Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family. Pete's mom and step father came in from Maryland and his step brother came in from Los Angeles. We had a great time visiting with them and the boys loved their three seperate Christmas celebrations.

Our first stop was Pete's dad and step mother's house. The boys had a blast playing with all their cousins and trying to share all their presents. If you need a gift to get a child from the ages of 4-8ish a gift, I would suggest this Crayola Activity Center. It's a dry erase board with different templates that you can switch out and write, draw and play games on. All the kids loved it and it was definitely a hit. The markers even magically work when you find one that has had the lid off for hours. Thanks Aunt Monica!

Here's a group shot of everyone. Pete's dad, step mother Linda, sister Monica and her two boys Evan and Elijah and step sister Misty and her kids Cici and Chasen. You can see how much Chasen was enjoying the picture taking!

I told you Kent loved that Crayola thing. See how it had to be in every photo!

The next day we had Christmas morning at our house with Pete's mom Maria, stepdad Will and step brother Jonah. It seems we only took pictures during their stay on Christmas morning. The only good photos I have of everyone are pre coffee and no makeup. So, you will get to see more shots of the boys. Sorry everyone!

Here are our boys in front of our tree eagerly waited for for the go ahead to start opening stuff. Kent was about to go crazy! On a side note, Kent did not like the spiral things that I put all over the tree. He thought it looked messy. Pete thought it looked like a mechanical tree that broke with the springs popping out all over. I was going for whimsical...

Kent and Pete were super excited about all of the GI Joes that Kent received. I was not excited about all of the mini accessories that they come with. Pretty sure that they got mixed up with the wrapping paper during the big clean up. Oh well, real men don't need accessories, right? The snow that started falling Christmas morning was just beautiful. It was a wonderful reminder of the the real miracle of Christmas- Christ's birth. We had a wonderful, warm day full of family and blessings.

My parents and sister Barbara came over the Monday after Christmas after they came back from Illinois. Kent and Cohen were very excited to open their pillow pets. They had fun playing with them all day.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

It was really hard to get a good picture of the boys in their costumes. Here's what I got. Woody and Superman wish you a fun Halloween!

We headed over to church for the annual Fall Festival. The boys had a great time. One of the first things we did was go on a hayride. Pete decided at the last minute that he had to go put Cohen's bag in the car. He made it back just in time to snap this picture. Apparently, something very interesting was happening off camera that I didn't know about... Pete decided there wasn't enough room for him and sat the hayride out. I don't think he minded too much.

We played games, jumped in the jumpies, ate snowcones and saw old friends. Many of the friends we hadn't seen in a while did not recognize Pete with his lock flowing locks. He has grown his hair out quite a bit. I'm now referring to him as Goldilocks and I encourage everyone to embrace this new nickname.

Cohen loved his snowcone, and mine, and Pete's. He did not love me trying to take pictures of his cute moustache. This is the best one I got.

Here is Kent with another one of his superfriends. They had fun posing together and were pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Pete kept trying to get Kent to pose like Superman with his hands on his hips and looking off in the distance. He did it, but my camera snapped a little late. You know, that irritating delay that happens with digital cameras. His eyes were blinking, but you get the idea.

We hope you all have a Super Halloween, full of treats and no tricks. Just candy and definitely no snakes in your boot!

Drat!

Well, I've talked before about the crazy weather we have been having lately. This week was very strange. Lots and lots of rain after being dry for soooo long. Not only wet, but also HOT and muggy. I think it got  to 80 one or two days and there was one evening I was out around 10 pm and it was still in the mid 70's. Yuck-o. Especially yuck-o for our pumpkin family. This is what they looked like just a few days later!!!

A very mushy and hairy pumpkin family.

Carving Pumpkins

After the pumpkin patch, we immediately came home and carved our pumpkins. Pete and I chose "different" pumpkins. Pete said he wanted a multicultural pumpkin family. This was the first year that we carved pumpkins in I don't know how long. Definitely the first year for Kent. He absolutely loved it, of course. Here he is lifting the lid off his pumpkin.

