BLACK FRIDAY

After our delicious Thanksgiving dinner with friends, my friends and I decided to hit the outlets for some shopping into the wee hours of the morning. The stores didn't open until 12:00 midnight and then the crazy-time began. I couldn't believe how many people were there, moms, kids, and pregnant ladies- oh my!

We actually didn't buy very much, but  it was so fun to be with these crazy ladies. I was so tired and slept most of the day. I got back home around 7:00 a.m. and slept past lunch time. What a fun night!

Family Pictures

Thanks to a good buddy we got our family pictures taken this year! I'm always grateful to get these done and it was such a relief to have a friend do them :) THANKS MORGAN! I'm a bit partial, but I think they are fabulous!

I learned a few things for this experience #1 If you want your kids to be happy during a photo shoot, make sure they have eaten before hand. We hadn't fed them "linner" (early dinner) and we ran out of time before we needed to meet my friend. I am grateful for the pictures we got clicked off because both Brecon and Cael were digging through my purse looking for anything to eat during the shoot.

THE boys' CLOSE-UPs

#2 SMILE and Have fun! There is something about seeing a family (mine in particular) acting like we normally do, goofing around and laughing at the silly things we do. We laugh even harder when someone is getting hurt or tortured (in a good way) It's always funnier when it happens to someone else! These are the 'real' family moments captured in time....

Brecon was pulling on Ben's Eye sockets like they were the reins! At least Ben thought it was funny too!

I really hope to get family shots every year... it's fun to see the changes and additions, sorry 2007 for not getting official pictures... it was still a good year!

Highlights AUG - OCT

One of my favorite sayings when I'm feeling behind and am trying to convince myself that it is okay to be tardy. However, I do feel flustered when I am waiting for someone and they are late-- Crazy, I know. Take a walk with me down memory lane...

AUGUST: My "baby's" first day of school. This is the face when I told him he got to go to school EVERYDAY! Is that excitment or fear? Brecon and I take Cael to school around 11:50 and he rides the bus home around 3:25. While Cael is off learning, Brecon takes his nap or we go shopping, depending on the day.





SEPTEMBER While Hurricane IKE struck the Houston area, the boys and I enjoy some good times with the Brown Family and one of our last times (with our season pass) to the ZOO. We also attended a special fireside with guest speaker Michael Ballum. Our sitters managed to put 2 one-year-olds asleep using the "tickle" method. Needless to say, we were impressed.






OCTOBER:What a FUN MONTH! To start it all off, we joined with our friends in celebrating CANADIAN THANKSGIVING! Seriously, it was awesome. We threw up Red and White streamers and balloons and sang 'O CANADA'. We just wanted our Canadian friend to feel the love, and a delicious dinner was enjoyed by all!



Then, throughout the month we really had fun making our front yard into a "graveyard" bits and pieces at a time. We think that next year skeletons and their parts need to be sticking out of the ground... it will totally add to the"spooky"effect. Ben was quite busy with the skill saw and the boys helped me with the paint. We added some plywood ghosts after these photos were taken. One of them reminds us of Slimer from Ghostbusters.... he's such a cutie.
THE FRONT


UP CLOSE and PERSONAL. Our buddies got a kick out of these ones, so did we!


Can't go wrong with a yeast joke and Brecon's Halloween Gator suit. Despite his attempts and frustrations to remove the head part, that baby stayed on!


*Cael's costume is not shown due to computer malfunction... alright, it's not uploaded yet* I'm a dork! He was the cutest PETER PAN (with a homemade costume) I've ever seen.

As I like to say, thanks for the memories! Here's to many more!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

THE TRADITIONAL PUMPKIN CARVING NIGHT (below) we invited a bunch of friends out for Family Night to enjoy some hot cocoa and to make a mess with pumpkin guts. We really had a great time with friends and letting the kids cut loose at the playground. It was quite chilly that night, but we had a great time!

ME, MICHELLE,and JODI with a MASTERPIECE pumpkin (Strong work you guys)

I will soon upload some of our pictures from the HALLOWEEN festivities, but for now here are some from my friends' cameras-- THANKS GUYS)

So I usually like to dress up as a group, everyone in the family has a 'theme' or at least we all sort of look like we belong together. I had several ideas for our costumes: THE INCREDIBLES.. Ben of course wanted us to be a PIRATE FAMILY... etc. Well as I was shopping at THRIFT TOWN (it's amazing) we found this WINNER Of a DRESS and I just had to buy it (You can't beat a $3 dress) Well, seeing how this is an election year and probably the only time this sort of costume would work, We WENT POLITICAL!

A VOTE FOR US IS A VOTE FOR AMERICA!

So my "sash" says "PALIN 4 PRESIDENT". Everyone got a big kick out of it. I did have someone say "On the back of your sash it should say loser".... whatever! It's Halloween and it's all in good fun.

Me and a giant crayon, we are best friends. So Those boots were killin' me by the end of the night, I finally took them off and was walking barefoot. It was not bad, but not good either. NOTE TO SELF: Buy Dr. Scholl's comfort pads for boots.

The boys' costumes went along a PETER PAN THEME.... but we'll get that later :) WE HOPE everyone had an awesome HALLOWEEN, we know we did :)

a few more from OCTOBER....

We were feeling pretty bored one night and decided to use up our "tokens" at a little place called MR. GATTI's. It's like a Chuck-E-Cheese's, but the games are for older kids and there are sometimes bumper cars in-doors. There was a MR. GATTI's not far from our house, but sadly, it closed down :( We just had to drive a little further to have our fun for the night). So after stuffing our faces with MG Pizza, the boys enjoyed a few rides on the merry-go-round. Soon, Brecon was ready to explore the place. He really liked trying to climb up the tube slide, I'm sure he'll grasp the true function of the slide later, but it was a good time that night. Cael and Ben enjoyed playing the "Jet Fighter" and "Race Car" games together.

ALSO during the month at MILBERGERS NURSERY (located just up the road) they had a free hay-maze and large inflatable jump-around. A group of us went to enjoy the free attraction and We knew the kiddos had a great time when they came out of that jumper all hot and sweaty.

After dropping Cael off at school, the mommies and left-over kids went to Panera Bread.... two words: MMMMM MMMM!

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

First we had the Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Chili Dinner. It was delicious and fun to see the creative costumes. And..... Cael's AMAZING Peter Pan costume! He was so excited, can't you tell? The look on his face expresses pure bliss... Brecon TOO!

It was funny to see Brecon grasp the concept after a few houses of trick-or-treating: Knock on door, reach in candy bowl, put it in the bucket, and repeat. Sometimes he would even get a little more interested in going inside the home and exploring than the goodies, but it was entertaining none-the-less.


On November 1st we went to Kelly Air Force Base to watch the Air Show and our good buddies, the HILLMANS joined us for the adventure. It was incredible....very -very loud... but seriously amazing! We watched these jets fly up and down and giggled imagining the craziest ride at SIX FLAGS and multiplying it by 20! It was so fun the watch!

CAEL: FUTURE TOP GUN

THE 3 AMIGOS: Tyler, Matthew, and Cael at the Machine Gun! Get the BAD GUYS....

Cael and Mommy waiting for the BLUE ANGELS....

A kiss from Daddy.... ahhh, it's a sweet moment!

And check this kid out! We have a cat that is our friend now and the boys think she is the coolest! Right before this picture Brecon had his arms wrapped around the cats neck, so I ran to grab my camera and this is the shot that I got.... still pretty cute, especially that smile!