Fall Fun

This week is Red Ribbon Week at school which meant lots of fun dress up days. Tuesday was by far Elijah's favorite day, Pajama Day. He was very excited to wear his new Mario and two bad guys pj's!

One of the churches had their "harvest" aka Halloween carnival on Sunday. I was quite amazed that Elijah was patient enough to stand in line long enough to get his face painted much less actually sit still while she did it. But, he almost fell asleep!

Spiderman with his spiderweb face

My cute little monkey!

People often tell me that my boys look alike(I don't really think so, as much0, so for fun I posted a picture of Elijah wearing the monkey costume when he was 21 months old. Tell me what you think! Do you think they look alike?

We attempted to play outside a couple nights ago as we do as often as possible. This has seemed to be an impossible feat as of late due to the rain or the massive amount of mosquitos. We only braved the bugs for a few minutes but our niece, Jaimee, found lots of snail shells and a few snails. The kids were VERY fascinated by them.

Kyle is REALLY into saying cheese and posing when I pull out the camera! Here is his latest pose along with his favorite buddy and cousin, Jocelyn.

My Elijah is quite the character! I just love his little personality. . .or maybe I should say big personality! He also has an amazing memory! He sees or hears something once and we know we will hear about again at some point. Well, Elijah saw a commercial for a snuggie several months ago. He said he wanted one(as he does EVERYTHING he sees) but I just passed it off and thought nothing more about it. Last night, Elijah got under the load of towels that I hadn't folded and said, "look Mommy, I'm pretending like I have a snuggie!"

This and That

I have been absolutely awful about taking pictures lately(except with my cellphone) and therefore have been absolutely awful about blogging!

We have done some fun things over the last month and I thought many times about blogging but it just didn't happen. So, here is trying to get back in the swing of things!!

I am a HUGE college football fan, especially the OU Sooners(not good since I am in Longhorn (yuck) country!). It has been a rough year for my beloved Sooners but I will watch and cheer for them regardless. I am also a Big 12 fan! I have finally found a Garzon guy that will watch football with me and cheer right along side me!

Here Kyle is cheering on Colorado during the Colorado/Texas game(yes, I realize that Texas won! And honestly, at this point in the year, I hope that Texas wins out and can hold their own with whichever SEC team makes it to the BCS championship! I am a Sooners fan first but will ALWAYS root for a Big 12 team over anyone else! So, if OU can't make it to the championship, then I just hope Texas can get there and play the ENTIRE four quarters!!!!)

Very excited when Colorado had a big play

Anxiously awaiting to see if Colorado could score that touchdown

I wish you could see his face but he was VERY excited they scored!

I am pretty sure that Elijah has at least 30 funny sleeping pictures. This one isn't really unusual unless you look at his feet. I know they look like house-shoes but they are actually the covers to Kyle's armrests on his carseat. Elijah calls them his Sonic(the hedgehog) shoes! He REFUSED to take them off that night!

Elijah and Kyle have become best buddies over the last couple weeks! They play often and actually pretty well together! This makes my heart happy! Kyle has started talking quite a bit more and every time he says something new, Elijah looks at me and says "Mommy, he can TALK!"

Here the boys are playing a game together on my phone

A Reflection. . .

This post, as most of them are I suppose, is for me more than anything else. Do you ever have those days when you feel like everything is going wrong? When is seems like all the stress in the world is on your shoulders? When you feel like your children did nothing right all day and everything that came out of your mouth was no, time-out, or loudly saying their names? I have had those kinds of days for the last couple of days. I know a lot, if not all, of this is because of the stressful situation we are in as a family. However, I honestly think that I "yelled" at the boys more in the last couple of days than I have their entire lives. As I put them both to bed tonight, I realized (actually remembered) that I don't want to rush through their lives! I want to treasure each moment I have with them. . .each stage (even if it is a difficult one)! So, in honor of that, here is a picture walk through each of my boys lives. . .a short picture walk that is! :)

Elijah Mikal, January 2005

Elijah Mikal, January 2006

Elijah Mikal, January 2007

Elijah Mikal, January 2008

Kyle Brooks, January 2008

Elijah Mikal, January 2009

Kyle Brooks, January 2009

Elijah Mikal, now (with his buddy, Aidan, at Austin Park and Pizza)

Kyle Brooks, NOW (with his new cheesy grin)

And as an extra. . . Kyle on his first day of Mother's Day Out

When I look at each one of these pictures, so many memories come flooding back. . .