Jedi Knights!

My guys had a blast dressing up to go treating this year.  There was 'Obi-wan' in the brown tunic and 'Luke Skywalker' in the black.  'Luke' was supposed to be Darth Vader, but at the last minute decided to ditch the mask and the red light-saber and be 'Luke'. :)  I made the brown tunic for Big J...it was very simple to make and I only had to make a few adjustments.  Though, I never did go back to finish the edges.  Oh well...it makes it look like its seen it's fair share of battles!

Swimming in October

 At the beginning of October, we went to visit my parents.  The water was still amazingly warm enough to swim without getting too chilled.  The boys swam a couple of times and had a blast.  In fact, when we were there just this past week for Thanksgiving, the boys thought that they were going to get to go swimming. :) Not quite!  Even if the water had been warm enough, the air outside was not. Anyways, the boys in goggles crack me up!  M-Man's expression makes me smile...and Big J would NOT look at the camera. Oh well.  Still fun!

Let's Fly!

The boys got a fun package in the mail last week from their Grammy and Papa.  In it were several books and stories about airplanes, including one about the Wright Brothers.(It's hard to believe that it hasn't been THAT long ago that airplanes were invented.)  Included in the package was a fun airplane kit.  The boys, with a little help from their daddy, put the planes together and spent the whole weekend flying them.  Here they are posing for the camera.  Don't ask me what Big J's facial expression is all about...I asked him to look at the camera and this is what he did. :)

A Morning at the Preserve

We spent a morning and lunch with a friend from church a couple of weeks ago.  We were at a nature preserve about 20 minutes from our house.  It was a beautiful day.  The boys had a blast playing at the playground and then we went on a short hike to an overlook.  I was amazed the whole time that we were right in the middle of the Metroplex.  :)

Alive!

Yes, we are alive!  And here's some proof...a new post and a fun new pic of the boys! :)  I'm in the process of reinvention when it comes to the blog, which would explain the absence of posts for over a month.  And, we have been busy with school and travel and life in general.  I'm sure you can understand.  Over the course of the weekend, I will back track and document our life over the past month or so.  Also, hopefully, a new vision will be cast for the future!  Check back soon!

Caught in the act...

...of enjoying each other's company!  Truthfully, the boys often enjoy each other's company.  Of course, they have those moments when they need some space, but then, who doesn't?!  I had to throw in a pic of Ziva trying to be in the middle of everything.  Can you see her under the table trying to get as close to the boys as possible?  When Big J is working on his school work at the table, this is her favorite place to be!

First Day of School

No, our first day of school was not today!  We've been in session for 3 weeks and we're going on 4!  I did much better with the boys "1st day of school" pics last year.  They had gotten a bag full of goodies, had their backpacks on, and they may have even had their shoes on. :)  This year was much more casual, socks or no socks.  And M-man's blanket even managed to get into the picture.  I'll post more about school later.  Until then, enjoy our ever casual back-to-school pics!  By the way, I must confess that one benefit of home schooling is that I (and the boys) don't get carried away with thinking that they have to have a completely new wardrobe for school every fall.  We get what we need, use what we have, and enjoy a few special items...like new Star Wars shirts (see previous birthday posts). :)

Star Wars Art

The past few days have been filled by the boys with the creation of chalk art in the front yard!  It has finally been cooling off, so we have found ourselves out front playing!  They have drawn vast cities, along with houses, lakes, bridges, and Star Wars characters.  Here are a couple of M-man's creations!  He is a big fan of Star Wars, especially of the characters of the Clone Wars.  These two are his chalk drawings of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka, Anakin's padawan. If you have any clue who those two characters are, then hopefully you will notice the resemblance. :)  I personally think that these are excellent!  What a talented boy!  (Of course, I am biased...)

P.S.  My hubby just informed me that these are pictures only a mother could love.  :)  In response, I am a mother, and I happen to be the mother of the sweetest, most talented little boy who worked very hard on this pictures!  So, I still think they are excellent...but I also saw all of the time, effort, and concentration that went into them!  :)

Did you know that...

"God brings out the stars one by one, and calls them each by name!"  - Isaiah 40:26b (my wording)

Amazing!  Each star has a name and God calls them by that name.  I read this during my bible study this morning.  I've read it recently, but this time that part of the verse jumped out at me.  The full verse is this:

"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:  Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.  Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."
- Isaiah 40:26

Birthdays! (Part 4)

Okay, I promise that this is the last birthday post for while...at least until the next birthday! The rest of the birthday presents arrived the day after the big boy's birthday. So, we had a second party of sorts! Can you tell that he likes Star Wars?? Many thanks to the Aunt and Uncles who sent such fun gifts! We've been playing like crazy ever since!

