Christmas time!!

 Behind the scenes....TRYING to get a picture for our Christmas cards.  Just a typical day...

 

 Such goofballs!

Halloween

 Getting dressed and NOT liking it!!  Grady was not a fan of his costume!

 Taylor, on the other hand, loved being a bumble bee!

Trying to head out of Aunt Haley's house.  They weren't sure what they'd rather do...hand out candy to trick-or-treaters or go get their own!!

Yay!!  Candy!!

 Grady wasn't too sure about this fellow dressed up as a pirate, but he sure didn't mind taking candy from him!

 Taylor was one happy trick-or-treater!

 

  Finally!  Grady started enjoying himself!!

 

Taylor having fun playing with her light-up pumpkin.

 

Taylor wishes Halloween came more than once a year!

 My beautiful and yummy birthday cake that Mimi and Taylor made and decorated!  Taylor insisted on having pink icing!!

Fall fun

We met up with our friends, Amy, Shelby, Jerzy and Knox, at a pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween.  This place had all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to do.  They fed sheep, goats and cows at the petting zoo.  They also got to go on a hayride, a train ride and got to play on some hay bales.  At the end of the day, Taylor got to pick out a pumpkin....she chose the biggest, bumpiest one there! 

 

 Taylor feeding a goat at the pumpkin patch.

 Grady thought the goats were silly!  Most of the time, he just stood there and laughed at them.

 On a hayride with Mimi and Poppa.

 Taylor standing next to a spooky spider!

 Trying to climb up the spooky spider.

 Grady sitting on top of a piggie.

 Taylor with Knox, Jerzy, and Shelby.

 Scary Taylor!

 Grady picking out his pumpkin.

 Grady trying to climb in with the animals.

 Going on a train ride!

Taylor picked this pumpkin out at the pumpkin patch.  She instructed us that it had to have a happy face!

Camping Trip

A couple of weekends ago we headed up to the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma to go camping with Mimi, Poppa, Haley and Ryan.  We made camp fires, roasted marshmallows and hotdogs, went hiking, and ate some great food.  Ryan was able to utilize some of his past Boy Scout experience and treated us with some tasty grub.  We also saw, stalked and eventually hand-fed some deer that kept hanging out by our campsite.

Mimi and Poppa brought their travel trailer, and we and Haley and Ryan brought tents.  Grady slept in the RV both nights...mostly because I don't think he would have ever slept in the tent.  Taylor was sooo excited about sleeping in the tent with me and Tyson that I didn't think she'd ever stop talking and go to sleep!!  She was pretty bummed b/c Tyson and I made her sleep in the RV the second night.....it was pretty cold that night and we wanted to sleep on something softer than the ground!

The main reason we went was to hear the elk bugling, and if we happened to see some elk, that would be alright, too!  We accomplished both!!  We could hear elk day and night....especially at night.  The guys had gone scouting earlier in the day on Saturday to find a possible spot where we might find some elk, so just before sunset we packed the crew up and headed that way.  Just when we were about to move on, a lone elk appeared on the horizon.  We were all so excited!!  Taylor especially was pumped!  She grabbed the binoculars from Tyson and was able to spot the elk (pretty difficult since the elk was approximately 300 yards from us).  She looked so cute with the binoculars!  Not long after that, we saw three more elk; one with a pretty nice rack. 

All in all, it was a great trip.  No major glitches....except for some raccoons getting into the dog food the last night we were there (our fault for leaving it out) and almost having to amputate Belle and Gabby's toes from a slotted bridge that we crossed while on a hike with the kids.  The kids had so much fun!!  Taylor was pretty depressed when we had to go home!!

 Grady keeping himself busy while everyone else was setting up the campsite.

 Haley and Taylor playing cards.

 Ryan making the beginnings of our campfire.

 Tyson enjoying some of his campfire coffee.  I think he was the ONLY one who enjoyed it!

 Taylor assisting Ryan in collecting sticks for the fire.

 Tyson and Taylor looking at some deer.  Most times, Taylor was plotting her next move on how to sneak up to the deer. 

 Grady really liked all of the deer.  He wanted to chase after them!  Every time he saw one, he'd say, "I get" or "see 'em."

 No pictures!  We want to chase deer!!

Haley was on "eat-a-bite" duty with Taylor.  Ha ha!

 Not going so well!!

 A campsite visitor.  This particular deer was always around our campsite and was the one that ate out of both kids' hands on the last day.

ELK!!

 

Our little wildlifer!!  She was so excited to see the elk.

 The four elk that we saw!

 

The elk-spotting crew!

 On a hike!

 Grady getting a little help from Poppa and Haley.

 Taylor walking with Mimi and Daddy.

Cute little hikers! 

We came across this big guy on our hike.  Good thing we were all pretty quiet!!

 Another one of our campsite visitors.  He was welcome....

He was not!!

Fun Math!

Here's Taylor playing the Wii and doing some addition along the way!!  She has to shake her hips to select all the numbers needed to add up to 10.  I just like to watch how fast she can get her hips moving!!

A little behind...

So I'm pretty behind on blogging.  Sorry about that!  Things around the Hart household got pretty busy recently.  We found out almost two weeks ago that we're moving to Nacogdoches, so we've been preoccupied with getting the house ready to sell. 

And before that news, Taylor spent a week in Houston with Nana and Doodah.  Nana had a full itinerary for she and Taylor, and they did every bit of it!!  They went to Moody Gardens in Galveston, where Taylor got to see butterflies, sharks, penguins, manta rays, sea turtles and a 3D movie.  They also went to the Children's Museum where apparently Taylor had a blast.  After hearing about everything that they did, I can't wait to go with them!  Taylor also got to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for a b-day party....which I'm not so sure I'm glad about!  Every time we see a Chuck-E-Cheese commercial, she informs me that I never take her there, but Nana does!!  She's too young to explain WHY I never take her there!

And while Taylor was away in Houston, Grady made his own little trip.....to the ER!!  He was messing around (i.e., likely climbing) on my baker's rack and managed to knock down a big serving platter that I had.  The serving platter shattered and Grady ended up getting three gashes (two on the face, one on his finger) during the process.  As you might expect, Grady did not do very well getting stitches!!  But after all was said and done, he ended up being a great patient.  He never once bothered any of his stitches.  We were afraid that we were going to have to put one of those dog-cone collars around his neck to keep him from messing with his eyebrow stitches!!

As for moving, we're just patiently waiting.  The house has officially been on the market for a week.  It would be great if it would sell fast, but we're pretty realistic about it.  People aren't pouring into Henrietta, so we know it might take longer than we'd like.  We can't even begin to think about buying a new house until this house sells, so we'll be homeless for a while.  Tyson will likely stay in his parents' RV in Nacogdoches, while the kids and I take turns staying in Houston and Allen.

 

Poor Grady! Two stitches above his eye, a cut on the top of his nose and one stitch on his index finger that he's holding up.  

The next day, a close-up shot of the eye. 

And one of the finger.

Taylor at the butterfly exhibit at Moody Gardens.

Posing with a sea turtle.

Playing in a shark cage.  

 

Taylor informed me this penguin was her friend b/c he kept hanging out by the window the whole time she was looking at the penguins.

Playing at the Children's Museum.

Nana said that Taylor spent so much time exploring everything that they didn't even see the entire museum.  I guess we'll be going back!

Playing in a house made up of huge pop-sickle sticks.

Pretending to shop!  It is one of her favorite things to do in real life, too!

 Just got her first real manicure and pedicure!