Halloween 2011!

Halloween was so much fun this year! We got lots of celebrating and dressing up time thanks to three trick-or-treating events. It made such an impression on Mason! He still thanks God for trick-or-treating and candy every day in his prayers. That kid is so funny. We started out getting to trick-or-treat in Houston with cousin Isiah (see post below), then we participated in Trunk-or-Treat with our church on Sunday, and then went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Halloween night! So much fun.
Here are our Halloween pictures!

Mom and Eva gear up for Trunk-or-Treat!

Here is Eva and her boyfriend Liam. No really, they love each other. The nursery workers at church even noticed and like to joke about it. Liam was part of the display at one of the Trunks!
Mike, Mason, Eva and Sydney. We love these kiddos!

Of course we had to get a picture with Jeb, the Human Lego BoyMason had such a good time painting his mini pumpkin. He really takes pride in his art!


Waiting to stick his hand into the bowl of eyeballs

Pumpkin Bowling!
Here is Mason and his sweet babysitter Paige. He loves this girl! (and her little brother Jared!). He prays for them often at night, and anytime we drive even remotely close to their house he begs to see them!
Heading home from Trunk-or-treat! Miss Eva is all smiles
Happy Halloween Everyone!! We dressed up in some Halloween themed clothes until it was time for costumes! I made this little onesie (and the jack-o-lantern one she wore to the pumpkin patch) for Mason when he was celebrating his first Halloween. Hand me downs!
Taking pictures before we head out for some candy! We were trying to take pics and answer the door because those trick-or-treaters came out early!
Trying again...

Sweet Girl
It's Candy Time!

Vacation in Mosquito Paradise

Well, we had a near perfect vacation to Houston a couple of weeks ago. And what, you may be asking, was the imperfect part? One word: MOSQUITOES. Thousands of them. Scratch that. Millions of them. It was almost unbearable! Mike ended up with 38 bites and I got a mere 24. It doesn't sound like that many bites, but when you know that those bites were sustained in short sprints from the car to the house it seems like a lot!! It was really like a plague. We had planned to take Mason to the zoo on Monday, but we quickly realized that wasn't going to work. Plan B: the Downtown Aquarium! And plan B turned out to be awesome! We also had a great time celebrating Mike's Grandmother's (Pita's) birthday with his Dad's side of the family, trick-or-treating with cousin Isiah at his physical therapy clinic, and snuggling with Gramby at nap time.
Here are a few pictures from our trip!
At the Aquarium!

Checking out some fish with Dad and Paw Paw
These Rays were so pretty
Attempt 1 at a family picture...
And we agree to give up and let the 2 year old do whatever...
We ate lunch at the fancy aquarium restaurant. It was SO delicious. There is a HUGE aquarium in the middle of the restaurant so every table has an incredible view of all the fish. Check out this grouper! They get much bigger than this in the wild!
Family Photo Op!
Riding on the Shark Adventure Train with PawPaw
One beautiful baby
We got to see them training this tiger. He was impressive! Mason enjoyed watching him stand up on his hind legs.
In the tunnel on the shark train
Sword nosed shark
Here's the aquarium!
We decided to head over to the Hard Rock Cafe after the aquarium for some dessert. Mike snapped this pic of an iconic downtown building.Playing with Paw Paw at the Hard Rock

Mom and Mason at the Hard Rock.After dessert at Hard Rock we went over to Pita's to visit. She got to hold Eva and play with Mason. We had a great visit with her and Tia Mary.


Trick or Treat! My cute baby witch and her daddy. She was such a hit!

Here's the gang! A pirate, a witch, and Buzz Lightyear!
Gramby and Eva

Back at the hotel, laughing and playing before bed.
Sweet kisses!
Eva's teething is getting out of control! She tries to teethe on just about everything...even her brother's head!
All Smiles! Except for that little mosquito bite on her cheek! Poor baby.
We had a great time with family. It was such a relaxing, easy time. We already miss everyone!

