The Annual Dallas Freeze - 2015 Edition

Right on schedule, the snow and ice hit Dallas.   This almost feels like an exact replica of THIS post from a little over a year ago.  Bruce's departure was delayed two days, we almost didn't get to close on the house and school was shut down for most of the week.

Earlier in the week, we got loads of sleet and while the boys loved running around in it, the sleet was harder and less fun to play on.  And just as things looked like they were thawing out, today, the boys got their wish - fluffy, white, dry snow - great for snowballs, snow angels and some all around wintry fun.

Below are some pics from today's adventure:

Arriving at school he weather was fine

Three hours later, things look very different

Crooked Tree covered in snow

Noel making a Snow Angel

Ethan decided to do the same

Then some free form action - Noel trying a face down Snow Angel

From Snow Angel to Snow Devil - Noel dabbling in some anarchy with a little vandilsm 

Noel said, "I'm like something that cocoons in the ground."  I suggested Empire Strikes Back, he responded dryly with, "No, a Snow Fox".

Let's Go Bananas!

I think we've clearly established that one of the boys has a sweet tooth over the other (I mean, come on, his nickname is Noelly Cannoli - he was doomed from the start).

Well, Noel might have some competition on his hands - this week in Dallas, we were hit pretty hard with frozen temperatures and nothing warms you up on a cold night like ice cream.

We went in to Braum's and Ethan declared his desire for a banana split.  He's never had one, nor did we think he even had an awareness of it, but his desires ran deep and a banana split he would have ("split" with Pai, of course).

Ethan has never been so into sweets as he was in this moment.  Barely gasping for air in between bites, blocking my spoon from getting another bite - it was a truly primal moment as Bruce documented below:

39 Seconds in the Emotional Life of Ethan

Okay, so no, none of you have been blocked from our blog - there was a weird thing going on that wasn't allowing us to post and I just never got around to resolving it.  So, you'll probably start seeing us catch up on posts from last summer pretty soon.

This post is from today's adventures brought to you by Ethan's emotions.  We got home from school and he was a little cranky.  I didn't carry him in and he started crying.  I started taking pictures and told him to smile.  In the middle of his crying, he recommended that I tickle him and that might help and he immediately began laughing.

Behold the beauty of a child in touch with his full range of emotions and can express them all in under 60 seconds:

And scene........

Ethanoel turns 5!!!

We've had a lot going with the Bruce's new job in Seattle.  We're managing the travel back and forth quite well and at the same time trying to maintain a sense of connectedness and normalcy amongst the chaos.

So when then holidays came around, all of the Milam Men were digging on us being in the same location for an extended period of time and having friends and family around as well.

The boys' birthday was a great excuse to get everyone together for a fun time.  We opted for a fun bowling party - a rare setting where both the kids and adults to have a great time.  

Mini corndogs, cake and $2 mimosas were abound at the party and everyone had a great time:

Requisite Transformers Birthday Cake

Papa and Denise having a great time

Ethan ready to bowl

Noel got s strike!

Uncle Ronnie making Noel laugh

Mia, Teal and John rooting on Ethan

Avo and her boys!

Brudam Brigade Holidays

It was our last Christmas at Casa Versailles and it was probably the best so far.  The boys are in that sweet spot zone where the excitement of Christmas Eve is infectious,  They go to be super giddy at the notion of what's to come the next day.

In attendance were all the Milam Men, Gramma and Papa, Avo (a new addition), Ronnie (long time veteran) and Joanna (making her second appearance).

It's a nice, relaxed day, without a ton of chaos.  We wake up, the boys open a few presents, we eat breakfast, they open a few presents, we eat a late lunch, they open a few remaining presents and then eat some leftovers.  Good times all around.

A few highlights below:

The first presents of the day (after stockings, of course)

Noel modeling his new TMNT robe

TMNT in front of the door....

TMNT in front of the tree

Ethan taking in his stash

Uncle Ronnie schooling them on KerPlunk

Late lunch and holiday crackers

Noel opening his Christmas Cracker

Unsure of what's happening here - but loving Bruce's shirt the boys made for him

A nice shot of Ethan

Noel digging into Pai's famous Texas Sheet Cake

Ethan taking a different approach to same Texas Sheet Cake

2014: Professional Photos - The 5th Year Edition!

Year 5 represented our last year in Dallas - while we had mixed feelings about most things related to our departure - this 5th year represented perhaps the end of our photo shoot creativity in the metroplex.  For this one, we wandered over to Ft. Worth to explore the Japanese Botanical Gardens, which had some amazing fall colors that we don't see across the majority of Dallas. 

 

Some seriously good nuggets in this photo series . . .

 

Family Photo 1:  Four Men on Four Stones with Reflection

Family Pic 2 - happy family, adorable twin boys

Family Pic 3:  Daddy and Pai at eye level

 

100% natural and such a great representation of how much Ethan loves his brother.  Maybe favorite pic of all time

Look at those cheekbones!  Look at that grin!  Noelly really hitting his stride

Ethan's casual catalogue model pose

Daddy and Sweet Pea

Pai and Noelly Canoli

Latter part of the day . . . two super happy boys

 

Handsome Boy Modeling School Part 2

The second round of modeling came around the holidays when they boys received some TMNT pajamas.

The fell right back into modeling and gave some first rate poses:

Can you handle this?

Trying out his tree pose in costume

On the hunt for Shredder

Say "what" again....I dare you!

Over the shoulder (L) and bada$$ (R)

Handsome Boy Modeling School

On several different occasions over the past few months, the boys have asked us to take pictures of them "posing."  It was out of the blue and that's always a fun thing to indulge as you have no idea where it will take you.

The first was in Seattle - we were walking home from somewhere waiting for Bruce to get home and they just started posing.   Here are a few with last one the rivals Blue Steel a la Zoolander:

#realness #nofilter #blessed

Noel at the bus stop

Ethan acting like a statue

Ethan giving Urban Casual Hipster

Moving on to our action shots

Finding their light 

Airing it out