It's Finally Halloween

It seems like it took forever for the actual Halloween day to get here after all the pre-holiday festivities! Ben also had a party at school yesterday where the kids paraded around in their costumes and got treats from the church staff and from their classmates. But it's finally REALLY the big night and once again the boys are all dressed up! Aren't the frog and chicken cute together?! After a quick dinner (cereal and peas for Gavin) we were off to "Trunk or Treat" at our church. It's a great event where people park their cars in our church parking lot and decorate their "trunks" for the holiday and give out candy from the back of their car or SUV. It's great for the little kids especially. Unfortunately I didn't get too many pics of the event because my camera ran out of power but here are a a couple of pics before hand.

Gavin before his dinner

Ben waiting to Trunk or Treat!

Me with my chicken and frog

So after all the events and fun, Halloween was quite a success! We had a few trick or treaters after we got home so that certainly completed the whole experience! Oh wait, after I ate a peanut butter cup from Ben's stash, then I felt complete. Those are my favorite! : )

In other news Gavin had his first pureed peas on Monday night after cutting his first tooth on Sunday. Tim noticed it first. I figured if he was old enough to get a tooth he was old enough to consume something else beside breastmilk and cereal! He made a funnier face the second night I gave it to him than the first, but has taken to it just fine. Tomorrow we will try sweet potatoes! Yippee! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Playgroup Halloween

We had a great party at Tracy and Trinity's house for our playgroup on Monday. It was a little chaotic since us mother's were trying to do a craft while amidst 13 kids and babies, but all in all it was fun and the kids were really cute in their costumes. Gavin passed out asleep before picture time so he's not in the group photo. This was the best one I got and you can't even see the darling bumble bee, baby Allie. Oh well, it's hard enough to get 10 little kids to sit.

We also made really cute Halloween themed paint cans and here's the one I made.

Pretty good for a total of 15 minutes time, don't ya think? Anyway, thanks to Tracy for hosting us and all the kiddos!!

Halloween Costume Party

Last Saturday night we attended a costume party hosted by our friends Deborah and Bill. We went as a family and Tim and I dressed as farmers since Gavin was a chicken. Ben had the chance to use his frog costume for the first of 4 times (!) and even though he didn't really fit into the "farm" scene, we figured our farm has a pond and that pond has frogs, right? Anyway, here are a few shots from that first outing.

The best GREEN frog!

Chickens don't get much cuter than this

Tim's farmer outfit went a little "white trash" - notice the teeth?

I also got to see a couple of my other former co-workers from Bassett so it was kind of a nice little reunion too. Here's a shot of me with the girlsFrom left it's "Rosie O'Donell" also known as Caroline, Me, Marilyn as... well...Marilyn (!) and hostess Debs as "Minnie Mouse."

Ben was quite enamored with Minnie and is still talking about her! We had a great time - thanks for the great party Bill & Debs!!

COOKIES!!

I don't know what you all will think, but I think this is THE coolest thing (for today anyway!). My friend Sher forwarded me an email with all these links to cookie recipes by the name of the recipe, but unfortunately when I clicked on one it took me to the wrong recipe, instead of the specific one I clicked on. So, I went to the website and found the main page that has all the recipes. It's SO great, there's basically any cookie you could ever want on there! (with a few exceptions probably). It's like a FREE cookbook! Anyway, here's the link...
http://216.97.88.237/Kitchen/Cookbook/cat0001.html
Happy Baking!

Baby in a Basket

Here's a cutie pic of Gavin in the laundry basket last night. He is really sitting quite well by himself in the last couple of days and I just couldn't resist putting him in there while I was pulling the laundry out of the dryer.

On another subject our prayers are with all the people in California who have lost their homes and belongings. I can't even imagine having to go through that and hope that I never have to. And for the people who don't even know what may or may not have happened to their home and personal property, I pray for them as well. I cannot believe the devestation when I watch it on television. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone out there who is dealing with this including the hundreds of fire fighters and volunteers. It just shows how we as humans can help each other out too. At least something good comes out of all of this...

Cowboys

So, I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan and this fact is a point of contention between Tim and I since he REALLY loves them. But...in the spirit of love and marriage I thought I would mention that Tim went to the game this last Sunday with his brother Brian and had a great time. Here's a view from their seats... go cowboys... (notice the lack of enthusiasm in my typing?)
I do have to say that they are doing pretty well this season and I do like that Tony Romo guy - he just seems like he could be my neighbor or something - just a regular guy. Anyway, my dear Tim, if you want them to win so do I, because I love you!! : )

Birthday Birds

This past Saturday we joined the celebration of our friend and Godson Ethan's birthday party at the Dallas Zoo. Tim and I had never been to this zoo and it turned out that we didn't have enough time to see even half of the place. They have a great little children's zoo within the big zoo and we were able to have our own little sessionm as a group, in the aviary where the birds actually land on you and let you feed them from pre-seeded popsicle sticks! We did make it into some of the regular zoo and found a very silly looking camel that had a great look on his face. They were also doing a Halloween event that day so many children and zoo employees were wearing costumes so we got to see several more interesting "characters" besides the animals. The birthday boy feeds a bird

Ben decides to brave it too while Daddy holds the bird

Silly Camel!

Ethan doesn't officially turn 4 until November 10th but we had a great time celebrating early with him and other friends. Of course the fact the he is approaching 4 means my Ben isn't too far behind and that will just sneak up on us all too soon. Time sure does fly!

I have to post this picture from the party too of Daddy and Gavin - aren't they cute!?

