Pumpkin Patch.

On the first fall-like weather day, we headed down to Temple to the Robinson family farm for a pumpkin patch.

 

It was a great time!

We asked her to look around and pick out the perfect pumpkin and after seeing ALL of them - big ones, pink ones, bumpy ones, - she picked ONE of these tiny white ones!

 There were other attractions: a petting zoo, slides, playgrounds, duck races, kernel box, train rides, etc.

She liked to pick up pumpkins but needed Papa's help on this one.

I thought it was a good time.

Can't wait to stop by for Christmas!

Halloween-Paw Patrol family.

Months ago, Reyna asked to be a puppy for Halloween.

Of course it morphed as the we got closer but luckily, she stayed in the Puppy family and decided to so with Skye from Paw Patrol. It turned out great!

 

 

 

I found a Scooby Doo costume at Goodwill for $2. Cut up a pink shirt for the vest. Cut wings from boxes and covered them with foil. Then we hunted down pink goggles.

 

She was invited to join school friends for trick or treating.

You should see that dino run! Hilarious!

 Two days before, she mentioned that she expected us to dress up with her so I stopped by and picked up two shirts and some felt to make the ears and tags.

 

But look how she loves "Rubble"!

These were the best pics I got of our family costume.

The night started out fun. She loved hanging with friends and did the trick or treat thing well.

But it got late and dark, and we stayed about 10 minutes too long. The night ended in a break down and going to bed with no candy.

 

This morning she woke up and said it was the best Halloween EVER. So there's that.

Gymnastics year one.

This fall we also started "GIN-NASTIKS".

We have been wanting to do this for a long time but just got around to it.

She LOVES it!

 

This bar set was really difficult for her but she worked SO hard at it.

The goal was to put both feet on the bar.

She kept trying to lift her foot up there but eventually figured out that you have to pull yourself up closer with your arms.

When she finally got it, she was so proud!

She turned to me and gave be a thumbs up!!

 

 I also didn't realize how strong she is. She held her self up in both these position for a loooong time.

 They also get to do the trampoline, practice cartwheels, the balance beam, somersaults, etc.

Look at those tiny tip toes!

 

 

Baylor Parade 2017.

Last weekend was Baylor Homecoming and since we are near the route, we walked downtown to be a part of the hoopla.

 

 

 For the kiddos, that means mostly getting a ton of candy.

We have watched from campus a few years and one thing we noticed is that there is a lot more candy given away at the beginning!

 We went with sweet friends and accidently dressed the same!

The floats are always my favorite part and these were the best two.

 How cool is the Monopoly one??!

There was so much detail - the silos, murals, and a WV mountaineer in jail.

 

 



Soccer year 1.

We decided to try soccer this year. Baylor hosts a little camp/league.
She did pretty well. She enjoyed it, mostly, so that's all we were really interested in at this point.
As the year went on, she realized that she wanted to score goals and was pretty unhappy if she didn't.
She controls the ball really well and even though soccer is the one sport I know nothing about, I was able to recognize that she follows direction well and is a very good listener.

It was a good season and a great introduction to team sports.

Baylor - UTSA game.

We accidently got to take Reyna to the UTSA - Baylor football game.

Our babysitter (my sister) got stung by a bee and has serious reaction.

We have a cousin and a friend in the UTSA band so we had some guests at the house and we figured this was a good game to try our luck at the toddler football experience.

It was a 7:00 start and the weather was in the low 70s. I figured the conditions were perfect to try.

 

She did well. We took the shuttle and she was excited about riding the bus.

and got to ride on Papa's shoulders.

 

 

We snuck down to the first row and that helped her get excited.

 This is my favorite pic of the night!

Here she is looking for Derek in the Line.

(and eating a hotdog)

Just before halftime, we walked all.the.way.around.the.stadium to see Joel and Little Joe.

By this time it was 9:00. We stayed till just after half time and headed home.

First day of school.

We kept Reyna home all summer and she missed her friends dearly.

She loves school and her teacher.

So when the first day of school was here we did NOT expect THIS...

It was a rough day at the Shanks home. Everything from breakfast to putting on clothes to drop off was hard. and I wasn't there for any of it! I teach an 8am class so Papa was in charge. Thank goodness. I probably would not have been able to leave her.

 

But, we got our girl back after school.

At our traditional ice cream celebration for the first day, she was all smiles!

Its been great ever since!

 

 Also, it was eclipse day so that's exciting!

This is a phone shot. You can see the eclipse shadow in the sky on top.





Lake Waco Love.

My morning sickness was just starting to dissipate as summer was coming to an end.

I felt guilty for all the things I didn't do with Reyna that summer.

The weekend before school started I snuck her away to the beach just 10 minutes away!

We found Twin Bridges Park at the suggestion of our friends.

We got there early around 8am and we stayed about 2 hours (perfect timing for Texas summer)!

 

sandy bottom, plenty of sand, covered picnic tables, a playground, perfect temperature water!
We will be back again and again. Lucky for us, its warm enough to play 9 months out of the year!

Seattle.

We got to spend sometime in Seattle this summer.

We started with an early flight. We were so worried about travelling with a toddler so early in the morning but she was soooo excited to be on an airplane!

 

I'll just say it. Vacationing with a toddler is always hard (to me). But it seemed much harder this time because I was so sick. Up to this point, I had spent most hours in bed but I could. not. waste. this. opportunity.
We hit up lots of kid friendly places and saw all the things.

My favorite places were the outdoor ones! Wish we could have spent more time hiking but little legs can only go so far.

 

It really was beautiful! We still talk about our time there this summer!