Family Pictures 2011

Thanks to Ashley Bell at Ashley Lauren Photography, we have some pictures that have captured the sweetest memories of my 2 year old boys.  I am so appreciative of the time she spent with our family on a Saturday morning at the farm.

Can't talk...literally.

* I wrote this blog entry on Thursday...finally getting around to posting it...

Try teaching 83 fifth grade kiddos without making a sound!  I have completely lost my voice, thanks to these fall allergies.  My kids at school were actually pretty amazing today.  They were so quiet and I have never seen them be so independant and helpful to each other.  What a blessing!  I have been drinking a ton of hot tea with lemon and honey to help conquer this silly sore throat.  I even made two visits down to the nurse's office to gargle with salt water.  No luck to get my voice back today.  Maybe tomorrow.  I did have one of my darling students give me this picture....She totally warmed my heart today.  (especially since she made me really skinny with really long eyelashes!)



Goodbyes are the pits.

My sister and her little family of 4 got on a plane this morning headed all the way to California.  Jason's job has relocated them a three- day-car-ride away from here.  It has been such a whirlwind!  Their house sold in about 2 days.  I am so sad and it is so weird that they will live so far away.  You know, we lived on the same street for a couple of years and I'm pretty sure I cried when they moved two streets over.  Now, it's like THIRTY HOURS to their new house! 

We ate supper at my Mom and Dad's house all together on Wednesday night for the last time until they come back for Christmas. Jordan, Nathan, Georgia, and Vivi played in MeMe's dress-up trunk all evening!

 I held Vivi and Georgia so tight and just hugged and kissed them like crazy.  I can't stand it. I gave Jenn big hugs too with tear filled eyes.  Jenn is one of my dearest friends in all the world.  She definitely helps to keep me in style and I'm not sure what I will do without her to give me an opinion on everything that requires an artistic eye.  I guess she will be getting a lot of text messages from me! I might have to send her a picture of my outfit every day at 5:30 in the morning so she can make sure I don't look like a dork.  HA! 

I had the chance to sit down with Vivi the other night and look through an entire A.merican G.irl magazine page by page.  We talked together about every dress and every girl's cute hair and all of their princess qualities.  I cherished every minute of that little conversation.  I just love that little girl.  She is pretty amazing.  Vivi is growing so fast and will have a birthday before Christmas.  Oh goodness, Jenn better put a brick on her head to keep her from growing too much before I see her again.

Baby Georgia is just the most darling little thing.  She has the biggest "cheeky" smile you have every seen!  She just waddles around the house following the big kids.  She cracks me up!  I sure will miss that punkin. 

I'm excited for Jason and his career and I know that this move was best for their family.  My hope and prayer is that they will jump into their new community and find friends, a church, a school, and good shopping.  I want for Vivi to meet other 4 year old princesses that love to paint, read, play school with stuffed animals, and watch princess movies too.  I pray they get settled in their house quickly and it soon feels like home. 

I also pray that Christmas comes real quick!!!  Can't wait to hug their necks again!  I miss them already.

Trick or Treat!

On Halloween Night we walked the boys and their cousins around the neighborhood for their very first TRICK OR TREAT!  They caught on really quick.  Pretty soon they were running up the sidewalks saying "Trick or Treat.  Thank you very much!"  So funny.  Jordan would say "More candy please?!"  They were the most excited about the bag of popcorn they got from one house.  Out of all the things in their pumpkin bucket  they chose to eat later that night...popcorn.  Oh goodness, they crack me up! 

Nathan was already so excited about his "chocolate!"  It was nearly impossible to keep them still for a picture.

Showing off their dinosaur tails!

As if the candy was not enough surprise for the night, MeMe got the boys a new dinosaur book!  What a special treat!

The boys and their adorable cousins!  Vivi was a beautiful Dorothy and sweet little Georgia was Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz.  So cute!

Oh, and can you guess who carved MeMe and Grandad's pumpkin?! Yep, my sister, artist and princess-extraordinaire.  It's Princess Ariel, seashells and all!  Ha!

Of course, I told Bryan that we are total loser parents because we did not carve our pumpkin.  At least Nathan and Jordan don't quite know what they missed out on yet.  Next year, we will be carving a pumpkin.

BOO at the ZOO

We took our little dinosaurs to "Boo.At.The.Zoo" this weekend.

My creative and talented Mom (MeMe) made Nathan and Jordan's awesome dino costumes!!  The boys were so excited to be dinosaurs for the day.

"ROOOOAAAAAARRRRR! We are DINO-JORDY and DINO-TOT!"

The cute crew of Calvert cousins!

It's a Zoo Carnival complete with clowns, games, prizes, and candy!

Dr. Brayden and Dr. Bryce were our tour guides for the day.

The weather was beautiful so the animals were quite entertaining.

So excited that Aunt Morgan got to come with us!

Jordy's favorite...the ELEPHANTS!

So happy that Aunt Libby was in town to join the zoo fun too!

My three tired boys headed toward the car after a long day of fun!

Took My Punkins to the Punkin Patch!

We made our annual family trip to The Pumpkin Patch last weekend.  The boys loved it! 

So happy to be at the Pumpkin Patch!!!

Little scarecrows...

Driving tractors!  If only I could convince these boys to use pedals!  It must be a developmental thing...ugh. 

HEY!  It's the Hay House!  Notice the very attractive stamp on Nater Tot's hand?  Yeah, that's how we have to bribe him to take his allergy medicine in the morning.  And sometimes we may or may not bribe him with one candy corn. 

The CORN MAZE!  This thing drives me crazy every year!  I can never figure out how to get out of there.  Thank goodness there are usually a few young teenagers that run around in there so long they get the whole thing figured out and they are very willing to share the path.  Although, Nathan and Jordan totally thought they were leading the way the whole time!  HA!  At every "fork" in the maze, they would say, "This way? No, this way.  This way?  No, that way!"  It was hilarious.

Then, if that wasn't enough fun, we jumped on a trailer for a hay ride.

First stop on the hay ride....to feed the donkeys!  They were so cute.

Second stop on the hay ride...to feed the cows.  They were not so cute.  Although Nathan thought it was hysterical.  Jordy, not so much.

I sure am thankful for the great memories we made at the Pumpkin Patch this year! 

Going on a Dinosaur Hunt!

Nathan and Jordan are so fascinated by dinosaurs right now.  It all started a few months ago when Paige mailed the boys a surprise...a dinosaur book and dinosaur bath toys.  Then, we discovered "Dinosaur.Train" and "Dino.Dan."  So, now we have to go on dinosaur hunts pretty often at our house.  The boys usually require a hat, a flashlight, a backpack, and a coat. 

Waiting on the porch for Daddy to hide the dinosaurs...

 Searching high and low...

 Getting warmer...

Found one!!

It sure is an adventure to be the mom and dad of boys!!