Bruises on the knees.

Lily is just the kind of girl I love. The kind with skinned knees and bruises all over. She pushes herself to do more than she is really capable of. But that doesn't stop her from trying, which is exactly the kind of woman I want her to grow up to be. One that's not afraid to jump in and try stuff, even if she hasn't got a clue what she's doing.

Lily is already riding a scooter. It's the cutest thing in the world, seeing her flying along at the top of the driveway trying to keep up with her brothers. She's my type of gal.

Because, you know I like to keep track of my life.

Somedays you look at your babies and just can't believe how time has flown by. That happened five minutes ago. Owie, my first born baby, the boy who looked like a toddler the day he was born is growing up and I hate/love it.

Owen is at our kitchen counter eating his after school snack and he asks me, "mom have I ever been stung by a bee?" To which I reply, "no, I don't think so." To which he replies, "oh good because I like to keep track of my life you know."

Seriously, I could die. Being a mother is the absolute best thing in the world. It gets you in the most unexpected of times.

Swiney

Poor Luke has the swine flu. High fever, cough and sleeping a lot. Sweet boy, last night I was tucking him in and reading him one of his sister's Dora books. I finished, kissed his hot head and he told me in the sweetest voice, "thanks for reading to me mommy."

Sometimes this boy sure can get you.

Luke's field trip to pumpkin patch.

The only moment the two were in the same vicinity. Every time I go on one of these I think I always have to come otherwise my child will be kidnapped for sure. Picture about a million children and a handful of adults in large open area near a busy road. Good times.

Contemplating farm life.

One of the few shots I was able to get of Luke. He's far too busy to stop for a picture.

Luke with his preschool class.

Okay. See the above picture. Well this almost was the last photo taken of Lily. She was at the top of this two story bounce/slid thing. And those million children I was telling you about all decided at once that they wanted to come up the stairs and go down the big slide too.

She's at the top, getting her courage up, they're ALL coming up the stairs. I'm at the bottom taking above picture when I hear a woman scream behind me. One of those you really know something is wrong screams. I look up and this two story slide thing is falling over sideways because there are so many kids on one side. Panic (possible because of that report last week of how a kid now has permanent brain damage due to this exact situation).

Now picture me, mother bear going insane and screaming at these children to get off the slide now. Most of whom were in such shock that they were frozen. Now picture me literally grabbing them and throwing them down the slide (I'm now super popular with the Bedford elementary people). But thankfully we (me and two other meanies) were able to get the kids off before it collapsed and suffocated sweet Lily.

After all that excitement we went over to the playground. Where Lily went directly to the top of any large structure, what's a mother to do?

Oh, look there is Luke and Lily in the same picture! And that awful huge slide is in the background. Anytime I didn't have eyes on the children I walked around like a crazy woman convinced they had been kidnapped. Ahh, the stress of having a fertile imagination.

Lily never gives up on her dreams of being big. But her eyes are often far bigger than her courage, thank goodness.

The naked cowgirl and a project.

First the project. I made a huge chalkboard for the dining room a few weeks ago and am just so darn proud of it. It's eight feet tall by four feet wide sheet of plywood (the kind that's smooth). I just painted on some chalkboard paint and voile a cool huge chalkboard for less than $50 dollars.

Now for the cowgirl. Lily loves shoes. No matter there form. She especially loves daddy's cowboy boots (we've fully ingratiated into Texan culture, I own two pairs of boots and seriously love them).

It's the funniest thing too, once there on, they come up all the way up.

Mr. Luke plays footbal; and most importantly, gets a trophy.

The all important trophy. Possibly the largest factor in sport playing.

This is at the "big game" the mini huddle coaches/players put on for us. They ran through the sign, threw a pass, kicked a ball and took down a flag.

And did a wee bit of crying. So pathetic.

Lily and I were the cheering section for approx. two minutes. At which point she was over cheering and wanted to be IN on the action.

Dining room is finished!

This room used to be our toy room but now it's going to be our unused dining room! Yes! The toy room was relocated to the fifth bedroom, and now I can stop picking up toys five thousand times per day. Literally.

It's fall in Texas, we couldn't be happier!

Fall in Texas for adults is like Christmas finally coming for children. When both Chad and I were kids we both loved loved the summertime; free time, warm weather, swimming, playing till the street lights came on, etc. But adulthood has taken the fun out of summer fun, summertime now; costs a lot of money and we are charged with taking care of our own children! The outrage.

The end to energy bills that cost more than my first car, the need to sprint from one air conditioned building to another has ended, and the beginning of not totally freaking out if a door is left open longer than two seconds. Hooray for fall!

Fall in Texas includes hearty amounts of football, except for us. I found a league that only practices once a week with a game on Saturday. Perfect amount I say too, none of that Southlake Dragon six hours a week of practices. I just don't have that in me, yet.

Owen had his own cheering section. Luke and Rexy.

You can't tell but in this picture he got the flag, oh yeah!

Luke (and Rexy) cheer for Owen when he caught the pass! Go Owen, go Owen.

Lillian's Sunday.

A little peek shows she hasn't given up her dreams of being potty trained, even though they were inside out, backwards and her big brothers. Never give up on your dreams.

Helping mommy cook up a storm; a la grilled cheese. Bon' Appetite. Chad wasn't thrilled with this as the dinner course but hey, for lunch I made some fabulous halibut fish tacos. One good meal a day is all I can deliver. That's all folks.

Then while mommy was tidying up dinner this is where she found Rubby. One day she will regret this. But for now she is living out her passion for nudity.

A few weeks ago she was fussin (I'm southern now) and Luke proudly proclaimed "I know what she wants!...to be maked (naked, but he pronounces it maked)." It's going to be sad when Luker loses his improper pronunciation altogether.

Who could resist her.

Definitely not me. On our street today Lily had the pleasure to ride with style in the front seat of our car. She took it upon herself to make sure she looked the part.

Friday afternoon and some friends.

If boys have the following items they will have hours of entertainment; a hose, buckets, and little brothers/slow runners for easy targets.

I guess it my upbringing in a large family but the more the merrier I say. Today we had seven extra kiddos running around (everywhere but inside!). And I just love it, they ran around like a bunch of crazed little people. Got the attention of the 'older boys' next door whom joined in on the fun by dumping and spraying water on them through the fence at first and then just an all out water fight in the end.

Nobody is immune to the power of fun a hose can provide on a Texas afternoon.

Once they tired of the hose they brought our street toys to go down the 'mountain' in our backyard.

It takes a couple of muscular men to get them up aforementioned mountain. Owen, Harrison, John Michael, brought up Jack and Bryce.

You can't tell in this photo but Owen and Harrison are convincing Jack and Bryce that it's safe and they should be the ones to test it out. No picture of what happened next but just use your imagination.

While they played their hearts out, their mothers and I hung out and would occasionally tell children to, "turn around and go back outside and work it out yourselves."

We love us some chocolate cake.

Luke immensely enjoys chocolate cake. He manages to get it everywhere in his enjoyment of it.

Oh, how quickly it goes too...

Texas storms rolling by.

Texas storm season is here. And I couldn't be happier.