OK - Texas ROCKS in the Fall

A couple of weekends ago we decided to go to late church and spend the morning with the boys at Whiterock lake. It was so much fun! The boys played at the park - while Mom freaked as Dad got both boys to the top of this catepillar. We threw rocks in the lake, looked at ducks and ran up and down some picnic tables.

By the end of the morning we had worked up quite an appetite so we went to Boston Market (kids eat free!) Jude hammed it up as usual while Liam and Daddy played a little buck fever game. We also did the pre-game chant thing where everyone puts their hands into the circle, one on top of the other, and screamed GOOOOOOO Team Fish!!!!! Liam thought it was great - Jude did too! We must have done it like 20 times. I think the people in the restaurant were quite happy to see us leave.

Dang, I love my family. Have I said that often enough in this blog?

All I want for Christmas

I know...it's typically against my religion to do ANYTHING Christmas-y before the joyous day of Thanksgiving has been celebrated, but I know that I will be receiving questions very soon that will resemble this: "What do Jude and Liam want for Christmas?" "Does Jude have anything special he wants?" "What are you guys planning on getting the boys for Christmas?" And on and on the questions will go. So, I thought I would be proactive this year and provide a list of wants (from the boys.)

Liam's List: Anything will suit me just fine. I basically chase after my brother and copy him all day anyway.

Jude's List:

~Moon Sand - play-doh dries out way too fast!

~Monster Bean Bag - yeah, so this is Mommy's addition, but isn't it adorable?

~Paint, crayons, paper, brushes, glitter pens, etc. (Anything arts and crafts related.)

~Crayola Color Wonder - Jude loves this stuff and Karen (Gramma) can't seem to find the finger painting type anywhere these days. If you find any, it's a total score!

~ Books - older books with fun illustrations would be great, but we will take anything! (Liam needs board books because he rips the pages of Jude's paper books.)

Mom and Dad will be getting Jude a scooter (I think) and who knows what we'll get Liam. Suggestions are welcome! One last final note...I know times are tough these days - believe me I know - please know that we NEED nothing. We have one another and the Lord has provided an abundant amount of love within this family. We are blessed. So, nothing is expected at all. The above are merely suggestions should you feel compelled to get a little something. Emphasis on the little. Jude has decided to go through his toys and give those he no longer wants to kids who have nothing. And, he will be adopting an angel from the Angel Tree too!

Fall

It's FINALLY getting cold here in Dallas. I love it. The boys have their reservations, as their noses have been dripping like faucets and they're coughing more than talking. Oh well, tis the season.

This is my first attempt at a Fall basket. I have always wanted purple potato vine, ornamental peppers and flowering kale. I got it all in here baby!

Jude loves Liam and Liam wants Jude to get the heck off of him! Ha ha ha. Jude and I were laughing so hard. i know it's mean since little LiLi was crying so hard, but look at that face! It's just adorable even filled with anger and tears. I know - I won't be saying that in 10-15 years!

Beep Beep - Jude and I made this car out of one of Daddy's HUGE computer boxes.

Ahhhhh the leaves...

It's been a while.

We went to the zoo with Gramma a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. The weather was perfect. Upon viewing these photos you'd think that Jude and Liam LOVED feeding the birds. However, Liam was the only one experiencing true bliss. I think he has his Mother's love of birds. (Recently I noticed that almost every single room in our house has birds in it!) It was so cute watching him hold the feeder stick and see the birds come and eat. He was amazed.

It was all we could do to get Jude to smile in this picture - hince Gramma's silly face.

This was at the giraffe house. Is that what you'd call it? I don't know, but it was sure pretty. Gramma gave Jude a quarter and he got to feed the koi fish! look at how sweetly Jude is looking at Liam. It's not a fake look of affection and joy - He truly loves his brother like crazy!

Tee hee hee...chirp chirp!

