Brandon's new camera came in Friday and so Saturday the first thing we did when he got home was head down to the bay to take some photos. It was very sunny that day and could not have been more beautiful and perfect weather. Made for lots of shadows in the photos, but it was gorgeous weather. The kids ran up and down the beach laughing and then decided they wanted to run in the water. They were shaking when it was time to go, but it was totally worth it! Brick found a bird that he decided to chase and the photos weren't in focus, but I had to put one of them on here to show you. It feels so good to have a nice camera again and thanks to the insurance company who gave us money for the one that fell in the bay we were able to replace it. As Christopher likes to say, "Yeah, yipee!!!"

Brandon has been working nights all week and usually when he hasn't seen much of the kids he likes to get them little prizes. I don't think I need to tell you just how excited they were about their new toys, but let's just say they haven't been separated from them since they got them. I'm going to try to figure out how to upload the videos he took while I was napping so you can hear them too. It's really cute!

Christopher loving his new garbage truck. His first one has been broken for a while, but he still plays with them even if they fall apart. We just keep gluing them back together.

Sophie putting on her new Cinderella shoes. She clunked all over the house with these on and even took them out to dig. We finally convinced her to let us take them off so they wouldn't get too dirty and set them next to her.

Yesterday I cut the grass, for what I'm hoping is the last time until next spring, and it went the fastest yet. Usually it takes me what feels like 2 hours b/c there is so much to cut when you add in the side of the house, but I was afraid to stop the mower not sure if it would start up again. Once I was done, we loaded up and went to Walmart. We finished shopping for our Operation Christmas Child and came home to play outside some more. After naps, we went right back outside to play and ride bikes. Have I mentioned that I love being a mom right now? I know that I always seem to mention bad along with the good, but I'm just trying to stay honest and real. My kids have finally reached an age where I can sit back and enjoy watching and playing with them. It's a lot of fun to see them playing trucks together or digging in the dirt making new piles to then run over with a tractor. The one thing that I REALLY wish I had caught on camera was when Brick was chasing a squirrel along the house. The outside of our house is this really rough stucco kind of stuff that you do NOT want to rub or bump anything against b/c it will leave a mark. But it's great for squirrels to run along. It freaks you out when you first see it happening, but you get used to it. You still don't like it, but you get used to it. Anyway, they went back and forth for several minutes going almost completely around the house. I was thankful that I'd shut the door to the house b/c the chase definitely would have made it indoors if I hadn't. Can you imagine? Anyway, the little rodent finally made it to a point where he could jump to a tree and the chase was over. I definitely would have sent it to AFV if I caught it. I was afraid to leave the kids alone b/c I knew someone would get knocked over if I did.

Today we are going to Destin Commons for the Kids Club event they put on once a month. It's story time with crafts and it's free. We went last month and it was really cute and well put together. So, it's been a great week here for us and hopefully you too. Next week may be different b/c Brandon will have to start sleeping at our house during the day again. Our neighbors are out of town and they gave me a key to the house so the kids and I could play there, but I thought Brandon would sleep over there better instead of hearing us come and go all day. Even he said he feels better b/c of it! I'm off to see what the little munchkins have gotten themselves into now.

Sunday morning, like I said, I woke up and found everyone wearing their costumes. It was funny b/c they were not interested in putting them on the day before, now two days later they are still talking about it! I didn't get any photos of that moment, but here are some we did get yesterday.

Above is how Sophie prefers to look on a daily basis and below is how I prefer her to look...

But I don't fight it except when we are going out in public and seeing people that I know will look nice. Like her shoes? She didn't. Not until Daddy liked them. She needs his approval. I have to thank Payless for carrying a $14 pair that look identical to the $40 pair I had to order from the fancy shoe store. The other pair will not be coming home with us and I will be getting my money back.

The kids giving their best smiles they can. Sophie actually isn't scrunching her face up like she normally does and it's really cute!

Sophie checking on the candles inside all the pumpkins. She enjoys pointing out what belongs to who in the family. Let me rephrase that, she enjoys yelling it. She yells everything she says. I wasn't worried about going deaf early until I met her. At least she's yelling words now instead of just screaming crying. Now I know what all the fuss is about!

Here's what our family looked like on Halloween. I figured since we went to the effort to get dressed up we better show you what we looked like. Brandon - obvious, Christopher - Spiderman (duh!), Sophie - an adorable fairy and me - Christmas morning. I couldn't figure out what in the world to be, and I was really tired that day, remembered I have several pairs of Christmas pj's and socks from my in-laws collected over the years and then it hit me... I can be Christmas morning! The kids were way cuter and Brandon and I didn't win the prize, but we had a lot of fun.

I realized that pretty much all the photos were black and white and part of the fun of fall and halloween are all the colors. here are some that are untouched/altered for you to enjoy. i've also decided that i don't want a red kitchen anymore. it's TERRIBLE for photos!! i always thought i'd want one, but i hate it. i don't see me painting it any time soon though.