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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Malek Halloween Party



The 8th Annual Halloween Spooktacular was last night and I had a great time.  Renee picked up Jennifer and I and we headed to the Malek's house.  They had up their fabulous Halloween decorations and Christina prepared her usual spread of great food.  Jonathon made me some delightful drinks and I took advantage of having a designated driver.  The evening ended with me taking a lot of silly pictures in their bathroom and closet - sorry Maleks!

Dell Halloween Party


We took the kids to the PG Dell Halloween Party in John's building.  As usual, I was glad we arrived early, it gets packed.  Maddy LOVED wearing her lady bug costume, and has wanted to wear it all day, every day since.  We borrowed a spider costume for Jack but he absolutely refused to wear it, so he wore his skeleton pajamas.  Gwen dressed up as a butterfly.

The top photo Madeline is horrified watching me eat cotton candy. 




Halloween Fun - Post 1

 Last weekend we painted the pumpkins from Sweet Berry Farms.  I got out the finger paints, brushes and a stack of newspaper.  The kids were cleaner than I expected and really liked loading up the pumpkins with paint.  We haven't carved pumpkins with them yet, but I"m sure we'll be doing that in the next couple of years.  For now, painting works for everybody.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

First Place Finish

10/10/10 - Pflugerville Pfamily Pfun Run at 10:10am.  The race was around Lake Pflugerville, with is just short of 3 miles, so we overlapped the route a little bit.  I was not feeling to pumped at the start.  Sometimes having too much time to think about running is a buzz kill.  Did I eat enough, or too much?  Did I drink enough water?  Do I have to pee again?  This was a race on the crushed gravel trail, so I situated myself at the front of the pack, that way I would not have to pass walkers and slow pokes on the narrow path.  The gun went off (air horn) and after a half mile I realized I was going a bit too fast - 7:10/mile.  I did slow down after that, by the time I finished I had nothing left.  I normally like to pick it up and dash to the finish, but that was not happening.  I finished in 24:08 - 1st place in my age group!  Yeah! Go! Me!  Jennifer finished 3rd and Christina 4th. 

My medal has joined my collection at work!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

John is Becoming More Texan - Ya'll

 For John's birthday I bought him a smoker (or I sent him to buy himself a smoker).  We are only short a pair of wranglers and some chew to complete the transformation into full on TEXAN.
 John cooked his first brisket Saturday while watching football and enjoying the morning while the rest of us went to Sweet Berry Farms.  This is John admiring his meat before applying a homemade rub.
We were permeated with the smell of smokey meat all day, it was mouth watering.  The brisket turned out delicious and was even better a couple days later for left overs.  Great job John!

Sweet Berry Farms Fall 2010

My parents and I took the kids to Sweet Berry Farms this weekend.  On the drive to Marble Falls I suddenly remembered how our last trip to SBF ended - with a lot of crying. 

There were LOTS of pumpkins in shapes and colors I have never seen.  They had a hayride, corn maze, pony rides and pumpkin painting, we didn't do any of that.   But we did get some pumpkins, ate homemade ice cream and the girls got their arms painted.

 Again - Maddy has to drive

 First time getting painted

He did have a good time, just not at this exact moment

We followed up SBF with lunch at McDonald's.  I don't know why I am always surprised when McDonald's doesn't go well, but this was a bad scene for us.  I rarely lay my head down on a table in public, this was one of those meals.   Why would McDonald's take 20 minutes to make 3 Happy Meals for the love of all things holy????

State Fair of Texas 2010

 After touring the petting zoo (which was awesome - giraffes in a petting zoo!), the kids posed for a picture.  This was the best of the 15 photo series.  Gwen is being a Moose (not in the petting zoo)
 We toured the auto show portion of the fair and the kids loved climbing all over the cars.  Madeline insisted on doing all the driving.
 Handsome Jack
Handsome Jack begging for elephant ears.

The fair was a lot of fun and I am so glad my parents came with us.  The kids were great, even without naps and we will surely do it again in a couple of years.