Spooktacular October

October was one of our busier, but fun, months.  Each weekend brought a birthday party or shower or sometimes both!  October also brings football, fall activities and sometimes if we're lucky here in Naples, our first cool front.  It's nice to finally open up the house and bring in the fresh air, even if it we have to turn the a/c on by noon.

We made our third annual trip to the St. Monica's pumpkin patch.  We picked up Joanne and Miah Jane (who we've gone with each year) and met up with Leah and her boys and Susan and her family.  It was fun to go around and choose our pumpkins that we decorate and carve, even if a kid stole our wagon and we had to pick them out a second time!  And even though Lexi was in a terrible mood and wouldn't let go of me the entire time we were there; in a very strange, round about way, we had fun!

Can you believe these kids have been going to the pumpkin patch togethr for THREE years?!?!?! Miah was about a month old and Lexi was 10 months when we first went three October's ago.  Look at these cuties now!

I was able to get a few cute shots of the kids on the 'fall' themed bench.



I love this picture...MJ is wondering why she has to sit with these two clowns!

We tried some group shots...as you could imagine, coordinating so many little ones to smile and look at the camera was very easy. LOL

Joanne, Miah Jane, Susan and Cameron

Devin and Lexi couldn't quite reach the face holes in the character boards...too cute!

October also brings a certain little friend's birthday; Brennan turned THREE!  We celebrated on a gorgeous sunny, but surprisingly not hot, day at the Can You Dig It Playground at the North Collier Regional Park.  The kids had so much fun running around playing, sliding, digging, you name it!  I got some great pictures of the kids in action...all smiles! :)

The Birthday Boy!

He's saving that frosting for later!

Brennan and Gavin in the back row and Blake, Devin and Lexi front and center.

Lexi was pushing Gavin around and around in this twirly chair.

And then it was Blake's turn!

These next series of five pictures depict the many faces of Lexi Lynn!  These faces are seen often and she can go from happy to sad to scared to having fun in just seconds.  She's the cutest little thing ever.  I know, I'm biased!

The kids' favorite thing at this particular park is the Can You Dig It pavillion.  In the summer the parents love it as well because of the cover and shade.  The down side is how dirty the kids get and of course the amount of little pebbles they bring home in their shoes. AY!

That's strawberries on Blake's face NOT blood...no worries people!

Singing Happy Birthday to the B-Man...

Can you guess how hold he turned...can you tell he's been practicing?!

Thanks for letting us celebrate your 3rd Birthday with you Brennan.  We can't wait to celebrate many more with you.  Not only did Brennan turn 3 but he learned he is going to be a BIG brother next year.  Congrats to Kelly and Christian!! :)

Lastly, the end of October brings us to HALLOWEEN!!! The kids (ok, and me!) were so looking forward to Halloween this year.  We decorated the house on October 1st with our little haunted houses, jack-o-lanterns, spiders, etc.  Andy and I took the kids to the Halloween costume store and let the kids pick out their costumes for the first time.  (Hey Leah, you may want to try that next year with Adrey! :) LOL) I thought their choices were a bit on the boring side but the kids thought they were the best costumes ever and that's what's important.  This year we were invited to a Halloween party thrown by a long-time friend of Andy's. The one thing she demanded was EVERYONE had to dress up.  I haven't dressed up for Halloween in I don't know how many years.  Andy had his costume planned to a 'T' (wait for the pictures, you'll die) and the kids had theirs picked out...I didn't have a clue.  I'm so frugal I couldn't imagine spending money on a costume to wear it for only a couple of hours.  I can't believe what I found in my closet!

My grandma's flapper hat and flapper dress...Unbelievable!  I used one of Lexi's long beaded necklaces from her dress up box and I was set. 

Let's see if you can guess Andy's costume/character:

Keith Stone from the Keystone Light commercials...nice mullet!

Introducing the cutest fireman and cookie monster duo in town!

We even had her carry around fake cookies from the kids' kitchen set.

Absolutely hilarious...Keith enjoying one of his Stones.

Family Portrait!

Vampires were at this party too...



Just like we've gone to the pumpkin patch every year with Beckman girls, another tradition we have is trick or treating with the Jarbo gang.  This was our third year invading their neighborhood and letting Cal and Gabby show Devin and Lexi how it's done!  We have so much fun going trick or treating with them.  We also had Lindsey with us again, which we've had her company all three years too.  We can't thank Lindsey enough because she gives our kids so much attention and takes such great care of them.  She walked Lexi up to every house and made sure she didn't get any candy with peanuts.  I'd hear her tell the person, oh she can't have that, do you have anything else?  Such a sweetie pie!

Eric taking the kids on a hay ride.

Linds and Lex...enjoying the hay ride.

We hope everyone had a fun Halloween and hope you all got lots and lots of candy! 

  Love the Fireman and the Cookie Monster.

Like Riding a Bike

Hello blogger-land!!  It's me, do you remember me and my crazy family at all?  We've taken a long hiatus from blogger and want to pick up right where we left off.  It can't be too hard, right?  Like riding a bike; lets give a whirl!

I sit here tonight wondering where the heck to begin.  My last post on this blog was four months ago, in June.  So much has happened and we have done so much in those four months.  I'm ready to piece together and recap the summer and vow to never let so much time pass between posts ever again!  So strap on your helmets and if you're Lexi, you'll need knee and elbow pads, and lets go for a long ride.

