A few of my favorite Halloween movies.....

Halloween is right around the corner.  I love Halloween time!  The weather, the decorations, the scents, all of it.  Its also one of the best times of years for scary movies!  Below I have a list of just a few of my favorite movies for this time of year.  Yes most of them are from my childhood and they aren't very scary but I love that I can watch them with my kids and they won't have nightmares :)

 First one up is "Casper."  I loved this movie as a kid.  Its funny and kind of creepy at the same time.  I love movies that have old haunted houses too.

 Next, "Halloween" the story of Michael Myers.  This one isn't so family-friendly but I'll admit, my kids have seen it.  Michael Myers is just scary looking, and the fact that he never moves faster than a snails pace but somehow he always catches up to everyone (and he never dies) is pretty scary.

"Sleepy Hallow" is the story of the Headless Horseman and stars Johnny Depp.  I love the setting of this movie.  Its not about Halloween but for some reason it just feels like Halloween time when you watch it.

"Hocus Pocus" was definately my favorite Halloween movie as a kid.  I just loved it, and I still do :) 

There are more movies that I like to watch but they are mostly just scary movies, not necessarilly Halloween-ish.

So what's your favorite movie to watch this time of year?

Cutest 4th Grader Ever!

School started Monday for Kenzie.  Yes, she started 4th grade!!  It doesn't seem like she should be that old!!  We got to her classroom and she was sooo excited that she got a lot of her friends from last year in her class this year, so that's good for her.  Her teacher seemed very nice, and after school when Kenzie got home, she raved about her teacher!  She really loves her, so thats good too!!  So far, we are off to a great year!  We've all been waking up on time, if not early, and getting out the door in time too! Yay!!

I'm crossing my fingers that these good habits continue, but I know how it goes as the year goes on.  Oh well, I will enjoy it while it lasts! :)

Pool Time!!

Kenzie and her friend Rachel, from after-school daycare.

Yay!!! We've finally been able to go swimming!!!  Today marks the 24th day in a row (everyday in August so far) of 100 degrees or higher here in Houston!!  We are so ready for this heat to go away!! To be in the 90's would be welcoming, lol!! According to the forecast, it doesn't look like its going away anytime soon..... :(  But, at least we are still able to go swimming this late in the summer, and probably into fall.

Kenzie used to be a little nervous in the water, especially getting her head wet or going under water.  This summer she has really made a lot of progress with swimming.  She got some new goggles and now she's swimming under water like a little fish.  We are very proud of her!! Aydan just needs his floaty and he's good to go.  He loves just lounging around, floating in the pool.  He's not real into going under or anything yet, which is fine.

hello August....

Howdy ya'll!!

Well its definately feeling like August down here in ol' Texas!  Everyday this month has been 100 degrees or over and even in July, most days were near 100 or higher.  Plus, factor in our major drought we are having, we haven't had a break from the heat!  And to think we still have a couple months of this to go....ugh!  One good thing is that the renovation at our apartment's pool is complete finally and they should be opening the pool tomorrow...fingers crossed!  It has been closed all spring/summer due to the renovation of the entire complex and pool area.  I will say it looks awesome and I can't wait to take the kids swimming...soon!! They can't wait either!

Here's a picture of the new paint job on our building.  I don't have a pic of the pool area yet, but hopefully I'll get one soon...

Not a whole lot new going on with us.  Unfortunately, we've kind of been hibernating in the house because of the heat.  Sometimes on the weekends, we'll go to the movie theaters or do something thats indoors. 

I'm really getting excited for the fall months to come.  It is my favorite season, although we don't get much of the fall weather or the changing colors of the leaves down here.  Its usually pretty nice Oct-December though so I'm still excited about it.

Hopefully, this weekend I can get Kenzie's school shopping done.  We still need to get most of her supplies (which surprisingly, she doesn't need that much this year) and I want to get her a few new outfits and new shoes.  Her first day of school is August 22nd.  I still can't get over the fact that she'll be in 4th grade!!!!  And, she's 9 years old---thats halfway to 18 people!! Yikes!!  Um, I had her when I was 18 years old.  Now thats scary to think about, lol!!

No school for Aydan this year.  He will be 5 in January so he'll start kindergarten in Fall, 2012.  His daycare is pretty much like Pre-K so he learns a lot of things there, which should prepare him a little for kindergarten. 

Here's a few random pictures that were on my phone....

