Ryan Turns Three ~ Oct. 30, 2008

Well, my baby is no longer a baby. Ryan is three now! We celebrated as a family by going to Chick-fil-A, opening presents and eating cake. I think he had a really good birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!!!

Blowing out his candles...

...opening gifts...

...and lovin' his pirate stuff!

Brock Turns Five ~ Oct 28, 2008!!

Brock is now 5!! I just can't believe it. We celebrated his birthday as a family. He wanted to go to McDonald's, then we came home, opened presents and had birthday cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROCK!!

Blowing out his candles.

He got a Transformers book...and we've been reading it every night since!

He said he wanted a Batman costume, so he could dress up and fight the bad guys.

Brock and Ryan's Birthday Party

Since Brock and Ryan's birthdays are only 2 days apart, we decided to let them have a party together this year. This was Ryan's first year to get to have a party with his friends. They had a really good time and are blessed to have some great kids as their friends.

Brock wanted a Transformer party. Here is his cake...he thought it was just about the coolest thing he'd ever seen!

Ryan wanted a Peter Pan party. His cake is actually a Pirates of the Carribbean cake, but we replaced the Pirates with all of his Peter Pan toys. It turned out pretty good...and he loved it!

Brock with one of his gifts...a Transformer toy.

Ryan showing everyone how yummy his (and Brock's!) cakes were.

Flag Football

Brock has been telling us for about a year that he wants to be a football player when he grows up. So, we decided to let him try flag football this year. He has learned a lot and it has been really good for him to be around older kids (Kindergarteners). He says he likes it and has fun. He also says that he likes playing defense and getting the other team's flags more than he likes offense! He scored a touchdown in their first game, but of course, I didn't have my camera with me at that one!

Brock is playing the center position here.

Here is a video of Brock getting a flag. He is #8...the one standing straight up and not paying attention at the beginning of the play!!

Destin, FL

We were fortunate to be able to go to Destin, FL the first week of October. Some friends of ours were able to go, too, and we had such a wonderful time. It was Brock & Ryan's first time to go to a beach and I think we went to the best one!!! We had a blast and hope to go again in the future. This was our view from the balcony of our condo.

The boys loved to run into the ocean!

After a while, Ryan got a little tired of the waves knocking him off his feet, so he went on to hunt for seashells.

Brock, however, absolutely loved playing in the ocean.

One of my favorite pictures of Ryan...ever.

A great picture of Brock, too.

We dug a hole and the kids climbed in and we covered up their legs. They thought it was just hilarious!

Soakin' up some rays!

The beginning of our sand castle...

...the finished product! (And our friends!)

Mommy and the boys.... Who wants to stop for a picture when the whole ocean is out there?!?!?

Daddy and the boys.

We also spent our fair share of time at the pool.

The sunset the night before we left.

We went out to take some family pictures and Brock found this boogie board and decided to give everyone a ride!

A video of the kids in the ocean.

Swinging in the Backyard

We've had a swing set in our backyard since we moved here, but just recently bought a double-swing and a bar to go on it. The boys have loved swinging together!

I'll Ask It Again: Do Ya Think They're Brothers?!?!

I asked this question in an earlier blog (Oct. '06) when I had pictures of both of them sitting in a kitchen drawer. Ryan just started potty training a couple days ago and, lo and behold, he proved to me that they are indeed brothers...in more ways than one!!

Painting Brock's Bedroom

We painted Brock's bedroom over Labor Day weekend. The boys really wanted to help, so we put on some old clothes and jumped right in! They had a lot of fun and worked really hard.

While we were painting Brock's room, he slept in Ryan's. One night they kept talking and playing and I went to see what was going on and they said they wanted to sleep together. I was a bit leery and thought they'd never go to sleep, but they actually went to sleep fairly quickly. I snuck in later and got this sweet picture.

The "after" pictures of Brock's room. I tried to find some "before" pictures (and I forgot to take some before we started), but it was a pastel blue-gray. I think it turned out great. These pictures don't even do it justice. The top is khaki and the bottom is blue. We took the stripe out of the bedding and curtains and put it on the wall. It was very tedious work, but turned out awesome!!