We had too much fun this Halloween. Our neighborhood had a little festival. Caleb and his buddy Jeremiah went down the inflatable slide 100 times. Then we all went on a hayride.

Later that week, Caleb had two Fall parties at school where he loaded up on goodies. Below is a picture of him sacked out in the car on the way home from school with stickers on his face and his bag of candy.

Also pictured below is my 4-year-old class at our Fall party.

Caleb was a Transformer and little Jake was just a cute little pumpkin. On Halloween, we went to the town where Gigi lives because they have a big deal downtown where all the merchants dress up and hand out candy. Since Gigi works at Edward Jones downtown, she was dressed up and handing out candy. She was a banana, which was HILARIOUS! After that, we went trick-or-treating in Lindale and did that until about 9:30 p.m. Trick-or-treating in East Texas is so much fun because of all the trees and the homes with huge decorated porches. There were several trick-or-treating hayrides with decorated trailers, with lights and all, full of children going through the neighborhoods. The home-owners were dressed up and sitting out on the porches interacting with the kids. It was picturesque and reminded me of a movie with leaves floating in the air everywhere. LOVE IT.

I keep intending to take pictures of the autumn foliage here. It is so amazing. Having lived in the DFW Metroplex for the past 14 years, I had just forgotten how beautiful it is. Call me a tree-hugger, I just LOVE trees. I know this is goofy, but I actually teared up on the way to work the other day looking at all the beautiful colors in the trees.

We love being here. I love that we can run to Mineola (where my mom lives) in 15 minutes. I can borrow spices from her now. I love that everywhere we go, people talk to us like they know us. You can meet people in a restaurant, the mall, really anywhere. They just strike up a conversation like you aren't a stranger. From my perspective it seems the formality and "small talk" phase is just skipped here. It is very refreshing.

A few pics of little Jakers!

Our Trip to the Texas Hill Country

We had a blast on our annual Fall family trip. We were supposed to go to Galveston this year, but thanks to Ike we re-routed to the Marble Falls area of Texas. It was actually perfect. We loved it. We did a lot of jet skiing, rock hunting, swimming, fishing (well attempting to fish), boating, etc. The guys went golfing while the rest of us shopped. The guys took the kids to an underground cave while I got to sit in a doctor's office with the baby. Oh the joys of "vacationing" with young children. We roasted hot dogs, made smores, played board games and floated on inter-tubes. The Albin clan had a blast swinging from a rope into the nasty lake water. :) I enjoyed watching and taking pictures. Below is a picture of Aunt Eve going into the water. Aunt Eve, we found out, is a little on the crazy side. On our Oklahoma trip, she overturned her canoe. On this trip, she flipped the jet ski while performing crazy maneuvers with her kids riding on back!

God is a Texan

Just had to blog quickly because Caleb said the funniest thing and I wanted to document it before it escaped my so tired brain. When we were watching the election coverage and they were pointing at the big map, he asked, "Mommy, where exactly does God live in Texas?" I just thought that was pretty darn cute that he assumes God lives in Texas.

Interesting things that I have observed/learned since living in East Texas...


1. Apparently a child's ride-on Barbie Jeep makes an excellent planter in your front yard. Yep, you read correctly - massive plants growing right out of a pink Barbie Jeep in someone's yard. (I will try to take a picture of this and post it. It is quite remarkable.)

2. Large black paperclips make very efficient clips for your t-shirt sleeves. Let me explain...You know when you have on a short sleeve white t-shirt and you need to roll the sleeves up even higher to resemble a tank top...but the sleeves won't stay rolled up? Don't you hate it when that happens? Well, I observed a fellow East Texan in that same predicament, except he was smart enough to have his sleeves pinned up with a couple of large paperclips. He was eating next to us in a fine-dining establishment.

3. Shirtless banking is all the rage.

4. Overalls are the new black.

5. You should always drive at least 5-10 miles per hour below the speed limit. Always!

6. Tent revivals do still take place and not just in the movies.

Update from East Texas

I can't believe it has been only three months since we have been in East Texas; it seems like a lifetime. So much has changed!