All of these, except for the one of the dog, were taken near Kemah.  We had gone somewhere to eat and stopped along the water on our way home. 

 My crazy little boy...

 My phone didn't get the best picture of this but you can kind of see the sailboats out in the water.  Its so pretty.  I could literally sit and stare out into the water all day!

 Both of my silly kiddos!

 Beautiful Kenzie

 This one really could have been pretty if I had a fancy camera to take it with lol! 

And, last but not least, the dog Hunter.  He's such a good boy!  We love him so much!

Well, thats all I got for now...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Mexican food, Margaritas, & Live Music!!

Knee deep in the water somewhere....

Ahhhh!! We finally made it to the beach on Saturday.  I ended up taking the kids by myself; Danny didn't feel like being out in the heat, which was fine.  We still had a good time.  It was so packed!! I drove around for like 20-30 minutes before I found a decent place to park! 

 The umbrellas were lined up all along the beach. 

 Heading out to the water (after I lathered them up with sunscreen!)

 Kenzie sitting in the waves as they came in.

 Aydan's favorite thing was riding the waves on his sissy's princess floaty....

 And playing in the sand with his monster truck.

 Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair.....

Hopefully, we'll be here this weekend!

Galveston, I've missed you!!

I'm beyond ready to go to the beach!!  We were planning on going Saturday but Danny may have to work.  Hopefully, he won't have to so we can hit the road and get some sand n' sun!! 

Soul Surfer

This movie has been out for a while but I just recently went to the dollar theatre (cuz I'm a big spender) with Kenzie to see it.  WE LOVED IT!!!  Its a true story about a young teenage girl, Bethany Hamilton, who is attacked by a shark while out surfing and loses her entire arm.  It has some big-name stars in it, including Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, and Carrie Underwood (love her!).  This is a great family movie with a faith-based feel to it.  Plus, I tend to like movies with sharks, even though I have an intense fear of them (I blame Jaws, which is also my favorite all-time movie, LOL).  I definately would recommend this movie for anyone to see.  In fact, I think when it comes out on DVD Aug. 2nd, I will buy it.

View from our backyard...

I love sitting outside in the evenings or mornings when its not quite so hot and looking out across the water.  Its so quiet and peaceful. 

(The pics were taken from my phone so they aren't the greatest quality...)

fireworks, bowling, and trains...oh my!

I'm so far behind on this blog, its ridiculous!!  June was pretty busy for us!  Danny's family came to visit on the week of the 13th, which I have lots of pics of  that I still need to post, lol!  Here's a few random things that we've been up to this past month. 

We went to the train museum down in Galveston.  We had never been there before and thought it'd be something that the kids would enjoy.  It was pretty neat.  There were several old railroad cars outside that we could walk through.  Some of them were still under renovation because there was a lot of damage to the museum after Hurricane Ike.

 Walking through the dining hall.... I don't think I've ever been on a real train before.  They make them look so much bigger in movies and stuff than they are in real life.

 There were a bunch of statues throughout the lobby that they called "Ghosts of Travelers Past."  They looked so real it was kinda scary lol!  I kept waiting for them to start moving!

Mail car, which I didn't realize you were able to recieve mail on a train?  

While we were in Galveston, we drove by the cruise terminal and there was a cruise ship at the port.  We would love to take a cruise sometime and its so nice that we could board right down in Galveston.  The ships are massive in real life! 

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Another thing we've done recently is bowling.  The kids had fun with it :)  I forgot just how bad I was at bowling!!  We played 2 games and I only broke 100 once, just barely, lol!

 Danny trying to show Aydan how to throw the ball down the lane.

 Kenzie showing off her skills :)  The kids actually did pretty well.  Their scores weren't too far behind Danny and I.  The bumpers definately helped them (and me too, hehehe).

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This year on the 4th of July, we stayed close to home.  There were a bunch of fireworks shows in our area.  We decided to go near our old apartment building and watch the fireworks by the water.  I think everyone else had the same idea...it was packed!!

It was a decent show but nothing to fancy.  The kids thought they were cool and I think this is the first year that Aydan really got into them.

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These are just a couple random pics I had on my phone so I thought I'd share.  I got Aydan this styro-foam airplane at the dollar store. He loved it until it broke after the first day....but what can you expect for a dollar I guess, right.

Here's Kenzie giving Hunter some love.

I was trying out my new phone when I took this picture. 

Anyways, thats about all I have for now.  Hopefully soon I will post pics from when Danny's family came to visit.  Have a great week!!