Halloween 2013

From the moment we started talking about Halloween, Bryson was apprehensive. If you recall last year he refused to wear a costume and ended up being a "football player". I'd ask him if he wanted to be a skeleton, or a chicken etc.....and he'd reply: "no, I'm good." At one point he declared that he was going to be a pumpkin and that stuck (finding a pumpkin costume for a toddler boy is impossible!) I tried to convince him to be a glow stick-man or a bowler but ultimately he always went back to a pumpkin.  He refused to take a nap for me until 4:30 on Halloween. Brian and the kids tried to wake him and urge him to go trick-or-treating with no avail. Brian and I fashioned an old sweatshirt with duct tape to resemble a pumpkin in hopes that he'd have a change of heart. While taking photos of the others we laid his "costume" on top of him to get a photo of him.....he threw it off four times before I was able to catch this shot...and then he tossed it again. He ended up handing out candy with me to all our visitors (with the exception of one group of kids that were "too scary"). 

At about 8 o'clock he said "I go trick-or-treating?" so the others came back to get him for about 20 minutes of absolute joy! He'd get his treats and quickly ask Brian "I go next house?"
He even woke the next day asking to trick-or-treat again...we said yes, next year. He said "no, not next year, SOON!"  

 Alexis rocked the 50's. (struck with strep-throat the day before we were so thankful to have left-over amoxicillin in the fridge to start her recovery before seeing the doctor....such rebels! She was good to go.)

She told Brian "I just love trick-or-treating!" and she'd stop and say "daddy, look how much candy I have!" after every house.

 The boys chose morph suits again. Braeden begged to go trick-or-treating alone (are you kidding me?) so that he could be faster and get more candy! I'm sure next year he'll be hanging with his friends but since Bryson stayed behind I think he and his siblings gathered more than enough for a sincere offering to the "great pumpkin." (I'm certain that was not what Braeden was thinking when gathering his treats.)

Braxton said this was the first year he made it to JACKPOT on his candy bag. What a blast!

Halloween Countdown...nerf gun shootout

Truth be told Pinterest and Instagram have ruined my blog! But I love it when Pinterest hands me a perfectly awesome idea that yields so much fun. The original idea was a turkey shoot out for Thanksgiving (which may have to happen too!) But we made a few tweaks and played it Halloween style! 

READY.....

AIM.....

FIRE....

Bryson was the high scorer for round one...with a bit of help and from closer range. 

Fun and easy family memories. But from the expression on Brian's face you might want to WATCH-OUT those ghost might be coming for you!

January photo stream

One of my goals for 2013 is to take more photos....and to use the "real camera" more often! So I decided I'd get serious and really try 365 this year. Some days are really tough; I think yikes we've been really lazy/boring/lame today but I know the compilation will be so fun to see! So here goes my best attempt to capture a bit each day.

 (I'm adopting this mantra: I will not stress too much 

if I miss a day or wind up with a blurry/flash disaster of a photo!) 

Jan 1: it's only a matter of a wee bit more time and he's going to surpass me!

(it wasn't until days later that I realized the quality of this photo...

but, I'm not stressing nor am I ditching this project on day1!)

 Jan 2: Just an average moment for these two. They have such a playful relationship!

Jan 3: a little fun with one of her BFFs. 

Jan 4: Bryson has never experienced playing in the snow so insta-snow equaled insta-happiness!

Jan 5: game night with a little mexican train

Jan 6: trombone time

Jan 7: not even back at school a whole week and we are already making a trip to the Dr and pharmacy! 

Jan 8: my new hat arrived; I've been wanting a slouchy hat for awhile.

Brian call's me rosstafarian in this one...(he has fun names for several of my hat looks). 

Ross-ta-what? the kids asked....so we googled it. 

Oh my! The kids got quite the giggles imagining their mama giving little kids cigarettes and such. I am pretty jolly though and this hat makes me even more so.   

Jan 11: Quick someone let me take a pic; I haven't taken one in several days!

Jan 12: Little feet (and random videos) are a constant find on my camera roll. 

He's nearly as efficient with electronics as the rest of us! 

Jan 13: loving Parker never grows old! 

Jan 14: oh my sweet girl; get out the bricks she's getting to big!

Someone please stop the clock for a bit!

Jan 15: We got some freebies while listening to a nook presentation over the weekend so

Jungle Speed has been a new favorite. 

Jan 16: lately anytime he sees a QT drink he asks: "that mine?" YUM!

Jan 17: goofing around on an upcoming project

Jan 18: a little love for my family 

Jan 19: party on! 

 Jan 20: After 6 months in the box I thought it was finally time to try out my boots.

