Fun Halloween week last week with the little guys!
We carved a couple pumpkins... by the way, carving pumpkins with little guys is fun but they get bored and go ride their bikes while mom has to dig all the goop out ... and they return to ooh and aahhh over mom's carving skills and accidentally break a tooth off the skull pumpkin and punch out the ghost the pumpkin... oh....well...






The pumpkin carving happened on Sunday... which was way too early.  It turns out that pumpkins rot pretty quickly once they are cut... so... maybe next year we'll carve just a couple days before Halloween.

On Thursday we made sandwiches in the shape of a spider.  Although, I've been told they actually look like crabs.  Whatever they looked like, they were scary looking for sure!!!  And the boys had a blast eating them...



And finally on Saturday we did the trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with our very own super heroes!!!  Later that night, the boys endured a sugar coma...

Drew is two and a half now, potty trained (mostly... ugh!), and has officially grown out of the crib.
Walt has plans to build the boys some bunk beds, but until they are finished (they might end up being loft beds for their college dorm at the rate he gets things... nevermind ) we are borrowing our brother and sister-in-law's spare bed.  (they don't need it because they are now needing a CRIB as they're expecting their first in January - YAY!)

Drew was super excited about the transition and really we are too.  We thought it might be hard to make the switch but he seems to love the bed and though it takes him forever to go to sleep at night, he doesn't really get up out of it.  Though the first night he did, and we found him sitting in his closet playing with his toys... which was way cuter than it was frustrating!

Drew in his new bed!

I don't know... maybe it's a mommy thing ... but I think this is pretty much the cutest 2 yr old saying I love you that there ever was!!!!

Pictures from vacation!

If you click on that link above you'll see lots of pictures from our vacation last week.  We had such a good time... just the four of us.  And just for the record, I DID NOT take my laptop and turned off email on my phone.  So.... it truly WAS a vacation (and I think Walt only talked to work on the phone a couple times... which is definitely a record).  It was so cool to see the boys having such a good time... pure joy!  And every night at bedtime they were MORE than ready to hit the sack which gave us some nice relaxing adult time watching the ocean from the balcony with our strawberry wine.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Now back to summer in southern Indiana.  Tball games and golf league...grilling out...  need to get the rest of the garden planted.  GOOD TIMES indeed!!!!

Just as soccer is coming to an end, Tball is gearing up!  And here starts the taxi service that will be my life for the next 15 years or so. 
Grant LOVES baseball and he's so proud of his uniform!  But of course, most of all he likes the snacks at the end of the game!
Watching Tball is great entertainment! 

Looking cute in his uni...  and Drew is his biggest fan!  He chants "come on guys!" and "go Gant!" from the stands while big bro plays.

Drew got his hair cut for the VERY FIRST TIME today!!!!!  I know... he's two and never had his hair cut.  He didn't even have hair though until he was a year.  Now he has the cutest mess of blond wavy hair.  I've been putting off getting it cut because I just LOVE it.  But, it was starting to hang in his eyes and get a little too long in back so I took him to the salon.  I had Grant get his cut first so Drew would see that it was no big deal.  Grant, though understand he's not really a normal child, really likes getting his hair cut and has not once complained or fidgeted about it.  I was a little worried about Drew.  I really thought he would be mad and cry... sorta like he does at the doctor's office.  He didn't.  He sat on my lap but he did GREAT.  He didn't say a word the whole time and sat very still.  You can tell from these pictures though that he wasn't super happy about the experience.  But we made it and he looks SOOO cute!!!

"I don't know about this mom!"



"WHAT is this lady doing to me!"



"But... I do look kinda handsome now!"

Here's a link to a recent photo session of the boys:

(if you are a grandma or grandpa, don't order any yet... I'm getting you some)

www.seemyprints.com   type in Valiant Boys and then 2009 for the password

Also CONGRATS to our Brother and sister-in-law on the birth of their FOURTH boy...Griffin!!!!
Can't wait to see him!!!

Grant has started his first team sport.  I think I'm as excited as he is.  He's playing soccer and it is SOOO cute!!!
He's no David Beckham but he's not too bad.. .for a four year old that has never had any interest in soccer until now.  His things are basketball and football but he's generally competitive by nature and enjoys just about anything involving sports and running around.  So, soccer is filling that need right now.  Here are some shots of our little man strutting his stuff at his first game last Saturday.

Drew's Birthday.
Easter.
Drew's Birthday again.
Grant Soccer.

Okay.  Now I've got you all caught up! 

Alright.  DREW IS NOW TWO YEARS OLD!!!  What a whirlwind two years it has been!!!!  But we made it and this little guy is crazy cute!!!
His doctor said he's lookin' great, growing well, and showing signs of great development.  He is talking up a storm these days and mimicking everything Grant does.  He's insane about his toy cars... which he selfishly refers to as MY CARS!!!  He even insists on sleeping with one or two of them each night.  He's a tiny bit on the mischievious side (which everyone insists he got from me... ) but sharp as a tack (which I insist he got from me...)!  He doesn't miss anything.  His glasses are really helping the nystagmus... I'll give an update on the eyesight next month after he has his check up with the Ophthalmologist.  His little personality is awesome but he's a little impatient and bores easily.  Again... high probability he got that from me.  And what a dare-devil.  He throws caution to the wind and trys anything.  Which tests my patience just a teeny tiny bit!!!  Just a little recap of some of his little "adventures":  broke our full length mirror in our bathroom, crawled in the bathtub and turned on the shower -- fully clothed, punched the screen in our dining room window and fell through onto the front porch --- he's fine, went down the BIG BOY slide at the park upon INSISTENCE and fell on his face at the bottom -- wanted to go again... NO I didn't let him, .... I could go on.  He requires A LOT more attention and activity than Grant ever did. 

So, we celebrated the little guy's birthday Easter weekend at Gma and Gpa Valiant's house where we had a great CAR cake and lots of cool presents.  The following weekend we celebrated at Gma and Gpa Murphy's house since they were on vacation the weekend before.  Here's a picture recap of his big day(s).

Drew's gift from us... a cool picnic table for he and big bro.  They loved it!



the birthday cake #1:

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birthday cake #2:







 

A few weeks ago I took a vacation from life for a few days by myself and trekked up to Boston for a design conference.  It's a little bit like a Star Trek convention but with much cooler special effects.  The attendees were all graphic designers like myself and photographers.  The focus was primarily Photoshop but the design track (which is mostly what I attended) covered all of the Adobe Design Suite.  A lot of it was review for me / brush up on some design skills but there was quite a fair amount of new techniques and tools to be learned as well.  I had a great time submerged in three days of design stuff alongside a slew of other designers.  When you freelance like I do, it's nice to have human contact with other like-minded folks every now and then. 
One afternoon while I was there, I had a three and a half hour break to do whatever... so I went for a walk.  My hotel (next door to the convention center that hosted the conference) was in the Back Bay area which is sort of a swanky little burgh of Boston with lots of cute boutiques and artsy stuff.  I set out to explore that afternoon and what I found most exciting was some beautiful architecture.  I didn't have time while I was there to see many of the major historical spots but I did get a glimpse of a beautiful New England City.  And I did find Fenway Park and attempted to take some pics of it... although I couldn't really see anything.  It's really just dumped in the middle of a bunch of other buildings.  Here's a link to my photo album from the trip:  Boston Pics