Job Front

Brad is working a new job, which is going very well. He was number one in his district last month, which was only his second month there -- confirmation he made the right move taking the position! I have been teaching preschool for three weeks now. I'm working five days a week from 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., and do a little substituting in the afternoons occasionally. I'll be honest, it is whipping me. I am beginning to adjust though and am starting to get used to early mornings. I am enjoying the teaching aspect. There are other aspects however that are not so appealing...head lice. Yep, had to send multiple students home with lice. That, my friends is gross. Hadn't counted on that when I signed up for teaching. :)

Soccer Moms Club

I am officially a member, and it is quite fun. Brad is the assistant coach of our little Yellow Jackets. I volunteered him for the job and he's actually enjoying it. It's cracking me up because he takes it very seriously telling the group of little four and five-year-olds to "huddle up" and "stretch it out." Hilarious! The best thing is that we're all making new friends in the process. I met two moms who each have a four-year-old boy and a baby about Jacob's age. They both live in our neighborhood, and one of the families just moved here a month ago to work for YWAM. We've started a little mom's group, which is another "God thing." I had been earnestly praying for some new little buddies for Caleb.

Jakers

For some reason, that is what we are calling him. He is getting cuter everyday. The child I thought was never going to smile, now smiles all of the time. The child that screamed for hours, now we call our "happy baby." He is cooing and smiling, and occasionally laughing (for Daddy and GiGi that is). Today I witnessed him batting at a toy, and trying to roll over. I think he'll be rolling over within the week. He is just starting to be amused by Caleb, so that is fun. I just started feeding him cereal at night a couple of nights ago. I know I'm not supposed to do that until four months, but I just wanted to see what he would do... and, of course he gobbled it up. That night he slept the entire night. So, I don't care what they say, I'm feeding him cereal. :)

I am NOT a morning person! Anyone who really knows me, knows this fact. If you have been my roommate at one time or another, you are really chuckling right now with some very vivid memories of "the face" as I passed you in the hallway - that facial expression of mine that says "do not even talk to me until at least 8 a.m..

So, you will be just really tickled to know that I started working as a preschool teacher this week. I have to be there by 7:15 a.m. and it is 30 minutes from my house. This means with two little ones, I have to be up at 5 a.m.!!! I know many of you get up at 5 daily, but this is me we're talking about here. Oh, and did I mention the baby still wakes up at 1 or 2 a.m. most nights?

So here's how it went:

Sunday night -I was the super-excited new preschool teacher. I haven't worked (really worked) in over four years. So I'm getting the coffee ready the night before, getting the house spotless, washing every piece of laundry in the home, packing backpacks with ready-to-make bottles, etc., giving the kids' baths, and so on. I had Caleb in bed by 7:50 p.m. with his clothes for the next day set out for him. You get the picture.

Monday morning -I leap out of bed at 5 a.m. sharp, cheerfully greeting the day and so excited to meet my students and officially be a teacher! Monday afternoon, after getting off I was a total zombie. Monday night - I leave the house pretty messy, don't worry about kids' baths that night, don't manage to get Caleb to bed until about 8:30 p.m., do get the coffee and backpacks ready and head to bed at 10 p.m.

Tuesday morning - I slowly creep out of bed at 5:10 a.m.. My back is killing me. I must have pulled it doing something with the kids at school. It's raining outside. Boy I would love to sleep in. But, today is a new day and I am a teacher. How fun! I rush through my morning routine and pull out of the driveway about 10 minutes later than Monday. Tuesday night - I am a little grumpy. I did not clean, did not give baths again, did not prepare coffee and did not pack the backpacks. I didn't even wash my face. I just went to bed.

Wednesday morning - This is today. It is 6:15 a.m. and I have 30 minutes until I need to leave. I am sitting here in my robe with wet hair, drinking my coffee and writing this blog. I physically cannot bring myself to get moving. I have "the face" and I cannot believe we're only halfway through the week.

I won't bother to post Thursday or Friday's details. Just please forgive me if I haven't returned phone calls or have forgotten to call you on your birthday. I am in a bad place right now. :) Kimberly, I know you are getting such a kick out of this right now because you can visualize "the face."

Some snapshots of life in the Cain household.

We've been spoiled by all of our visitors since moving. We've had non-stop company and it has been a lot of fun. My brother came to visit 4th of July Weekend. He, Brad, my dad and Brad's friend played in a golf tournament here in our neighborhood. He took Caleb back to North Carolina with him for a week which was a nice break for us! The following weekend, my sister-in-law Eve brought Caleb back to us and stayed the weekend. Eve treated us to two nights of keeping the baby through the night. It was pure bliss to get more than 4 hours of sleep.

This weeked, my friend Molli came down with her two children, Brandon and Ashley. The kids swam in the lake, played in the sand on the beach, went to our favorite spray park and rode bikes and scooters. Molli and I had lots of much needed "girl talk" time and even got to go see a movie...without kids!!! The weekend flew by and now we are getting the house ready once again for company this weekend - Brad's family.