Fall Fun at the Dallas Arboretum

On Monday we took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum. This was our third year to visit during their pumpkin festival on Mommy and Me day. They had a small petting zoo, face painting, carnival games, and endless beautiful landscape! It was a little chilly at first, but it warmed up to be a beautiful day! I had so many pictures that I had to use a slide show. It was a little sad to do all of this fun stuff without Cooper for the first time, but I also enjoyed having some more focused time with the other boys. When Cooper got home from school and saw the pictures, he actually started crying, saying.."I wanted to go there tooooooooo!" He was very upset that we went without him, but I reminded him that he had a field trip coming up on Wednesday that we would be going with him on. (Post of that soon to follow.)

So, enjoy the great pictures I got of my beautiful boys!

My sweet little angel, Conner!

I had to share about a conversation that Conner and I had yesterday.

A friend of mine, Jessica, is nearing the end of her battle with cancer. I keep up with her and pray for her through her blog. Yesterday I was reading some letters that some family and friends had written to her three young daughters, and was crying. Conner noticed me crying and this is how the conversation went from there...

C: Mommy, why are you frying?

M: One of mommies friends is very sick and she's about to be with Jesus in heaven.

C: Is she going to die?

M: Yes, baby. (And I held him up to the computer to show him her picture with her daughters.)

See..I said, this is my friend and these are her little girls.

C: So, there not going to have a mommy anymore? (Sounding very sad and concerned.)

M: (Fighting back even more tears) That's right baby, isn't that very sad. We need to pray for them so they wont be too sad. Wouldn't you be sad if mommy wasn't here anymore?

C: No. (Very matter of fact, and without a second thought, he says...) I would ask God to give me wings and I would fly up and get you and bring you back home.

M:(Not speaking at all, just admiring this precious gift from God, thanking Him that I'm not leaving, at least not today, and squeezing his little heart out!) (More tears...)

As I've been sitting on the far sidelines of Jessica's battle (she and I are not close friends, more like acquaintance), I am heartbroken over the thought of leaving my family behind. I know that God is equipping them with every strength they need to make it through the next breath, and yet I am devastated at the thought of myself being in her shoes. I could ask the questions, like why her, she's an amazing woman of God. Why those precious girls, they need their mother. Why will her husband have to carry on without her, that's just terrible. I could ask many more questions, but my answer would be the same, even if it were me instead of her. Our God is awesome and powerful and mighty and paints on a canvas so much bigger than the small picture we see. I trust beyond any form of understanding I could muster that He is doing His best in Jessica's life. That no God of mine would bring about such hurt, heartache and pain without having a much bigger, more glorifying plan in mind.

Oh, Conner, how I know that Jessica's girls wish it were that easy, to just put on some wings, fly up to heaven and bring their mommy back home! I love that you would think to come up to heaven for me! I love your honesty and simple way of seeing the world. You made mommy feel like no one could be more loved on this earth! And yet...I feel like I couldn't love anyone more.

Please lift up the Kaylor family today and take some time also to squeeze the ones you love most!

Playgroup Halloween Party...

Several of my other playgroup friends posted this picture, so I had to follow suit!

btw...mine are the two cuties front and center:) That's C3 & C2, from left to right ;)

Here they are...all 16 of them (actually, you'll notice that there are only 14 in the picture, but we are missing baby Christian and baby Claire who were too little to join the chaotic scene:) Our Halloween party was very crazy this year. We try and maintain traditions like having parties at each others houses, but after this one...we may have to rethink our 'traditions'.

For some reason there was lots of screaming (not crying...just random acts of screaming), loud playing of various instruments (ie...guitars, harmonicas, etc.), fighting over pretty much anything we felt like yanking out of someone else's hand, strawberry stains on the stairs (thanks to my sweet Carter, using the strawberry to help him crawl his way up the stairs), and the not so gentle roar from them just having to get louder to hear each other over all the insanity! It was a day to remember, that's for sure.

We sat around and joked about the 'good ole' days' remembering when we'd just lay them on the floor, let them roll around and the only worry we had was them drooling or puking on the carpet or on someone else's toy. Back then, there were only 5 or 6 kids each week. Now that we've all added to the digits of our family, it's no longer the playgroup of ole'. I personally love the chaos, it didn't seem to bother me this week at least. Maybe it's because I now realize how fast the days go by, and come next fall we will lose 3 more of our friends to Kindergarten. This will be the largest our playgroup will ever get...pending anymore surprise baby's in the next year:) (better not be me!!!)

Yes, it was loud.

Yes, it was crazy.

Yes, our husbands would have checked out after 2 minutes.

No WAY would I trade it for anything!

Just in case you were wondering how many moms go with this brood of babies...there were seven of us. That's a pretty good ratio, I'd say!

UPDATE: Actually there are 8 moms...I somehow forgot to count myself. That makes for two kids each. Actually, I have the most with three, but Cooper is no longer a playgroup friend, so I'm left with two...still a weird feeling, I might add.

WW-Coming or Going...

On Monday I had to get a picture of this hilarious scene! Conner had put his shirt on backwards and then headed outside to play with Carter. They were both wearing the same shirt, and while I was watching them play I started cracking up thinking how Conner looked like either his head was on backwards or he was running backwards. So I had them stand next to each other, and it was too funny to see them side by side. Who's coming & who's going???

Check out more Wordless Wendesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

or Wordfull Wendesday at SevenClownCircus

Carter Turns Two!

Well, it's official...no more babies at our house! Now he's not only sleeping in a big boy bed, he's a two year old! Although, he is still wearing diapers, I guess that still makes him a baby, but that is the last milestone we have to cross to be a true "big boy"!

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, where we had a fall carnival themed party at our church. Complete with pumpking painting, face painting, a bounce house and a few other carnival games. The kids seemed to have a great time, and it was pretty layed back and stress free! My kind of party!

Here are some pictures from the day!