Birthday Celebration at the Ranch!

Our friend Levi has a ranch that his parents live on in Cisco. Every few years we try to make it out there for a little adult relaxation. This year we went with several other couples in November to celebrate mine and Levi's birthdays. We stayed overnight and the boys stayed with my parents. As usual time flew by but we had a great time catching up with old friends!

The entrance to the ranch. They named it the "Briar Patch".

The first two times we went we all huddled into the original house on the property. It was super old with some basic updates but worked just perfect for us.  Since then Levi's parents have built a new house next to the old one. Their design idea were so inventive and perfect for the ranch style! His dad designed this shower out of an old wagon wheel and a metal bucket! 

This is kind of the man cave.

Part of the living room.

One of their giant ponds.

It was freezing outside!

We spent a lot of time around the fire pit at night to keep warm.

The next morning we enjoyed some coffee outside. It was so peaceful!

We love country living!

Who Loves the Fair? We do!

The Hernandez clan loves to go to the State Fair of Texas! I went almost every year as a child then Mondo started going with me in high school. We have now made it a tradition with our kids to go. This year we had some beautiful weather. We took the kids out of school a little early and stayed almost until it closed.

The boys were super excited about the American Ninja Warrior setup they had this year. There was a small kids area where they could do a little competition. They did it over and over... That's Ethan in this pic.

There's Caleb taking his turn...

Their favorite thing to do is still climbing in the cars and "driving" at the car show.

Big Tex!

First snack...nachos for Caleb.

Tornado tators! Our favorite!!

Caleb pretended to ride inside a combine (?) corn tractor thing. He got to steer and press the buttons while watching a video of what he was doing.

Ethan thought this car was amazing.

Caleb needed his pic by the car too. :-)

Caleb is my "plain milk" lover.

So amazing that all of that was carved out of butter!!

Next on Caleb's agenda...cheese pizza!

This was right above us where Caleb was eating his pizza. A bunch of umbrellas strung together. I thought it was cool.

Caleb on a giant rocking horse.

This was definitely the highlight of our day. They boys were able to participate in a junior cooking event. They made little taco salads and omlettes and strawberry smoothies. They were selling a book called "Kids Can Cook".

It was so cute to watch Ethan help his brother.

That woman was the author of the book "Kids Can Cook".

Here's the finished product. A little taco salad and omlette. And you know what? They were delicious!!

We went back over to the American Ninja Warrior setup and watch some people actually compete! They boys were super into it and wanted to do the course too. But it was for adults only.

We had to enjoy a little fried goodness before we left...fried Snickers! Yummo!

Halloween

We attended a few festivities for Halloween this year. We went to our church Trunk or Treat (where I apparantly didn't take any pics), then the boy's school had a trunk or treat, and then of course...trick or treating!

This was from Trunk or Treat at school. The woman in the car is Ethan's principal and the man next to the car is the assistant principal. I was happy to see them participating! :-)

That's Caleb getting some candy from the Dad's Club.

Ethan and his buddy getting candy from their 5th grade teachers. The ladies were minions and the guy was Gru from Despicable Me. Too cute!

Caleb had his serious Green Arrow face on. That's his little bud Sydney.

Ethan didn't wear his costume because he was helping sell popcorn for Student Council so he chose to wear that instead. That's his bud Brock next to him.

Caleb's 2nd grade teachers...the 7 dwarfs...and yes, there are seven 2nd grade teachers! 

Selling concessions and shirts for Student Council.

And now onto Halloween night! Ethan was the Winter Soldier (from Captain America) and Caleb was Green Arrow. Always some type of super heroes...

First up...stopping by Nana and Papa's for some good loot! Then we walked the neighborhood with some friends and trick or treated and then hung out after. Fun night and I was happy to be off of work to enjoy it!

This house in our neighborhood went ALL OUT. I'm pretty sure they had every Halloween blowup and tons of lights. The picture doesn't do it justice.

NICU Reunion

Every year around Halloween we host a NICU Reunion at our hospital. Since our NICU is only a 10 bed unit it's not a huge event but it's great to see our tiny babies growing up. We decided to have it at Halloween so they can come in costumes. Of course for privacy I can't post any pics of the babies so you'll have to look at my co-workers in costumes! ;-)

A little Fall decor and snacks.

My fellow weekend warrior Shelly. Or as we're known "Batman and Robin". We've worked weekends together for the past 8 years!

Some of my fellow nighshifters.

And of course we had to be silly too!