BOO!

I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone! Where is this year going? It's gonna be 2009 before we know it...

Friday was Halloween and Halloween was awesome for the Hinckleys! We started the day with a parade at Trinity's school...

then moved on to a party at Emory's school...

Then, after a few errands, a short nap for a baby girl, and way too much sugar...we prepared for Trick-0r-treating! The girls looked adorable!

Trinity was Queen Amidala from Star Wars 1:

Emory was Giselle from Enchanted:

Addison was Minnie House (the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse version):

and Daddy was a goofball in Trinity's head dress:

We had such a wonderful time meeting more of our neighbors and getting tons of sugar filled treats the girls will never finish! We were greeted by my wonderful parents before we left to go trick-or-treating and by my sweet sister at both the parade and after we finished trick-or-treating. I think the girls absolute favorite part of the night, just like in every year past, was greeting trick-or-treaters at our house and handing out handfuls of candy. Each girl would grab as much as their hands would hold and drop it in the bag/bucket of each trick-or-treater...yes, that means every person got three handfuls! I'm also pretty much sure that means I bought WAY too much candy...especially since we still have like 1/4 of it left over!

I hope you all had a wonderful, fun and safe Halloween too! The girls are already planning next year's costumes, are you?

This brought a smile to my face...

I got an email from my mother-in-law today and I love it! I just had to share...

REAL MOTHERS
Real Mothers do not eat quiche; they do not have time To make it. Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably In the sandbox. Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and Happy kids. Real Mothers know that dried play dough does not come Out of shag carpets. Real Mothers do not want to know what the vacuum just Sucked up. Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their Answer when a little Voice says, 'Because I love you best.' Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured By height or years Or grade... It is marked by the progression of Mama to Mom to Mother. The Images of Mother: 4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mama can do anything! 8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot! 12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite Everything. 14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, Either. 16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She has no clue! 18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of Date! 25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about It. 35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's Opinion. 45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about It? 65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom. The beauty of a mama is not in the clothes she wears, The figure that she carries, Or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a mama must be seen from in her eyes, Because that is the doorway to her heart, The place where love resides. The beauty of a mama is not in a facial mole, But true beauty is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, The passion that she shows, And the beauty of a mama With passing years only grows!

Hope you enjoy it too :)

Paschal Football

For the past 13 years Greg and I have made a tradition of attending his High School's football games. We have all enjoyed them...Greg watching the football, the girls watching the dancers and cheerleaders and jammin with the band (and occasionally catching a play or two of the game), and me all of the above plus socializing with some of our friends. Well, now that we've moved to my hometown we're not up for the drive back to the Woodrow games, so we've adopted my alma matter as our new weekly HS football fix. I've really enjoyed getting back to those games and occasionally seeing some blasts from my past, and even more occasionally witnessing a win from the Panthers.

"Rascal" the Panther is awesome with the girls! He will sit down and wait for the little ones to approach him instead of walking up to them and scaring the bajeezus out of them. Trinity was more than thrilled to have her picture taken with him and he surprised her with this pose at the last possible second!

We finally convinced the other two to pose for a picture with him by having Greg jump in too. You can see he was having as much fun as Trinity!

At another game this year the people sitting behind us had brought their purple pompoms with them and when they saw Emory cheering and dancing the team on to a hopeful victory (didn't work) she loaned them to us. Emory just thought her stuff didn't stink having those in her hands!

Addison couldn't wait for her turn to take a try

We have had a great time cheering on Paschal this year! Despite a not-so-good record (they still have one game left) they have shown a vast improvement over the past several years, and for that we are thrilled!

Now Greg's High School, on the other hand is now ranked first in their district! Way to go Woodrow! We leave and they start taking it to the next level...what's up with that?

HOWDY FOLKS!

Trinity got Columbus Day as a holiday so we took advantage of it and went to the State Fair of Texas! I know it's been a few weeks...but here's the post anyway.

They had the Sky Way open this year so Greg took the big girls on a ride. I'm not sure they thought it was as cool as he did, but regardless they all had fun!

Emory, Addison and I moved on to the Carousel

Trinity was tall enough this year to ride any of the ride she pleased! That also meant she was too tall to ride some of the kids rides too.

She did take a shot at the darts and won a prize for each of the girls!

This was her favorite ride of the day!

Emory was tall enough to ride all the kids rides, but not quite tall enough for some of the others.

So she took a turn with her Daddy on the Ladybug...also her favorite of the day! Hers didn't go as fast as the one Trinity rode on, but it did go backwards!

Greg took Trinity and Emory on the log ride, unfortunately this was the best shot I got. I really like the picture, but am sad I can't see their faces...oh well.

Finally Addison gets a turn to go on a ride too! She chose the pirate ships, but had to wait her turn...

Can you tell she had a blast?!?!

Emory couldn't wait to go on the swings!!!


Then we moved on to the petting zoo...unfortunately it was ridiculously crowded so we didn't get to actually use any of the $5 of feed we purchased or touch any animals, but Addison enjoyed looking at all of them!

The baby animals outside were way better!

We ended the day with candy apples and finally a family picture!

This is where Addison spent a good part of the day...

Awesome day!

I've never stayed at the Fair that long before and I'm so glad we went and all had a blast!