Halloween 2012

With Gigi and Grandpa dressing up as well, we donned our costumes and went to our friends' neighborhood to trick-or-treat together.  We have Captain America, Flash, and Hawk Eye

 

 

Grandpa (The Chef), Gigi (Flash), Captain America, Hawk Eye

 

Chris as Batman

 

This dude jumped out of the bushes and got me.  Scared the Beep out of me. 

 

CANDY!!!

 

 

Pre Halloween Festivities

Adam was determined to cut his own pumpkin.  With a stencil and some help from Daddy, he did it!

 

This was the awesome result

 

Caleb helped draw a face and Daddy cut it out

 

 

We visited Chris' great aunt Teta (99) to show off our costumes.

 

Teta won our Halloween Bingo game!

 

Our First Fair

While camping with some friends recently, we had the chance to attend our first small town fair.  It blew the kids minds!!  They had a decent amount of rides that both the boys qualified for on the height chart.  We got them all-you-can-ride bracelets and let them go. 

 

Adam and his friend Chloe are on the green one.  

 

 

Adam and Chloe rode the Scrambler at least 4 times without getting off.  Nobody puked!

 

Pure Joy!

 

What do you think he's thinking? 

 

 

Chris Turns 34

We gave Daddy 12 homemade superhero and villan masks.  More playing!

 

Adam drew Daddy an awesome Superhero picture.

 

Thank you Pinterest for this idea...Chris style cupcakes!

 

His major presents...the components to build his own keg and pull tower. 

Much beer to come! 

 

Hot Air Balloon Festival 2012

While Chris spent the weekend in Auburn to see the LSU game for a guy's weekend,  my boys and I stumbled on an awesome time! They moved the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival to the parish facilities one exit down from our house.  So Adam and Caleb and I headed out to see what the balloon glow was all about. Blew Our Minds!!  There were so many of them, so close to each other, all aglow at one time!!  It really was beautiful.

We started off at the face painting tent and received the worst paint jobs ever!  This is supposed to be Batman and Hulk.

 

Then we explored some awesome blow-up obstacle courses, bounce houses, and games.  This is Adam going for 3 points.

 

This is my favorite shot.  Caleb was not quite ready for the loud burst the flame made behind him. 

 

This was our favorite

 

 

 

 I think we counted over 35 balloons that night and they would light them up in a twinkle fashion or all at once.  The great part was that you could walk as close as you wanted within the  balloon field.  We will be doing this again next year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris On The Job

The boys and I caught Chris at one of the ribbon cuttings on one of his roads and surprised him by showing up! Here he is with all the big boys of Baton Rouge!  I'm so proud of all the work he's done from one end of this city to the other. 

Potty Training Again

Caleb has been potty training slowly, but surely.  We haven't pushed him as hard because of his issues since birth, but he's finally turning the corner and it is a positive experience.  We have used the M&M reward system, praise, sitting with him and reading a book, and also giving him some privacy.  A combo of all has worked well.  Adam has even rewarded him with his own pencils, stickers, and coins when Caleb makes it to the potty!  So sweet.  We also have a book, Everyone Poops, that is a big hit for both kids.  Go figure. 

 

Hurricane Issac

We survived another hurricane in Baton Rouge.  Isaac hit us in August and did some pretty substantial damage to power lines and major flooding in the area.  Our neighborhood, however was a lucky, lonely island of refuge against any major damage.  We never lost power, no flooding, and nothing major fell on us. Some friends came over to escape their dark house after a few days.  We were glad to have some playmates and to feed them something hot. 
This was also the last straw for us in holding out on a generator.  We finally purchased one for peace of mind in all these storms that love us. 

Playing with friends

 

Watching the trees carefully

 

Try flying a kite in swirling wind...doesn't work.

Note the storm approaching in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

Papaw

The boys and I were able to visit my Papaw in North Carolina one more time recently.  I am so glad we did because we lost him 2 weeks later.  I am so blessed that Papaw battled Alzheimer's with the grace and dignity he lived his life with and that my boys were able to get to know his kind soul and his generous spirit even though he was suffering from this disease.  He always wore a smile and he always lit up when Adam and Caleb entered the room. 

Sorry these are a bit blurry, they're the last ones I have.

 

We went on a walk around the building and found a lonely piano.  A and C jumped on that thing and started "playing".  We could tell Papaw wanted to play with them so we wheeled him right up beside the boys and all 3 had a blast playing the piano.

 

Papaw filling in the rhyming blanks in the story. 

 

Caleb reading a story to another resident:) She was very interested and Caleb was very intent on getting the story right. 

 

Adam joined an intense game of bocce ball among the residents.  I kid you not...a verbal fight did erupt between 2 of them on the ethics of the game and who had a better lawyer. So funny. 

 

Leaving N.C., we were delayed by 24 hours due to airlines and sickness.  Adam threw up in the rental car on the way to the airport.  Everybody running fevers.  I had strep throat all week.  This is how we looked waiting for the airplane home. 

Two weeks later, we returned for the memorial service for my Papaw.  It was a beautiful, poetic, and overwhelmingly loving ceremony filled with relatives, friends, students, co-workers, and community members that wanted to honor him.  He lived a full and rich life, devoted to his faith, his community, and his family.   I was blessed that I got to spend 33 years with him and that my boys got to know their great-Papaw. 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Starts Kindergarten

We're here.  Chris and I watched Adam walk into a classroom for the first time and we looked back at him playing with play-doh as we walked away.  From here, he will have good days and bad.  He will gain friends, learn the hard lessons of rejection and hurt feelings, and find his strengths and weaknesses.  He will be away from us for more hours of the day than he is with us.  He will make many memories that maybe he will share with us or maybe we will never know about.  He will start to take others' reactions into consideration.  I hope he will question and make up his own mind.  I hope he will take pride in himself and stick up for others.  I hope he remembers to zip his pants!  I hope he is challenged. His expression as we said goodbye seemed to say, "I got this mom, you can leave now."  I knew he was ready and that he was at ease with this new phase, even if I was still holding on to the last five years as tightly as I could.   I know that as I waited and paced by the windows on that first day for his bus to bring him back to me, I prayed that he had a great first day and that he wasn't overlooked by his teacher.  I want everyone he meets to see him for as special of a person as we know he is. 

Got the school supplies!

 

He's a fish!

 

Summer Ice Cream??

It's not really summer until you buy ice cream from the ice cream truck right?  But, check out this version that rode down our street one day...questionable to say the least.  Chris went with the boys to make sure they weren't abducted.  Notice the cardboard window you order from. 

Chris and Beer

Chris finally researched enough to begin his own homebrewing beer label.  He has transformed a section of our already overcrowded garage into a beer brewing section.  He's done 3 batches so far of about 15 gallons of beer (sounds like a lot, but will go fast with LSU football starting back) and we've yet to taste anything b/c it takes months to finish off.  Exciting stuff!! 

 

 

 

So after a couple beer batches, Adam wanted to brew his own root beer.  Chris ordered the kit and they brewed it together.  Caleb and Adam and Chris are loving this root beer.  It only took 3 days to be ready.