Back-tracking a bit

I was so excited about our trip to the pumpkin patch that I somehow skipped right over a couple of other events and outings that were picture-worthy. Not to mention Halloween. Oops! Those pics will be posted separately I think.

The first group of pics are from our trip to the Texas State Fair. We never last too long at the fair with the little ones along but we had a good time checking out the animals, watching a dog stunt show and letting Garrett experience a few rides. The other outing that I skipped on the blog-front was Russ's running the Dallas Uptown 5 Miler. Our church, Pantego Bible Church, was encouraging its members to participate and raise funds during the half-marathon and 5 mile race in downtown Dallas with World Vision. The money raised by our group would go to a specific town in Ethiopia (with whom our church has a personal relationship already) so that they can dig a well and get clean, fresh water to the people there. Russ joined the team late in the game but still managed to raise $375! Thank you to all our friends and family who gave to this worthy cause and supported my hubby as he ran in the freezing (literally!!) cold. I'm always amazed that he can just get out there and run like that. Garrett got to run the last 100 meters or so to the finish line with him, which made his day. I love my little runner! (And the big one, too!)

Checking out the petting zoo. We didn't spend too much time here because it was SO crowded!

Ready to help out "on the farm"

 Planting some vegetable seeds very carefully

Posing with the State Fair of Texas sign and tractor, of course!

Ride #1: Motorcycles. He loved it for the first 30 seconds...

...then was about ready to be done and off that thing. :)

Ride #2: Race Cars. Oh boy, was he excited to go ride in the race cars. 

See that happy, smiling child, just glowing with eager anticipation of the ride that was about to begin?? Just wait.

This is what he looked like the entire ride. That car whipped around the turns super-fast and jerky, he was holding on for dear life and crying by the time he got off this one. I didn't get any pictures of the third ride he went on. I went on the whale ride with him and it was MUCH better. Plus, there were bubbles being blown in our faces and we could honk the horn at Russ and Nolan every time we passed by.  Next year, we start with the whale.

Race morning!! Only about 38 degrees but we had to cheer on Daddy.

Garrett is wrapped up in a blanket too.

My two runners!

Garrett got a cool balloon puppy dog after the race. He wore it almost all day!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

All-righty, this is gonna be quite a photo bomb. :) I didn't realize until I uploaded my photos just how many I had taken. It was a beautiful day to be outside at the pumpkin patch and the boys had a blast. It's crazy how fearless Nolan is in new places--he took off as soon as his feet hit the dirt and never stopped moving and smiling and screeching. Garrett knew what to expect since he's been there the past two years and he had more fun than ever before. He did the hay bale mazes and climbed on the playground. He even wanted to go on the merry-go-round! You'll see from the pictures just how much the boys loved our traditional family outing. I wish I could get the two of them to hold still at the same time so I could get a good picture of both of them. Someday! Until then, I'll keep taking hundreds of photos so we can look back and remember these sweet moments for a long, long time.

Like I said, Nolan was excited to be out of the car and running up to hug all the cut-outs.

Small hay bale maze...complete!

We didn't have much success with the growth chart this year. Garrett didn't like having the sun in his eyes and Nolan did NOT want to be still. You can see how he flung himself to the ground after I attempted to hold him still.

 "We're innocent!!"

Sometimes, you just have to do whatever it takes to catch the children.

BOUNCING!! Nolan loooooved the bounce house. Seriously, no fear in this one.

Nolan really enjoyed rearranging the pumpkins. Pick one up, put it down. And repeat.

 You can barely see the top of his blonde little noggin here, but Garrett tackled the big kid hay bale maze like a champ.

At the end of the hay bale maze...

...he just said, "No more pictures, Mommy. I don't like that."

Nolan wanted to go down this big blow-up slide so I decided to brave it with him. He was loving every second of it, while I was a little bit more nervous about the slide deflating when we were at the top and suddenly surrounded by 10 kids all jumping around.

Dancing in the teepee.

The merry-go-round. Garrett hopped on first and Nolan did NOT like being left behind. Daddy to the rescue.

Climbing, climbing, climbing...no wonder Nolan is a climber too!

My attempt at a family self-pic

Then the nice lady across the hay-ride offered to take our picture. Much better. Thanks!

 And of course, a few more pics of us and our boys. I love them!