Jan 21: We implemented 15 minutes of special 1:1 time; NO interruptions allowed. 

It was awesome!

Jan 22: What do you do with a twizzler when you want to roam the house?
Store it chipmunk style!

Jan 23: MWAH! and other silly faces followed by "I see?"
He loves seeing the photos, often begging to see them even before they've been snapped!

Jan 24: He was laid down in his crib for a nap but this is where I found him when I went to wake him. Since then he climbs in and out like a pro;
he wakes in the middle of the night to retrieve his milk from the kitchen.
 I've even found my phone in his crib!

Jan 25: Poptropica overload

Jan 26: the laundry room has been slowly evolving...this rug is the newest addition. 

Jan 27: letter fishing

We realized on New Year's eve that Bryson is pretty good with letter recognition. 

He knows all the upper case letters and most of their sounds!

Jan 28: Braeden got involved in the honey-dos. 

I finally decided to put this vintage door to use (it's year long welcome in storage was over!)

It helps give a little more character to our kitchen 

and breaks up the ominous golden hue that has also outgrown it's welcome!

 Jan 29: twizzlers have been in high demand here lately, this day they decided to get creative with them

Jan 30: "I eat, mama?" me: yes, hold on a minute.

This is what I returned to: He got a plate, pushed a stool to the pantry, climbed up, 

got out the box of poptarts, opened up a package and ate breakfast on his own. 

No need to wait for mom....this boy's got skills.   

Jan 31: Alexis was so excited that her curls were staying in!

Christmas Countdown the final week

During our final days....
We did Ice Skating and Cosmic Bowling

We spent time with Troy and company...played the blind Christmas scene plate drawing game and Scene It. And the kids used Troy and Cameron as climbing towers, punching bags and overall human toys.

We made a Christmas craft/gift....

We read and acted out the Christmas story. While it wasn't near the production as the previous years since we were without our co-actors, we did focus on the reason for the season.  

We attempted to get a cute group photo of the kids....(this was as good as it got. (on tap for the new year's resolutions...use the real camera more often so we have better resolution and less blur!)

And finally, the best of all...we celebrated the Birth of our Savior!

Christmas Countdown week 3

Day 16: Drive to Mystery location. We gave the kids the option again this year for gifts from us or a family trip. It didn't take them long to decide to travel! Had Brian and I not made a hotel reservation for that night we likely would have ended up in a secondary location  (after all the kids had no idea where we were going and we really LOVE the west coast....but we resisted the urge and continued south). We finally told them when we were minutes from our hotel that we were in Texas! It was so fun to share in their thrill as they heard the waves crashing while we unloaded our bags. Morning couldn't come fast enough!

Day 17: Sand play and splashing in the Gulf.
PLUS bonus fun...hanging with cousins and Emily! The weather was INCREDIBLE in the high 80s! Bryson and I even got a little toasty. The sand was amazing....SO, SO SOFT! The three bigs were loving the water and Bryson loved the sand. Fine by me! One less kid to worry about in the waves!

Day 18: The Texas State Aquarium.

We had heard the aquarium was small but neat. I'm so glad we went; we had a GREAT time! There was a group of 350 school kids on a field trip there and our little family. It was as if we had the place to ourselves as we only encountered them while at the dolphin show and when watching "santa" serve a 5 course meal in one of the tanks. Braxton and Alexis were invited to be volunteers at the dolphin show but Braxton was hesitant so Braden stepped in. They got to give the SIGN to "GO".  It was awesome! We saw sea turtles; sting ray, including big Bertha, she had at least a 4 foot body span; sharks (Braeden was pretty stoked to have pet one in the touching pool!) We even watched wild dolphin playing off the shore.   

After the Aquarium we hit a surf shop and bought body boards. Who wants presents when you're having this much fun?

Day 19: "What's the countdown?" (My thoughts....Are you kidding me?....We are on vacation! THAT IS the COUNTDOWN!) Um, how about you guys can get in the "adult's only" hot-tub. (Not to mention spend lots more time enjoying the beach!) We checked out several different areas of the coastline. The kids and Brian took a stroll on the pier where they ran amok and saw a small shark someone had caught!

Day 20: Drive Home, Sing and Jam to Holiday Tunes and have ice cream for dinner. Remark how thankful we were to have made the trip when we did as the temps were plummeting 30* degrees from the day before!

Day 21: Family Movie...we had hopes "A Christmas Carol" would be a good one but it wasn't. Three of the kids fell asleep before it was half over (we put Bryson to bed very early on....it was just too scary in my opinion for his little eyes). The other three of us quit watching soon after, the others fell asleep, it was that bad.