Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with dear friends and family in Round Top, Texas. The day started out with the most beautiful meal I think I have ever had. It was so colorful! It was also extremely traditional...no funny flairs in the dressing...just the good ole stuff that we have every year.

We ate on the porch of the family's farmhouse that is across the dirt road from my parents. After the meal we loaded up to head to College Station....for a terribly unfortunate football game. I am purposely leaving all those details out!

Lots of tables were set up on the porch with simple flowers and pumpkins adorning the farm tables.

The huge porch that we ate under on the side of the house...

One day I will steal this idea. An old beverage tub turned over was the "kid's table.

Caroline arrived in her Aggie Cheer uni, ready to go!

Margaret slept through just about the whole beautiful meal.
This was the amazing dessert table. We had a Gabe's famous apple pie as the show case.

Here are all the kids. Caroline, Annalee, John Khol, and Betsy. Lots of rolls were consumed at this table!

My two girls. I sat with them for part of the time. They did great with all the "big girl" plates and flatwear.

This couple one the cutest couple award for the weekend....wow. Clint Harp and Kelsey Orr. Even more adorable in person.
Betsy helped me with Margaret towards the end of the meal. She held her and got her back to sleep.

Saturday morning Santa Clause came to the square. Annalee was not to sure of him at first. Blake and I took just her to visit with him. She was really nervous but managed to ask him for a baby doll and thanked him for her lollipop.

I love watching and hanging out with my kids at the farm. It is so different from where we live in Austin...it is really fun to watch them play and discover all things natural. Thanksgiving was amazing...despite the scoreboard.

Caroline and Julie Thanksgiving 2011

The Farm

We met my brother and his family at my parent's farm in Round Top, Texas the week before Thanksgiving. The farm is still a work in process. In 2010 the barn was constructed and the main farm house was completed last July. My parent's spend every weekend in Round Top and have been working on the land and it's structures this past summer and fall. Every time we go back...they have done more and more. This past Thanksgiving...the place really started to feel like "coming home". My children have a blast, and my husband has a real sense of pride since he always seems to find himself doing a little work at every visit!

Thanksgiving week the weather was incredible. The best part was spending some quality time with Clint, Heather and Betsy with basically no distractions. Betsy is the oldest cousin on my side of the family...and has become my Annalee's biggest mentor!

I snapped a few shots of the property and structures...along with some of the fun tractor rides!

The back of the main house.
Picture of the barn with the main house in the background.
The burn band was lifted the week of Thanksgiving so Dad got a lot of burning done.
Clint and Blake hauling wood.
Annalee and Betsy on the mower trailer.

This tree is one of my mother's favorite parts of the land. It is a huge live oak that sits right in front of the house.
Front of the main house.
Front of the barn.
I gotta say...looking at these pictures and thinking back on the week together with family really makes me thankful that my parent's have shared the farm with us. The change of pace it demands is always refreshing for Blake and I...and our three girls. What a fun week....I'll cover the AMAZING Thanksgiving feast in my next post.

Halloween 2011

No doubt about it. Holidays are REALLY fun with kids. But the flip side: I'm always satisfied to see a holiday go. Halloween 2011. We showed up. We fully participated. The last thing Blake and I said to each other the night of the 31st of October was "good thing that only happens once a year." Actually I take that back. I think Blake went on a small tangent about older kids trick or treating with no costumes...but that's beside the point.

Earlier in the month we went on our annual Sweetberry Farms Pumpkin Patch outing. With every kid...my pictures get less cute. To be honest, I have less to choose from. There are no free hands to hold a camera any more.

This picture made it in because it is how we travel. Caroline on the tray of Margaret's snap and go. It's amazing. She just knows she can't jump off. I'm real proud of her, and I can't wait how she will use this early adaption of balance in her future.
So I only got two pictures of the girls in the pumpkins. They were both very mediocre. Neither one was interested in them, and Margaret was sleeping so good...I just decided we could capture her next October.

I do love watching Blake with his daughters. Hard to believe in less than three years, this guys life has truly been transformed. I think his smile looks natural...then again....?
Annalee has not grown out of her affection for goat feeding. I did remember the sanitizing wipes this year. I would have gotten a picture of Caroline feeding them, but I did not want to document the fact that she always had a mouth full of goat food. It came down to protecting my future relationship with her.

Every year they have this beautiful field of flowers for picking. Again...reference last October for better shots. :)
Blake and I asked the lady who was taking tickets for the hayride to watch Margaret and we took off on the hayride with the two older girls.

Caroline did enjoy feeding the donkey. I guess she was full from all the goat food because she gave this donkey what was left out of her pockets.
Annalee did not have any goat food left...so she tried a rock.
I think he appreciated the hay much better!
Annalee is in the orange car. We really tried to convince her to pick ANY other color than orange...

That sure is Blake supervising. He walked beside the train the whole time.
We had a great picnic lunch. Hayrides can really build up an appetite.

After lunch...things got a little dicey. We quickly got some pumpkin ice cream so that the outing ended on a good note. We had a tailgate party in the farm parking lot and the majority of passengers in the van we asleep before we got out of Marble Falls, Texas.
Lynda and Peggy came to visit and brought one of Brad and Blake's old Halloween costumes. The old clown just happened to fit Caroline. Done. She pranced around in it for hours.
We spent the morning of Halloween at Annalee's school festival. She sat right with Ms. Davenport as she played all of the Halloween tunes they had been learning.
That afternoon we loaded up the gang and our very own polar bear pushed the BOB to the neighborhood Boofest.

Our very own princess...running and playing at boofest.

After boofest we hit the streets to trick or treat.

Somewhere between boofest and the first house...we lost the princess dress. It was a hill I refused to die on.

Happy Halloween 2011! Whew.