June

The end of May and beginning of June we moved from one side of town to the other.  It was not easy but thankfully Andy did pretty much all of it.  With the help of family and friends (THANK YOU) it went smoothly.  We spent most of June unpacking and making our new home, well, a home.  We also spent a scary day at the ER with Lexi.  She went into anaphylactic shock after eating a small piece of a Butterfingers.  After tests we now know she's extremely allergic to peanuts, like 10 times higher than the highest range of sensitivity.  She's also allergic to pine nuts, cashews, Brazilian nuts, etc.  So we spent most of June in doctor and allergist's offices and cleaning out our kitchen cabinets and refrigerator throwing out any nut products!  (this Halloween is going to be fun! :( )

July

July 3rd Nate and Cristina got married on a beautiful evening in St. Augustine.  We drove up for four fun-filled sunny days.  All four of us were in the wedding which made it a tad more hectic but my friend Jen and her kids came to the rescue.  They met up with us in St. Augustine and basically took care of our kids so Andy and I could enjoy the wedding and reception.  Jen is a life saver and we are forever grateful for her friendship.  Here are a few pictures from the Schaps wedding weekend extravaganza:

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Nate & Cristina Schaps!

Cutest ring bearer EVER!

Prettiest flower girl EVER!

Mommy & her angel

The Schaps Boys getting ready for the big day!

The Fellas: Dave, Andy, Bill and Sean

The Ladies: Kier, Abby, Melissa and Kara

Introducing the newest Mrs. Schaps

Sweet picture of Andy and his mom.

The After Wedding Party!!

Each couple had to dance their way into the reception; Andy had no problem with this request!



Kara and Cris before the ceremony...what a beautiful bride!



In July we also took the kids to Disney for the first time.  They are still young so we kept our expectations low and only planned to stay for 1/2 a day.  We all had a great time and can't wait to go back again.  Andy took Devin on the big boy rides like Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean while I took Lexi on Dumbo and Aladdin's Carpet Ride.  Poor Lexi isn't tall enough to go on the big kid rides yet.  Hopefully she will be the perfect height by our next visit.

Thanks to a generous family connection, our Disney tickets, parking and stroller were all FREE!!

This was Devin's face throughout the whole 'It's a Small World' ride...PRICELESS!

Pokey on her carousal horse.

Devin enjoying his ride

Andy keeping the kids company.



Lexi cooling off with a frozen lemonade.  It was 103 degrees that day...it was HOT!



Flying Aladdin's Carpet

Andy and Devin on Splash Mountain...Devin has no idea about the BIG DROP coming up.

You can't even see Devin...he is buried in Andy's lap!  Devin loved it and talked about Splash Mountain for days.

The most expensive thing we spent money on that day was BALLOONS..money well spent, they lasted for weeks!

August

August was a big month in our house.  Devin turned four and started school.  He has never been to day care or preschool before so this was a pretty big event for all of us.  He is going to Pre-K at Poinciana Elementary School which is the last school I taught at.  Lucky for us, I still have some friends there who help look after Devin and keep a close eye on him for us.  We also are extremely lucky to have one of Andy's long time friends, Kristin, as Devin's teacher's assistant in his classroom.  He just loves his class, his school and his teachers.  We are all so happy! 

Here are some pictures from his fourth birthday:

Devin's actual birthday was spent celebrating with Miah Jane, Joanne, Tanya, Jordan and Grandma & Grandpa Schaps.

The Beckman/Poppa Crew brought Devin his favorite cake; a spiderman cake!

Do you think he's excited?!

The sparkler candles weren't the easiest to blow out.

We had a small birthday party for Devin...Spiderman themed of course! 

At Devin's request I made Spiderman cupcakes.

Brennan driving his lady around.  No birthday party is complete until the Brewer's bring the Power Wheels!

One day Devin will really be driving Lexi around...whether he wants to or not.

The First Day of School...sniffle sniffle...

Devin's first really short hair cut...looks so much older.

Lexi being silly, of course.  She started going to Miss Dawn's house 3 days a week.  It was a big week for both kids.

September

September was a fun month!! We got to celebrate Andy's Birthday.  I arranged a small, sort of surprise, get together for Andy's birthday at a great restaurant in town.  We had our own private room so we could be as loud and obnoxious as we wanted!  I can't thank our friends enough for coming out that night.  It was so much fun!  Grandma and Grandpa O'Dean had the kids overnight (thank you Lord!) and we got to hang out with friends late into the night, or morning, however you look at it. We had a fun night celebrating and a not so fun morning recovering. LOL

We also celebrated Miah Jane's 2nd birthday in September!  Joanne threw her birthday party at one of our favorite places, the Naples Botanical Gardens.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and the water fountains were perfect for children to beat the Naples heat.  Happy 2nd Birthday to our Miah James...we can't wait to celebrate many more with you!

 



The Birthday Girl

Adrey and Devin in the tree house.

Lexi in the cottage

Brennan hanging out in the cottage with Lexi.

You can dress a girl up...

I love the sequence of these next three pictures.

Gavin playing with Lexi...he's always so sweet with her.

Devin striking a pose.

Gavin and Devin hanging out in the tree house.

Our dear friend Monet took pictures at Miah Jane's party and these are just two of her many great shots.



That was a lot of catch up for one post!  This one post took me three days and that is one reason I haven't posted in s long.  I can't seem to find the time.  I will make more of an effort to MAKE the time.  I have a lot to post for the month of October as well, so I'm saving that for another post.  We had our first trial run for our Halloween costumes last night at the Sullinger's Halloween Party.  It was a blast and the costumes were awesome!  Can't wait to share the pictures. :)

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!