Zilker Park fun

One lazy Sunday afternoon, we decided to take the kids to Zilker Park.Grandma and Chris joined us while Charlie and Christi decided to stay home and have some special time.  :-)

Chris and Claire looking at Barton Springs pool

Chris reading a book

Chris and Claire being silly

All aboard!!!

Grandma and Chris on the train

Daddy and Harper on the train

Claire the fire truck driver

Playing the life size xylophone

Harper loves to swing!

Trick or treat...FINALLY!

The girls before we headed to Christi's house to trick or treat

Pops the pirate and Charlie aka Spiderman practicing at being mean and scary

Grandma Minnie Mouse singing "Hibiscus Hula"

This picture is my personal favorite because the kids were so ready to go trick or treat and I made them stop for a quick picture. Claire is so annoyed with me and her face is priceless!!

The crew

Scooby Doo Daddy and Ladybug Harper

Off to the first door!

Sister M & Ms

Chris as Iron Man

The kids were fascinated with the woman who sat in her front yard dressed up like a witch.

Harper LOVES the lollipop!

Enough said...

Pumpkin carving

Every Halloween season, Daren carves pumpkins with Claire and Harper. He has done it since Claire was a baby. We are proud to say that neither of our girls are sissies about the pumpkin guts. They carve and pull out the insides with the best of them. This year, Claire requested a "happy pun-kin" and an "angry pun-kin."

 

Claire and Daddy starting the angry "pun-kin."

Harper digging in with Daddy

Daddy and his girls

Claire decided to color the happy "pun-kin."

UT Halloween

We went the Friday before Halloween to the UT Golf Club for their Halloween festivities. We had a blast!! There was a train ride, a bouncy house, a live band, a fireworks show. You name it and they had it. I should've taken a million pictures, but we were all so busy and having so much fun that I really only took a few.

 

Claire aka Jessie in the bouncy house

Claire got her face painted and loved looking in the mirror at it. We must've taken the mirror out 500 times that night for her to check it out!

Charlie's face paint... THE SCARY MUMMY!!

Claire and I danced the night away. She kept putting her cheek up to mine and saying, "Mommy, we are dancing cheek to cheek." Could she get any sweeter?

Claire and Pops throwing up their "Hook 'Em"

Charlie and Pops throwing up their "Hook Em." This is the point where I insert a sidenote: I tried a million times to get a picture of Chris but he is much like Harper...BUSY!!!

Grandma and her girls...

I love this picture because you can tell she is up to something!

This picture doesn't do justice to Claire's night on the dance floor, but its the only one that isn't blurry. She was a dancing machine. We didn't leave the dance floor all night and the girls didn't tire out until after 10:30?!

Our family

Hallelujah Halloween!

Our church held it's annual Hallelujah Hoedown and we all dressed up and made our way. Grandma, Pops, Christi, the boys, and my little family headed to church for fun with the petting zoo, inflatable slide, a live band, dinner, games, and more. The kids had the most fun on the slide and in the petting zoo.

The kiddos

Charlie and Claire danced to the band. Here they are together taking a break from cutting a rug...

The girls enjoyed the animals. Harper would've stayed in there all night. She was afraid of nothing and giggled at all of the animals. Unfortunately, her way to show affection to the animals is a big tight pinch. Ha! Claire ran around chasing pigs and goats. :-)



Here are the kids on one of many trips down the big, big slide... This was Chris's favorite! He was fearless!

Claire

Chris

Charlie

From wagon rides to slip and slides (and practice Halloween!)

We went to Houston to celebrate LaLa's birthday at the end of October. Halloween was fast approaching so Mimi and Papa decided to have a "practice Halloween." We dressed up, got ready and trick or treated at their house over and over again. The girls loved it! Mimi and I tried, at the beginning of Halloween season, to manipulate Claire in to being a princess, a fairy, a ballerina...something like that. We showed her all the costumes on Disney, several on other sites, but she insisted on being Jessie from Toy Story. We gave in, a bit reluctantly, but never looked back as soon as we got her all dressed up and saw how much she loved seeing herself all dressed up like her favorite movie character. It was a priceless moment.

 

Claire seeing herself as Jessie for the first time

Claire really wanted to pick out Harper's costume and decided Harper should be a "pun-kin." Harper loved it! We wore it so much, though, that by Halloween, Harper wore Claire's ladybug costume from 2 years ago. :-)

 

Harper the "pun-kin"

Harper and Claire - Punkin and Jessie

Mimi and her girls

Trick or Treat!

Papa and Claire had big fun on the pool raft. Papa would take her to the top of the hill, slide her down and then fold her up.  They must have done that for hours. Papa had to be tired at the end, but it was worth it watching Claire laugh hysterically.

Papa pushing Claire down the hill on the raft

Where's Claire?

The wagon is a big hit at the Nix's house. Both girls ride around as often as they can.They pull it themselves.  It is a fun treat to ride in the wagon.

Papa had a turn...

LaLa had a turn...

Mimi had a turn...

Claire had a turn...

Sweet girls in the wagon

Silly sisters

Cat came to town!!!

When Cat comes to visit, the kids freak out!! They have so much fun! Cat's just like one of the kids. She plays on the playground with them. They dance. They get dirty. They laugh. They watch sports. They play sports. They swim. They have good old fashioned fun. All of the grandkids love their Cat.

Claire and Cat

Cat sliding with the kids

D and Cat

Cousins on the slide - my best attempt at a group shot