Happy Halloween!!!

Hello, all, and Happy Halloween!

Things have been B-U-S-Y! Bray is, as we speak, on his way back from Houston....where he was auditioning for the San Francisco Merola program. He made finals, and then, according to Bray, sang the best he's ever sung at an audition! We won't find out if we made it in for a few weeks, as they have to send us a letter. We shall be sure to keep everyone updated!

In the meantime, Hobbes and I have been hanging out in Monroe, keeping busy with Halloween activities, parks, and a little shopping. We are going to Alabama/Florida this weekend to see Bray's grandparents and go to a friend's wedding- we shall be driving with Wendy and Charity, so it shall be a full house, but a fun trip. Pray for our travels!

So, I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful, if not somewhat too warm here, fall weather, and enjoy the pics!

Here is Hobbes taking a break from the sun in the tube in the park structure. Down below, he is grinning as wide as he can in the swing!

Now here's Jaiken in the tube at the park...looking through the peephole! Below, Hobbes is fascinated by the pumpkin we carved.

To the left is Charity's pumpkin, below is my pumpkin...sooo cute!

Hobbes really wanted to come out and help us light the pumpkins...he kept his hand on the glass next to the door the whole time! Below, it was actually pseudo-cold a few nights ago, so I took the opportunity to put him in one of his very cute hat-sweater combos. He was waving hi to me while atop Gigi's counter.

And here are the pics from this evening...I have a better one I shall put up later of Hobbes, but for now, here's my Charlie Brown! He played the go fish game...but couldn't quite figure out that you put the fish back in the water when you were done.

Hobbes ran around chasing the ball, while Jaiken was a crawfish who ate candy the WHOLE evening! We had lots of fun!

Pics of Hobbes...finally!

Here is a pic of Bray and I for my birthday...but I did say this would be pics of Hobbes, so here we go!

















Here are some outside pics...it's actually been a little cooler here lately, so I've had a chance to put him in some coats and hats. The one of him in the raincoat was yesterday...when it was POURING rain, and Hobbes just wanted to stand outside in it forever! He kept putting his hand out to feel the rain hitting it. So fun!!!


















The one of Hobbes by the curtain is another of his favorite pasttimes...he hides behind the curtain and then 'jumps' out to roar and scare me. We hope you all are doing well...miss and love you!

Washington DC!!!!

Well.... to quickly fill you all in on why we went to DC, Marissa and Nick, our friends in this first pic, have relatives in DC who own an apartment. A few months ago, Marissa asked us if we would like to go on a trip with them to DC when we had our fall break. Our break happened to fall on the week of my birthday, so we combined the trip as a late anniversary/birthday celebration. We left the morning of Oct.7, after depositing Hobbes with Charity, Bethany and Wendy. Our trip was full of seeing everything possible in DC- the monuments, memorials, museums, shopping...you name it! So, to summarize, here are the pics:
First, the 4 of us on top of the Kennedy Center, trying not to get blown away/ Bray and I in Annnapolis, after our tour of the Naval Academy. Bray looking picturesque over the water in Annapolis.

The National Observatory(beautiful!)/ Me next to the statue of President Garfield during our tour of the Capitol building/
Near the African Art museum, taking a crazy pic with Marissa and Lydia/ Bray and I in front of the original Smithsonian building/





























Bray and I in front of the huge pillars of the Library of Congress/Part of the engraving of the walls of the WWII memorial, showing the Beach at Normandy/


The World War II memorial...amazing! One of my new favorites/
A dinosaur at the Museum of Natural history, Bray lovved the dinosaurs!:)/ Bray enjoying the hugeness of the Washington Monument/
In front of the apartment building we stayed in, which was a block from the National Cathedral/

In other words....we had a FABULOUS time! It was nice to be kid free for a week- although we missed Hobbes horribly....but the same cannot be said for him. He loved playing with the cousins, getting war wounds from stick battles, and hanging with G. G. and his 2 aunts. We are all back home now, and I shall put up some more pics of my birthday(23!) and Hobbes enjoying freedom from parents. Love to you all, and miss you terribly! Happy Halloween by the way!

Fun With Hobbes!

Well,as you can see from the photos, Hobbes has been the only one presentable for the camera. He is photogenic 24/7. :) In all seriousness, things have just been insane-I know, I always say that, but it's true- and thus, I have barely remembered to take pics of Hobbes for all you wonderful people.
His personality comes through more and more each day. He has entered more of the 'imitation' stage of things, and I have found him copying me on several counts. I was in the grocery store the other day, let me rephrase, I was in the Piggly Wiggly the other day, and I was looking at the meat. I wasn't watching Hobbes, and suddenly a worker asked, "Ohhh, does he know how to write?" I said noo, but then I turned and saw he had gotten a pen and a receipt out of my purse, and was trying to make a mark with it, like Mommy does! I must admit, it was one of his cuter moments.
On the downside, he's still learning that sharing means not screaming when you give up your toy...but he has some red marks near his behind area that should help. Anyhow, I shall give you an update on what we're really up to soon, but for now, enjoy the crazy baby!

Things to do...

Hello, again! We are back in the routine, so I just grabbed a free minute to show a few pics of where we're at....here's a night at the pool, relaxing before the kids come back. Hobbes, with his favorite hobby(no pun intended), playing vrrroom-or cars, and a few decor pics for my mom and sisters. I will write more later, but for now, love to you all!

Moscow one more time!

Here are just a few pics from our latest Moscow excursion- unfortunately, I did not always bring the camera with me this time, so there are not quite as many adorable pics as usual.:( So, instead, I'll give you a short update on what we managed to cram into 1 short week.
We:
-went to Trinity Fest
-saw "Leave It To Psmith," a play directed by my dad, with Jordan as the star(if you're reading this Jord, way to go!!!) and my 2 sisters in hilarious roles (miss u guys)
-celebrated my mom's 53rd bday(am I supposed to write that?), by going out to dinner and... getting her ears pierced!
- cut Carolyn's hair in such a cute way, that I am very tempted to do the same
-saw my Grandma Garfield, got to spend more time with her
-got to know Naphtali, my new sister-in-law a little better, especially after losing to Seth and her in Star Wars Life...do not underestimate the dark side, guys....we'll get you next time!
-worked a shift at Bucer's with Bray...and of course drank a lot of coffee
-spent time with all our favorite friends...which makes us miss them even more.
We love you all, it was so fun to see you!

ALABAMA!!!

Hey, Everyone!
Sorry it's been awhile- summer is at the heighth of it's craziness...trips, packing, driving, cleaning....it's a whirlwind! We got back to Monroe yesterday evening from a trip to Gadsden, Alabama. It was Bray's Grandma's 90th Birthday, and we had gone to join the rest of Wendy's side of the family to celebrate. His Grandmommy took all of us to Six Flags over Georgia on Tuesday...and we all had a blast! Gotta love huuugeee roller coasters. To tell you how fun and crazy his grandma is, she also took them to Six Flags on her 80th, and plans to do it again for the big 100!!! What a great fam I've married into!
Anyhow, we are on our way to Moscow tomorrow, so I will just show you a few pics from our trip, and give you more details later. Love you all!
For the pics:
Here is almost all the fam. We're still missing:
Remy, Bethany, Archer, Jaiken, Jordan, Matt, Thomas, Emily, Samson, and Laurabelle.

Eating ice cream with Mom for the 1st time! Riding the Carousel with Gigi for the 1st time, driving the car...do it all the time;), playing with Pop and the Alabama basketball he won for Bray, and being cool dudes with Dad.