few more punkin pics

I just had to share these last few Halloween-ish photos of Bethany...




There was a pumpkin patch at the church where we go to music class. We went a few minutes early one day so she could explore.









Instead of Halloween at preschool, they do an "orange" party. I wasn't able to attend that day because I had some obligations at the elementary school. Shayne went, and I think they both had a fun time!
















No more Halloween pics until next year, I promise!

bob

Happy
Birthday
GrandBob
!!!

book report

I was as passionate about books when I was a kid as Katie is now. I love it when I recommend something I read years ago, and she falls in love with it too.

Katie's book report theme for October was "mystery". She chose Trixie Belden and The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell. The teachers have given them a variety of ways to present their information... this time, Katie chose a diorama. A classic, right? Well, the problem is, you have to have a shoebox. Ugh! I just threw a bunch out - doesn't it always happen that way. Well, in the process of brainstorming, we realized that we had this little wooden dollhouse that wasn't much bigger than a shoebox (and we decided to use some of the furniture too). The whole thing turned out quite cute, if I do say so myself.


(yes, she purposely placed the sticker on her forehead prior to the picture being taken... it was way past her bedtime the night before the project was due, so she was a bit delirious)

Here is the description she attached:
Trixie & Honey came into the Miser's Mansion to find a strange redhead boy sleeping on a dirty mattress with a shiny cup and a shotgun next to him. There was trash and debris all over the place & the upstairs was boarded up... The upstairs had an old fancy bed, rug, chair & wardrobe full of old fancy clothes. Next to the bed was an old ible with Mr. Frayne's will in it.

I really enjoy working on projects like this with the girls. I offer plenty of suggestions, but let them take the lead. I've noticed there are 3 basics groups of families... those who just do the work for the child; those that work with the child; and those (unfortunately) that just don't care. I hope we always fall in the middle somewhere.

happy belated blog-iversary?

...is that what it's called? Regardless, I missed my own. We started our blog on Halloween 2007 with "an oink oin here and an oink oink there", so I'll note our anniversary with our 2008 Halloween pics...

can you guess what our "theme" was this year?
















the littlest hunter...





















our church hosted a "trunk of treats" - everybody lined their vehicles up in the parking lot and the kiddos went from trunk to trunk collecting goodies

mac family retreat

Every year (for I don't know how long), our church has hosted a family retreat at the beautiful H.E.Butt Foundation Camps. We have been fortunate enough to attend several times. The focus is on spending time with your family, although the sleeping quarters are divided up between the boys and the girls (yes, that means I get 3 and Shayne gets zero). It's a wonderful opportunity that we try not to miss. The pictures we take each year never seem to capture the beauty of the area (only because we're zoomed in on the kids).

Everybody looks forward to the water activities on Saturday afternoon. They had swimming, canoeing, and kayaking, and for the little ones, there were kiddie pools and slip'n slides.






Last year, the girls performed their infamous "Sisters for Sale" at the talent show. This year, we didn't prepare anything, but each of them still participated. Katie and Anna did a skit with a bunch of the youth - Katie's discovering her love of the stage (she played the lead female), Anna was happy with a background part (she was the rising and setting sun). Bethany, along with all the otehr preschoolers, was invited to participate in a dance routine with one of the older girls... click to watch ...then she sang a duet with her friend Mia.

gone fishin'

Shayne and the girls, along with Mr. B, went fishing a few weeks ago out at Grandma and Grandpa's place.

Looks like it was a beautiful day!


I'm not sure who was taking the pictures, but I guess the cows were feeling particularly photogenic that day...

brush with fame

I usually pick up a FREE monthly copy of San Antonio Our Kids magazine whenever I'm leaving HEB or Wal-Mart. It always has useful information about parenting and lots of ideas for things to do in the area. Recently, they started a photo submission contest. The first I read about it was in July, but it was already a day after the deadline. The theme for the month was "kids and summertime fun" - oh, but I had the perfect picture. I went ahead and e-mailed it, acknowledging that I knew it was late, but the picture was oh, so cute (in my opinion, at least). Well we never heard anything back, and I forgot about it.

About a month later, Katie told me that her Bible class teachers said they saw her in the magazine. We didn't even know we'd been chosen! We stopped at the store on the way home from church that day and grabbed a stack. Sure enough, there they were (the contest winners were all on the inside of the back cover). Bethany even found herself! "It's me, it's Bethany!", she said.

Here is the photo that was selected...


I also thought it would be fun to show you the four pictures I took immediately preceding...














That's about average for us... only 20% of the pictures I take have "potential", although the rest sure are fun memories!