Happy New Year!

Whaoooo! What a fun time we had at our first New Year's Party. We had over sixty of our dear friends join us for an awesome night-no kids, dancing, great food...couldn't have been better. Well minus the little mishap with a candle and my shutters, but every party needs a story. Almost sad to see the dance floor go. Can't wait till next year!

Family Pix

Our sweet friend Nicole recently took our family pictures and did a great job. Even though our kids were running around like crazy, she managed to truly capture their personalities. Thank you Nicole!

Batman and Robin to the rescue!

The boys did great and had so much fun Trick or Treating this year! They both really got into it. Carson was determined to hit every house, especially the scary ones. Grandma Bain (we had a lovely suprize visit from Karen & John for Halloween) pulled Colton in the wagon & he was just thrilled to eat candy & sit in the wagon. I think they would have gone all night if we let them. Carson's friend Eli joined us for a little while & they were quite the super hero crew.

Now I'm just trying to secretly get rid of all the candy. For the past three days all Colton wants to eat is candy. Such sweet memories!

Fall Activities

It hasn't really felt like fall because of the warm temperatures; however, we got a quick cold blast for a few days. So we visited a fantastic local pumkin patch. They had a hayride, maze(which took Carson over 30 min to find his way our), bounce houses, all kinds of photo spots, and pumpkins galore. We also carved our pumpkins, and as you can see it turned a bit crazy with Daddy smushing pumpkin guts in Carson's face. Colton wasn't too sure about sticking his hands in there at first, but after the whole pumpkin fight he jumped right in. We were so excited about these kits Chris got to carve the pumpkins, but after over an hour of carving we didn't think they where so cool after all. I think they turned our great, though. You can see Chris's artistic side coming out.

Florida & The Pirate Festival

In October, we joined mom at the beach house in Ft. Myers Beach for our second annual Pirate Festival. Carson talks about this event all year. The kids do real treasure hunts in the sand, costume contests, sand castles, a parade of pirates, real pirate ships with cannons shooting off and everything. This year they added pirates battling which was Carson's new favorite event. We also visited the alligator farm which was right up the boys alley. In the picture of Carson on the swinging bridge he is standing over thirty or so huge crocs. We just love visits with mom at the beach house. Thankfully Colton didn't eat the sand this year. And we all enjoyed rafting out in the ocean, one of my favorite activities while we're there. Grandma treated us to such a great time we can't wait to go back.

Carson's 4th Birthday

Carson had such a special 4th birhday. It all started with a surprise visit by both his wonderful grandma's! They were able to share in Carson's exciting Snake Encounters Party. Yes, it was going to be the Critterman, but that's a whole other story. Carson and all his friends were thrilled with snakes, lizards, and even a little magic! Do you see all those bins in the picture? They are filled with live snakes. We even had a 12 foot Burmeese Python in our FAMILY ROOM! AHHHH! Carson was not scared at all. He actaully loved it! Maybe he will end up being an entimologist/ herpatologist/ zoologist or whatever he is thinking today, afterall. A couple nights later he told me that he had the best birthday party ever....that's all we could ever ask for. We love you Carson!

Visit to Indiana

We had such a fun filled three week visit to Indiana this summer. After the wedding we went with John & Karen to Lake Cumberland and stayed at their condo for a few days. The water was a bit cold so no tubing or skiing, but the boys loved swimming & cruising in the boat. We returned back to Indy and stayed with mom & Joe. There is just nothing like relaxing at your parents. We went to the pool, hung out at Sherilyn's, went to Becky's for a couple days, watched fireworks, fished in the pond, roasted marshmallows, stayed up late and slept in, and on and on... One day mom had a truck load of dirt delivered (she always has some project going) and the boys played in that 10 ton pile of dirt for hours. My girlfriends and I had a great night out on the town. I didn't know what to do with myself not having to worry about a babysitter. It can be quite the chore finding one here. We love being with our family than just about anything....I miss you guys terribly and am already counting down till next summer. Ok - I have to end this post because I'm starting to get homesick:)