Fall Photo Shoot

Ever since Grace and my nephew Ryan were born so close in age (4 months apart) my sister Tiffinee and I have become famous for our at home photo shoots of the two of them in matching or similar outfits.  Now that our sweet Grayson has arrived, he is forced to join in.  These "photo shoots" are often centered around holidays, seasons, and birthdays.  They are always filled with fun, laughter, chaos and most always tears.

This past Sunday we decided we needed to take the kids to a pumpkin patch to take their pictures for the fall season and Halloween & Thanksgiving holidays.   Nana (my Mom) Aunt Tiffy & Ryan were over at our house and since we don't have one really close to us except the Dallas Arboretum and we weren't sure about the weather, we decided it was a day for another at home "photo shoot"

Enjoy!

It's Fall!

We have waited for months and it has finally arrived.  FALL is here.  We love fall here at the Dickson House.  Grace loves playing outside in the evenings and the weather is perfect for it.  Also our neighborhood is so great in the fall, well it's always great but when the weather is nice, most every night of the week the streets are filled with strollers, bikes, and runners.  I love when the time comes to decorate my porch for the fall season and for Halloween.  I am not quite finished so I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but here is a picture of Grace at Home Depot getting some plants and hay bales to get us started.

Along with Fall & Halloween comes carnivals and festivals.  We have never taken Grace to one, because we never thought she was old enough to enjoy it.  This past Saturday I decided that this was the year that she was finally old enough to go to a carnival or festival.  So I recruited Aunt Tiffy, Ryan & Colton to come along and join in the fun.  We also took Grace's friend Jack, and my dear friend Pam and her son Townes also tagged along.  The kids loved all the games and music.  It was a great afternoon.

Let the games begin.....

Grace, Ryan & Jack digging for buried treasure 

Grayson dreaming of Caramel Apples, Cotton Candy & Popcorn

After we played all the age appropriate games outside we headed inside to check out what it had to offer.  The first thing Grace sees is FACE PAINTING.  I had noticed all the kids running around with their faces painted, beautifully I might add.  I had hoped that Grace had somehow missed it, but no such luck. But hey!  Who goes to the Halloween Carnival and doesn't get their face painted.  Not Grace.  So when she said Mommy please I  was happy to oblige her.  Then I saw the line.

It was much longer than the picture gives it credit for, but she was determined to get her face painted and honestly the lines moved fairly quickly.  So after a 20 minute or so wait.  It was finally out turn.  Aunt Tiffy was kind enough to hold her when it came to be her turn, because by this time Grayson had decided he was way over due for an afternoon snack.

Grace & Aunt Tiffy getting her face painted

The butterfly is what she chose.  The pumpkin is a tattoo that we put on at home

Fresh off of face painting, everyone decided we should see what they had offer in the food department.  Not to mention that we had lots of tickets to to use up.  I think that I failed to say that my sister Tiffinee and I each purchased $10 in ticket!  They must have been a penny a piece, because we had an obscene  amount of them,  So outside to the food section we went.  After purchasing Cotton Candy, several bag of Popcorn, drinks for everyone and a popsicle for Pam.  We still have tickets to give away.  The snacks were great.  We all enjoyed them immensely.

Grayson was all smiles again after his belly was full

All in all is was a great afternoon and I fell very blessed to get to spend it with a great sister two amazing nephew my sweet babies & a few good friends!

A very fun "wedding" weekend

As you may know from my last post, Owen the kids & I packed up and headed to East Texas this past weekend for my dear friend Jill Foster Trowers wedding. 

