Back from Texas

Okay, okay, so we actually got back on Sunday night. I am just updating now because I am busy all the time. I HATE BEING BUSY ALL THE TIME. But I got a lot of good pictures and I'd like to share. So here they are in no particular order (because Blogger makes it really hard to put my pictures in the order I want them in).

This is pretty representative of what we paid for gas most of our trip. The lowest we saw was $1.35 in Rolla, MO and the high was $1.85 in Dallas. (This was in Illinois. The funny thing was that if I'd walked inside the gas station and bought a quart of oil, that would have been a blend that I tested and approved. Okay, so it's not THAT funny.)
Amy and her cousin Kage. She's actually going to abandon me and go live in Utah so that she can see her buddy Kage every day.

My niece Anahi... I totally wanted to steal her. Those eyes, that curly hair... couldn't you just die?

On Thanksgiving night the girls went out and saw Twilight. Mark took a picture and the shutter on the camera didn't open all the way. But I think it's kind of appropriate, don't you? The movie was cute but I am really looking forward to #2. Team Jacob!

Everything is bigger in Texas... even the spiders. *full body shudder* Jessie found this hairy spawn of Satan out by the mailbox. So if I ever move to Texas, don't try to send me anything by mail, because I will never set foot within 50 feet of my box

The fireworks. SERIOUSLY. Nobody lost any fingers, though.

Carolyn (Jenny's mom) got these canvas teepees and put them in the yard, and each kid got to paint a section. What a neat idea.

We had dinner at the Yacktmans' house - that's my husband's brother's wife's parents. (We actually know them pretty well, since they used to live in Chicago; they were at our wedding, even.) Plus, two of Jenny's brothers married sisters and so pretty much their whole family came too. I think the final count stood at 46, although I don't remember if that includes babies or not. Believe it or not, there was actually food left over.

Betsy and her cousin Shardae bonded over Barbies.

Sophie licked the frosting knife clean. And then stuck it right back in the can. Man, I wish I was six and could get away with stuff like that.

This is what the frosting was used for: to glue these little beauties together. We are so making these next year.

The paintball warriors! Wednesday featured a massive paintball war between the Lynns and the Yacktmans. The Lynns lost. Oh well, we're still awesome.

Sohpie loved pushing Amy in the swing. Don't you love Sophie's long, strawberry-blond hair? The last time we saw her she was two and didn't have that.

Matt finally got to play some tennis with his brother Mark. I love this shot because Matt looks really cool and Mark looks like a dork. I married the good brother, people.

We stopped in Springfield, MO to pick up fireworks for Mark. The store actually wasn't nearly as redneck as I thought it would be.

None of us had ever been to Missouri before, even though it's only two states away. My kids really liked the big upside-down letter U.

Hello! And goodbye!

We are leaving for Texas tomorrow, so I really should be packing and not writing on my blog.

Watch this space for lots and lots of pictures. It should be really fun!

Still here...

Not too much exciting going on. I am on call for work this weekend, which sounds way more important than it actually is. Am I performing emergency surgery, maybe rescuing puppies from a burning building? No, I am testing and approving automotive lubricants. Whee.

We're leaving for Texas a week from Monday. And let me tell you, the sudden precipitous drop in gas prices couldn't have been more well-timed. (It bottomed out around $1.75 here. I haven't paid that price since Betsy was a baby. Of course, at the time we thought that was highway robbery.) It's going to save us a couple hundred dollars, since we will be traveling over two thousand miles. Yes, 1100 miles in the car, each way, with three little kids. Hmm, what was I thinking, again?

Amy had a checkup yesterday (would have been her six-month visit, but she's seven months. Oh well). She's only gained a pound and a half since her previous visit two months ago. But now that she's a crazy crawler, I think she's actually burning some calories. Actually, the pediatrician was kind of surprised that Amy's crawling already, and has been for about a month or so. Don't ask me if she crawled earlier or later than her two older siblings because I can't for the life of me remember.

The sweetest treat

Forgot to show this in yesterday's post: a little something I got done on Friday. (Yes, I am addicted to that die cut cardstock; why do you ask?)

To infinity... and BOO-yond!

So, another Halloween's come and gone. It was pretty good timing with H-day coming on a Friday, meaning that I didn't have to work (and Matt normally gets off at 4:00. He had to stay a little later than usual because he made a really big sale! Woot!) and the kids were on Fall Break so they didn't have school. And although it's been cold most of the week, the weather on Friday was perfect - it was nearly seventy degrees when they started out. In fact, with Trunk-or-Treat the night before, and then a neighborhood parade (they had a fire engine!) and then ToT'ing in the neighborhood, my kids came home with a respectable haul. Which I then "inspected", you know, to make sure it's "safe." Wink-wink.

I bribed the kids with candy to get a decent picture of them once they were in costume. That went better than I expected it to, but Porter's "cheese" face actually looks more like a grimace. Finally I told then to make a scary face and they actually smiled.