Our First Family Bowling Trip!

Our First Time Bowling with the kiddos! (Mason thought the balls crashing against the pins were a little loud!)

 Last night we got to take the kids bowling for the first time.  Mike and his boss planned this family bowling night for the recruiters and their families.  We had such a good time!  We went to the bowling alley on the army base and it was really nice.  We bowled and ate lots of food and had fun with all the families.  We can't wait to go again.  Mason and Eva both loved bowling!

This nifty device is for kiddos who are too little to really lift the ball or roll it well.  We used it for Mason and Eva and it worked great.  They were SO excited to watch the ball crash into the pins at the end of the alley.

Eva waiting her turn to bowl.  CUTIE!  She was a trooper considering she got her 18 month shots that morning.  Oh, and for an update on her - she weighed 22 pounds and was 31 inches tall.  The doctor was very pleased with this! At her 12 month check up, Eva was in the 10th percentile for height and weight.  This time she was in the 25th percentile - so the doc was happy she was finally starting to catch up!

Here is Mason bowling with Mike.  He would cover his ears as soon as he let go of the ball!

Watching his ball roll!

He knocked over half of the pins on this one!

Here it goes!

These pics were taken before we discovered that contraption that helps roll the ball for little kids.  He would sit down and roll the ball and it would take, seriously, about 30 seconds to travel down the alley.  It was like watching bowling in slow motion, haha.

This is my FAVORITE picture if the night.  It is the last score card of the evening.  I must say, that this was after my awesome husband taught me how to bowl...but I beat 3 Marine Recruiters and one of their wives at bowling.  I bowled a 120!  AWESOME.  Victory is sweet!

18 Months!

My Darling Daughter at 18 Months!  First thing in the Morning!

Eva is 18 Months today!!  Wow!  I just can't believe how big she is getting.  Eva - you are the most precious little girl in my world!  At 18 months you are really starting to talk.  The best words you say are:
CooCoo - Cookie
Mama
Dada
Foo - Juice (that one just cracks me up)
Baby
Car
Cat
Woof Woof - Dog
Wack Wack - Duck
Your favorite song is Old MacDonald - and I often hear you singing Eee-I Eee-I Oh!  when you are playing by yourself.  You still LOVE Barney.  And by LOVE I mean its a borderline obsession.  haha.  You are beginning to get into the picky eater stage.  Previously you ate almost anything.  But lately you are sticking to peas, peaches, turkey, bananas and grapes.  Of course strawberries, blueberries and mozarella cheese are still on your plate at just about every meal!  And still no milk. 
You are so affectionate and sweet.  Although you are learning how to throw a good fit from your older brother Mason.  Speaking of Mason I hope that one day you guys will be the best of friends.  Because I know that its not happening right now!  Several times a day I have to separate you two and make you play in your own rooms until you cool down and can play together again.  Ah the joys of siblings.  You are down to one nap a day.  You sleep with your two pink blankies and your baby doll.  You still aren't showing any separation anxiety from mommy - but I wonder if our move will change all of that!
Eva, you are such a joy to our family!  I KNOW you have your daddy wrapped around your little finger.  I love the sweet hugs you give me just because and I love how loud your kisses are.  You are just amazing!
Every time I hear the words to this Josh Groban song I think of you!  Here they are:
Who puts the rainbow in the sky?
Who lights the stars at night?
Who dreamt up someone so divine?
Someone like you and made them mine?

And here are some pictures I took of you this morning!  You were practicing your walking.  And I just love how you always have on at least 3 necklaces at all times during the day.  Here you were wearing 3 long shoelaces, two flower lays, and one stethoscope!  Hilarious!

Big Grin!

So proud of yourself!

I had to stick this one in, too.  Binoculars, and stethoscope and a mask.  That's stylin!

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween!  We read Halloween stories and watches Halloween shows on tv and ate Halloween cookies all day.  Not the healthiest of days - but it sure was fun!  Mason was SO excited to trick or treat.  Eva was a little less enthusiastic, as she was running a 101 degree fever.  I took her to the doctor the next morning and it turns out she had an ear infection.  But she hung in there like a trooper!  Here are our pictures from the day/night!

Mason had a blast dressing up as different things all day.

Eva got to wear her Tinkerbell costume this time!  It was pretty warm outside.

Reading Books while waiting on daddy

My Little Giraffe all ready to go!

Man it is SO hard to get a decent picture of these two! #1

#2

#3.  Kind of good!  At least Eva is smiling.  Neither one is looking at the camera.  Sheesh.

Eva and Daddy

It's time!

Out and About

Trick or Treat!

This is the pumpkin we carved!  And by "we" I mean "me".  We waited for 2 weeks for Mike to find time to help us carve it, but with his work schedule it just didn't happen.  So Mason and I decided to go ahead and do it by ourselves.  However, once I cut it open and Mason saw all the guts inside that would need to be scooped out - he bailed on me!  I asked him if he would help and he replied with, "No, that stuff on the inside makes me nervous." True Mason fashion haha.

Our spooky plastic pumpkins on our bench on the front porch.

The shadow of our skeleton hanging from the roof

Eva and I headed back home early.  She was getting a little irritable and Mason wanted to keep trick or treating.  So she and mommy stayed at home watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and handing out candy to the trick or treaters.  She was munching on some pretzels from her Halloween loot.  I just love Halloween!!

Trunk or Treat!

Trunk or Treat was a big hit with the kiddos this year.  We went out to a farm that belongs to a member of our church and had fun playing games and trick or treating at the various trunks.  This year for Halloween, Mason wanted to be a giraffe and Eva was going to be Tinkerbell.  However, a cold front blew through and at the last minute we had to pick a warmer costume for Eva.  So she went as an elephant.  It is supposed to be warm tonight for trick or treating in the neighborhood, so I think tonight she will get to be Tinkerbell after all!
Here are some pics from our time on the farm!

Mason taking a cat nap on the way to trunk or treat

Daddy and Eva ready to go!

The cutest baby giraffe in the world!

Mason, Mommy and Eva

Mason playing soccer.  Eva did it too but we didn't get a pic!

Getting candy!

Cookie Walk!

Eva got a cookie!

Mason making a shot!  He totally got the toilet paper in the toilet on his first try!

Our Little Elephant practices Walking

Getting ready to play Candy Land!

In the heat of the game!

This is Paige, Mason's most favorite gal at church!!

Halloween just isn't Halloween without Pixie Stix!!

Here is Eva and her boyfriend Liam.  They really do like each other! haha.

CANDY!

My precious babies!  They won't be little much longer!

Sweet Elephant

We had so much fun and we are looking forward to trick or treating and watching "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" tonight.  It's such a great tradition!

Halloween Baking

  A couple of weeks ago, Mason and I made some Halloween cupcakes!  He was so excited.  He LOVES to cook and bake - so helping make the cupcakes was a huge deal to him.  We picked out some orange and purple cake dye to color our icing and went to town with sprinkles on the top!  Here are the pics!