The inside of my pumpkin was kind of a surprise. It was pale yellow inside and very spongy. Not slimy at all.



With the inside of my pumpkin being kind of a surprise. We all tried to guess what Pete's pumpkin would look like inside. His pumpkin was a dark, dull green on the outside...

But, when we opened it, it was bright orange inside! The rind was also really thick.

Pete carved his pumpkin as well as Kent's and the cat's. I carved my pumpkin and Cohen's pumpkin. Here is a blurry camera phone shot of our lovely pumpkin family. Top Row- Laura and Kent, Bottom Row- Pete, Patches (cat) and Cohen.

Pumpkins

Here are some of the photos from this year's pumpkin patch expedition. I saw two of the cutest scarecrows ever.

Cohen was enjoying all the little pumpkins. He said he was counting them, but all he kept saying was nine, nine, nine. We'll have to work on that some more. On second thought, maybe he is just speaking German. I mean, he says no all the time and I kept telling him to look at the camera.

Lining them up. Still saying nine, nine, nine, still refusing to look at the camera. You be the judge.

Here is Kent before we told him he could only have one pumpkin.

Here is Cohen after he found out about the one pumpkin rule. Why am I smiling when Cohen has the tears going? I guess I must be a mean momma...or ready for the photo op.

Pete took this photo that I love. I do wish Pete was in some of these. He was there!

Summer Pictures

My good friend Elizabeth took these for us. Check her out at elizabethduvallphotography.blogspot.com.

Another Year

It's crazy how the time just flies by! Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We didn't have any extravagant plans as we just got back from our Europe trip. Pictures will be coming soon- we are having some trouble getting them off Pete's computer. :(

I went to school today for one of the four days I have planned for my AP kids to work over the summer. Pete came by with a huge bouquet of sunflowers for me. As one of my students said, "that is just so dreamy!" Yes, I agree, very dreamy! Sunflowers don't look so sunny after midnight, so I will have to take a better picture in the morning. Here are some other sunflowers that we just so happened to get to see in person while in London.

Thanks Pete for 8 years of dreamy marriage and 12 years of dreamy togetherness!

Kent's Birthday

Yes, VERY, VERY late...

Kent had a fabulous fifth birthday. This year we had a joint birthday party with one of Kent's close friends, Lauren, at the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta. It was the best party and I highly recommend it. Fun was had by all, children and adults alike.

The kids (and adults) had a great time jumping, tumbling, rolling, swinging and falling in the foam pit. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

This is the cake I made for Kent. I tried, a cake maker I am not. For the record, Kent wouldn't eat any, again. Cohen, however, quite enjoyed it. Thank you to Betty Crocker for now making a wheat, egg and milk free mix. Makes things a WHOLE lot easier, and somewhat tastier to my wheatafied taste buds.

All the kiddos enjoying the parachute.

I love this one of Pete's sister Misty (left) and our niece Cici (right). Fun for all ages!

Kent running towards the foam pit.

Cohen was not scared of the foam pit one bit (this means it was very scary for me!). He would just run right into it- over and OVER!!! Sometimes head first. He even did a flip. I really thought he was going to break his neck. Pete kinda camped out in there as Cohen would not do anything else, no matter how I tried to distract him. As soon as I looked the other way, he would take of running straight to the foam pit and jump in like it was a pool. Cohen = NO FEAR!

Happy Birthday Kent! You are such a great big brother and such a big boy. You are very helpful and considerate to everyone around you. Your laughter is infectious WE LOVE YOU!

Valentine's Day

Twelve years ago today Pete and I started dating. Here we are at Lassiter's Senior Formal in 1998. We had gone out a couple of times before this and Pete asked me to be his girlfriend later that evening. We were at my friend Katrina's house in the first picture. She also married the guy she took to the dance. Happy togetherness anniversary honey! Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Fun

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our snowy weekend. They say it will snow again tonight. I can not remember this much snow since the "blizzard of 93" when I was in seventh grade. I mean, we are talking 15 years ago!

Here is Cohen patting a tree. Grandpa has taught him well.

My attempt at a picture of the boys together. Cohen was not cooperating.