Sick - or run over by a truck?

I will start off with the bad news - the kids and I were sick with a cold for a few days.  Then Tom thought he might be getting it but he was feeling nausea's instead.  Just when I thought I was getting over my illness, a got clobbered by another one!  All of a sudden last night, I began the very unpleasant process of throwing up all night long!  Needless to say, by morning I felt like what I would imagine being hit by a truck would be like!  VERY thankfully Tom stayed home from work until the afternoon.  There is no way I could have taken care of the boys the way I felt!  Feeling a little better now at least.  I sure hope the kids don't get this one!

Tom's sister Melissa came in from NY last weekend and the kids enjoyed have her here as did Tom and I!

I got away without the whole climbing thing with Zac.  He just never tried it and I'm thankful!  No such luck with Tyler however!  If he get a foot or leg up on it, he will!  You can't take your eyes off of him for one second!

Future Actor...

Zac does a lot of things with A LOT of expression/drama....So I'm convinced that he is going to be an actor of some sort or another.  Here is a photo example of why...

He wanted to wear his apron (which he actually calls his "april") to help make fondue (which he told us he wanted to eat tonight)!  Mommy dreams of him becoming the filthy rich, undeniably gorgeous actor that must be cast in every good romance movie!:)  But isn't that every mother's dream?

Ramblings

We celebrated Tyler's official birthday with lasanga and cookies and ice-cream.  Then Tom's 30th birthday the day afterward, quickly followed by Halloween.  Tyler is off the bottle already!  I didn't think it was going to be possible because he had come to love it so much but after a couple of crying spells, he seems just fine with a sippy or straw cup now!  Yeah!

Jake is doing well.  He is a puppy and LOVES to chew on everything!  His favorite things seems to be the kids and our feet and legs!  This gets a little annoying after a while but he'll get there!  The boys really seem to like him.  I love that he cleans up the high chair and surrounding area after each meal and Tyler loves to "hug" him while he's doing it!  Very cute!

We had our family pictures taken yesterday by my friend and awesome photographer Kym Jackson (check out Portraits by Kym)  I will figure out how to show you how they turned out later this week!

Too Funny!

My brother David has been in town this weekend and Zac loves to hang out with Uncle David (he's still a kid himself)!  Last night David was messing around with Zac and kept telling him "Sweep the leg" and he would grab Zac's legs and take him down.  Zac loved this as any boy would.  This morning Zac comes up to David and says "Can you do the Chick Fil A?"  We all exchanged confused glances and Zac said "You know, the one on the floor" and Mommy figured out that he meant "Sweep the leg"!  I guess the two sound alike!  Anyway, they were wrestling and all of a sudden Zac says "David, you have mommy boobies!"  I lost it!  I spent years picking on my little brother and now my son is taking over!!!

Happy Halloween!

We had great weather here for Halloween last night.  I remember many Halloweens in NY having to walk through rain (alot) and even snow a couple of times!

Grandma and Grandpa Caswell were lucky enough to be here and Uncle David was even able to drive up from training in San Antonio this weekend!

Zac was Lightning McQueen AGAIN and Tyler was a little Devil.  Even Jake got festive and dressed up as a Sheriff!

I actually think Zac liked handing candy out to the other kids once he got tired of walking house to house more than gathering his own candy!

Tyler was completely content in the wagon watching everyone and devouring his very first sucker!

Our pumpkins were carved by Tom and our niece Laura.  They were Blue and Scooby Doo and Tom created a silly faced pumpkin that was eating a small gourd!

Tyler's Birthday Party - Part I

We had a party in celebration of Tyler's first birthday as well as a surprise 30th for Tom on Saturday night.  Everyone dressed in football attire in honor of Tom's love for the game and it was a great time!

Jake was exhausted by the end!


Tyler LOVED his cupcake!

He played his first game of "Pin the nose on the lion"

Part II of his first birthday celebration will take place on the actual day, Oct. 29th with his family and grandparents!

Jake arrives!

We are SO excited!  Our new puppy Jake arrived on a flight from MO yesterday afternoon!  He is SO beautiful and such a sweetie!  He just LOVES to cuddle and play with Zac - they have the same energy level! 

Pumpkin Patch

We took our 3rd annual trip to the Big Orange Pumpkin Patch before my sister in law and the girls headed out of town.  The kids got to feed some animals, go on a hay ride, have a picnic lunch and of course get some pumpkins!

Farewell Caswells!

For two months my sister in law Andrea and her two girls Isabel and Alivia have been living with us.  It has been so much fun for the kids to spend so much time together and for us to watch them interact/play/fight etc... as well as for me to have another mom around to commiserate with!  

Tomorrow night my brother will help them drive on to their new home in Columbus, Mississippi.  We will surely miss having them here!  Hopefully each family will be able to make the 9 hour trip much  more often than we could to England!

Still summer in Texas!

While it is cooling off all over the country, we're still creeping close to the 90's here 

in Texas!  I love and miss the fall but I love the fact that we can still get out and do things that 

the kids love.  We went to the Dallas zoo last weekend and it was still a little warm for us Yankees!

Yesterday, Andrea and I took the four kids to Aviator Park here in McKinney and they had a

 blast!  We packed a picnic lunch to eat under the canopy.  The playground is nice and Tyler is already climbing all the way to the top by himself!  They also have a splash pad there so the kids stripped down and had played in the water too!