Kelly and Ryan's Halloween Party

On the Friday before Halloween, we went to our first party, and it was Nathan and Charlotte's first time to get to wear their costumes out! Nathan had already tried on his (Bumblebee the Transformer) several times to play in, but I realized I had never actually tried on Charlotte's Ladybug costume. All I was thinking was "Please let it fit and be cute!"

Nathan loves his padded muscles! Everytime he put his costume on, he wanted me or Daddy to punch him so he could say it didn't hurt :)

Yay! Charlotte looks so cute! Although I couldn't get her to take the comb out of her mouth to take the picture!

Charlotte also got her stitches out that morning, and her cut just looks like a scratch now.

Bridget and Kelly

The party was a big hit! Marla told me it was going to be a somewhat small party like it is every year, but then Kelly begged to invite her whole kindergarten class. And only two kids didn't make it! Nathan was so cute to watch because he jumped right in with the big boys and played with all of them. The kids played in the backyard and then rotated to different games and activities. There was "Pin the Eye on the Monster", A ghost bean bag toss, a Cake Walk, and face painting!Nathan won two Twinkies on the cake walk. Plus there were lots of snacks and prizes. Nathan loved his prize of vampire teeth. He and Charlotte had so much fun, and they both fell asleep on the way home...at 5:30 pm! I couldn't keep them awake, so I just said what the heck and let them sleep. Needless to say, they woke up around 7:00 and were up until 10:30, or maybe even 11:00!

World Series, Game 4, 2011

The Texas Rangers have made it to the World Series two times in a row, and Wayne and Nathan have been both times! Last year the two of them went to game 3. This year they went to game 4 AND brought along Papa! We've been watching all of the pre-season games, and Nathan is a pro at doing all of the cheers. He still remembers chanting "COLBY! COLBY! COLBY!" last year (he was the pitcher). This year, his favorite cheer is "NAP-O-LI, NAP-O-LI, NAP-O-LI!" Before the 3 of them headed to the game, they had a little batting practice to warm up.

And here is Papa and Nathan at the game. Wayne took this one and only picture with our camera...he was too busy concentrating on the game to take more! Papa emailed me the last ones from his phone. Wayne and Dad told me that the three of them had a blast, and Nathan was so good the entire time! One thing that made him really happy was all of the junk food that he stuffed himself with: Twizzlers, peanuts, pistachios, french fries, 5 smuggled Capri Suns from home, and a cheese burger! Although they lost the World Series (again), they did win this game. Wayne said the crowd went crazy since this was their first game back home after being in St. Louis. So it was a really exciting game to be at. They stayed until the very end and got home around 11:00. And Nathan was awake until right before they got home...then he conked out :)

Texas State Fair, 2011

The night that Charlotte got hurt, we went to the State Fair with Nathan...Grandmother had it all under control at the doctor's office, so we stayed and had fun! Nathan was so excited to be there! He remembered last year when Wayne won him two stuffed animals, and wanted Wayne to do it again! He was so excited about the games, but we told him we'd play one early and another when we left. The first thing we did was go on the Carousel. Then we headed to the snake exhibit.

These snakes were HUGE! The pictures don't do them justice! After looking at the snakes, we went to the game area. Nathan saw a booth with a big Scooby Doo and told Daddy that was the one he wanted. We all know the games aren't set up to be won, especially to try to win a big prize. So on the side, Wayne talked to the guy and asked how much the big Scooby was...I can't remember the price, but Wayne worked it out with the man so that Nathan would "win" the Scooby on his own and Wayne paid for it ahead of time :) What a good daddy!

Nathan was so proud of himself when he won it! He told me "Daddy was going to win him for me, but I did it myself!" Now it was on to the crocodile exhibit, and Scooby was right there with Nathan the whole time.

Last year, we got cotton candy for Nathan, but he wasn't a big fan of it. He kept seeing all of the kids with it and wanted it. We kept saying, "Remember how you didn't like it last year?" But Nathan said, "I know I didn't like it when I was little, but I promise I'll like it this time, PLEASE???" So of course, we got him some...

And he had one tiny bite and a tiny lick and kept offering it to us! Then he said he wanted to save the rest for later :)

Now to the petting zoo. Nathan loved feeding all of the animals. Wait till you see the Kangaroo at the end! All he needs is a silk robe and a cigar!

Nathan's FAVORITE thing was the Fun House. The floors moved, there were tunnels to crawl through, and the best part was the last room where it was filled with bubbles and suds! Nathan and I went through it first and then he wanted Wayne to go through it again with him, but Wayne said he rushed through it just so he could get to the bubble room!

Of course we stuffed ourselves with all sorts of fair food: corn dogs, chicken fingers, ice cream, funnel cakes, and caramel apples. We ended the night with Nathan playing one more game where we won a new race car. And this time Wayne didn't have to "fix" the game :)