Oz Bunch Multiplies

We had so much fun on Halloween! Asher sat so still as Charlie painted his face...I'm still not sure which of my boys liked dressing up for Halloween more.

You can't tell in this picture, but Asher was quite the opposite of the Cowardly Lion as he ran out to show off his costume and painted face to Uncle Jordan. He was so proud of himself and his "roarrrrrrr" that he'd been practicing.

McKlayne had no idea what was going on as we painted her face..she kind of just smiled as the paint tickled her nose, but she definitely didn't like having her "ears" put up. She screamed as I put the rubberbands in her hair...this was her first time to have pigtails, but I've heard that girls get used to this, so we shall see!

She's got him wrapped around her little finger already!

I still can't believe how quickly we've doubled! If you would have told me when Charlie and I were first Dorothy and the Scarecrow (before we were even engaged!) that in just four, short years we'd be dressing up again as the Oz bunch with two children of our own, I would have laughed in your face! It's amazing to me what the Lord can do in such a short amount of time! We're so thankful for where He's brought us!

My little Toto.

He had so much fun running from house to house and often helped himself to the candy...we'll have to work on that next year!

Of course, we had to stop by the CS Grandparent's so they could see our little ones, where we met Tara and cute little, Kitty-Cat Karis. (This sidenote is completely unrelated to Halloween, but I wanted to be able to remember this for years to come: You know Asher loves his "Mammy-ou" whenever he sees "Dane" passing out worship guides at church and immediately starts asking for her. I can't believe he can already put them together...he's way smarter than I give him credit for!)

Then we made our way to the Hendrick's to Trick or Treat and hang out with the rest of our friends.

He sure loves his sister!

Asher has made such a great transition to McKlayne. He's always wanting to give her a kiss on the lips or on the top of her head...and lately he's been in to giving her long "movie" kisses where he says "muaahhhhhhh" and moves his head back and forth...I honestly don't know where he learned that!

Second to asking for his bottle of milk each morning when he wakes up, the first person he asks for is "Nayne" (which is what he calls McKlayne.) He wants to check out where she is and give her his first kiss of the day.

He's also always wanting to hold her. He's so proud of himself when we let him hold her because he's thinks he's so big.

In addition to all the holding and kisses, he loves to help! He likes to help "burp" his sister as he pats her back and says, "burp, burp, burp", he likes to suck her nose with the blue bulbed "sucker", and he likes to help wipe her hiney when I change her on the floor. His favorite thing to do after I change her for the morning is throw away diapers and take her dirty clothes to the hamper...it's a great help to me!

But, sometimes he loves his little sis a little too much and it gets him in trouble! No heights can keep him from her.

(I was looking at the other pics I'd taken on the viewer and I look up to find this...don't worry, I stopped him before he crushed her!)

He pushed this toy over so he could climb up and get a good peek at her...and, again, was so proud of himself!!

And so it begins...

Tonight as I unloaded the dishwasher, I found THIS little guy.


I almost peed myself. And so begins life with a little boy and his creepy creatures.

Mini-Vacation

Several weeks ago, my sisters and I took my mom on a much-needed vacation to the Hyatt Resort in Lost Pines outside of Bastrop.

We pretty much just hung out by the pool all day...is there really a better way to spend vacation?

Here are some pics from the trip:

Cousin Pic (From the left: Brynn, Camdyn,

Reid, Asher, McKlayne, & Stella)

The Newbies: McKlayne & Camdyn

The Fam.

The Tots.

Stella Bella.

The Little Fish...this kid thinks he's about 3 years old when he's in the pool!

Little Miss Drama.

Mimi with the two big girls.

Our second favorite thing to do while on vacation.

How cute (and old-he's a 2nd grader!) is he?

Reid, Brynn, & Asher rode horses! They LOVED it!

They were not happy about having to wait their turn.

Still anticipating the pony ride.

Finally.

He was so serious...he kept saying, "Neigh, neigh," before he got on his pony, Buddy, but once he was on, it was ALL business. He held on tight and enjoyed the ride.

The End.

Asher's first hair cut

On our trip to Arlington, McKlayne met a bunch of Charlie's family for the first time. We stayed with Grandma Apel and went to Aunt Jan's for the afternoon to visit with Charlie's Mom's side of the family.

She loved her (Great) Grandma Apel, who had a way of putting her to sleep within about 3 minutes. I wanted to bring Grandma back to College Station with us.

Asher had a first, too...he got his haircut! (Don't worry...just a trim...most of you have seen him since and haven't even noticed.)

Charlie's Aunt Sharon is a hairdresser; we wanted her to cut his hair since we trusted her not to cut off all his beautiful curls.

She trimmed it up nicely, so it wasn't so scraggly anymore. (I didn't realize just how long it had gotten until I looked at these pics!)

Asher didn't even realize he was getting his haircut. He sat very still on my lap and enjoyed his Popsicle the whole time.

Thanks, Aunt Sharon! We'll be coming back to you for the big cut!

Here are some other pictures from our trip:

Sweet (Great) Grandpa Overman...he couldn't wait to hold her!

And Great Grandma Jo...the baby-machine!

Grammy with her two grandchildren!

Asher wouldn't let Aunt Kathy put him down! He loved her!

Uncle Mark

Aunt Jan

...and Uncle Fred!

Bowhead

About a month ago, I was packing up a suitcase for a quick trip to Arlington. I noticed that one by one, McKlayne's bows (since I, of course, had to pack one to go with every outfit, she'd be wearing on the trip) were slowly disappearing from the mesh netting that I had clipped them to.

I followed the culprit as he made his way over to the swing she was sleeping in. And this is what I found:



And, of course, he wanted a picture with a bow in his hair, too. This kid loves headbands and bows! It must be all that pretty hair!