Christmas Cards

I love sending Christmas cards...and receiving them!  I especially love to receive the photo Christmas cards.  There are so many people that I don't get to see very often and to get a picture of their family brings back great memories.  For the past couple years, I have sent photo Christmas cards.  They are so much more personal and a great way to send something fun.  One year we sent a picture of our family at the beach in Destin, FL.  Last year, it was a picture of Brock and Ryan with Santa.  I think this year will be a Christmas family picture...or maybe a collage card with some individual pictures of the boys as well as our family. 

Shutterfly has so many different options for photo cards.  So, when I found out from a friend that Shutterfly is giving away 50 FREE Christmas Cards to bloggers, I was ready to blog all about it!  I have ordered Christmas cards, calendars and prints from Shutterfly before and have never been disappointed.  They have anything from snowy scenes to Santa to Christian.  Here are some of my favorites...I can't wait to figure out which one to get this year! Watch your mail!

They also have great Calendars.  I've made a calendar for our family for the past three or four years.  I've given them as gifts to grandparents as well.  I wish I had known about their Birth Announcements when I had Brock and Ryan!  They are so cute and easy to make.

Would you like some free Christmas cards?  Visit Shutterfly to find out how! 

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year.  Ryan had his birthday party on Halloween, so we decorated a lot for it.  The boys got these Mr. Potato Head jack-o-lantern kits a few years ago for their birthdays.  They have really had fun putting their jack-o-lanterns together every year.

Brock designed this jack-o-lantern all by himself.  He drew it on paper and then I cut it out.  At first, it was supposed to be a shark, but then it changed to a monster.

Steve and I made these ghosts for our front yard out of tomato cages, lights and sheets.  They turned out pretty cute.

Brock was Boba Fett (Star Wars).

Ryan as Ironman.

There is one house in our neighborhood that really decorates for Halloween...and I mean REALLY decorates.  They always have someone outside dressed up to scare the kids.  The last couple of years it's been about a 7 ft. tall grim reaper-ish guy.  This year, it was a troll.

Ryan wouldn't take a picture with the troll, but Ironman would!

Ryan's 5th Birthday ~ Oct. 30, 2010

Ryan is all Ironman, all the time.  So, on his birthdate he got a lot of Ironman stuff, but he was most excited about getting a fish tank.  He has wanted one for a long time, so we got him a small 2.5 gallon tank.  He has since filled it with decorations and two fish.  Ryan was really nice and let Brock pick out a fish, which he named Lila.  Ryan named his fish Lightening Force, in regards to Star Wars' Emperor Palpatine & Count Dooku who have lightening force powers.  He has done a very good job taking care of them and feeding them.  He is so sweet and tells them good morning and good night every day.

His Ironman cupcakes.

The aftermath of the Ironman cupcakes!

For his party, he wanted to have a Halloween party, but an Ironman cake.

And of course, his costume was none other than...Ironman!

All his friends in their costumes.



Brock's 7th Birthday ~ Oct. 28, 2010

Brock wanted his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  I didn't really want to have it there, but it was his birthday, so we said o.k.  I have to admit, it turned out great!  The people working there were great and it was so easy.  He also wanted a Star Wars cake.  Since he had one last year, too, we decided to do it a little different.  We had the cake made, then he put his own characters on the cake.  He positioned them exactly how he wanted them with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fighting in the middle, Darth Maul fighting Obi Wan Kenobi, Han Solo fighting a battle droid w/Yoda using "the force" on it, Chewbaca was about to hit the Stormtrooper on the head with (another) Luke Skywalker fighting the Stormtrooper and R2-D2 & C3-PO were looking on.  I think he did a great job...it turned out really cute!

Ryan racing a car at Chuck E. Cheese

Brock playing a game at C.E.C.

The Birthday Boy with Chuck E.

Blowing out his 7 candles

On his birthdate, we celebrated at home with Gramma.

One of his new toys...a really big lightsaber nightlight.

His birthday cupcakes.

After spaghetti and cake, there's always time for goofiness!



Oct. 2010

Houston

We took a short weekend trip to Houston the first part of October.  It was a great weekend.  We started out going to the dog races where all of us, including the kids, picked a dog that won a race!  Then we went to Rainforest Cafe'.  Brock has wanted to go thre for a long time and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  After eating we went to Galveston Beach.  We had swimming suits for the boys, but told them we were just going to get our feet wet.  It all started out good...

...then turned into jumping into the waves...

...then all out swimming.  They had a blast and wore their dry swimming suits in the car to the hotel!

Once back at the hotel, we went for a swim in the indoor pool...

...and hot tub.  (Not a word about my "Squiggy" hair!!)

After swimming, the boys were so exhausted they fell asleep quickly.  I thought this was such a sweet picture.

The following day, we went to the Johnson Space Center.  They had a big Lego display that Ryan and Brock loved.  Here is Brock next to a life-size knight made entirely of Legos...

...and Ryan next to a dragon made out of Legos...

...one more Lego knight.  The pictures don't even do them justice.  They were really cool. 

Brock in a shuttle lander simulator.  He was close to landing it without crashing, but never quite got there.

Astronaut Ryan

Pretending we were in a shuttle.  They had cameras and intercom so we could communicate with other people pretending they were at Houston's JSC command room.  I don't think this shuttle was made for people my height!

Mommy and her boys outside JSC.

October 2010

Steve got up one morning to find the boys lying on the couch together.  I thought it was so cute we just had to take a picture!

After bath

Steve caught a lizard for Ryan to hold and pet.  Ryan was so excited I thought he was going to squish it.

After their first YMCA camping trip this year, the boys arrived home with new hats.  They won them for carving the best jack-o-lantern.

Brock and Ryan with all their Star Wars toys (on windowsill) and Millenium Falcon we got at a garage sale.  I think their fingers are supposed to be guns.

Brock and Ryan decided they wanted to take Daddy roller skating since we had so much fun this summer.  They started to really get the hang of it.

Steve's mom came and visited for the boy's birthdays.  We all enjoyed her stay.