"The Pumpkin Patch"

I put the title in quotations because where we went was called a patch but it wasn't.

In Tucson, you could drive around town and fins a variety of pop tents with people selling pumpkins under them. That isn't the case in Texas. As far as I can tell, you had to buy your pumpkin at the grocery store. That just isn't in the spirit of Halloween so I did an internet search for pumpkin patches. The one we found was in the neighboring town about 40 miles away. The description sounded awesome so away we went.

When we pulled up, there were alot of cars and we figured it would be great. We were wrong. There was a hay ride but it was very short and too expensive so we opted out. I'm not a big fan of sitting behind a tractor with strangers and dry grass sticking me in the butt anyway. There was a 'petting zoo.' It had a few goat, few sheep and a llama in a seperate isolated stall. Kellen liked the animals and chased them around.



The pumpkin selection was disappointing. There was a tent with different types of pumpkins. When the supply got low, they would bring some more over from some secret hidden area. We chose 3 of them. One for each of us.




In all honesty, I shouldn't really complain because I did enjoy hanging out with my friend Trina, her husband and sons. And when we got there, a really nice lady gave us her tickets cause she was leaving so we didn't have to pay for any of the activities and only paid for our pumpkins.

Halloween

Last year for Halloween, Kellen was supposed to be dressed as Lil' Squirt from Nemo. I say supposed because Kellen fell asleep at 5pm and didn't wake up till 10 so he could eat and go back to bed. It was cute because you can't control a 3mo baby and sad because Dustin bought the costume for him while I was still pregnant.

This year I couldn't decide on a costume for my little man. I kinda wanted to dress him in the traditional Jack-o-Lantern costume but also wanted something a little more homemade. As a joke, Dustin suggested Frankenstein because of the way Kellen still walks with heavy steps. I laughed and drew a line on his forehead with my eyeliner and we both knew then that it was perfect costume. I didn't think that Frankenstein would look right as a blonde so I bought some of the black hair spray. The other day I figured that I should do a 'dry run' to see how it would turn out. I just want to state that my son can be really strong and fast when he wants to be. Especially when he is trying to get away from a can spraying cold wet hair dye.

Texas

Here are a few pics of Texas that I have taken.



This pic was of my neighborhood this morning. I am still amazed by the weather here. It is beautiful. The fog this morning made the air thick and sauna like to breath.



This is my little house in Texas. We are actually a duplex so I only showed my side. There isn't anything distinguishing about it but we like it. I am feeling more and more like home everyday



We also went to the Waco zoo last weekend. Kellen loved it. We are going to go to Austin soon and go to their zoo too. I love all the animals and Kellen is wide eyed the whole time because there are so many new things to take in.




This is LBJ Lake at Marble Falls. We went away for an overnight stay at the Horseshoe Bay Resort. It was a marriage retreat put on by Dustin's unit. It was hard being away from Kellen because it was my first night away but he had fun and so did we. We are really thankful to Dustin's SSgt who was nice enough to watch our little man so Daddy and Mommy could reconnect.



This is a shot from the hotel. They had an amazing Oriental Garden walk and a Palm Trail. It was all green, warm and definitely lived up to its 5 Star status.

Getting Crafty

So I have been bit with the crafting bug. Unfortunately, I am not that creative or good at implementing the ideas I might have. But yesterday I actually accomplished a few things I was hoping to do. I stuck with the Halloween theme.



I set up this little Halloween village that Dustin bought years ago but I thought that the wall above it needed some sprucing up too.

So I made this spider out of construction paper. I think I am most proud of it cause it took me back to grade school. My spider web behind it sucks but I was in a hurry to get it up there.



Kellen is going to be Frankenstein for Halloween and I wanted to add something to his shirt and this is what I came up with. I got the idea of how to do it from Jennifer Hall. She has an amazing Etsy shop and she posted a really great step by step on how to do the bleach stenciling.



I liked it so I made him another shirt. I found 2 more plain shirts of his that I want to do too. It is just time consuming cutting out the design but definitely worth it.

What's been happening in the Lonestar State...

Update:

Since we left Tucson on 8/25
-Car broke down in Benson (8/25)
-Left my Visa at the McD's in Benson and didn't notice till I was in Lordsburg (8/26)
-Left my phone charger at the hotel (8/26)
-Missed our furniture delivery by 3 hours and had to wait a week for them to come back (8/27)
-Dustin had emergency surgery to have his gall bladder removed (9/2)
-Found termites in our new house (9/8)
-Went on a Overnight Marriage Retreat at a 5 star resort and left Kellen for the first time overnight (9/25)
-House treated for Red Paper Wasps (9/27)

And as of now, the house in Tucson still hasn't rented so we have been paying the full mortgage on it to sit there empty. Please pray for us that it will rent soon.

We are getting settled in Texas. I really like it here. The weather reminds me of Round Valley without the wind. And if you know Round Valley wind, you know how nice it is to not have to experience it. :-) Everything is really green. It rains regularly and most days have been warm and not too hot. Our house is alot smaller than our house in Tucson but I really like it and it is cozy. It really helped me figure out what we really needed and what was just taking up space.

