lose horribly. Dave said it was fun but he wished we could have come along. Thursday of this past week, Dave went to Dallas with his boss and the other manager trainee at his work for a budget meeting. On Thursday of this week, he will be going on a golf outing with some people from work and then they are having a dinner together. It will be a great opportunity to break in his brand new clubs he has had sitting in our garage. The girls and I have been up to one thing- being sick. Two weeks ago, I had to stay home from school to take care of the girls. They both had colds. Finally they were well enough to take to school last Tuesday and when we got there, the power was out. That morning we had had a really bad thunder storm roll through and it knocked out the power for the entire street the church/school is on. School got canceled for that day. Thursday we finally got to go back to school were it turns out we all picked up some more germs. After school Thursday, the girls and I were headed for San Antonio because Jennifer was having two baby showers over the weekend. Friday Ally woke up with a runny nose. Dave came to San Antonio late Friday night. Saturday was Jennifer's first baby shower. It was hosted by Wes' (Jennifer's husband) side of the family. My sister Grace, my mom and I went to that. It was a very nice shower. They had had all of the guest bring a card with a bible verse that they thought would help Jennifer, Wes, and baby. I thought that was an awesome idea and it was really good to hear the verses of encouragement. After the shower, we went home and got the girls and Dave to go out to dinner. Sunday I woke up feeling horrible. I was so nauseous and my stomach hurt really bad. I tried to hold it together to help get ready for Jennifer's second shower hosted by my mom, sisters and me. As the day wore on, I felt worse and worse. As I got to the shower, my body started aching. My first thought was that I got the flu. Dave and the girls had left for Houston early that morning and I was to head back after the shower but as people started arriving, I knew I wasn't going to last. I tearfully said goodbye to my family and left the shower right as it started. I was so dissapointed that I wasn't going to get to share that experience with my family. My drive back to Houston was the worst 3 hours of my life! I was having a really hard time trying to stay awake. My body was shutting down. I ached in every bone in my body. My eyes were swollen and red and I was feeling really nauseous. My brother called me to get directions and I am so glad he did. It helped take my mind off being sick. I finally made it back home and I immediately went and took a long hot bath. I didn't do much else besides lay on the couch the rest of the evening. Monday morning I wasn't much better so Dave took the day off to take care of the girls. I slept most of the morning and forced myself out of bed for the afternoon. I couldn't stand for very long because my stomach hurt so bad. I am not sure what I was sick with. I tried to look up symptoms on Webmd, but that didn't help me. Dave was so sweet, he went grocery shopping for me. I hadn't done my weekly shopping because we were out of town, but he went and got the neccessities. I felt well enough to make dinner and then I crashed on the couch for the rest of the night. This moring I am feeling 75% better. I can stand up without feeling nauseous. I called in sick for work, again but I am glad I did. Emily started coughing Sunday and the runny nose came shortly after that. I am really dissapointed at how much the girls keep getting sick. I may have to re-evaluate my job at the school if the girls are going to keep getting sick.
So that is what we have been up to. This coming weekend we are supposed to go to Dallas to see Dave's parents and to go to the State Fair. We are really looking forward to seeing them and hopefully we will be clean of our sick germs.

Thank you Lyla!

October!

Wow! I cannot believe October is already here! That means Thanksgiving is only a month away and then Christmas is right after that! The year has really flown by. Dave and I kept saying that after summer, things would start slowing down, but things just keep coming up for us to do. We postponed going to Dallas this weekend so that we could have a weekend to ourselves but Dave got invited to a Texans game on Sunday so it won't be all to ourselves. At least the girls will get some down time. They are both sick, which is why I am at home today, and Ally is getting another tooth in, so she is double sick. Ally never cries when we put her down for the night. Her and Emily usually laugh and talk for a while before falling asleep. But last night Ally started crying about 10 minutes after we put her down. Dave went in to make sure she didn't get stuck in the crib and when he came back, she had started crying harder. I went in to pick her up and wipe her nose and make sure she was ok and then laid her back down. That just upset her even more and she was upsetting Emily, so I decided to let her hang out with Dave and I for a while. As soon as she saw Dave, she started reaching for him and then she immediately started hugging him. Dave had closed at work the last two nights and so the girls had only seen him for a few minutes each night. I guess Ally really missed Dave. It was so cute how she cuddled with him for a while. He thought is was safe to go and put her back in bed, but she started screaming again. This is really not normal Ally behavior, so we knew she must have been in pain. Dave went and got her out of bed again and rocked her for a while. When she started playing, he decided to put her back in bed and she finally fell asleep. Both of the girls were coughing throughout the night so it was hard for any of us to sleep. Emily woke up at 2 am crying she had to go to the bathroom. Dave got up and took her but he was too tired to stay with her so I helped her finish. When my alarm went off to get up for school, I decided it wasn't a good idea to take the girls. I called in sick and then tried to go back to sleep. The girls have been doing good since they got up this morning but Ally didn't like going down for a nap. It should be an interesting day!