It's alway a good time.

Last weekend we celebrated.  It was homecoming for Temple Highschool so after a week of flying solo without Nate the girls and I loaded up and headed North for a little taste of home...

My Mama's front porch was a welcome sight after a long week...

After the girls were tucked in for the night my Mom and I decided to whip them up a couple of mini mums...

You know the saying everything's bigger in Texas...well that applies to mums too!  You'd be shocked at the things you'll see at a homecoming game.  We kept it simple and designed them to be just their size...

They loved them...

And had a blast hanging with Pops at the pep rally...

After the pep rally we had just enough time to head home and whip up a little birthday cake for our favorite guy...

And then Emme and I headed to the airport to pick him up (Stacy was along for the ride too)...

It works out perfectly that the man I married could think of nothing better than spending his birthday on the sidelines of a high school football game.  It just so happens that's something I can make happen!

Thank goodness Temple won which meant good moods all around...and cake...there was plenty of cake...

Saturday's plan was fall fun for the whole family.  After a morning that meant naps for some...

work for others...

And weirdness for the rest...

We loaded up and headed to Silo Farm...

I'm going to have to dedicate an entire post to this little adventure because Jenny was kind enough to capture the whole outing with her "real" camera which means fabulous photos!  But I can say fun was had by all...

Later that night we headed out on the town to celebrate Nate's 35th.  Well as out on the town as you can get in the metropolis of Tmeple...

One of my favorite things about my family is that it really doesn't matter where we are...

It's always a good time...

Happy Birthday Nate!  I love you flash phobia and all...

The next day we headed home.  But not before the girls shed a few tears and protests over the fact that we wouldn't let them go live with Uncle Clint and Aunt Jenny...

Monday meant back to reality...

And reality this week has involved a whoooole lotta' bike riding in preparation for the bike rodeo...

Carter was bound a determined to make it through the course with flying colors (or at least without falling)...

And I'll leave you with a little cliffhanger because I gotta' run so more on how she did next time I have a chance to post!  Oh and I'll also leave you with this...

I love that she's just a little bit weird...it makes me so happy!

He's My Favorite

Early on I knew I was pretty crazy about Nate.  Maybe it was the fact that I went out of my way to run into him any chance I got (making it look accidental of course).  Or maybe it was the way within months of meeting him he became one of the most important people in my life.  Whatever the case I was a goner from the moment we met.  

For the first 21 years of my life I didn't know he existed and over the past 11 he's become someone I could not imagine living without.  He's seen me at my highest of highs and lowest of lows.  He gets the best of me and he gets the worst of me.  He is my biggest fan and a voice of reason.  He was made to be a dad (I've never met a better one).  He is my very best friend and after everything we've been through I'm not the least bit tired of doing life with him.  Happy 35th birthday to my favorite person...

Dude.  You're old.  :)  But I love you anyway.

Snap Happy

It's no secret that I've become quite the Instagram addict.  All I can say is if Instagram is wrong I don't wanna' be right.  It just suits my fancy.  In my opinion it is quite possibly the perfect social media outlet.  Maybe it's just me but I find seeing people's lives through photos much more entertaining (and let's be honest slightly less annoying) than reading about it via a status update, tweet, etc.  I love the snapshot that it gives of what day to day life looks like for different people and as I look back over my photos from the past week or so I realize that it does a fabulous job of capturing the moments that mean something to me (big or small).  Like the girls and I baking cookies after school...

Or an art project to keep hands busy...

It was going really well until Emerson decided to throw a baking soda snowball...

I snap things on my iphone that I would never deem "worthy" of the effort with my good camera and yet they are the pictures that I wind up loving.  Like a family walk around the block to drag our trash can to the alley (what can I say other than we are really glamorous)...

Emme did a rain dance... 

I've always loved photos and I think for me I've reached a whole new level of snap happy.  Truthfully I think my eyes have been opened to all the little things going on around me that I don't want to forget...

Thanks Instagram, you're speaking my love language...

So this week we've had a few highlights and a major milestone or two.  First up a trip to the top of the gym for Carter...

We were so proud to be able to watch as she climbed with determination and finally got to ring that bell...

She was pretty proud of herself as well (dang girl look at those guns)...

She had another reason to smile Friday when she came home officially a "self manager".  This would be school lingo for she apparently has learned to behave herself in class.  We celebrate these kinds of things appropriately with ice cream which will hopefully motivate our children to continue to behave...

I guess you could say she was on a roll (no pun intended) because that afternoon she decided to kick her training wheels to the curb...

Nate showed her the ropes...

And before we knew it she was getting the hang of it (my favorite part of this video has to be Emerson running alongside Carter cheering and honking the horn)...



She's pretty determined...

Which is a good thing because she's gonna' have to kick it into high gear to be ready for the bike rodeo at school next week...



So proud of you Carter.  And don't worry sweet Emerson, your day will come...

Not to be outdone by all of Carter's accomplishments Kim and I had one of our own.  We braved the crowd and attended the grand opening of Nordstrom Rack...

We did we really did...

We were highly motivated by the fact that we felt certain one of us would win a $2,000 shopping spree which unfortunately was not the case.  Oh well, better luck next time and we got a free breakfast taco so there.  

Moving on we had my favorite kind of weekend at home with things like a trip to the Farmer's Market...

And age appropriate date's to the Kiddie Park..

And the Witte...

We welcomed a slower pace.  Thanks to Columbus and cold front Carter got to sleep in Monday and enjoy a little hot chocolate...

It was a lovely three day weekend...

And yesterday we jumped back into the swing of things.  Emerson headed to "school" and I tagged along...

The Fire Department was paying them a visit..

It was pretty stinkin' adorable...

I think she may have a future in fighting fires...

Life is good and I'm all caught up in the land of blogging so peace out peeps and happy hump day...

Carter said the guy twisted her head and tilted her chin and told her to smile...ahhh gotta' love a good school photo!