A new toy

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Chris surprised me with a new 70-300mm lens for my camera (thanks, Chris!). We've had fun playing with it since and I wanted to share some photos- a lot of these were actually taken by Chris.

Could my boys get any cuter?

Brendan had just ran into a sharp corner and scratched his head, hence the tears and sad face. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of him but that made him cry even harder because he didn't want pictures of his cut.

 I love this one mostly because Alex's favorite toy of the afternoon was that Twix bar. He wouldn't let it out of his chubby hands all afternoon. By the end it was pretty smashed and melted but I still ate it anyways. :)

 Who knew that Brendan was such a good model?! He's got his posing down.

This was taken Thanksgiving morning and Alex was upset because he couldn't climb up on the couch- even with the help of the vacuum. His face cracks me up. Climbing and playing on the couches are his latest obsession.

Olives are always a part of our Thanksgiving and Brendan still loves to put them on his fingers.

 Alex also had fun chowing down on our feast that day.

Hope everyone had a good holiday and is gearing up for Christmas!

A little update on my Alex

I cut the Goober's hair last night and I have to admit that it breaks my heart a little every time I look at him now- he looks so much older and grown up! What did I do?! He's supposed to be my baby still and now he looks more like the 14 month old that he actually is. I can't bring myself to call him a toddler yet.

This is one of his crazy smiles that I see a lot. He's such a silly little guy and I love it. He loves to bite shoes, eat things off the floor, close himself in dark bathrooms and play with the remote to our tv. In fact, something inside of our remote now rattles because he's chucked it on the floor so many times. His goal in throwing it is to get the batteries to pop out (and he succeeds- I don't know how he figured this out) and then he chews on them. He LOVES to chew on batteries. What a weirdo!

Alex also loves to be naughty and get into everything and anything. He is becoming a seriously mischievous little boy. He still isn't walking yet but that doesn't deter him at all. I shudder to think what he'll do when he can walk and run. Maybe I should be glad he isn't walking? He'll take a few unaided steps to my outstretched arms but he does it with his eyes closed. And when you hold just one of his hands to walk with him, he walks in circles. It's pretty funny and we're enjoying this stage with all the adorable and amazing new things it brings. He says the most adorable "woof-woof", has developed a deep love for his shoes and constantly wants me to put them on him, loves peek-a-boo still, kills me with how clever he is, and gives the best open-mouth slobbery kisses hands down.

I really can't imagine our little family without him.

Halloween 2011

I love this picture. Brendan was so into Halloween this year. When I told him to smile for the camera, this is the pose he gave me complete with a very scary skeleton growl.

 Alex was a pirate and of course all good pirates must have mustaches and dark eyebrows.

 This is how he felt about having his face painted. He did not share Brendan's enthusiasm.

 Brendan and his posing seriously cracked me up. This was taken just before our church's annual Trunk or Treat. Brendan had a BLAST again this year.

 Alex discovered the bean bag toss and was finally happy.

 And even though this picture is slightly blurry, it's a favorite of mine. Alex got his first lolipop and went bananas for it. The boy was blue all over from it but he wouldn't let me clean him up until he had devoured the thing. Good times.

 This is really not a great picture but for memory keeping purposes, here's a shot of Brendan's preschool class. The kids had a Halloween parade followed by a fabulous party, which they all loved (of course).

 Halloween night we headed out for trick or treating and since the night was bit chilly, we bundle the Goober up. I didn't bother putting Alex in his pirate costume again since he wasn't getting any candy so instead he was Denver Nuggets fan.

Here's one of the three of us. I got the boys glow in the dark weapons so we could keep track of them in the dark and they were a huge hit. Smartest idea I've had in a while. Every time Brendan ran off to the next house, I always knew where he was and could point him out in a pack of kids.

The night was fun, much candy was collected, and when we got home Chris dug right in after we put the boys to bed. Good times were had by all!