Hitting the streets.

You've got to love trick-or-treating! When else can you visit with neighbors, see tons of cute and cool costumes, and collect lots and lots of candy? Brett especially loves the whole atmosphere, this night that's different from every other night of the year.

We started our evening on our own street.

Then we drove over to Memaw's apartment.

Of course, she had candy for us. She also had Halloween cards!

She was a little freaked out by Ryan's "bleeding" skeleton costume.

Speaking of costumes, here's Katie, the '50s girl.

And here's Ryan, the creepy skeleton.

After Memaw's, we headed to a neighborhood that was bustling with trick-or-treaters. Many of the houses there were decorated, and a lot of the neighbors were sitting in their driveways to greet the kids.

Another tradition: We always end our Halloween night at Nana and Papa's house.

While at the grandparents' house, the kids like to dump out their candy to tally their profits. This year, Katie's pumpkin was so full, the candy was stuck!

Not bad for a night's work!

By night's end, we were dead tired!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkinpalooza '08.

It's an evening we look forward to each year: our small group's pumpkin-carving party!

We usually try to gut our pumpkins before getting to our hosts' house, but we were busy packing all afternoon. (Plus, we've already packed and stored our knives and spoons, and I'm thinking our plasticware wouldn't have cut those pumpkins too well.)

BLECH!

Katie went for an original design this year.

After everyone finished their jack-o-lanterns, we lined them all up and chose our favorites. Katie's is the second from left.

Ryan's is the second from the right on the bottom row. Any question which one's mine? (It's supposed to be a football helmet.)

It's so cool to see all the designs together. Impressive carving skills there!

Of course, we HAD to take a picture of the Pac-Man pumpkin, right? This shot's bound to end up on Brett's blog!

It was a night of eerie eats, cool creations and fun fellowship. We're so thankful for our small group!

(Here are pix from the party in 2006 and 2007.)

What a hot dog!

Frisco's ready for Halloween!

Too close for comfort.

Another week, another top 10 opponent.

For two weeks now, I've been hesitant to celebrate too much about being number 1. Who can celebrate when there's another tough team to play?

As expected, Oklahoma State was tough.

Still, through the first half, I never panicked, never thought the game was getting away from us.

Colt was still playing some amazing ball, throwing for TDs like this one.

Longhorn and NFL great Priest Holmes was even on hand.

As the banner said, the #1 ranking was ours, and it's up to our opponents to "come and take it."

Well, the Cowboys almost did. Turnovers and a porous rush defense nearly ended this crazy run, but the D stepped up late in the game and saved the day—and the dream.


So yes, I'm thrilled to have this win behind us, but I can't help but look to next Saturday and yet another top 10 team. Night game in Lubbock? (shudder!)

P.S. - Another record crowd was at DKR for this one: 98,500-something, the largest crowd to see a football game in the state. Last week's attendance was similar, but since that game was a blowout, many "fans" left before it was over. (I'm an "Eyes" to "Eyes" kind of girl!) Because this one was a squeaker, almost everyone stuck it out, creating one honkin' mass of humanity at game's end!

Who won the Oklahoma State-Texas game?

In honor of this week's opponent, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, we grilled, um, hot dogs and sausage. Yeah, I know this one doesn't work as well as the shrimp for Florida Atlantic or the pork for Arkansas, but cowboys eat hot dogs, right?

Texas 28, OSU 24. Whew.

You know your kid's almost ready for middle school when...

...they don't need you at the elementary school carnival!

I took Katie to the Fox Fall Festival tonight, but soon after we arrived, I made myself scarce so she could hang with her friends.

I caught up with her a few times to check in and make sure she was OK.

And yes, I grabbed a couple of photos now and then.

By the way: 80 tickets > what one kid can spend in two hours!

Band concert.

Here's the sharp-dressed man ready for the fall band concert.

(The band director tells the students that when dressed in their formal concert attire, they should look like waiters at the Olive Garden!)

See Ryan? Nah, me neither.
(He's in the middle of the third row back there.)

There he is! Way to go, Band! Way to go, Ryan!

This is Halloween, this is Halloween...

Ryan's eyeball...

Katie's brain...

It's HALLOWEEN: the scaled-down version!

We're typically all over Halloween, with decorations inside the house and out. This year, however, our October boxes are in storage thanks to Project GOOD.

Our Halloween hoopla consists of one "Count-Down" wall hanging, a candy corn tablecloth and this, a candy countdown.

We've long been fans of the candy countdowns.

The kids would hardly recognize December without the chocolate advent calendars we get from our school's German Club!