Outdoor paradise

The outdoor playset is finished!!! Well mostly, there are a few minor things that still need to be done, but it is usable. This was a huge project that started back in June/July!! Many thanks to Grandpa & Grandma, Aunt Shelley and Pete and Joel for the picking up process. But a special THANK YOU goes to Grandpa who did all of the sanding/staining and rebuilding of new pieces. We are so grateful for all of you and want to send you a HUGE thank you!!

If you remember, this is what it looked like when we acquired it from the last owners:

Here is the progress made over the last two weeks:





The boys played while we worked:

And finally the boys are able to play!! They are IN LOVE with it!





I am so happy with how it turned out and I'm looking forward to many, many years of enjoyment it will provide our kiddos!

It's been awhile...

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted last. The holiday season is always so busy and life just zooms on by. I want to back track a little bit to the week of Thanksgiving so that I have it recorded for my "virtual scrapbook."

The week of Thanksgiving was wonderful. Mike was off of work the entire week so we got in lots of family time. On Monday we took the boys to the Fort Worth Zoo. This was our first time, as we usually go to the Dallas Zoo. It was *infinitely* better than Dallas Zoo! We were so happy to see that the animals were in a more natural environment, it felt cleaner and there were more animals. The boys had a blast. Their favorite animal, by far, were the monkeys. Won't you know I didn't even get any pictures of the monkeys! I guess we were too busy watching the boys be so excited.
Here are a few pictures of "our" wild animals (Brendan in red and Collin in grey):


And a few of the real wild animals:



It was an exhausting day, as you can see:

We also visited the trains at Northpark that week, which was also a huge hit. We had a great Thanksgiving with both of our families. Overall it was one of the best weeks of the year so far. We have a lot to be thankful for!

Photo Shoot

We finally took the boys to get their 2-year photos! We also tried to get a few holiday photos, but those didn't turn out as well. Brendan wouldn't smile and Collin wouldn't sit still. It's very difficult to get good pictures of two-two year olds!! We did manage to get one good family shot-which is our first, so I guess we can't complain. :) Enjoy!

Brendan-this is the best we got of him. He was not being cooperative and smiling.

Collin was all smiles the whole time.


I LOVE this one:

Brendan:

Collin:

This is the *best* xmas photo we got! Haha!

And the only family shot with everyone smiling:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! The boys had a great time. They were very into it once they found out they got candy at each house! :)

Brendan is Pluto and Collin is Mickey Mouse:

Helping Daddy

The boys have been into "helping" lately. All day I hear, "I want to help Mommy!". Yesterday afternoon the weather was beautiful, so Mike decided to let the boys "help" him wash his car. They really had more fun jumping in the water puddles!!




Happy Halloween! Hopefully we'll get some good costume pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we headed out to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and had a great time! The weather was gorgeous. The boys have been obsessed with pumpkins since our neighborhood started decorating for Halloween. So they could not wait to go see a pumpkin patch! In fact, they asked me this morning if we could go play with the pumpkins again!

Lots of pictures ahead...Brendan is in red and Collin is in green.











Mike and I squeezed ourselves into these little carts to take the boys on a choo-choo train around the farm! The boys loved it!

World's Greatest Cat

This post is dedicated to our sweet cat, Chloe, who sadly went to heaven this past week. We learned a week ago that she was in chronic renal failure. She was such a fighter because she never showed any signs of being sick until she was really deep in kidney failure.

Chloe was the sweetest cat from the moment I met her at the SPCA. I went there wanting to adopt a sweet and loving cat. She turned on the charm from the time I set foot in her room. She jumped up on my lap, started to purr and rub her head against me. I knew at that moment that I had to take her home with me.

Chloe was with us through Mike and I getting married, moving to our first house and the birth of our boys. She has been nothing but a very loving and affectionate cat. She loved the boys so much and never hid from them, she loved their attention - even if it was sometimes negative. She led a very good life. We are just sad that it had to end so early. I'll leave you with some pictures of our princess Chloe.

This was her perch. The top of the couch was her favorite place to be.

I call this her "queen Chloe" pose

She loved to lay in the sunshine

Chloe was my best bud during my 3 months on bedrest with the boys. She loved having me around 24-7!