Kellen is settling in like a champ. Dustin is back to work after his surgery and doing well with his job. He works with some good people and his superiors really like him because he is older than the average solider he works with and they can trust him with more responsibility. He is working on getting his packet together now so that he can go before the board and hopefully will becoming a sargeant soon.

I have met one girl here that I have become friends with and have a few more acquaintances. I also joined the the Enlisted Spouses Club so that I can get more involved. I am also getting to be a better cook and trying new recipes. I enjoy domesticity.

So far Texas has been a good move for us and hopefully there is more goodness and another baby to come. ;-)

House Cleaning and randomness.

Recently I have been trying to start packing up my house even though we still don't know where we are moving. I am surprised at all the 'crap' we have accumulated. I know that everyone knows they have a lot of junk they could get rid of but it is different to know something and actually see it. Throwing things away has been very therapeutic for me. I have been feeling very out with the old and in with the new. Too bad I can't go shopping for all the new I want to bring in. :-)I am loading up the back of my car with the stuff I am going to take to Goodwill. I thought about a yard sale but it seemed like more hassle than worth the money I would get.

Kellen is so cute lately. Not that he isn't cute all the time. Whenever there is music on he will either stop what he is doing and check out the TV to see what it is or he just starts dancing. He is a dancing machine. I will start making up songs sometimes just to see him dance 'cause it makes me smile.

We are slowly but surely getting to the end of Kellen's nursing. I started the weaning process when he turned 11 months. He took to milk pretty quickly but we had some set backs while in Cali. He still wants to nurse first thing in the morning and I think that it is going to take a little longer to break that. I am sad and excited. He is a big boy *Yeah!* but he isn't my little baby anymore *Tear* Overall I am proud because I wanted to just try nursing to see how it went then made the 3month goal then 6 month goal and then a year and I did it. I know there is data that shows it benefits to keep nursing passed the first year but I think it is time. He has 7 teeth and unfortunately, it is hard on my marriage. So hopefully by Kellen's birthday he will be a whole milk boy the whole time.

I can't believe Kellen turns ONE in a few weeks. Talk about time flying. I am sad that Dustin won't be here for it but Kellen won't know any better. I will probably just make him his own personal cake and let him go to town. I am going to have a party once Dustin gets back. Kellen still isn't walking or talking but he is really close to both. He learned to give kisses. Totally cute. His mouth is open wide and he makes the smacking sound.

San Diego

So Kellen and I took off for the Fourth of July week to San Diego. My sister and her 2 kids live there. Her husband does too I guess but he is deployed on a ship somewhere Asia-bound. :-)

I got there on Tuesday afternoon and came back the following Monday. It was great to spend time with my niece and nephew. I haven't been around them much in a long time so I got to catch up with them, more like just play with them. Kellen Loved playing with his cousins. He thrives in social situations so I feel bad when it is he and I here all day but we still manage to laugh all day.

First thing Wednesday morning, we had to go to the hospital because my nephew was getting a procedure to check his stomach and throat. He has had ongoing problems that I won't get into. I felt really bad though because they told us to be there at 8am and they didn't start his procedure till 10:30am. He wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink. We were thankful when we were finally back in the car and homeward bound.



The next morning I went to a Yoga class that is mixed with Tai Chi and Pilates. I REALLY enjoyed that and wish I could do it here. That night we went to the San Diego fair. That was fun. The kids really enjoyed it. The kids won goldfish and that was the highlight of their night. I had my first and probably last Deep Fried Twinkie and Oreos. The Oreos were really good but rich. I think that I tried them primarily for Bucket List reasons.



The Fourth was really fun. We went to the beach with some of Hailey's friends. I got a little burned and Kellen had SO MUCH FUN!!! He Loved everything about it. He loved eating the sand and splashing his legs in the ocean. We were on the base so the beach wasn't as packed and we had a good spot to watch fireworks. San Diego does a show called Boom over the Bay. They set off the same fireworks show in 3 spots so no matter which way we looked, we saw a great show. Kellen liked the fireworks. He was in awe and didn't get scared by the noise. The down side was that it took 2 hours to get home because the traffic was so bad. It took us less than 30min to get there.



Sunday we went to an outlet mall. I'm not a big shopper but managed to spend money and get a few cute things.

I don't know if San Diego is a place I want to live but it was nice to visit. There is just so much to do that it will definitely be on my vacation list.

As a whole I had a really good time. I LOVED the weather. Totally a change to come back to Hot As Hell Tucson. I never really paid much attention to how much time I spend alone (with Kellen of course) and now the quiet in my house is a constant reminder. It is a hard spot that I am in right now. I know that we will be moving. I just don't know where so I am stuck in limbo. I don't really want to go out and develop new relationships with people knowing that I am leaving in about 6 weeks. I guess I just need to focus on buckling down on packing up my house.

To end on an up note: I finally get my braces off next week!!! I got them on 2 weeks before I knew I was pregnant and will get them off 2 weeks before Kellen's birthday. I am going to chew gum, eat caramels, corn on the cob and everything else that I avoided. :-)