The wedding and all the festivities were in Paris, so we traveled back and forth between Mt. Pleasant and Paris several times.  Friday afternoon we left Dallas, my Mom and MeMaw were so kind as to drive halfway to Dallas and meet us at the Commerce exit on I-30 so that Owen and I could go to Paris without having to come all the way to Mt. Pleasant to drop Grace and Grayson off.  Thank you Mom & MeMaw, it was a big help and a huge time saver.  We made it to Paris about 5:45 just in time for rehearsal.  The wedding was at the Methodist Church which was beautiful.  Jill's new husband Jeff's parents hosted the rehearsal dinner at the 24th Street Cafe.  If you are in Paris anytime, go there!  It was wonderful.  Owen and I had such a great time getting to talk and hang out with adults. haha!  Now, it off to Mt. Pleasant we go to Mom & Dad's to meet up with the babies and spend the night. 
Saturday morning, Owen took me to Andrea & Aaron Dale's house to that I could ride with Andrea to the Bridal Brunch.  It was held a Cozy Cappuccino, which was also a really great place to eat.  I learned this weekend that Paris has lots of really great places and little shops that I didn't know about before.  I really enjoyed riding with Andrea and getting to chat.  I miss her bunches!
After the brunch was hair & makeup at Tangles.  Props to those girls.  We looked beautiful if I do say so myself.  Jill's hair was amazing!
The wedding pictures are going to be beautiful!  We took with downtown Paris.  I can't wait to see them! The wedding went off without a hitch and Jill was a very beautiful bride.
The reception was a lot of fun.  Grace had so much fun dancing and playing with the Martin girls Avery & Addison and the Guest girls Anna & Hallie.  Of coarse I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait for pictures until my sweet friend Pam sends me the ones I took with her camera. 
Back to Mt.Pleasant we go with two very tired babies.  Sunday morning we had a wonderful breakfast and headed back home to Dallas again with two very tired babies.
All in all we had a wonderful weekend.  It reminded me of what great friends I have and how much I love and cherish them all.

PACKING for 4........

We have a very BIG weekend planned.  We are going to Mt. Pleasant and Paris this weekend for one of my best friends, Jill Foster's wedding.  I am in the weeding, so there are lots of events and festivities leading up to the big event.  It is a jam packed weekend, I will post pictures and tell you all about it Monday.

As for the PACKING for the trip:
Packing for the four of us has turned out to be quite a chore.  This is the second time that we have traveled with Grayson, but the first time was only for one night, and there were no special events to dress for.  I have been preparing and making lists all week to make sure that we have EVERYTHING we need.  (Thankfully my parents have a swing and crib for Grayson, and a million toys for Grace.)  Back to the issue at hand, the PACKING.  So I have these lists.  One for Owen, one for me, one for Grace & one for Grayson (who's list alone is a long as the other three combined) he needs bottles, formula, diapers, blankets, pacifiers, several outfits in case of messes, his boppy, his wedge is sleeps in.  The list goes on and on.  I know that I packed a million times and we went a lot when Grace was small, but somehow packing for him seems so much harder.  This may be because as Grace has gotten older I have had to pack less and less for each trip, or it may be that there are two of them to pack for.  I felt so overwhelmed last night when I began to pack (Mitzi & Heather...my soon to be Mommy's of two, I hope I am not scaring you..haha)
After work yesterday, the kids and I headed to Tom Thumb and of coarse Target to pick up some last minute things for the trip.  Diapers, formula, extra pacifiers etc.  Then it was home to make dinner and begin packing.  I made a wonderful " loaded backed potato chowder" it's a pampered chef recipe that you make in the microwave.  It's delicious and quick.  I also made some fancy grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it.  After dinner was done and the kitchen cleaned, it was on to packing. Grace 7 Grayson are first.  Thankfully I had my handy dandy list of outfits for the kids so that made it a little easier.  Of coarse this is Texas and we are always unsure of weather, so I packed several different outfits that you could "add to and take from" if necessary.  Well I got the babies all packed, so I thought, as I lay in bed "trying" to fall asleep, I thought of a million things that I had missed. Their bath stuff, toothbrush and toothpaste and most importantly Grace's hair bows!!!  I added all of those items this morning, along with medicine and such just in case.  On the Owen & I we go.  I had to pack for myself for rehearsal dinner, the bridal brunch, hair and makeup, the wedding and the ride home on Sunday, also the same for Owen minus the bridal brunch and hair and make up ;)  One plus is that we have out aTm gear for everyone to wear on Saturday and out Cowboys gear to wear Sunday, that made the process of picking out outfits somewhat easier.
I could go on and on about my packing adventure, hopefully it will get easier with time.  So for now, lets hope that we have everything we need for the next 3 days.  We are packing up the car and heading out....wish is luck!  Picture and play by play to come soon!!

No time like the present!

For literally two years I have intended to start a blog, but have never seem to make the time.  Why I have chosen to make the time now that I have two children, I'll never know.

I hope that I can manage to keep it up, because I think they are so neat, and really love looking at all the blogs that all my great friends have.  I hope that mine will come to be just as great!!