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Well, after a horrible battle with the stomach plague of 2011, we are mostly back on our feet. What a rough weekend we had! A special thanks to Memaw for coming to help us out, even though she ended up sick herself! On a brighter note, I did manage to lose 10 pounds. Unfortunately I gained 5 of them back. The bug managed to strike about half of our church. Even the preacher got it. So glad everyone is feeling better!
This last weekend we headed over to the Pumpkin Patch for some fall festivities. It was pretty hot. And by pretty hot I mean it was close to unbearable...but we stuck it out for a couple of hours to have some fun. We didn't actually buy any pumpkins - but we sure had fun looking at them! haha.
Mason has been having fun with his Halloween costume. Here he wanted me to take a picture of him with his pirate hat on. And here he wanted me to take a picture of his sword. Um, adorable!
Here are some pictures from the Pumpkin Patch! Here we are about to feed the farm animals. Mason is sampling the barnyard feed to make sure its edible.
Checking out the goats!
Feeding the sheep.
This is what Eva did while we fed the animals. Note the pumpkin socks. Love it!
Just kidding, she's awake now. This girl never sleeps for long.
The highlight of the day was, for sure, the pony ride. We had to wait in line quite a while but it was really worth it. I thought Mason might be scared once he got up on the horse. But he LOVED it! Here he is handing his tickets to the Pony Guy.
Ride 'em Cowboy! He was having a blast. He really likes horses.
All done! He wasn't ready to get down.
Saying goodbye to his pony.
Here is Mom and Eva waiting in line for the Hayride!
Mason and Dad hanging out on the hayride. (Which wasn't that fun...)
Mom and Eva on the Hayride. It was so bumpy I was thankful she was strapped to me!
One traditional pumpkin picture: Check. One two year old who wouldn't cooperate for the picture: Check. One hot, tired baby ready to eat: Check. It's time to go home people!

Look Who's Standing!!

August

These last few months have been a mix of busy and slow - and to be honest, I can't really recall anything exciting that we have done. So, I just thought I would post a few more pictures of the fam from the second half of August. Enjoy!

Here is Mason "nursing" his baby penguin. That travel neck pillow he has does look a lot like my Boppy nursing pillow! So Cute.
First Day of School. Someone did not want his picture taken.

Sort of Cooperating. Ugh. Two year olds...
Daddy and Eva. She was showing her support with a USMC onesie!
Hanging out after church with my two handsome guys.

5 Months!

I know, I know. You're wondering where 4 months went, right? Well, due to some crazy bouts of sickness and then a PC and a laptop both crashing at the same time we have been absent from the blogosphere for quite a while. We're baaaack! And I will be blogging about all the happenings of the past soon. For now though, it's all about this sweet girl! Happy 5 Months Eva!Dear Eva, where do I begin! You are so full of life now! Not that you weren't previously, but now you are smiling, laughing, rolling over, trying to crawl and interested in table food. That's a lot of accomplishments in just a few short weeks! You had your first ear infection this last month (boo!) but you were a trooper. After 10 days of force-feeding an antibiotic down your throat I am a trooper as well. You laugh at Mason all the time...even when he isn't funny. Which of course makes him laugh (and bolsters his self esteem, no doubt). Everywhere we go I hear people whispering all around me about how beautiful you are. If they only knew you as I do they would see that your inner beauty makes you a truly breathtaking little gal. You are so positive and happy...just like your daddy. I hope you never lose that.
I always say this, but I really feel it this time - where has the time gone!? I know that the next few months will bring some new challenges and some amazing memories. We have created so many already.
At 5 months you are going to bed around 7 and sleeping until around 11, eating, then sleeping until around 4:30 or 5, eating and then getting up about 7. We have just started working on your sleep training and so far you have been putting yourself to sleep in your crib for your naps and bedtime. Way to go girl! You REALLY want to crawl, and have begun dragging yourself all over the floor to get to toys or people. Sometimes you give me slobbery baby kisses (which I LOVE) and other times you just wrap your little arms around my neck and squeeze. Oh that reminds me of your new favorite past time...ripping out my hair. Ouch. We love you baby girl! Here's to month #5 being the best yet!