Maya and Nolan's blog: Visiting Texas!

Get ready for lots of pictures!

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to the Texas to visit our friends Ryan, Jessica, Cooper and Jackson. Since Darin works in Texas sometimes, he went for work and we tagged along to hang out with our friends during the day! We had a blast, as usual!

The boys hit it off very quickly. Hugs!

Since it was close to Halloween, Jessica planned a little party for the kids one afternoon. We wrapped the kids up like mummies using toilet paper and we got some pretty cute facial expressions of the kids. Jackson wanted to go first but then didn't think it was a whole lot of fun...

But he decided it wasn't so bad after all!

Next it was Nolan's turn!

Having fun!

Silly mummy face!

Angry mummy...

Back to happy!

Breaking free!

Cooper was next. Grrrrrrr...scary mummy!

Happy mummy!

Cooper had the best "break out" faces when he broke free from his mummified state.

Maya took a little coaxing....a little pep talk!

Then she was all smiles!

Next was mommy's turn! Jackson was so cute!!! He really liked to wrap people, including me. He was definitely the most excited about wrapping people up...and he was good at it! The TP was fragile but he didn't get discouraged and kept plugging away at it. What a sweetie!

After all the wrapping, there were pieces of TP everywhere so we made a new game...

Covering people on the ground in toilet paper!

After that, the kids decorated a big gingerbread haunted house! Some of the candy went into their mouths instead of on the house, but all in all it was hugely successful!

Ahhhh...the finishing touches...

Cheese! Notice the messy faces and hands in the mouths. Definitely enjoyed the candy part of this project!

We also had time for a picnic and a trip to the park during our visit.

Jessica gave me some pointers with my camera and I had fun practicing what I learned!

Cutie pie Nolan!

Giggles!

Mommy and Maya on the swings.

And Mommy and Nolan. I love these kids so much!

And we couldn't leave Texas without a trip to a pumpkin patch! This one also had inflatables which the kids loved. Here are all 4 kiddos...Maya, Nolan, Jackson, and Cooper.

Having some fun running through the patch!

Enjoying ourselves and concentrating on running (notice the tongue...)

There were also these "jail"cells which made for lots of pretend play!

And some huge hay bales! JUMP!

Wheeeee!

The kids indulged me for a quick photo op...

And we had to get one of our family...all dressed in K-State and purple! Trying to get Nolan to smile...

It worked! Sort of....

On our last night, we went to Jessica's sister's house. She had an amazing Halloween party for adults and kids. The three boys dressed up as KSU football players and Maya was their cheerleader. Jessica and I were their KSU fans. Jessica took these great pics of the K-State kids!

Serious football faces and 1 confused cheerleader.

Happy faces!

We're number ONE! (Why yes kids, we are #1 in the BCS!

The dads decided to stay at Jessica and Ryan's house and watch the K-State game which was scheduled to be played during the party! I think Maya and Nolan's favorite thing at the party was BINGO! They loved putting candy on all their Halloween characters, getting a Bingo, and eating the candy!

There was also this balloon popping game. The kids waited in line and used a thumbtack to pop a balloon revealing a prize inside!

Waiting in line to pop more balloons!

There were also games for adults. Laura had organized some "Minute to Win It" games which were so entertaining. After splitting into teams, we did our best and came in 2nd place. One of the games I ended up doing was the cookie game where I had to put a cookie on my forehead and using only facial muscles I had to wiggle it down my face into my mouth. VERY difficult!