Halloween 2012

We painted and carved our pumpkins to get ready for the biggest candy holiday of the year...

 

 

 

Our superheroes were ready and more than eager to trick or treat...

  

 

 

 

 

 

James and Audrey had such a fun night wearing their costumes and going trick or treating.  We knew James would love it, but we were surprised how much Audrey seemed to understand and love it too.  The kids also really enjoyed handing out candy to other trick or treaters once we came back home.  Fun times for the Stoner's!  Happy Halloween!

Tough Mudder

In October, Dave ran the Tough Mudder in Austin with some friends he's known for a long time (Jeremy and Sabrina Ruckel, Jeff Ruckel, and some of their friends).  The Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacle course that includes lots of mud, water, barbed wire, electric current and climbing obstacles.  Dave's group finished the race in about 4 hours, and I was there to document most of it.  They all had so much fun that they're going to do it again in April, and I'm going to join in the madness this time.  Great job Dave!  You are officially a Tough Mudder!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Denver

Just before Halloween, I took James to visit our friends, The Brown's, in Denver.  The Brown's lived in Fort Worth last year and moved to Denver at the end of the summer.  Owen was in James' class at school, and Owen's mom, Ann, and I have become good friends.  We are so sad that they moved away.

James hadn't been on an airplane since just before his 1st birthday, so as far as he was concerned, he'd never been on a plane before.  The anticipation of our trip and riding on an airplane was so much fun! 

 

 

We were lucky enough to arrive in Denver the day after it snowed, so James and Owen had tons of fun playing in the snow.  The boys also got to dress up in their Halloween costumes for the Brown's church's Trunk or Treat.

 

 

 

 

And, Ann and I got to go out to dinner sans kids (thank you Ryan for watching them).  We had a wonderful weekend, and we miss our friends so, so much!

A new cousin

At the end of September, we drove down to Fort Hood to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Amanda before they moved to Virginia where Mike was being re-stationed.  We also got to meet our new niece (James and Audrey's new cousin), Julia Grace, born on September 6th.

Super Heroes

In September, I made James a Batman cape, and since he didn't have a full costume (that'll come in October), he had to improvise...

James also helped Audrey find her own super hero get-up, minus the cape (that also will come in October)...

We are so lucky to have two super heroes in our home to keep us safe. Don't they look tough?

First day of preschool

This year, James started his third year of preschool, and Audrey started her first year.  Both kids are going 2 days a week (Tues/ Thurs), and they both love it! 

Audrey's is in a class with 4 other 1-year-olds, and her teacher's name is Ms. Susie.  Audrey has no problem at drop off, and often ignores me at pick up because she wants to keep playing.  She is one independent girl!

James is in a class with 14 other 3-year-olds and has 2 teachers, Mrs. Alland and Mrs. Parker.  He has so much fun, and loves having so many "friends".  He is a very social kid.  We were able to get James and a friend from his class last year, Henry, in class together this year, and they are becoming inseparable.  It's really fun to watch toddler's interact with each other.

We can't believe how fast Audrey and James are growing up (I know, so cliche, but so true).  We've seen a big difference in Audrey since school started.  She's becoming increasingly verbal, and James likes to ask her to say words.  He gets excited when she does, and he often tells me "Audrey can talk like me now."  Audrey is starting to play with other kids more, as opposed to just around other kids.  She definitely would have started doing some of these things regardless of school because they are typical milestones, but it seems like she's grown up so much in just the past month.

James is such a loving, kind and thoughtful little boy.  He adores Audrey.  He was asking me about my wedding rings the other day, and he asked if he could have them.  I told him no, but someday he will meet a girl that he really loves and they will give rings to each other.  He immediately pointed at Audrey and said, "I already found her!"  MELT MY HEART! 

 

 

 

Great Wolf Lodge

At the end of August, we spent a night at Great Wolf Lodge for a mini-vacation.  We don't really travel much with the kids because our experiences thus far have been less than enjoyable- there's so much to haul around, schedules get off and kids (and parents) get grumpy, no one gets any sleep at night- but, we feel like the kids are getting to ages where we can do more, and actually have a good time away from home.  So, we ventured 45 minutes away for 24 hours of fun!

Great Wolf Lodge is a huge resort with an indoor water park and arcade (those are the main attractions).  We didn't take pictures in the water park because we didn't want to risk ruining the camera, but I guarantee, it was a blast!  There were several areas that were perfect for toddlers, and really, the only thing our kids didn't do were the big slides that they were too short for.  There was a wave pool (that James loved, and Audrey was not a fan of), there was a couple pretty tall twisty slides (James also loved these, and Audrey hated them), there was a lazy river, and all sorts of splash pad type of play areas (and, if you're wondering if Audrey actually liked anything in the water park, she loved these areas).

You get a view of the water park from the lobby.  The kids got really excited when they saw this.

 

 Getting messy with a chocolate cupcake.

 

 We spent a lot of time in the arcade.  Audrey liked to pretend to play the driving game.  I tried to sit with her and actually race, but she wasn't interested.  Every time we walked near these racing games, Audrey would climb right in the seat.

 

 James didn't want to take a picture, so the first picture is him retaliating by making a sad face.  The second picture is James being overly excited because I probably told him we couldn't do something if he didn't smile.

James was so excited about winning "money" (tickets) in the arcade.  His favorite game was Deal or No Deal.  He loved to slam down on the Deal or No Deal button and watch all the tickets come out.

 

 At 8 o'clock every night, guests can go down to the lobby for story time.  The kids enjoyed it even if it was an hour past when Audrey usually goes to bed.  She was so tired.

 

 

Breakfast in bed.







 

The kids, especially Audrey, were fascinated by the fish tanks at the Rainforest Cafe (which is not actually at Great Wolf Lodge- it's about 5 minutes away, and turned out to be a great outing for lunch)

 

 

We're walking back to our room after lunch.  We had a really fun time, and one night was plenty for our kids.  There was just enough to do to keep them interested and wear them out!