Halloween!!

This year's Halloween evening with the kids was way more fun than last year!  Anna was actually completely aware of what was going on, and was so excited to get so much candy from random people just for asking for it!  She got to be an excellent porch light spotter too.  We ended up in a pack of neighborhood kids as we walked around the block.  She was the youngest in the pack and pretty much brought up the rear at every house, but she LOVED it!  

Wallace participated for a little while too, but he probably needs a couple of more years to really appreciate it.  He'd walk up behind the pack of kids and kind of lose interest before it was his turn to get candy, then just turn around and walk back toward Josh.  "/ 

We live in one of the best neighborhoods for trick-or-treating too!  Not too big, and lots of the homeowners participate.  

Anna was pretty pumped about her princess costume!  I know she doesn't really look like it here, but I'm starting to think that's just because she hates the camera.  "/

Josh picked up every single accessory that came with this costume at the party store!

And Wallace was a skeleton!

Every year the neighborhood has a little hot dog roast to kick things off.

Wallace is almost always squatted down looking for random things to pick up off the ground and eat.  "/

Because the hot dog roast tends to last until sundown, I couldn't really get any trick-or-treating pics other than this one.  "/   It's pretty funny though because all of the kids take off at once in the same direction and tend to travel in one big pack.  :)

In this costume I think he kind of looks like he's getting ready to hold up a gas station...

She was the frog princess.  :)

I'm so glad the trick-or-treating went much better than Anna's Halloween parade at school.  I'd of been bummed if we'd had two Halloween failures.  

I never really got to trick-or-treat as a kid because we lived in the boonies.  So, I think that makes watching the kids do it even more fun!  Can't wait til next year!

The Horrible Halloween Parade

Today was Anna's Halloween parade at school.  I was devastated when I had to miss it last year.  I seriously cried.  So there was no way I was missing it this year.  Last year Mom and Josh were sweet enough to record videos of the entire thing, and Anna was bouncing around and so excited.  I couldn't wait to see her clowning around for the crowd in her Super Girl costume!  

That's not really the girl we got today...  "/  I guess I screwed up by walking over to her to fix her boot when they had them sitting down in their line in the gym.

She seemed okay, and even let me take a couple of pictures.

Just a couple...

But then after I walked away she started bawling!!  I was mortified!!!  And then during the parade she acted like she was totally pissed with me and Josh and proceeded to either not look at us, or scowl when she did.  "/

Here she is offering a friendly wave to a complete stranger.  "/

After the parade it was pizza and cookie time back in the classroom.  This was the happiest she looked in there, and I kind of think she only looks happy because her ridiculously photogenic teacher was laughing, so it just kind of makes the picture look happier.

This little pumpkin was the one thing she was super pumped about.  She's still carrying it around this evening.

I've learned my lesson about the Halloween parade.  

(1) She apparently needs more sleep the night before.

(2) Never ever ever make her aware of our presence until after the parade is over!!! 

Here's hoping trick or treating goes more smoothly tomorrow.  She might decide to wear her princess costume too, which should be super cute!  :)

Poor Dallas :(

So, my nephew found himself in the hospital again !!!  If it's not a line drive to the face, it's a collapsed lung.  "/  So my mom and I decided to drive to Houston to spend a little time with him and my sister.  Hospitals can be boring.  

And I wouldn't normally choose this as a place to bring my camera, but I'm taking a little photography class up at the art school, and our assignment for the week was to use flash.  I hadn't had a chance to work on it at all, and I figured the hospital room would be dim enough.  I bounced the flash off the ceiling in most of these pics, that's about the only way I can stand it.  I was honestly glad to put the flash down once the week was over.  :)  If I don't have good light, I'll probably just not bother taking pictures for now.  

So, they gave Dallas a central line. He apparently preferred this to an arm IV.  Probably just for the shock and awe of it.

It seemed like all of the kids that had been there to visit were pretty much afraid of Dallas with all of his cables and wires and tubes...  Anna wouldn't even look at him for the first couple of hours we were there.  

Wallace didn't appear to have issue with any of it though...maybe it's just a girl thing.

Even gave him a high 5!

So, apparently hiccups hurt when you've just had your lung operated on.  "/

The kids started getting bored and decided to turn the hospital room into a race track.  :)

Wallace prefers to do this with a mouth full of bread stick.  

So as the afternoon wound down we watched Dallas do his breathing exercises....

and Anna and Jenny got some quality time in.

Seriously dude...stop scaring us!  If you wanted me to come to Houston all you had to do was ask.  ;)

Super Cute Pics of Wallace

It was so nice and cool today when we got home from work!  And Wallace is at this stage where he pretty much wants to be outside all the time.  Well, finally the mosquitoes were taking a break, so outside we went!  And it was nice and rainy and overcast, so I pulled out the camera.  Oh, and Wallace was wearing some of his super cute hand-me-downs from Leah's boys.  :) 

Took FOREVER to get him to look up at me!  I was practically jumping up and down.

According to Leah, these boots are becoming quite the family heirloom.  :)  They've been through Tanner, Hayden, Cy, and now Wallace!

A Weekend with the Melchers!

This past weekend the kids and I traveled to see an old buddy of mine (Jimmy), his wife (Sara), and their little boy (Lucas).  I try to go see them at least once a year, and for some reason it seems to always happen in October.  :)

Lucas is right in between Anna and Wallace in age.  Last year Anna was the crazy child of the bunch and seemed to just be so mean to Lucas, stealing all of his toys and pretty much pissing him off constantly.  Not much has changed...  In Lucas's defense, I didn't really bring many of Anna's toys from home, and I totally get his frustrations.  I don't really like to share either.  I can totally commiserate with him.  Who on earth would want to share all of their worldly possessions??

I got there pretty late on Friday night, and of course my kids were up with the sun on Saturday morning, and immediately got off to a good start discovering all of Lucas's toys.  "/

I don't think she was seriously intending to choke him...pretty sure she was just pushing him away, and his neck was just a handy place to grip.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway...  "/

Jimmy and Sara have a kiddie pool that Anna and I are both pretty jealous of.

She and Lucas even managed to get along for a little while while they were playing in it.

When Lucas wasn't spraying her with the water hose.  :)  Haha!  She deserves it.  She's so mean to Wallace with the hose at home.

Wallace still won't go near water...well, I guess he'll go "near" it, but that's about it.  Totally wasn't interested in getting in the kiddie pool.  

I'm going to have to get my kids a tiny camouflage recliner.  I couldn't keep them out of this thing all weekend.  

Awwww.  They got along for like 30 seconds.  ;)

So, Jimmy's working shift work, and had to work ridiculously late the night/morning after I got there, but not long after he got up we took the kids to Kemah and fought the Saturday crowd like crazy people.  It was worth it just to see how excited the kids got to ride the carousel.  

Haha!  They were much more excited when it started moving.  :)

See!  Super pumped!

Maybe a little shocked.  "/  But mostly excited.  :)

Anna spotted these snakes before we got on the carousel, and I thought for sure she'd forget about them...year right.  So, Jimmy had to step up and win a couple for her and Lucas.  

Even though the barker told us it was an easy one to win, It was apparently a bit of a challenge.

So, that was about all of the excitement we could handle in one weekend.  Jimmy, Sara, and I are getting old.  "/  Here are a few other cute pics of Lucas.  :)