Joint Birthday Party

We had a really fun joint party for Colton's 2nd and Lainey's 4th birthday. This is the first year we have had a party for either of them. We didn't really do a party for Lainey's 1st birthday, then I was in the hospital having Colton on her second birthday, and on her 3rd (his 1st) we had just moved to the Woodlands and didn't have any friends. We were thankful that we got to celebrate them this year with friends and family. 

We had their party at the Woodlands Children's Museum. It is nice and small so you can keep an eye on the kids but there is still plenty to do. They have 2 great party rooms and the kids love it there.

We all got a good laugh out of this. I didn't notice CELERBATE until I got home and was looking through my pictures. The banner was from Target, and was pre-threaded on the string. I didn't think to check the spelling and didn't even notice during the party or when I snapped the picture.

I had fun planning out and making their cakes. I wanted them to each have their own special cake.

 I also made these cookies as party favors.

Those sweet birthday kids melt my heart.

Check out the cupcake explosion in Colton's lap/chair.

The kids had fun opening gifts from Nana and Pops, Gigi and Pa, and us. We spread out the friend gifts over about a week's time and they had tons of fun opening and playing with all their gifts.

We are very thankful for these 2! They bring so much joy and laughter to our family. Happy Birthday, birthday buddies!

October Family Fun

I am playing catch-up to document all of the fun October festivities we enjoyed. Fall (and really all of the 4th quarter of the year) is my favorite!

1. 7 Acre Wood

This place is in Conroe, and it is so much fun. We came here last year for the first time and were excited to bring the kids back again this year. It felt like a scorching August day, but we still had a good time. They have a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, play grounds, zip line, putt putt, sand area (Greg's favorite, haha), old boats to climb, pony rides, and other random things.

Cambry had been watching a lot of Spirit (a tv show about horses), so she was really looking forward to riding a horse. We thought Lainey would be too scared to ride but she was super brave and enjoyed it.

2. Pumpkin Decorating

We decorated pumpkins. The kids had face stickers for their pumpkins and the girls added jewels and sequins. I always love an excuse for craft time. I decorated fake pumpkins with gold sequins to add to my fall decor.

3. Pumpkin Carving

We saved one large pumpkin to carve the day before Halloween. The kids had fun digging into the pumpkin guts. Cambry helped some with the poking and cutting out of the face. I wanted to roast the seeds (although no one else seemed interested), but I accidentally burned them. Maybe I'll try again next year.

4. Trick-or-Treat Trail

This was our first time to go to this event. The kids dress up in costumes and they have lots of booths and activities going on at Town Green. It sounded fun but it ended up being extremely crowded and long lines for everything, so we didn't stay too long. It was fun seeing all the costumes, a man on stilts, and getting a free cookie from Tiff's Treats, but I don't know if we will go back again.

5. School Costume Parades

Cambry's school had a book character parade. Since she was dressing up as a unicorn for Halloween, we went with that costume and used the book Uni the Unicorn. I loved watching all the kids parade by in their costumes. As our oldest child, Cambry always seems so big to me. But when I see her at her elementary school she seems so little and adorable. The kindergartners are just so dang cute!

Lainey's school had a costume parade as well so Lainey wore her Halloween fairy costume. Afterward they had a class party and I got to be the book reader. They did crafts and had pizza. Lainey looked beautiful.

Superman helped me read

6. Gigi and Pa's Halloween Dinner

My parents wanted to see the kids in their Halloween costumes so they invited us over for a fun and spooky dinner. Pa's mask may have frightened the little ones slightly, haha. My mom had decorated the table in such a cute way. She also bought the kids these beautiful and delicious candy apples. They loved them. Pa had made us a wonderful dinner of smoked brisket and potato salad. We finished off the night watching the Astros (who later ended up winning the World Series!).

