Aarrrggg! Happy Halloween Mateys!

Getting ready to leave the house decked out in our pirate costumes. Aarrrggg! Trick-or-treat mateys. Give us all your candy!

Braeden's first chance to go trick-or-treating (poor kid was sick last year, and too small the first year), and he seems determined to see what the fuss is all about. He loved all of the other kids in their costumes, being out after dark, and eating candy; but he wasn't so thrilled about having to talk to the people who answered the door.

Austin was an expert trick-or-treater this year, and even learned a rhyme Mommy told him never to say at the door. It goes like this: Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear. Oh, this made Mommy and Daddy so proud, yeah right! He is our big boy that is growing up way too fast. Slow down baby!

Austin and Owen (Luke Skywalker).

School fun!

Braeden posing with Ms. Laura (who we were lucky enough to have for Austin's teacher last year too), while they waited for the big pre-schoolers to go on their Halloween costume parade.

There's Austin on parade with his class. Our buddy Rylee is the butterfly in front of him. They got to trick-or-treat through the church offices, and Austin was the only kid in the class to start eating his candy immediately. :)

Here's Austin's whole class. Getting 13 kids to pose for a picture when their buckets are full of candy is pretty difficult, but I think they did great. In front of Austin is Chloe (he thinks she's pretty great, and during the Halloween party he was very determined to make sure that she got a purple spider ring...because purple is her favorite color). She's a doll, and I would say that every kid in that class is amazing. We love them all!

Fall Festival

We went to the neighborhood Fall Festival this year and it was really fun. We got to play games like ball toss and bean bag toss to win prizes. We got to ride a choo choo.

Of course the bounce house is always a big hit!

And they even had a petting zoo with goats, bunnies, lamas, and a huge tortoise. It was fall fun!

First trip to the dentist

Braeden had his first visit to the dentist, and he did great. We went the day before with Austin, so he got to see just how his visit would go. He made us so proud, and wore the sunglasses like a big boy. He is getting so big. His teeth looked perfect (something I worried about since he fell and hit them in the bathtub when he was younger , and he sucks his thumb). The dentist said not to worry about the thumb sucking too much this year, since it is hard to break at this young age. He mostly only sucks it when he is tired or anxious.

Mommy's 2nd favorite shirt

Besides the Ovarian Cancer Awareness shirts they made, this shirt is my favorite. It is Linus from the Peanuts cartoon carrying his blanket, but his head is not there. Notice Braeden's lovey in his lap. It couldn't be a more appropriate shirt.

Our little helpers

This is not slave labor. Notice the smile on their faces as they do this. Swiftering the floor is fun, and it just happens to clean the floors too. :) Everyone wins in this situation.

Here is the proof that they like doing it.

Braeden is getting so big, and he wants to do everything his Daddy does. Here is is making sure the marks are level for Daddy to hang some sconces on the wall for Mommy. Too cute!

But really what he liked the most, was the tape measure.

Florida

It all started with a plane ride to Pensacola, Florida. Daddy was meeting us at the airport, so it was just Mommy and the boys. They were so good. It got trickier when we had to ride in a car for nearly 4 hours after the plane ride to get to St. George Island, but it was worth it.

Thanks Aunt Kelly for the DVD player, that was very helpful!

While we were at the beach, we went fishing on Daddy's boat.

We caught tons of "kermit" crabs (hermit crabs).

Here we are catching crabs.

Laura, Danny, and Baby Wyatt came with us. Poor Wyatt took a face full of sand, but that didn't bother him.

Here he is without the sand. He is such a good baby, and the boys call him their fishing buddy since that is what he will be when he gets older. Daddy and Danny go fishing and hunting together all the time.

Daddy got us some great pirate hats, which we will be wearing as part of our Halloween costumes.

What is that in the water? It's a crocodile!! Look out!

Dude, did you see the massive wave I just rode? Gnarly dude, that's all I'm sayin'.

And for the finale, drum roll please, Austin jumped of the boat over and over! It was fun to watch, and he would not have had that confidence if he hadn't taken swim lessons this summer.

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Fun in the box

It's true what they say about getting your kids an expensive toy, and all they want to play with is the box. Boxes at our house are pirate ships, cars, houses, rockets, and here it was a lion's den.

The Children's Museum

You always have to make a stop at the carousel ride at the mall when you go to the Children's Museum. Austin chose to ride the lion. "Look Mom, no hands!"

Braeden picked a horse, of course, of course.

Dress up time at the museum. A lion and a king sitting on their thrones.

Here is our sweet friend Addison who joined us at the museum. We really like her.

King fireman!

It was next to impossible to get Austin to take this lion costume off. He just might be the friendliest lion you ever met.

When you go to the museum, you must dig for dinosaurs. Here is our paleontologist, with arms full of dinosaurs he dug up.

Braeden helped dig for dinosaurs by scooping the "dirt" (recycled tires) into a dump truck.

Kara's shower

Some of Mommy's best friends from Austin came to Houston for a shower honoring Kara and her Bebe, due in November. From left to right, Lisa, Kara, and Jenny.

Beautiful blondes...Jenny and Kara.

Brunettes Mommy and Lisa. It was just like old times. What a fantastic weekend catching up, and reuniting. Only two things were missing...Jenna and Ruthie. Love you girls!!

Another butterfly..

So far we have had 5 beautiful butterflies come out of the caterpillars we kept. There is one more that still hasn't come out. Honestly I didn't think the last two would come out, but they did. So I will keep the last one safe until it decides to come out too. Aren't they beautiful?

Galveston

In the beginning of August, we took a day trip to Galveston with Lisa and Mariana. The kids had a great time flying kites, building sand castles, and splashing in the waves. Austin was really good at flying his kite, and the wind was perfect.

Notice how Braeden is watching Austin. He is learning so much from his brother, good and bad. I am constantly saying, "Anything you can do I can do better!" about them.

Look at that teamwork.

Braeden, Austin, and Mariana sitting in the water. I love this picture!

Look at that sweet face.

I am truly so blessed to be a mommy to these precious boys. Nothing is better or more rewarding than the love they give me.

The Circus

Ok, so we went to the circus in July. I know, I know, it's been FOREVER since I uploaded pictures. There has been so much going on (summertime=no school=no uploading, a baby shower, a trip to Florida, my grandmother passed away, we lost our hard drive and many pictures, and Ovarian Cancer Awareness month took a lot of my time, but I am back!!

The boys had a blast at the circus of course, and the horseback riders were Braeden's favorite, while the tigers were Austin's favorite. Unfortunately, pics of the tigers were too dark. Both boys loved the elephants.

This shows Braeden's personality so well. He is such a joker!

Cutest ring master I ever saw!

Here we go, swords in hand, to the circus!! Hooray!

We're still here!

Where are we you wonder? I promise we are still here. I have months of pictures to upload to the blog, but just haven't had the time. I promise to get to that very soon. In the meantime, we are still here. Here are the boys today in the t-shirts they made for Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. They made butterflies out of their hand prints, and the shirts say "I wear teal for my Mimi."