Joey's "Cam Newton" band-aid!

While watching the SEC championship game on Saturday night, Joey noticed that Cam had a large band-aid on his neck. So, he had to have one too. What is funny is that the little dot bandage was as big as we could get him to go...but, he was so proud of it!!!

Holiday Pictures

On Saturday morning, we went to see our favorite photographers at Love Life to have some holiday pictures taken. The studio and area around it are an old mill....which make for a beautiful place for pictures. When the session was over, we took the boys down to the old bridge for some additional shots while they were playing. Enjoy!

Fun Time with Daddy!

Days with Daddy are few and far between these days...it is just that time of year. But this weekend, Joe was home and the boys got some much needed time with him. I just wanted to share how happy they are while playing the tree out front and wrestling in the grass!

          

Pumpkin Patches & Halloween

We began the Fall season with trips to 3 different pumpkin patches/farms leading up to Halloween. It was a great place to take the boys on beautiful Saturdays. I think Joey and Jack's favorite activity was riding the kiddie size tractors followed by sliding down a hill on potato sacks! If you asked Joey he would say getting his face painted like Spiderman was the best thing of all. (Do you remember Spiderman from the TX State Fair last year?) Surprisingly, Jackson wanted his face painted too, so he was our little Tiger. I would have to say that the farm we went to last, Baugher's, was #1 overall (although I didn't really appreciate the deer tick that Joey brought home with him). The boys were able to ride ponies, get their face painted, go to a petting zoo and take a long hay ride to pick their pumpkins off the vine. It made Joe and I chuckle watching Joey try to pick his pumpkin. You know him, it had to be perfect AND still on the vine. We weren't leaving until it was found! Jack just picked one and sat on it. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Joey picked his Halloween costume on the day that the 1st PBK costume catalog came in the mail...an airplane. There was no question about it and he wanted the treat bag shown in the picture too. I then asked him what Jack was going to be and he said, "Mom, Jack is going to be an airplane too".  As Joey said, he would be Maverick and Jack would be Viper (Top Gun). So, we were on a Halloween countdown from the first of October.  The weekend began with a Halloween parade at Joey's school on Friday. All of the "little kids" parade through campus and show the parents and the "big girls" their costumes. It was a family affair as Daddy flew in that morning and Jack walked with us as well. I loved watching the girls' reactions to my little jets. I know I am biased, but I think they were the hit of parade! When Sunday FINALLY arrived, the questions kept coming... kind of like when you are on a long road trip and keep asking how much longer.  As we walked out of the garage, Joey took off like a jet.  Jack, on the other hand, was glad to be wearing his costume but was still going to be chauffeured to each house in the wagon.  They got better at saying "trick or treat" as the night wore on and Jack played the "you can't resist my cuteness" card from the very beginning. He would linger at the door long after Joey was running down the steps....kinda like "really, that is all, are you sure you don't want to give me some more?". And he would get more EVERY TIME! It is so much fun to watch them grow and think back on how they have changed from one year to the next. I think about Joey's first Halloween and how he, in his kangaroo costume, and I sat outside on the steps and waited for trick or treaters while he slobbered all over the candy. And Jack was only 3 weeks old when he was a pea-in-the-pod...sleeping through the whole event.

Jack's 2nd Birthday & 1st Ravens Game

We celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday to begin the month of October. It begin on his actual birthday, October 6 with the four of us and some yummy cupcakes! That Saturday was his "Madagascar Party" with family and close friends at our house. There aren't many pictures as my big camera was in the shop, grandmom and grandpop forgot their camera and daddy doesn't take pictures. :(  Given that the Madagascar movies are so "old" finding party supplies was very difficult. I made Marty, Melman, Alex and Gloria footprints for walking up the sidewalk, but most of what I found was on ebay including plates, napkins, coconut cups and mylar balloons. Though the boys' favorite decorations were the inflatable palm trees. They were running around and whacking each other with them as Joe was blowing them up. When it came time for the cake, we had a little situation that upset Jackson. Joey decided that it was necessary to take the airplane off of the cake and lick it clean for Jack. Needless to say, that did not go over very well. I think Jack was beginning his downward spiral toward nap time at that point so the tears came often after that point. It was capped off by the boys' babysitter Melanie walking in the door and Jack becoming hysterical because he thought Mommy was going to leave. He was down for the count before he could open presents. A scooter was his present from us and Joey picked out a remote control helicopter to give Jack. I will never forget Jack riding that red scooter around Toysrus/Babiesrus every time we went in the store for a month. He would literally ride it all over the store while I pushed the cart. When we would get to the front of the store to check out Jack would "park it" until the next time.

The next day, Jackson attended his first Ravens' game! He was so excited to go and wear his jersey. He just sat in his seat during pregame and took all of the sights and sounds in. Jack and Joey were great, but it really helped having grandmom and grandpop there when they got a little antsy! The best part of the day was watching them tackle each other outside of the stadium while waiting on Joe. While it probably wasn't the best time to be doing it with the stadium emptying, they were too cute and drawing a lot of oohs and aaahs from people walking by.