After two costumed outings, it was finally time for us to celebrate the real thing . . . Adam and I were really pleased to be in town this year after missing the last Halloween (we were out of the country at a wedding). We pulled in Gramma, Papa, and Uncle Ronny and celebrated a gorgeous evening of trick or treating on S. Versailles, where we definitely had run of the street!
Noelly Canoli, sans Buzz helmet, ready to get going!
Pai handled the majority of the extroverted neighbor visits
The very rare multi-generational Milam family photo - love this one
And the almost just as rare Milam Men photo with everyone looking at the camera!
Cruising S. Versailles!
Pai escorting the boys to visit the scary witch (which is across the street from our real life S. Versailles scary witch!)
I stumbled upon this video and realized I hadn't posted it. It was the end of the summer and we'd had a stretch of rainy days. The boys loved walking outside with their umbrellas and then asked if they could run in the rain with the delightful results below:
Today was a great Fall day here in Texas. I picked up the boys from school and after some time on the playground, Noel asked is we could make chocolate cupcakes. A very specific request, and one I was happy to indulge.
After we finished baking, we headed outside for some fun in the dirt and the resulting photos reminded me a lot of another day we spent with the boys almost two years go! Seeing those photos, it's hard to believe how much they've grown in such a short time...yet how much they're still the same.
Ethan focused on digging up some dirt.
Noel packing in the dirt to make room for more.
Ethan admiring Noel
Ethan admiring Noel even more...
Ethan bringing pensive realness
Ethan figured out how to work the camera and started taking his own pictures.
Bruce has been very fortunate, in many ways, to work for such a great company in HBK. Every year they do a large family-driven Halloween event and its always something we look forward to as a family. This year had facepainting, spin art, ice cream service and a ridiculous amount of candy . . .
Pai and Noelly, entering the event
Our twin Buzz Lightyears, heavily focused on the candy options after finishing their ice cream.
Face painting - SHARKS!!!!!
Ethan lasted about 18.4 minutes before ditching the "too hot" costume
Daddy and Noelly trying to get an official photo (unsuccesfully) on the hay bales
Catching up on our Q4.2012 posts today . . . first up is a post of the Fall, 2012 Garden Party for Noel's toddler class. This event was bittersweet for us as it came in what were the last days before the boys moved out of Toddler into Primary. We absolutely adored Noel's guides and took every opportunity to spend time in his classroom. The school was always very accommodating when we had these events, so you'll see SweetPea Ethan participating as well . . .
Pai and Noelly doing a little mulching
Pai and both boys a sthey transitioned into some planting
Lastly, a very telling photo of Noel's class as it existed at the end of his tenure - our little comparable giant
First is pulled from the file of "Amazing Parenting." Ethan likes to clean out his ears and when I turned around he did this. Cute AND dangerous!
And yesterday, I picked the boys up at Bill and Barb's and while I was trying to roll up their felt play mat, they decided they wanted to be enchiladas:
Last Halloween was fun and the boys had a mild concept of what was going on.
In the past year, however, their imaginations have taken off and they LOVE to imitate their favorite characters.
We were looking through different catalogues and when we came across Toy Story Costumes, we knew we'd struck gold. We asked the the boys were asked who they wanted to be - and without hestiation - both chose Buzz Lightyear.
In all honesty that was the desired decision from the parental POV. If one had chosen Woody and the other Buzz Lightyear, there would 100% be a meltdown on Halloween because one would want the other's costume.
The costumes arrived yesterday and were a hit. See below for a few pics in their outfits as well as a video of the boys going "to Infinity and Beyond -ond -ond!!!!"
Ethan taking off; Noel taking notes
Noel taking off?
The wings light up, but only for 5 seconds at a time, so we're constantly having to turn the lights back on:
Bruce and Adam (aka "Brudam") were married originally on October 24, 2008 in San Francisco, California, pre-Prop 8, at the San Francisco City Hall. We then had a phenomenal wedding with our family and friends on April 25, 2009. We initiated the surrogacy process in late 2008 and finally achieved a successful pregnancy on May 8, 2009. Ethan and Noel were born at 36 weeks on December 29, 2009 and this is where the story begins . . .
