A superhero Halloween

Our Halloween was so much fun this year.  The kids are all at such a great age and it was so awesome to walk the neighborhood without using a stroller.  We all dressed up as superheros and it was a hit in the neighborhood.  I have to say that Halloween is my new favorite holidays!!

Ryan the sassy little Batgirl!!  

She just took out her Mexico braids for a nice wavy 'do.

 Reese was here to save the day as SuperGirl!!

 Ryder had a repeat of Spiderman even though we purchased Captain America & Iron Man costumes in the correct size :)

 Our entire trick-or-treating crew!!

 Cory and I were the masked, caped crusaders.  He was looking for the Bat sign in the sky.  Such a funny dork!

 Love our superhero family SO much!!

 Can't wait for next year :)

Neighbors

We love our neighborhood.  It's so fun to live in a cul-de-sac where the kids can run, bike, & play safely.  Lately we've had Juhi & Kira over a lot.  Juhi is in 4th grade and we love her.  She's so smart and such a sweet girl.  I love when she comes over to play. The other day she wanted to play with Reese & Ryan but I said they had to finish homework.  She came inside and helped both of them.  They thought it was the greatest to have a 4th grader helping them out.  

Kira's parents work a lot so she spends time at our house in the afternoons.  Sometimes we pick her up from school and she'll play for awhile.  The girls & Kira get along really well and she's so sweet to Ryder.  It's nice having her around.  

The other night we decided to Boo both Kira & Juhi at their houses.  Kira lives deep in the cul-de-sac so we had to hide in the bushes while Cory rang the doorbell and ran across the street.  I tell you what, it brought me back to my teenage days of TPing and was more fun than I've had in awhile :)  The kids had a blast and I think it's our new Halloween tradition.

Tooth #4 for Reese

The tooth was dangling but she needed A LOT of convincing to pull it.  Cory is really good at that stuff.  I tend to get squeamish and want to rip it out quick so it's over with.  Here he is analyzing the situation.

 It truly just popped out and there was barely any blood, so you know that sucker was ready to come out.

Here she is showing off the gap to all of us.

  I've been trying to take photos at night, indoors without using my flash.  It's tricky because the ISO has to go way up but then the quality of the photo gets compromised.  I'm still working on it but this was one I took without using the flash and it turned out OK.  I adore all their sweet smiles!  Ryan is holding up the tooth fairy pillow I used when I was a kid.  They each have their own but prefer to use this 'vintage' one of mine

After that we assumed the usual position for bedtime stories!

Reese got a really special treat from the tooth fairy--gum and a $1 bill.  We never chew gum in this house and she's been begging for it lately.  The tooth fairy must have heard her pleas and decided she was responsible enough to chew a piece once in awhile and then brush her teeth right after.  We'll see.

Fall trip to Mexico

Our blog is in need of some major updates.  I'm starting with the most recent and trying to work backwards for the past month.

We just got back from Mexico and as usual, had the best time.  The weather was perfect, the beach was beautiful, and we just relaxed and hung out as a family. We kept the Rocky Point economy thriving with the following purchases: 6 bracelets for the girls (3 each), 5 bracelets for their friends, 3 beach dresses, 5 pairs of sunglasses, 2 silver rings, a truck & ukulele for Ryder, braids for the girls, & a 45 min massage on the beach for mama.  They could smell the gringos and their money coming!  I busted out some of my Spanish for some tip top negotiations on our purchases.

The Ryan team retreat was Saturday night and I didn't get many photos of that because we were chasing Ryder around the entire night and that's not an exaggeration.  Keep that kid out of trouble and danger is my full time job and I think that's why I feel so behind in life.  He is the most fun but he runs me ragged some days :)  Anyhoo, here are the latest photos of our fun vacay:

 We ALWAYS get the hair braided.

 Love playing in the sand.  Mimi brought Roxy down and she had fun frolicking on the beach.

Reese is starting to look like a full fledged Jack-o-lantern. She's lost 4 bottom teeth (another post on that to come) and the top two middle ones are vewy vewy loose!

I'm always so surprised at how patient they are to sit there while this stranger is braiding their hair.

 Sassy little Ryboo!

 I was trying to figure out when I took the photo below and then realized that Ryan stole my camera and was taking photos of Reese.  They were playing 'fort' underneath the draped 8' tables at the party.  So hilarious!

Ryder's cheeseball smile is too much!  It's SO him right now.  

I see that face all the time, especially when he wants something he knows he's not supposed to have.

Our sweet family of five :)

House updates

Our house is due for some updates and we've picked out some things we like.  There's a lot of tile in our house and we're talking about replacing it with the two options below.  It's hard to see against the dark floor at the tile company but it's a 20" ceramic tile that looks like Travertine and the plank tile that looks like hardwood floors.  

Have you seen this stuff?  It's so awesome because it looks like hardwood but it's ceramic tile and so easy to maintain.  The guy told us it handles the beatings from kids and pets really well.

 I also love these cabinets.  They are white with a caramel glaze or chocolate glaze.  We won't be replacing our cabinets but painting & staining instead.  I want the majority of the cabinets to be white and the island cabinets to be a dark brown/espresso color.  Our painter came over yesterday to give us a quote.  We'll see.

We also tore out the BBQ in the backyard and relocated it to the side yard where we hope to build a patio area with new pavers and turn a window into a door.  Big plans. We'll see how soon it all comes together.