Halloween 2006

This year Bryce dressed up as a Star Wars Storm Trooper. He says he is saving his Darth Vader costume for next year. I doubt that it will last until next year but we will see! Dylan dressed up as Blue from Blues Clues. We went through the neighborhood next to ours and the kids had a great time! We went with Gary, Karie, Bailey, Trent, Molly, Todd, Georgia and Cooper. The kids did great. Dylan really got into it this year! He would say 'thank you ding, ding' after getting candy. We aren't real sure what the 'ding, ding' is but Dylan seems to end every sentence with it these days! He's a character! Anyway, after about an hour or two of walking the streets we called it a night! Happy Halloween!

May the force be with you....

This years theme for Bryce's birthday was none other than, STAR WARS. Everything Bryce does these days revolves around Darth Vader, Storm Troopers or the like! He wears the costumes daily and runs around with light sabers or trooper guns and is quite funny! He said to me the other day as he came into the kitchen with his costume on and tried to shoot me, "You didn't even know it was me did you Mom? Did you think the ship had landed?" It was quite comical!
Anyway, we had his 5th (can't believe he is that old) birthday party at our indoor pool house! It was great! The kids enjoyed hours of swimming and playing and they could scream and yell and wear themselves out and nobody minded one bit! Bryce enjoyed all of his new toys he got. Mostly Star Wars toys as requested! :)
It's truly hard to believe that 5 years have already passed. It seems like just yesterday that he was born. Time does fly. Oh, now I sound old. Ok, but seriously, the joy that he has brought into our lives for the past 5 years is unspeakable! I just thank God each day for him!

Visitors...

Mark's sister and nieces were in unexpectedly from Africa for a few weeks and were able to come up for Bryce's birthday! The boys were incredibly excited since they didn't think they would see them for a couple of more years! So this was a great birthday present in itself!

It's the Great Pumpkin

This year Grandma took the boys to pick out their pumpkins! Bryce picked a big one and Dylan grabbed two little ones. They also got a white one for Mommy!
Mark and Bryce spent one evening carving a "scary" face on it. Bryce didn't like digging out the yucky insides but they had a great time!

Fun with Friends

Here are some pictures of Bryce and Dylan with their friends Daniel, Lauren and Joey! They spend a lot of time together at the gym or at one another's house. These pictures were from a day at our pool house and a day in the back yard playing. They have a lot of fun!

Backyard Fun

Now that the boys actually have something to play on in their backyard, they are out there all of the time. It is so sweet to listen to them play. I get to hear their little imaginations at their best! Bryce has already mastered the monkey bars and is able to go across and then swing his legs up and over the bars to climb into the window of the club house. Dylan tries his hardest to follow in big brothers ways but falls short (literally)! Broken bones here we come! So, here are a few pictures of the kids out playing. Once again, thank you to Gary, Matt and Todd who helped Mark put this together!

Cooper and Georgia

Here are a couple of pictures of Bryce and Dylan's friends. It's a joke that we never have any pictures of Cooper but have tons of the other kids and so FINALLY we have one. He does exist! It won't be long and he will be running along side of all of them!

Happy 60th Nana!

We went to Dallas on Friday, September 15th to join in for the festivities for Nana's surprise party. We stayed with Holly and Jason on Friday night. On Saturday morning, we went to the church and waited for the limo to pick us up. It took us to Nana and Papa's house where Nana was waiting for Jason and Holly to get there to go to lunch ( so she thought). Bryce and Dylan walked up to the door with roses in hand and rang the bell. Nana was so surprised when she opened the door. It was very exciting. We then blind folded her and drove around in the limo for awhile so she wouldn't know where she was headed. Little did she know it was a few blocks away at her church where about 40 of her friends were waiting to surprise her. Once we were there, she was very shocked but very happy! It was a great surprise. Very well done Holly and Mr. B! We spent the next couple of hours getting to hear friends tell stories or blessings to Lois. We also had a special guest video from Emma, Clara, Clint and M'Liss who are in Africa! It was a great day! I think this will be one birthday Nana won't soon forget!

A day with friends

Bryce and Dylan spent a day at the zoo with their friends, Georgia and Cooper Davis. Later, we all went to a Fall Bizarre and they got to tour a fire engine and play on inflatables. They wore themselves out running around the hay bales but enjoyed every minute of it!

More of our nephew, Jake.

More Labor Day pictures....

Our pool house opened this weekend also! We were very excited. It has an indoor pool and 2 big water slides! The kids really enjoyed this! I think the BIG kids enjoyed it more though! We had friends and family over and grilled out and let the kids swim for many hours! It was a great day and we enjoyed having everyone over!

Visitors Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Labor Day weekend 2006- Our family came to see us finally! Ha! I guess they got tired of waiting for me to put pictures of the house on here so they had to come visit! That's ok because they brought our sweet, little nephew with them and we loved every minute of it!
Jason and Holly, we really enjoyed our visit with you! I hope Jake got back on schedule when you got home! We loved having you and your room is always available here! Love you guys!

This 4th of July, we got rented a pontoon boat and stayed at the Lake. We enjoyed our company for the long weekend! Mandy, De and Baby De; Brenda and Shannon; and Uncle Stevie and Stephanie came up to visit! We had a great weekend. It was fun and was great to see everyone!

Our Carnival Friends....

Mark and I also met some very wonderful people on the cruise. Unfortunately, we didn't meet them until mid-week but we really enjoyed the few days we did get to spend with them. The two couples we met were, Maria and Joaquin Galindo, and Mandy and Mike Underwood (honeymooners)! Maria and Joaquin are from Miami, FL and Mike and Mandy are from Jacksonville, FL. We were sad to leave them but are looking forward to all meeting up again someday and until then we are keeping in touch via e-mail! Miss you guys!
We also sat with some wonderful people in our dining room! Patrick, a.k.a Grandpa, Marissa and Cara. Those girls took to Bryce and Dylan from the first night! They were so sweet and the boys loved them. They reminded us a lot of our Alyssa and her friends the way they treated the boys! We are also keeping in touch with them via e-mail! Tell Grandpa hello girls! We miss you!