Coming up with Mad Libs

Tim explains trying to sleep on his red eye flight

Cousin time with Jesse

Andy vs. Goliath

Babies silly “performance”

Weekend with Tim and Brenda

 
First off. Halloween is actually tomorrow (Tuesday), but the schools around here celebrated on Friday. So Charity and Sam dressed up for school on Friday. Sam looked so cute and snuggly, like a big teddy bear, in his little sheep costume, that Jonah wanted to snuggle with him. He had wanted to be a cat (again this year), but he somehow lost the cat costume I bought him. So he had to wear the sheep costume I bought for Charity to wear when she plays the sheep in the Nativity. 

 
Charity had asked to be a princess, and I bought her a princess costume. But she ended up deciding to wear this Little Red Riding Hood one, we have had for a long time, instead.
Steve had just gotten back in town when everyone was asleep Thursday night, so on Friday, Steve Jonah and I went to have lunch with the babies at school. But I don't have photos. 

 
On Saturday night we went out on a date with Tim and Brenda. We went out to eat at Macaroni Grill, then to see the movie "Only the Brave", which were both really good.
When we got home, we found the babies looking like this on the family room floor. 

 
On Saturday morning, Andy did his volunteer work at the ROCK Ride On Center for Kids. It is a neat gig for him. He helps special needs kids do therapy through riding horses. 

 
Andy also had a basketball tournament this Saturday. They had three games, won two, placed 2nd of the tournament. Andy had some great plays! 

 
Tim gave us a lot of laughs this weekend. Always fun being with Tim! 

 
And Jesse and Charity and Sam, played like there was no tomorrow. 

 
They laughed their hearts out coming up with silly Mad Libs online. 

 
We took them all out to the Oasis with us. It was a beautiful day, although unusually chilly outside. 

After the Oasis, we went to Gourdough's Donuts in Austin. Yum!
Then Tim, Brenda, and Jesse had to leave.  :( 
Can't wait until they come again!

This week

Back in the olden days when I kept paper/hand-written journals, I use to include trending news stories just as a point of reference to what was happening in the world around me. Well, last week a trending story was the "Me Too" campaign that made it's way through various social media networks. It was women all over the country publicly speaking up about sexual harassment and assault. I never had a conversation about this with my parents while they were here, but I am not even sure if they knew about it, or understood what it was about. So for some inexplicable reason, I find this photo amusing. But hey, it is a timestamp of America in October of 2017.
The day before my parents left town, we spent a few hours in Austin. They wanted to see the graffiti wall. We ate at True Food kitchen, walked and sat along the river, had an epic donut at Gordough's food truck, and just had an all around lovely day.  

 
I saw this billboard and thought of my Steve who does indeed love me dearly, but also loves himself some Torchy's Tacos.  

 
"Find someone who looks at you the way you look at tacos." I am that person to Steve.  :) 

 
Cessie had the sheer pleasure of getting to spend some time with some of her favorite people, Jack and Charlie in Bakersfield. They wined and dined her and she had the best of times. They even got to go to a dog wedding where Dorothy and Rue were bridesmaids.  

Singing our family song

Singing our family song (ending)

Sam strolling

Sam the character

Family Photos

 
During our family photos, we got a few candids.  

 
It was a bit windy and chilly unfortunately. 

 
And at one point Charity fell into the water. So people were trying to calm her down and warm her up.  

Grandma and Grandpa Waite

 
My parents are in town right now. They have a couple of more days here. They are spending a week with us. It's my Dad's first time visiting us since we moved here. So it's been great. We took a day trip to Fredricksberg. There was an amazing museum about WW2, and most specifically, the Pacific War. This photo above is of my parents standing next to the uniforms that represent the same uniforms their fathers wore in WW2.  

 
They took part in our family photos and then lunch at Olive Garden afterwards. 

 
We also spent a day together in San Antonio. We saw the Alamo and walked the River Walk. 

 
Dad outside of Ripley's Believe it or Not. 

Family Photos 4

 
This year was a first with our family photos. Celeste has been getting interested in photography. So we just had her plan and take the photos for us. We went to our favorite place, Berry Springs, in town. We got a little help from a tripod, and my parents. I thought for non-professional, and for all the photos being taken on my phone, she did a great job!