Officially Converted

I've always dreaded Halloween. Everyone makes a huge deal out of dressing up and if you don't join in...well, let's just say you're considered a party pooper. That's me, a pooper of the party - I "pop out at parties." Especially the Halloween kind. However, now that I'm a mom and Jude basically came out of the womb in costume, I've kind of been converted. Because he loves it so much, it's hard not to get in the spirit (pardon the pun.) So, we've been decorating here for about 3-4 weeks for this festive event.Grandma Pat sends us great cards every year and this year they came with these little ghost treats to hang outside. I did most of the stuffing and hanging while the boys played, but it was such a beautiful day I didn't mind at all.
Jude got into this one. He loves all the spider's webs and is learning all about spiders at school right now. The wind has already taken out most of the webs! Guess that will be my next project once the weather clears up a bit.
Jude and I had so much fun doing our entryway. We had these spider baskets that we used for the webs and then took egg cartons, painted them black and glued on some pipe-cleaners for legs and googly-eyes. Jude cut black construction paper with his scissors (also something he's learning at school) and made scary paper for the mirror.
The tabletop is a mish-mash of stuff around the house and candy as well as stuff for tricker-treaters on the official night! Frankly I'd like to give out tooth-brushes to all of the kids, but I know that would put a real damper on the night and then no one would come to our house next year. Hmmm...maybe that IS a good idea!
Last but not least is my favorite - the chandelier. We had all these spider rings and construction paper so I created this while the boys were napping. Jude was so excited when he woke up.

Ok, yeah, yeah, I know. I'm officially converted for the sake of my sweet boys and the smiles on their faces. They bring me so much joy!

Cheese or Cookie?

Oooh, i kinda like this image since it's so close to Halloween. Anyway, as I lay in bed this morning with Jude (after being woken up at 6:45) we talked about breakfast. He asked me if I wanted to go into space and eat cheese. Hmmm...thought provoking question - I pondered. Then I asked the exact same question you are asking yourself right about now..."why are we going to space to eat cheese?" His response, "because it's in the middle of the moon." My reply, "where did you learn that? Tom and Jerry?" Jude, "yeah, Jerry goes to space and eats the cheese in the moon." Trying to hold back the laughter, I say, "Jude, it's not really made of cheese. It's a rock." Out of the mouths of babes, "yeah, it is cheese. Jerry eats it." I am loving this conversation so much that I almost forget that I was woken up at 6:45 am. It instantly puts me in a good mood. "Jude," I say, "it's not cheese. you know how Cookie Monster thinks the moon is one big cookie? Well, Jerry thinks it's cheese because he loves cheese." Then I see the light bulb come on. Jude begins to laugh and says, "silly Jerry." I love learning something new everyday through the eyes of my beautiful children.

Vacation is SO clearly over!

I gave Jude and Liam "room time" the other day so that I could actually take a shower without being interrupted. They did so great. I was a very proud Mommy. Above are the "cars" that Jude made with his cousin Alex's old lincoln logs. He was very proud of his creation. In this photo they kind of look like train tracks. Oh well, either will do nicely. I was just glad to have a nice long shower.
Look at Liam's ear. It's all red and puffy! Well, we have discovered that Liam has "skeeter syndrome." Sounds fake doesn't it? It is unfortunately very real and whenever Liam gets bitten in the face by one of those little jerks he gets extremely red and swollen wherever he's been bitten. In the last week he has been bitten twice, once on each ear. It looks like he's a wrestler and has cauliflower ear. Yuck! The remedy for this? "Give child zyrtec before they are bitten." What? So now I'm suppose to have ESP too? Ugh, this Mom thing is really hard work.

This is what I caught Liam doing during his room time. I have to admit, I had a lump in my throat when I stumbled upon this sweet moment. He has his books and his blankie, not much else is needed. Mmmm, I love my boys. Jude did this all the time when he was little. Liam never has time, he's too busy trying to keep up with his big brother. Busy, busy, busy.
Oooh, that's right - give me what you've got Spidey. Bring on the bad guys. jude walked out of his room the other day wearing everything related to Spidey all at once. If it wasn't something that could be worn, it went in the Spidey backpack he was carrying, where else, on his back! I was laughing so hard I almost forgot to get pictures. Luckily I regained composure and got my wits about me. It became and unofficial Spidey photoshoot. Jude did such a great job posing and stuff that I asked him if he would like to do that for real and get paid for it. He said no! I don't blame him one bit.
Liam on the go. I posted this simply because I love his face here. xoxo