Halloween 2012--In Pictures

This is photo overload, but I want to remember how fun and funny this night was. Lord, thank you for making this our ONLY Halloween with a 7 month old and a 2 and 1/4 year old. Mickey and Minnie had a blast and trick or treated at Dede and Papa's (aka our old neighborhood) for about an hour and Jay, Davis and Weston handled the candy at the door after that. 

Getting ready at New House

Check out those choppers!

An attempt at togetherness--HA!

Suitable for framing, right?

 Dinner at Dede and Papa's

 The group shot. These pictures make me laugh so hard! Good times!

That would be a Spider Man mask in mid-air. 

One eating grass. Two eating candy.

 

Flashlights are more fun to carry than your candy bucket. 

8 things I don't want to soon forget

Just a few notes about life these days and things I don't want to forget--

1. Jay took 2 naps, every single day, like clockwork until 18-19 months old. At the ripe old age of 7 months Lizzy has eliminated her morning nap and decided she can hang until 2:30 before she needs a nap-just like her big brother. The good news is that both kids are on the same schedule (which gives me time to cook dinner) the bad news is that I feel like she is growing up very quickly.

2. Since moving Jay has been eating better at mealtimes and has started eating new things. Hot Dogs, Mac-n-Cheese, Pork Chops and Eggs (he ate eggs until we moved out of our old house, would not touch them while we lived with his grandparents and now magically will eat them again--strange but true).

3. Lizzy has officially spoken. She started "Ba" when we were at the beach and last week added...(drumroll)...."MAMA"!!! Yay!!! :) She also now days "Dada" and "La". That was fast.

4. I hung the very first picture downstairs in New House over the weekend. Hopefully I can add a few more by this coming weekend. I'm waiting for a few pieces of furniture to arrive and scavenging through things we already have. The tricky part is our other homes have always been cream, brown warm, earthy colors. New house is mostly grey walls, white trim. Let's just say I could become a spokesperson for Valspar spray paint these days and have the Rolling Stones song, "Paint it Black" often stuck in my head. 

5. I think we've all found ourselves a little hypnotized by our yard here at New House. The leaves are falling and it looks like drifting snow...then Joseph gets out the leaf blower and we have snow drifts of leaves...anyhow, I think we have many years of some awesome autumns ahead. We also have a HUGE hawk making a nest a few yards from the back door-hopefully he (she?) will let me get a pic. 

6. We're having the kids pictures made this weekend here at the house. I am e-x-c-i-t-e-d!! I can't wait to see Miriam work her magic. I also can't wait to see her plan for wrangling Jay. Pray for us. :)

7. I made a frame/display/doohickey to hold Jay's artwork from school and church. It hangs in the mudroom. The plan is to display things there and when it's full store the "keepers" in a tote/bin and 86 the rest. So far, so good. 

8. We are blessed beyond measure. For all of the good and yuck the last year has been--Life is Good. We are exactly where we are supposed to be and will be for a long time. I am so thankful for this place, this home, this time in our lives.

P.S. I linked up with Kate today for Fun Fridays, so if you are stopping in from there-thanks for visiting. 

Orange Beach 2012

So here are the highlights of our much needed beach vacation earlier this month. The West crew spent Saturday-Friday and the Ladds arrived in the wee hours of Sunday morning and had to pack up and go back to Nashvegas in time for Thursday Night Football. :)

We had a great time. Lizzy did great on the beach, although she did not really know what to think at first when I tried to introduce her to a beach nap. She did, however catch on before our time was up.

Jay enjoyed the time in the water and liked digging in the sand and playing in the surf. He was of course very busy, rarely sat still for more than a few seconds and kept things moving.

 Kelsey and CJ were so GREAT to their baby cousins. Jay isn't the best at sharing these days and Kelsey and CJ really played well with him despite his two-year-old-ness at times. Kelsey and CJ had fun and it is always great to love on them and for Charles and KarKar to love on Jay and Lizzy!

 We ate at the Shrimp Basket, Lulu's (no waiting in October), Doc's, The Original Oyster House and got pizza from Lillian's. The adults ate plenty of steamed shrimp too--those nights the kids had sandwiches or happy meals. Life is good!

Boo at the Zoo and More

Boo!

How sweet is Lizzy in this little girlie ghost outfit? (excuse the boo-boo by her eye. those nails are outta control.)

We did Boo at the Zoo with our buddies Sadie and Colin last night!

Mickey, 2 Minnies and Billy the Exterminator. Loads of fun!

And today Mommy and kiddos decorated our pumpkins!

And yes, this year I am forgoing our ban of all things orange and letting the pumpkins remain their natural colors. Its for the kids. I am soooooo tempted to paint the dino green and the princess white, but I am trying to just "let it be". :)

P.S. I  linked this post to Kelly's Korner-so if you're stopping in from SUYL--Thanks for visiting!! Happy Halloween!