7. Adult Halloween Party

Our friends from our old church invited us to their adult Halloween party that they throw every year. We didn't get to go last year so we were so excited to see everyone this year. My parents had planned to babysit the kids but then my mom ended up getting sick. My dad was so sweet to come by himself and do triple bed time on his own. We were so thankful. Greg and I dressed up like a barista and a frappuccino. We tied for first place for the costume contest.

8. Halloween Night

Cambry had the idea to eat an orange dinner for Halloween night. She planned out that they would eat macaroni and oranges. I thought that was such a cute idea.

Here are the 3 cuties all dressed up and ready to go!

The Unicorn

The Fairy

Thomas the Train

It rained all evening. We were debating whether or not go with our back up plan of hanging out with neighbors indoors but we decided to brave the rain. And I'm glad we did. We still had lots of fun trick-or-treating in rain boots and with umbrellas. The kids were all troopers. Especially Colton. I thought he wouldn't wear his costume because he hadn't liked it during the development phase. But he proudly wore the whole costume up until the very end. He was very slow walking with a bulky box on so Greg would put him on the scooter and push him between houses. He loved it. He was getting lots of looks and compliments on his costume and one person even asked if they could take his picture.

It was a good October!  And that didn't even include Lainey and Colton's birthday party or our Lake Tahoe trip (separate posts). I'm not sure how we fit all that in but I'm thankful for such a fun month.

Colton, 2 Years Old

Our little boy is 2 years old! He is such a joy. He is growing so much in personality and communicates so well. He makes us laugh and amazes us with all the things he understands and says. Here are some things about Colton at this age.

He has a love for all things transportation related. He loves cars, trucks, airplanes, and especially trains. He spent 90% of his time at the Children's museum for his birthday playing with the train table. He will hold little cars or trains in his hands and bring them everywhere and even sleep with them. He loves books about trucks and trains too so I always make sure to get a few from the library each time.

He has about 5 trains in his hands

He likes to point out bugs and lizards and frogs and tries to touch them. If there is a dead bug he will saw 'ewww gose!'. If there is one in the house he wants to be the one to try and kill it.

He is very determined to try things himself. He wants to get in his own car seat, always wants to push the close door button, wants to lock the car, push the garage button, turn lights off, put lids on, buckle up, etc. He is constantly saying 'yemme do it!' or 'yemme try!'.

He is not a big eater and is pretty picky. Dairy is his favorite food group - milk, cheese, and yogurt. He always seems to like mommy's drinks. He likes my coffee, la Croix, and protein drinks. Yemme have some!

He is like Cambry in that he likes clean hands when eating or playing.  It seems he does not mind a messy face though. One is a chocolate larabar and one is mud. Take a guess on which is which.

He likes to play outside and always wants to get into daddy's fishing lures. He carries lures around (without hooks obviously) for long periods of time. Greg took him fishing recently and he had a good time.

I am so glad I get to have him home with me during the day. He is a trooper riding along to all the places - school drop offs and pick ups, errands, and all the therapies. When Lainey does therapy on Tuesday/Thursday we play at the park and he loves seeing the turtles. He will spend 20 minutes finding tiny pebbles and dropping them off the bridge into the water to watch the turtles and fish swim around them.

He has the best run! I don't know if we have fully captured it on video but it makes us both smile so big. He kind of does this cute little bounce and runs with high knees up and his arms out. It is adorable.

He likes songs but has very specific requests. He loves the Sing soundtrack like his sisters, but also loves You Are Loved, Thunder, and some other random songs. He will sing along to You Are My Sunshine at bedtime.

This boy loves to wrestle. Greg has taught him to say 'You want a piece of this?'. He will also say 'let's wrestle!' and come charging at you.

He takes a nap each day and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. He is a pretty good sleeper but occasionally wakes up requesting you to rock him. He still lays his head on my shoulder most times after getting him up in the morning or from nap. He has done this since he was a baby and I love it.

Happy birthday, Colton Brooks! We love you so much!