Halloween

The kids were SO anxious to get into their costumes and even though I had to wake them from their naps to make it to our first stop, they were in fairly good moods.

On the way to trick-or-treating at Jessie's office, Noah and I had the following conversation:

N: "Mommy, there's bad guys at Aunt Jessie's work."

Me: "Oh really? Man, what should we do about that?"

N: "I'm gunna get them with my big muscles!"

Oh, that boy!

Yeah, he most certainly showed off his muscles:

Afterwards, we headed over to Aunt Connie's house to trick-or-treat them.




The highlight of the stop was when Connie and Mickey blew up the inflatable that the church gave them to use. Instead of doing a big church festival, their church has the congregation do "mini festivals" in their neighborhood. Which, personally, I think is a FANTASTIC idea! I mean, when else do you have all the neighborhood come knocking on YOUR door?

Our next stop on our way home for dinner was Aunt KK's house. By then, we didn't have shoes, socks, masks, or hair accessories.

But we definitely had our bags.

After dinner, we all loaded up into the Sequoia and headed to our church for the Fall Festival.

Noah. had. a. blast. He wanted to play every game, do every activity, and was over-the-top-excited about every one's costumes.

Ellie, not so much.

Though, she did have her moments.

Here's a few clips from our day:

Happy Halloween!

Morgan | Senior Photos

My little cousin Morgan is a senior in high school this year. Hard to believe! I still remember toting her around on my hip like I do Ellie now, when I was in high school! I also remember her calling me "Mommy" on purpose in stores, just to invoke mean looks from nearby shoppers. {Oh, I haven't forgotten, Morgan. And rest assured, one of these days, Noah or Ellie will help me pay you back. ;) }

BB and I took her downtown tonight to shoot her senior photos. We were a little concerned about the weather, but lucky for us, the rain mostly held off and we had an awesome time during the session... and a great dinner to top it off!

{This one, is probably my FAVORITE of the session!}

Morgan, you are beautiful, inside and out! We just love you to pieces! And thank you, BB, for all your help and great ideas! ♥

Snow-Graham Family Photos

Tonight, I got to take photos of my Aunt KK and cousins, Michael and Morgan. Part of the reason for it was a little selfish {I needed updated photos for Christmas projects and I wanted the practice}, but also to be able to bless them with some updated family photos. We went to the same little park where I took Ellie's two year portraits - it's definitely becoming a favorite spot of mine! I think they turned out really great and am looking forward to doing some more senior portraits for Morgan soon!

Thanks for letting me practice on ya'll! ♥

The Septembers

Today was "The Septembers" birthday party. Grami, Ellie, Mom and Connie all have their birthdays in September, so we typically do a big family party for them. Truthfully, I just didn't feel up to throwing a second party for friends, so we used all the goodies we had bought for that party for the family party.

Nobody seemed to mind.

Being the youngest of the Septembers, she was definitely the attention getter. {Sorry Connie! Looks like Connie-fest has turned into Ellie-fest! ♥ }

Particularly when she loves a certain little Chipette doll as much as a certain Aunt was hoping that she would.

And it didn't hurt that she was also opening up presents that arrived today from her Daddy.

Or maybe it's just the fact that she was so darn cute that she was such an attention getter.

"The Septembers"

Meanwhile, while the adults were opening presents, the Little Ones were definitely having fun. {Don't worry, Noah got down as soon as I said "cake time" "Get down off the chair, Noah.".}

I'm still having a hard time believing she'll be two Monday. It's surreal!

We couldn't help but laugh when she immediately took her baby OUT of the toy pack and play and put herself in it. If only she'd stay as well in her own bed!

Happy Birthday Septembers!

Wednesday

I'm still recovering from lack of sleep and paint fumes, but had several errands that I absolutely had to run this morning. Morgan ran a few of them with us. After we finished our errands, we picked up some lunch and headed to Aunt BB's house to eat and spend a little time with her before she got back to work on the wedding cake.

One sure fire way to keep the kids occupied and quiet? An iPhone and a doting cousin.

Poolside

One last check on the Tetris bookshelf before it gets moved into its final home at Jessie and Bryan's apartment. Didn't Daddy-Man do an amazing job? And Aunt BB, your painting skills are fantastic!

This morning, we spent some time poolside at Aunt BB's house.

Eventually we'll use up our underwater camera and I will be able to post all of those cute photos I know are on it. ♥

And for lunch, a picnic inside {out of the ever-increasing heat of the day} with Dumbo to keep us entertained.

Thanks Aunt BB and Cousin Morgie for helping us have fun at the pool today! ♥

Me Time + a Fun Lunch Date

I was in desperate need of some "me" time today... and lucky for me, my Aunt KK somehow knew it and asked to watch the kids for me. So, I took her up on it and finally went and got my Mother's Day pedicure {thank you, Benjamin, Noah and Ellie! And KK and Grami too!}.

By the time I made it back, it was lunch time, so we grabbed Morgan and headed over to the kid's favorite: McDonald's!

I'm so grateful for sweet family who loves on me by loving on my kids.

Oklahoma City Zoo {Trip}

Spur of the moment, we decided to skip church and go to the Oklahoma City Zoo for the morning/afternoon. As much as I would have loved to have seen all of our friends at FBC Moore, I think going to the zoo instead was a great choice. We hadn't been to the OKC Zoo in years {in Ben, Noah, Ellie, and Bryan's cases, ever} so it proved to be a pretty new experience for all of us. And, fyi for all our military friends in OKC - 50% off tickets with your ID!

The new Children's Zoo was simply amazing!

Noah loved the farm/petting area.

BB is pretty much afraid of birds, so we left Ellie in Nana and Papa's care on Grandma's Porch and went into the Lorikeet feeding area, The Nectaurant!


After a little while in the feeding area, Noah told us, "Noah's turn now." So Ben handed over the nectar and Noah fed the Lorikeets like an old pro.

After visiting the aquatics area, we settled in to eat our picnic lunch.

It didn't take Noah long to rope Bryan into going exploring with him.

Nor did DaddyMan and Mom need much coaxing to take a cute photo together. ♥

Just as we were packing up our lunch supplies, my childhood best friend, Lesa, her husband, and daughter Addy, walked by!

Ellie was far more interested in Addy than taking a picture.

By the time we got everything back to the car and our Tram tickets bought, Ellie was exhausted. Lucky for her {and the rest of us on the Tram} Daddy-Ben is amazing at getting her to fall asleep in his arms. Thank you, thank you Dear One.

Getting to ride the Tram Train was by far the highlight of the zoo trip for Noah. He kept telling us that it was going all down the branch line.

I'll give you one guess what show that's from.

We got off the tram for a few minutes at the gorilla and big cats exhibit, but at this point, everyone was hot and tired and ready to head home... and a certain little boy was freaking out because he had to get off of the train long before he wanted to.

All in all it was a great trip to the zoo!