Arboretum Slide Show

Fall Fun

We went to the Dallas arboretum today with our playgroup friends and it was quite fun. Ben's favorite part were these big wooden pumpkins that you could go inside that he called "pumpkin houses" and he also liked the pumpkin patch and even voluntarily requested that we go take more pictures there. Funny, huh?! I was able to get the boys to pose together and even risked Gavin's life (joke) in the full group picture of all the kids together. What I mean by that is that I was just afraid that Ben wouldn't hold Gavin well enough on the bench all the kids were on, but I underestimated him and he did a wonderful job of bracing his little bro. Anyway, here are some shots from the outing.The boys together in the pumpkin patchBen inside the pumpkin houseThe "motley crew" - Cooper, Ethan, Ben, Gavin, Conner, Mabrie, Allie, Carter, Kirstyn, James & Trinity

Me and the boys

Sit Baby, Sit!

Gavin had p.t. on Tuesday and his therapist said he looks really good. We have to continue to work on getting his shoulders down and help him learn to roll from back to tummy which he is not doing yet. Part of my working with him at home is to have him sit and then just use the weight of my hands to pull his neck muscles and shoulders down. I took a couple of pictures today of him "sitting" (he's not quite sitting up on his own yet, but should be by 6 months or so and he's 5 months now). The first picture shows his neck opened up a little more and his head lifted and that is what we want. We don't want him to slouch and have his chin to his chest. I also just thought he was cute sitting!! We also have to work on reaching out for toys and continue lots of tummy time. On another subject he's been drooling a lot lately and Tim and I are on "tooth watch." Ben already had teeth by now but of course every child is different. I would like him to wait as long as he can, if you know what I mean. I don't really want to get chomped on! HA! Anyway, here's the cute baby pics!

Baptized Boy

Today we celebrated Gavin's baptism with our church community, family and friends. He did really well during the mass and while he was getting his oil and water (ha!) but he was not too happy to take pictures afterward (he was quite tired). His new Godparents are my brother Larry and my sister-in-law Kelley. We are so happy that he has officially joined us as a Catholic Christian! God's blessings for our sweet son...At the baptismal font

Gavin with his parents & Godparents

The family with Father Joe

Gavin hanging out with his Great-Grandfather at his post baptism party!

We were very happy to have my brother's family visit and Ben just loves playing with his cousins Catherine and Grace. He even gave up sleeping in his own bed so that he could join the girls on our living room floor for a little slumber party. Ben was a little put out with Daniel (although he gave him a big kiss as they were leaving today) because he kept drooling on his toys. We told him to get used to it because his brother is about to enter that stage too!

Cousin Daniel makin' his way around our house

The slumber party at our house last night.

Happy BIRTHday!!

Just wanted to mention that my good friend Jennifer had her baby boy yesterday, 10/9/07. His name is Graham Michael Steckel. He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21 1/2" long. We are so happy for her and her husband Lance - CONGRATULATIONS!!

Planes, Trains and Wheelchairs!

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York to see Tim's Dad and his wife Diane who live a little more than an hour North of New York City. It was a quick trip but we had a nice visit and were able to have some adventures while we were there. Those included riding the train up and down the Hudson river (mostly to appease our sweet Benja) and a trip into the city. There we visited the American Museum of Natural History (cool!), Central Park (specifically Belvedere Castle), and Dylan's Candy Bar (a great candy store started by Ralph Lauren's daughter). So, that's the quick run-down and here are some pictures with quick captions to show you how much fun we had!!

Me, Gavin and Ben at the train station, waiting for our turn to ride!

Me, Ben, Gavin and Granddad on the return trip

Granddad and Gavin on the train

Tim and Gavin happily riding.

By the way, this is the same "train" that hundreds of people ride during the week to get to and from the city for work. We just rode it during the middle of the day so that is why it is virtually empty.

We had to wait on the platform quite a while for our return trip and there were Amtrack trains that went by VERY fast on these tracks as well. They were quite loud and sort of came out of nowhere so this was Ben's stance on the platform (fingers plugging ears) the entire time.

The next day we took on New York City! Tim was VERY brave and drove us through the city. We did park at the museum first and were quite upset when we realized that we had left the double stroller we borrowed, back at the house. Luckily, Granddad came up with a pretty great idea to "borrow" a wheelchair from the museum and Tim was able to push him and Ben around the place. It actually worked out quite well because the stroller probably would have been too cumbersome and we would have never all made it up the hill together in Central Park to see the castle with the stroller. We did try to go to Serendipity 3 (have you ever seen the movie with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale?) but the wait was way too long with 2 small children. We asked a local man directions and he told us to go to Dylan's Candy Bar instead (right down the same street) which also had frozen hot chocolate (which is what I really wanted from the other place) and it was a really neat candy store too. Anyway, it worked out fine and here are some highlights from that part of the trip.Front of the museum

The wonderful wheel chair ride.

Tim and Ben in front of one of the spectacular dinosaur displays

Gavin and me in front of a 1400 year-old "slice" of Sequoia tree

The family outside of Central ParkSide view of Belvedere Castle in Central Park
View of Central Park from the castle

We certainly got our exercise that day! All in all we had a great trip and the boys were complimented on their behavior on both flights. Ben did really well and Gavin only fussed a little when he was trying to fall asleep. Ben even got to sit in the cockpit of the plane we were on today. So I will end with a pick of him "flying" the plane!

Ben is Writing!

So, Ben has sort of started to write some letters and today he got really good at "E." We practiced together several times on his Auqa Doodle drawing pad and many of them came out looking more like ladders rather than a letter, but once he focused on how to do only 3 lines across, he got really good at it. Here are couple that he did all by himself.

We are also learning "B" and "N" so that we can spell his name (we'll start with the short version). So, if you are looking for us we are in the den with Ben writing these letters over and over, until tomorrow when we leave for New York. You forget how much stuff two small children need until you start packing for a 4-day trip to another state!! It's our first plane trip with them both, so wish us luck and say some prayers!