Hooray for Fall!

The leaves are finally falling. The temperature is finally dropping. And it is already Thanksgiving! Where has the year gone!!!???!!!

We have so much to be thankful for this year:

Our beautiful family

Sam's wonderful job to provide

A nice cozy home

& Food a plenty

A free country

A year of Fantastic Health

Family and Friends who love us, and we love them too!

A loving Father in Heaven, who watches over us all!

We have been greatly blessed and I am so greatful for it all!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Messed Up Birthday Parties

Our family has been a little mixed up on birthday parties this year. Since Alex was born, our schedule has been crazy. Natalie's party was a month late. William missed his completely. (William's was so late, we told him that his 5th birthday will be huge! He is great with that.) Nate had his before Brianna... So now, Brie gets her turn. Brianna has been begging for a sleep-over with her close friends. She saved enough of her reward points up to take all her friends to a movie, but there is nothing but junk out! So... she decided to go to a Christmas light celebration in Fairview instead. After a pizza dinner, we bundled up all the kids and were treated to all kinds of goodies. We had samples of gellato, purple ice cream, bread pudding, lollipops, apple cider, and more. The kids all got monogrammed Santa necklaces and "sparkling" glasses to view the lights through. We even saw Jason Castro from American Idol sing. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the activities. On the way home, all the girls sang Christmas songs together. They all have such beautiful voices! We had birthday cake when we got home,(If we didn't have enough sweets already!), then the girls played games and watched movies. What a great group of kids! I am so happy Brie has such wonderful friends!

A Day at the New Dallas Childrens Aquarium

We got word that the Dallas Zoo has finally re-opened the aquarium at Fair Park, so since we are zoo members and could get in free, we decided to check it out. It was fantastic! The size of the aquarium is still very small, and they are still waiting for animals to be placed in tanks, but what they did have was very worth the trip. When you come through the entrance, there is a large touch tank full of horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, calico crabs, and sea snails. It will also be the home to sea stars and anemones soon. The kids really enjoyed being able to handle the sea creatures. William was a little afraid of the horseshoe crabs, but liked touching everything else. Alex and Miller enjoyed watching the waterfalls and the big silver fish in the tank across the room. Brie, Nate, & Natalie were mesmerized with it all. They are very hands-on kids.

After the touch tank, we walked through the area that held fish from Texas lakes and other lakes/rivers around the world. Most liked creatures were the piranha, the huge alligator snapping turtle, and the electric eel, that is not really an eel but a knife fish.

From lakes and rivers we went to Sting Ray Bay. This is a new outdoor area that has been added to the aquarium where you can touch and feed several different rays. As we walked down the ramp to the first tank, the aquarium worker tells all of us that the treats are free today. William, always taking people for their word, tells me, "Mom, I am really hungry. Can I have one of the treats since the guy said they are free?" I had to laugh. When I told him, "Sure, if you want some fish," he got pretty embarrassed. Crazy boy! The kids had a great time petting the rays and dropping their fish treats to them. What a great experience. William was NOT okay with holding the headless fish between his fingers down the side of the tank, so he went to the shallow end and chucked it in the water to see if the rays could find where it went.

Look Out World!! Here Come the Boys!

For Nate's birthday party, he decided he wanted to have a Nerf gun battle. The result...

...One Great Party!

11 and Growing...

It is crazy to think that Nate is now 11 years old. I still remember him jammin' to his little red guitar at 3 and it seems like yesterday. Nate is such a wonderful kid! We are so blessed to have him as part of our family. He is very loving, Great! with Alex, a fantastic cook, a terrific friend, super smart (Especially in math!), a just growing to be a fine young man. Happy Birthday Nate! We love you so much!!

At 11:

Nate's Buddies are Carson, Dallas, & Matthew.

Nate loves Legos, Spies, Movie Making, and Bald Eagles!

Nate works hard at scouts and has earned his Arrow of Light!

How Our Kids View the World

William: "My tag has an American flag on it!" Raechal: "That's because it was made in America." William: Wow!" Raechal: "Yeah, that's cool, you live in America!" William: "Wow! I live in America!!"
William: "Hey Mom! Did you know Brownie is 3!?" Raechal: "Yes. He doen't turn 4 until December." William: "No! He turns 4 on his birthday!"
William: "When I take your legos I say that's an accident. When I kick or hit someone, that's on purpose."
Natalie: "God made me crazy."
Raechal: "How many clementines DiD you eat?" Natalie: "Four!" Raechal: "Four?!! Natalie, next time you need to be more frugal and only eat 1." Natalie: "I am frugal because I love fruit!"
William: "Can I have a toothpick please?" Raechal: "No." William: "Then I am asking for one for Christmas."
Raechal: "Natalie, you'd better quit talking about what gifts you bought everyone or you will ruin your surprise." Natalie: "Mom. Can I have some Gorilla Tape for my mouth please."
Raechal: "The meal worm's dead William." William:"I know. I am just covering him up." Raechal:"Are you burying him?" William:"No. He doesn't like to be cold at night."
Sam to Natalie(In Time Out):"You're not suppose to be talking in time out." William: "Yeah, I'm gonna tell Coda on you."
Brianna: "Can I look up baby names that mean 'peaceful'?"
William to Natalie in the van: "Stop saying those things! You're making me nervous!"
Natalie:"I want to name the baby Lilly."
Sam:"What do you think our baby will be?" Brianna:"A girl!" Raechal:"Another Natalie?" Brianna:"No! I am trainning this one before she turns 1!"
Brianna: "They executed Nate's blood." Raechal: "It's not executed! It's extracted!"
William: "I want to go to the moon." Raechal: "Why do you want to go to the moon?" William: "Because I want to jump off."
Raechal to Brie: "Do you know what plastic surgery is?" Brianna: "Yes! It is when you have part of your body removed and that part is replaced with plastic."
William : "I don't want my dinner! It's BORING!"
Nate : "Tomorrow I am going to be 9!" Natalie: "Hey Nate! When we got you, you were zero!"
William : "What does 'actually' mean?"
William : "Mommy, you have an owie on your eye. You need some cream. You can go downstairs and get it."
Nate to Natalie :"You need Grammar lessons. Do you know what that is? It teaches you how to talk." Natalie(Her quick minded self): "Can you teach me a lesson today!"

The Hardy Family