Fall Is Here!!!

I love fall! I love the colors of fall, the tastes of fall, the feel of fall, just everything about it. Right now I am snuggled up on the couch by the fire, enjoying a nice cold evening outside, but a nice warm cozy evening inside. The cool weather seems to have started a little earlier this year which is quite alright with me. Cold weather is the best! I was excited to be able to put out our fall decorations last week. We also went and got our pumpkin today. Let the season begin! Welcome to our home!

This morning, like many Saturday mornings, we took a bike ride over to the donut shop in front of Savannah. It was extra special today because we got to put on our warm jackets (and if you are extra excited about the coolness like I am - a scarf and gloves) and ride through the cold weather to get to our donuts. Ooo, we love these donuts!

One of my projects for the day was to make this 'Haunted House' pillow. We were talking this morning that most of our decorations right now are for fall, nothing really specified for Halloween or Thanksgiving. I had found this idea online earlier this week and decided to go for it. Now we have an actual Halloween decoration in our house. I am not very big on decorations for Halloween, but I figured this was cute enough. I am pleased with how it turned out.

Next on the list today was cooking a fall treat - Candy Apples. I had never done this before but thought it would be fun to try. It was a fun, sugar filled project. Ingredients - 16 apples, 6 CUPS OF SUGAR, 1 cup light corn syrup, 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp red food coloring, wooden sticks.

My personal chef, Barrett, helped me make the candy apples and did a fabulous job. We even got to use our new candy thermometer.

Boiling SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR!!!

The finished product - 16 red delicious candy apples! Yum! Yum!

Another Fall project completed, and a tasty treat to enjoy!

We got together at the Benkers house this evening and brought the apples with us to share with everyone.

Madi, taking in all the sugar.

Dad, who made a puppet out of his apple core.

Korbin - it looks like the sugar already kicked in!

Chandler, all set and ready to eat.

Oliver's 1st Birthday

Oliver turned 1 this past week. We went to his cute birthday party on Saturday.

Happy 1st Birthday, Oliver!

Love,

Uncle Barrett & Princess Tanya

Oliver tried on his new pajamas that we gave him for his birthday. He is all cozy with his new PJ's and his favorite little blanket.

Ollie wore his birthday boy outfit with a prince crown. So cute!!!

Wow...I had never seen such a cake for a little guys first birthday. It was like the size of a wedding cake. Oh, so beautiful!!! I am convinced that I will one day learn how to make cakes like this with the fondant icing.

Tara got real creative here. She made her own birthday banner decoration using pictures of Oliver. How creative. Very impressive, Tara! I loved that idea. That will be a great keepsake. I look forward to seeing this hanging up on Ollie's 18th birthday :-)

Oliver invited one of his neighbor friends to join in the celebration.

Opening presents

Having the first taste of his frosting on his little cup cake.

Yum, yum! He really enjoyed every bite.

All warn out and covered in cake.

Dylan had fun playing in Oliver's new birthday toy.

Well, all that sugar from that big cake finally kicked in.

It was a fun party!

Grampy

Early this morning, my grandfather "Grampy" went to heaven and is now in the hands of Jesus! Although we are sad to not have him here on earth with us, we know that he is with our Lord singing in a great big choir and we look forward to one day seeing him again in heaven. I am blessed to have so many happy memories of Grampy. Yesterday we were able to spend the day by Grampys side, hold his hand, tell him we loved him, and think about all of the memories we have made with this great guy! These are the hands of Grandy and Grampy after 61 years of marriage! Anytime you would see these two love birds together throughout the years, you knew they were truly and genuinely in love with each other. They have set an incredible example to us all of what a marriage built on a solid foundation should look like. Thank you Grandy and Grampy!
Not many people can say that they lived in the same city as both sets of Grandparents! I have had the honor of being surrounded by all 4 grandparents for most of my life. During my first 8 years of life in Pennsylvania, Grandy and Grampy lived there too. We moved to Dallas where Mimie and Papa lived and just about 1 year later Grandy and Grampy moved down to Texas too. These years have been extra special.
Grampy with me at my graduation from Dallas Baptist University.Celebrating with me at my wedding.

There are many wonderful memories I have of Grampy. This is from one of our annual "Hershey Kiss Hunts" on Easter. Instead of hunting for Easter eggs outside, we would have a Hershey kiss hunt in the living room on Easter with Grampy and Grandy.

