Halloween, 2012

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!)

Milam upper generation photo . . . just because

Rainy Day Fun

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:

Lovely Fall Day with the Boys

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.

HBK Halloween, 2012

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

St. Alcuin Garden Party - Fall, 2012

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

Misc. Pics of the Boys

A few pics from this week.

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:

Halloween Costume Test Run

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: