I've already checked my calendar three times this morning. Yup! It's October! How did that happen? All of a sudden it's 60 degrees in the morning and pumpkins are everywhere. I have to ration my Pinterest time so as not to get distracted with the great abyss of pumpkin everything... recipes, decorations, drinks, costumes... I went on there yesterday to find tonight's dinner recipe. 24 hours later... I still have no idea what I'm cooking for dinner. Some sort of meatball. Maybe shaped like a pumpkin?!
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| First football game of the season! |
This October will be my 30th Halloween! That's right! I turned 30 last month. You know, 30 isn't as bad as I thought when I was 15. I should really dig back into my high school journals. They are a hoot. Maybe I'll share an entry or two. If they aren't too embarrassing...
Back to that whole turning 30 thing. September, my birthday month (because you have to celebrate the whole month), was a hot mess. Really though, the weather decided to trick us by cooling off for a couple days then came back with dry, hot scorchers. I really wanted it to be fall already. I started dreaming about pumpkin lattes and sweaters when B got step throat. Oh yeah, school starts and that means sickness spreads. Ugh. In fact, I'm currently battling a wicked sinus infection. Yuck! I may have mentioned it previously, about 100 times, but the allergy season here has been vicious and has lasted for infinity... yup. Infinity.
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| Gig 'em, Aggies! |
Football season started. Always fun in a small town. Unfortunately, we missed the Homecoming parade because we were on our way to Texas that day. Yes, my birthday celebration week began with a quick trip to Wayland Baptist University to get my thesis defense over with! My defense date had already fallen through a couple of times and I finally just said that I was coming down there to get it done. It added more to our drive, but Mama got a thumbs up from the entire committee! Woot! Woot! My thesis is getting bound and put into their library and I am DONE! At least until I start my PhD... eventually.
Right after my defense, we hit the road to Houston. West to Central Texas is a kind of dull drive. Sort of like Kansas and all its flat fields. Without slowing down, the next morning we got up and headed to a football game at College Station! I haven't had a chance to hang out with my sis on her campus in the four years she has lived there, so we made sure we got there in time to go to a game with her. It was so hot! But the boys did great. And that A&M band, wow! That was a nifty half-time show to watch. I was so close to going to that school. Autumn has loved it, but the amount of traditions at that place is sort of ridiculous. So much to keep up with! I told Autumn she needs to start some weird tradition and just make up a story to go with it. Haha!
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| That guy who bought us dinner :) |
Birthday dinner was yummy Brazilian food with the whole fam! We celebrated both mine and Autumn's birthday because they are in the same month. My parents surprised me and Jeff with a little vacation to Galveston for my birthday! They watched the kiddos for us while we spent the night in Galveston and did some exploring for a couple of days. I REALLY wanted to check out the boardwalk thing they have with the rides and stuff, but it is only open on the weekends during the fall. Boo! It was super hot and still there were no rides to have fun on! I guess fall isn't all it's cracked up to be in the South.
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| The fam! |
We just did some sight-seeing, saw some cool battleships, some beautiful old homes, and ate a TON of seafood. That's usually our requirement whenever we are on a coast - seafood for dinner EVERY night! We like to make ourselves sick of it so that when we go back into the heartland we won't miss the fresh stuff for a while. :(
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| Battleship Texas |
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| Beautiful stained glass |
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| Bishop's Palace in Galveston |
The boys, of course, loved the spoiling from their Mammy and Papa. We are still trying to get back on a normal schedule... When we got back from our little getaway (my first night away from little W), we took a trip to the Aquarium. The boys loved looking at the fish. An aquarium really is a great place to take little ones. Even babies can stare at the fish and be entertained. And it's usually air-conditioned! B also loved petting stingrays. He thought he was a little expert.
We finished off the week by going to my little sister's big Ring Day at Texas A&M. So back to College Station it was! Apparently this is a big deal. There's another butt-load of traditions and histories that go along with this as well. I don't even pretend to know what they are. And there's no way even the students that go there can know every single tradition that exists at that place. Just saying.
There were a lot of hugs, some tears, and multiple thumbs-up. All this hullabaloo was followed by lunch at a super busy mediterranean joint. Very delicious. Then, after the drive back home, and a last-minute dinner decision to have a giant tray of Chick-fil-a nuggets and a pizza for dinner, Autumn had to dunk her ring in the traditional Ring Dunk initiation. This just HAD to be completed with an A&M pitcher while wearing an A&M poncho over her clothes. So that's the reason behind all the traditions! Sales! ;) She didn't drink a pitcher of beer like some do (gross), instead she downed a whole pitcher of sweet tea. No human needs to drink that much of anything in two minutes. She drank it all, she got her ring back (kind of silly, right?), then she promptly threw up at least half of what she had just consumed. And so went the Ring Dunk tradition. Autumn can now check that off her list and she is one step closer to graduation! Finally!
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| Tradition... |
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| Cutest little Aggies there! |
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| Happy Aggie :) |
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Bennett's version of
Gig 'em. Haha! |
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| Seesters!! |
We celebrated by visiting a piano bar (hilarious) and staying out too late for a couple of parents who had a 10-hour drive home with two little ones the next morning. Totally worth it. :)
Nothing extravagant. No fancy getaway to Europe (one of these days...). No shiny, new car sitting in the driveway (though we seriously need an update). Just a normal gal turning 30 and spending it with her favorite people. Perfection.
We finished off the week by going to my little sister's big Ring Day at Texas A&M. So back to College Station it was! Apparently this is a big deal. There's another butt-load of traditions and histories that go along with this as well. I don't even pretend to know what they are. And there's no way even the students that go there can know every single tradition that exists at that place. Just saying.
There were a lot of hugs, some tears, and multiple thumbs-up. All this hullabaloo was followed by lunch at a super busy mediterranean joint. Very delicious. Then, after the drive back home, and a last-minute dinner decision to have a giant tray of Chick-fil-a nuggets and a pizza for dinner, Autumn had to dunk her ring in the traditional Ring Dunk initiation. This just HAD to be completed with an A&M pitcher while wearing an A&M poncho over her clothes. So that's the reason behind all the traditions! Sales! ;) She didn't drink a pitcher of beer like some do (gross), instead she downed a whole pitcher of sweet tea. No human needs to drink that much of anything in two minutes. She drank it all, she got her ring back (kind of silly, right?), then she promptly threw up at least half of what she had just consumed. And so went the Ring Dunk tradition. Autumn can now check that off her list and she is one step closer to graduation! Finally!
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