A few other special memories:

* Grampy sitting at the head of the table on Thanksgiving carving the turkey

* On Christmas he would put on his Santa hat and pass out the gifts from under the Christmas tree

* His talk of when he was in World War II and all of the missions he flew in his bomber

* He played the violin in the orchestra. After his concerts we always made our way over to Denny's where I would order the kids "fith" meal- that is fish, I was just really young and could never pronounce it right.
* His love for pound Cake with Grandy's famous chocolate icing - he loved this cake. When we would leave their house after having some of this cake on a special occasion, Grandy would always want to send some leftover cake home with us. Grampy was always a little protective of his cake, making sure that Grandy didn't give away all of his special cake.

* Grampy singing in the choir - both at our church in Pennsylvania and here in Texas.
* Us grandkids playing with a few of his odd but intriguing "toys" in his office - a glass cube full of floating pennies, a rubrics cube that I could never figure out, and a copper colored wind up musical figure with an airplane that spun around...if you have seen this in his office you know what I am talking about.

There are many other memories, these are just a few.

Thank you Grampy, for being such a great Grandfather!!!

You are loved and will be missed!!!

P.S. Can't wait to join you one day in that new choir of yours :-)

xoxoxox

Summer of Fun

"Be joyful always, pray continually,

give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

We have had a fun summer! Here is a mix of some of the things we have done during the end of July and beginning of August.Taking a ride on the dart train to downtown Dallas.

We spent a Saturday with Tara, Jacob, and the 4 boys going to Dallas on the train, trolley, and having lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse at the West End.Korbin, Calahan, and Dylan listening to music on their ipods during the drive over to the train station. The Benker FamilyWe got off the train at the underground stop, took the long escalator ride up to the street, and hopped onto the old McKinney Avenue Trolley.

The boys all loved the ride!

The trolley conductor was a good tour guide during our ride to down town.

Tara and Jacob at our lunch together at Spaghetti Warehouse.Cal asked for a refill on his drink, so the waiter surprised him and brought him his very own pitcher of coke. What a way to make an impression on a little guy. He loved it! And no, he wasn't able to drink it all - thank goodness since we had a long train ride home with no bathroom aboard :-)

Oliver - warn out on the train after a busy day out.

***Notice his cozy shoes...this was one of my projects for the summer - making little baby shoes. I found a pattern online and have a new sewing machine that I got for Christmas just waiting to be used. I figured I would try out a pair and make some for Oliver. Well the first pair was too small, the second pair too big, finally the last pair fit him just right. I have really enjoyed getting creative with these cute little things! My new sewing project

Korbin, Dylan, and Cal having fun standing on the train for the ride home.

We took another trip down to Houston to celebrate with all of the Walch family - Pam's Birthday, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. We also spent some time helping out around the house as Pam is continuing to heal from her broken leg. She has really made some great improvement!!!Conrad opening his Father's Day gifts.

Game time
Mackenzie - all in pink - her favorite color.

Preston playing Uncle Barrett's car racing game at GramPam and Pa-pa's House.

Uncle Barrett with Preston and Mckenzie playing games.

We spent an evening watching the boys while Tara and Jacob went out. We had a fun time!

We had a monopoly competition while there.

5 hours later - Barrett and Korbin battled it out for a long time, but Korbin was the winner!!! He won just about every piece of money there was in the game.

One evening Barrett and I made homemade chocolate and peanut butter fudge. We both love to cook. It is always extra special when we can cook together.

Yum! It turned out perfectly!

Camryn turned 5 years old on August 5th.

Madison turned 2 on August 7th. Too funny - this is the face she has started making when you tell her to smile for a picture.Blowing out the candles.
I know the two girls aren't really babies anymore, but I had fun making them little slipper shoes for their birthdays.

Dad had his birthday on August 4th. I could use another slice of that birthday cake just about now. That homemade chocolate icing is the best!

Hannah and I had a day with Chandler, Cami and Madi at Grapevine Mills Mall. It was also the official day of Madisons 2nd Birthday. Happy Birthday Madison!! They loved watching the crocodile at Rainforest Cafe.

They each got a balloon made for them at the mall.

An evening of coffee, frappucinos, and "Apples to Apples" at Starbucks.

I LOVE SUMMER!!!!