Halloween 2009

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite times of year & always has been! I love the colors, the weather, and the CANDY! I knew this year would be a lot of fun as the boys are finally old enough to get excited about pumpkins, dressing up, and candy! This year, our routine was no different...we spent the day with Mimi & Poppy! Mimi & Poppy live in the perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating. I don't remember a year where we had less than 250 kids! Its always so much fun to see my old friends with their kids as well as getting to show off my babies! We got to Mimi & Poppys in time for the boys to take their 3 hour nap! During this time, mom & I got the candy ready and baked cookies! Moms neighbors, The Monks, were kind enough to invite us over for hot dogs, chili, taco soup, and all the desserts we could think of! The boys were excited because they knew Anna Grace would be there! They also LOVE Troy! They did great eating, chasing Anna Grace, and socializing with everyone. We headed back to Mimi's to get their costumes on. Mom & I took the boys on the golf cart trick or treating while Poppy & Daddy stayed behind to hand out candy! We only went to houses of our good friends & still the boys came home with their bags filled! Since it was a holiday, I let them dive right in and eat whatever they wanted! We got back to Mimi's in time to relieve the guys (UT was playing!) and we handed out candy until we ran out! Then it was time to join the guys & watch some football! The boys were on a sugar high and didn't go to bed until 12:30am! That was fine with us cause we knew they would sleep late- and they did! They didn't get up until 10am! Chris decided that they all needed to go ride the tractor on the farm for a while & mommy got a nice break to rest! It was another wonderful Halloween & I'm already looking forward to next year! The boys have already said they want to be spiderman next year :)


Eating at Troy & Vickies

Nolan the frog & Jonas the monster

I love watching the boys hold hands!

A frog & a monster giving daddy hugs!

Anna Grace is here...but all Jonas can focus on is the candy in her bucket!

Time to go trick-or-treating!

Another family picture

Mommy & her frog (Nolan)

Mom & I finishing out the night with the boys handing out candy!

My boys are off to the farm!

Jonas climbing in

Nolan climbing in

Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch

We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends! Sunday, we decided to head to Autumn Acres and meet Christy, Jon, Brad, Maribeth, & Anna Grace. We knew the kids would have a lot of fun with the barrel ride, corn maze, playground, petting zoo, hayride, and pumpkin patch. We were not disappointed either! They had so much for the kids to do! I think we were there for 3+ hours! Jonas, or should I say Dr Dolittle, spent a lot of time talking to the animals! In fact, he is asking Santa for a goat for Christmas! Nolan had more fun on the playground chasing Anna Grace around! Afterward, we all loaded up and went to eat pizza before heading home. It was a wonderful day for the kids to play out of the house & we got to enjoy our friends! We are looking forward to next year already!


Jonas, Nolan, & Anna Grace in the corn maze...they love holding hands!

Daddy & Jonas

Picking pumpkins with daddy

Hayride to the pumpkin patch

Nolan sliding

Jonas sliding

Nolan & his bull

All the kiddos

The boys riding the barrel train

Nolan & mommy taking a break! That was tiring!

Maribeth & Anna Grace going to jump

Jonas & Anna Grace playing in the corn

The boys looking at the sheep

Jonas petting the goat

Jonas talking & petting the cow

Daddy & his lil men

I love my boys!

Anna Grace is coming!!!

The boys have been looking forward to today all week! All I have heard is "when Anna Grace coming?" Anna Grace is one of my best friends (Maribeth) little girls. She is exactly 3 weeks older than the boys! So this morning when they woke up, I told them that she was coming soon! They were so excited! They were making loops around the house singing "Anna Grace is coming! Anna Grace is coming!" I think I'm in trouble already :) Maribeth & Anna Grace got here early this afternoon. The boys were waiting on Anna Grace to help make cupcakes. They all took turns adding ingredients and stirring. After baking, we moved on to painting pumpkins. I had bought 3 "baby punkins" as the boys call them. They had a lot of fun getting messy painting! After cleaning them up, they played forever with puzzles, stickers, trucks- you name it, they played it! After dinner, it was time for the boys to take baths. Anna Grace hopped right in too! They played for a while before it was time to get out. After diapers & lotion, they decided to jump on the boys beds for an hour. They had the best time giggling and holding hands while jumping. In fact, I think they spent the majority of the day holding hands- Anna Grace in the middle, of course! I'm so glad they love her so much! It gives Maribeth & I more excuses to get together!

Helping make cupcakes

Painting their pumpkins for Halloween!


Holding hands jumping off the step

Look at those precious faces!

Sneaking higher & higher up the stairs

Its bedtime & they have not slowed down all day!

Jumping off the bed is so much fun!

Seattle!!

Mom and I have been looking forward to this trip for a while! We booked it back in May and were looking forward to a long girls weekend! We headed to Nashville 4:30am on Thursday morning to make our 6am flight! We had excellent flights and had a short layover in Las Vegas where we played the slot machines. Mom quadrupled her money and I lost it all...isn't that the way it goes! Cindy was waiting on us when we arrived in Seattle at noon Seattle time. She had packed a picnic and we headed to a local park to eat. She told us that she had every minute planned and she was not kidding! After eating at the park, we went to a specialty cupcake bakery and had dessert. We then did some shopping at childrens stores so I could find the boys presents to take home. Cindy & Davis had just bought a house 2 weeks earlier and took us to see it next. Its beautiful but they had not closed on it so we only got a tour. We headed home to rest a cook dinner before going to a comedy show that night! By the time mom & I got in bed, we had been up 24 hours! We were exhausted! The next morning, we started out at a french bakery for breakfast. Afterwards, Cindy surprised us by taking us to the spa where she had made appts weeks earlier. The massage was hands down the best I've ever had! We then ate at Virginia Inn (my request & favorite from our previous visit)... It did not disappoint! We spent the rest of the day shopping downtown, going to the library, and meeting Davis for drinks & pizza! Saturday, Cindy surprised us once again with a 3 hour food tour of the market. Oh. My. Goodness! It was heavenly! We had so much good food! Afterwards, we loaded up and headed to capital hill for shopping- these were the shops I was looking forward to most- clothes you can bet noone will have back home! We stopped by the market to get fresh veggies for dinner before heading home. We cooked mom a birthday dinner which was awesome- good job Cindy! We played games the rest of the night. Sunday, we headed over to meet Viv, the little girl Cindy keeps. She was adorable & entertained us all! Then we did some touristy things like scope out Bill Gates house before eating lunch at Beths Cafe. We decided to take naps afterwards and ended up being lazy and watching 4 chick flicks. Mom, Cindy, and I all piled in bed and didn't move! Monday morning, we packed up, headed to the airport, and flew home. It was a great visit and we decided to have a girls trip every October! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful mom & sister! Thanks Cindy for letting us stay and working so hard on planning our visit! You're the best!

Flying into Seattle...

New homeowners!

At the comedy show

Fish Market...ohhh, the salmon :)

Me with 2 of my favorite people!

Mom & I

Cindy & Davis at Beth's Cafe

Fixing to head to the airport to head home

So happy to get home to my boys!

The boys playing with the puzzles mommy brought home!