Fall Frenzy

Fall is zipping by. With the three of us all having different school schedules and all of the fun, random activities thrown in, I haven't had time to breath until this week, which is fall break at DBU. Aaron still has to go into the office everyday and Maddy still has school this week, so I'm the only one fully getting to enjoy the fall break benefits. I do have some grading waiting for me, but let's not ruin the day by talking about that.
The Halls stayed with us from end of July until mid September as they worked out all of their transitions from the house in Denver to their new house here.  Maddy enjoyed having Bethany time everyday, but I know everyone was ready for their space by the time everything was over. We ran down to Mansfield a few times that weekend helping them get stuff moved.
The next weekend was Bethany's birthday party. Cindy did a great job on the Mickey and Minnie Mouse cakes (which I have no pictures of because I forgot to take my camera. this will be a common theme throughout this blog and explains why I only have random, bad cell phone pics to show everyone). We had a lot of fun celebrating Bethany and seeing how they had the new house set up.

Gorgeous fall day. Looking at a library book by the duck pond.

 The weekend after the bday party, Aaron and I went to a Ranger's game. Perfect night for sitting out and watching baseball. It was really relaxing and we had so much fun. Thanks to Brad for the tixs and to Brad and Cindy for watching Maddy.

 That weekend, we brought back the cousin state fair reunion in style. We had a group of 18 that included my parents, the Halls,  and a couple of others who were first time TSF goers. Matt and Brittany graciously paid for everyone's fair experience from the Uncle John legacy in honor of Uncle John. Maddy's favorite exhibit was the petting zoo. It was also Jessica's birthday that day so she kept us supplied with lots of fried desserts to share. A couple of the guys tried hog legs. I had some turkey leg, a corn dog, a bite of cuban roll, chicken strips, cherry cinnamon roll and deep fried pumpkin pie. The cuban roll won the best taste award this year and it was very good. We saw some of the animal exhibits, the ostrich races (jockeys actually rode the ostriches), the butter sculpture, and the bird show. Besides the fair, we had a cookout at Tam's house on Friday night and most of the crew came over and tried Aaron's favorite restaurant in Carrollton, L.A. Burger, at our house after the fair.

We made it to October 2nd before carving our first pumpkin. No one in this house loves pumpkins, candy, and trick or treat time more than Maddy.

 Maddy has also had several extra appointments thrown in with all of this. Most relate to getting her a new AFO. This is the second time we've gotten one that they completely messed up the casting for the AFO and we had to go back to get recast. SO a three week process has turned into a six week process. Nevertheless, we still manage to have fun. This past Friday, Maddy wanted to play in the park that is right by SR after her appointment. She had the best time. This park is perfect for her. It's like they built it with Maddy in mind. She can reach and do everything all by herself.

 She drove the train to Old Mexico to go find Scooby Doo (from a cartoon movie she watched a while back).

 This past Saturday we went to run a 5K/1K at a friends church. Aaron got to do the 5K and won his age division. He ran with Houdini and Houdini was the second dog to finish. It started off gorgeous for the 5K. Then a cool front hit with a breeze and drizzle. Real runners don't quit for a little cool and drizzle, but church folks do, apparently. We were out, all ready to go for the 1K and everyone was running off to their car and they told us they'd cancelled the race. Maddy was so sad about it she cried. I was actually a bit surprised that she was that disappointed. She has decided that we can find another race for her to do, which is great by me.

 The race was up in Plano so we took the chance to stop by Whole Foods and use a gift card we had. We did some grocery shopping and got an early lunch from the prepared food section of the store. If you have a Whole Foods in your area, I highly recommend going for the burritos. Better than Chipotle for sure! And comparable price. They toast the burritos so that the tortilla is flaky and crispy. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! The Chicken Adobo burrito was fantastic, but so was the black bean burrito. Aaron got a hatch green chilie quesadilla. That thing was fantastic but had so much cheese I only took a small bite.

 This week, we've been trying to slow down a bit and just do some simple things for fun. Aaron took Maddy and dogs for a run over to the park on Monday night and I drove and met them. Maddy and I cleaned out the flowerbeds and planted some pansies for fall/winter color. We've gone on walks and just tried to spend a lot of time outside and enjoy the great weather. Tonight we plan to rent a movie and do a family movie night since Maddy doesn't have school tomorrow.

 Oh, did I say we were slowing down? Well sort of. We're headed to York for homecoming tomorrow. There is a luncheon honoring Coach Collins that Aaron want to be at and my reunion is this year. I don't care much about it, but Aaron is excited to go. I can't believe I have been out of undergrad for 10 years.

 Last thing to leave you with. Maddy has been playing school, Montessori style. This results in a lot of papers with coloring and glue all over them. Each animal has an individual assignment that she shows them how to do. Then when they get done, she writes their name on their paper and gives them a critique. This morning she told them she is going to send them all home to their mommies today. I hope that means this mess is getting cleaned up?