Birthdays! (Part 3)

Here are some pics of the birthday evening...cake and presents, of course! After we skyped with Grammy and Papa, sang happy birthday, and opened presents, the boys spent the rest of the evening putting together a new Lego set. I'm fairly certain that this birthday was enjoyed by both boys! :)

Birthdays! (Part 2)

For Micah's birthday yesterday, he wanted to go to an aquarium. We decided to go to a smaller Children's Aquarium and had a great time. There was almost nobody there, so we had the place to ourselves. The boys also got extra attention from the volunteers who were there to teach about the critters. Micah's favorite things to see (and touch) were the stingrays and the horseshoe crabs. At first, he wouldn't try to touch the animals in the touch tanks. But by the time we left, his shirt was soaking wet from pulling his arm in and out of the water! We had a fun morning and it was the perfect outing for this newly four year old boy!

Happy Birthday, Micah! (Part 1)

Today is Micah's birthday! He is a 4 years old and is more grown up, all of a sudden! When did that happen?? :) We started off the day with new Star Wars Lego shirts for both boys and then a trip to Chick-fil-a for breakfast! Micah wasn't quite ready for pictures so early in the morning. And, since my camera is acting up again (ugh!), I'm having to use the camera that has a slower shutter speed...hence two pictures of the boys with one of them smiling and NO pictures with both of them smiling. Oh well. It was off to the Children's Aquarium after breakfast. More to follow on that later! And, if you were wondering what Micah was saying in the picture with me, it was "Star Wars", which is this birthday's theme!

All he wants is his two front teeth...

Awhile back, I had mentioned the tooth fairy, and how much trouble we'd had! In all of the excitement, and with my camera acting up, I never got a good picture of Joshua with his two front teeth missing. Here is an attempt to capture this fun stage! The two new teeth are growing in fast, so I had to take this picture yesterday! He informed us yesterday that he has several other teeth loose. I hope these teeth come in quick, or he's going to have a tough time eating!

Fun Day Friday continued...

The boys and I had gone to Target on Friday to return something. Now, I usually avoid Target because I can never seem to get out of that store with only one thing! When we do go, the boys always ask to go look at the Lego's. So, after we finished what we needed to, we headed over to the Lego section so that the boys could drool and dream over Star Wars Legos! While they were looking at the Lego's, I couldn't help but check out the puzzles. I wasn't expecting to find a very cool, and very reasonably priced, Star Wars puzzle. It's actually 3 puzzles in 1, and the 3 puzzles use 3 different sizes of pieces. All that said, I did make it out of the store with only 1 item! :) Micah was able to help quite a bit with the 48 pc. set. And Joshua was able to do the other two, a 63 pc. and a 100 pc. And then, we it was all done, they put the puzzles together to get this (see pic)! Fun stuff!

Fun Day Friday

The boys and I had a fun day yesterday! We headed to the park first thing in the morning to meet some friends and go "exploring". One of the kids brought a home made fishing pole, so most of the time was spent trying to catch fish! :) My friend had brought bread for the ducks, but most of it ended up being bait for fish and food for Micah! (Don't worry, the bread wasn't moldy!)

Here are the kids looking for fish and turtles!

Here they are going fishing and in Micah's case, eating bread! I promise, I fed him breakfast before we left to go to the park. But by the way he ate while at the park, you wouldn't have believed it!

Here's Micah showing off his stack of bread! I'm fairly certain that most of that went into his belly. :) Good times!

My Alien

I couldn't resist posting this pic of Big J! The boys had received these head bobble things at VBS - it went along with the theme that we are aliens and not of this world. I came in one morning and he had ALL of them on his head! Hilarious!

Saving Up

I must say that I am super proud of this guy! He has been saving for a LONG time to buy this Lego set. There were several times when he was tempted to buy something else, but then was reminded of his goal, and kept on. He ordered it with the help of his daddy, and even got a better deal than he originally thought he would! It was waiting for him when we got back from my parents house yesterday. He worked through dinner, without eating, to put it together! And, he put it together all by himself, of course! What a kid!

JULY

Where did the month go??? We've had a very fun, full month, and I can't believe it's almost gone. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to!

We set up the water slide one weekend and had a blast. We had several different friends come to play! Neil and I even slid down a few times...scary, I know! :)

Joshua had sports camp one week. It was awesome! It was a christian based program that taught specific sports skills and also had bible applications for how to be a good sport, etc. He loved it. His specific sport was soccer!

I grew a gigantic zucchini...completely on accident. We had been out of town for a week. I had checked over all of my plants to pick before we left, but I must have missed one, because this is what I found when I got back!

We got a new puppy! I don't have many pictures of her because my camera has been acting up. Her name is Roxie(y), though we haven't decided on the spelling for certain. :) She's cute, and she's a puppy...very rambunctious! She'll be 10 weeks old on Monday!

The boys are, well, boys! Here is one attempt to get a picture of them. See what I'm up against?!

Joshua lost a tooth, actually two teeth. This was the first of two within a weeks time. And, when the second one came out, I officially gained the title of worst parent ever. Let's just say that the tooth fairy forgot to leave money for the tooth not just ONCE, but TWICE! It had been a long week, but still, how could I forget TWO nights in a row. Ugh!

We have spent many days inside because it has been SO hot. And we just got back from a trip to my parents house to swim in their new pool! We had a blast. Again, no pictures of our fun times swimming with them because my camera was acting up. I sat down this afternoon to try to diagnose the problem and it was working just fine. Frustration! Oh well! That's about it for the month of July!