Fall festivities

Do you like that Emile? I guess I'm just lucky he didn't get a picture of me with caramel oozing down my fingers.
This was the best treat we've made at home yet and we unfortunately couldn't get Trenton past his phobia of sticky things. He just kept yelling "it's sticky-o".
More for us I guess.
Thanks for enjoying this with us Mom and Dad.

We managed to go to two fun pumpkin patches. I just can't get enough of the picture below. Blow it up and check out Simon's toothy weird grin. He's such a ham!

Preschool

This is Trenton's second year in preschool. We are at a different school this year and loving it. I never had the chance to post his annual picture by the door this year, but this classic just shouldn't be forgotten!

He is teaching us sign language, letters, Spanish, and even about how we should all "obey". He comes home refreshed and full of new stories to share with us. Does he really have to grow up?

Boys boys boys

These cute boys went and had a day out at the circus and pretended to be a Pizza Man to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. I just had to show you how much fun they have together. It was certainly a memorable BNO!

Trenton's birthday party cont.

I'm catching up.. in a BIG way. I didn't even get to finish blogging Trenton's big day. It was completely exhausting, but worth every second to see him so so happy.

Here is some more of the fun that we had.

This matey is the most savage pirate around!

Every pirate needs a few things. A tattoo, an eye patch, a hook, and a bandana. These pirates were totally into it, and then they enjoyed some pirate sandwiches, pirate booty... and a little refreshment. :D

(I think I got a little too into it this year.)

They went on a scavenger hunt lead by Mr. Fearless himself.

Through the obsitcles and over the plank.

... then off to the treasure.

A little pin the flag on the treasure.

And.. finally the pinyata. This started out a little dangerous with the bat... as you can clearly see the horor in my face.

But, no one got hurt and the candy was just the kind of mayhem you expect out of 4 year olds.

I can't wait to come up with next years theme! We love you Trenton, and hope all of your memories are fun and full of joy.

Pirate Trenton's birthday

It's official! He's 4 years old!!!
He is a joy beyond expression, and today he was such a little man as we got all dressed up to celebrate the pirate in all of us.
There will be more pictures to follow, but for now here is a taste of the fun.

And... I went a little over the top with his birthday cake. Here are the pictures...

Wipeout!

We watch TV in our house!
I'm not sure that I should admit this out loud, but I guess this is just us. Just to compensate for what you are about to read... we do like to play too. We play hard, we crash hard. While we are crashing (and DVRing till it is maxed out)... we are watching these.

I like... Oprah, The Biggest Loser, Supernanny, The Bachelorette
Emile likes... golf, The Soup and Big Break
Together we LOVE ... Wipeout, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, House, Prison Break (so sad it ended), The Office and can't wait for Community
Trenton likes... Transformers, Go Diego Go, Superwhy and Word World
Simon likes... Go Diego Go (aka "go go")

With all this fascinating and captivating television, we caught this last night, and laughed so hard that my stomach hurt! You'll have to watch this and tell me if you fall over. If not... just join us on Wednesday nights with a bag of popcorn and I dare you not to laugh so hard you fall off the couch!

Beach weekend

Here are just few pictures and a video from our trip out to the beach!!!

The summary sounds something like this....we met up with sweet friends for a short time and fell in love with their new baby! We got to know my brother's fiance and fell in love with her too! Then, we played in the sand, ate great food, hunt for pirate treasure and cried when we had to come home.

Here are our friends... safe, sound and on the ground.

Then, this happened, you cannot see it well.. but if you squint, blow up the picture, or look below you'll see Tony showing the boys how to be men.

I.... can be found behind the camera.

and... this video is not short, and most likely not exciting to anyone NOT in the family. Feel free to watch, but really.... just smile and say that you did.

Beach Trip 2009s from Raina on Vimeo.

Behind a photo

Here it is!!! A new family photo! We were so excited to be at the beach this weekend, and to have a photographer in house. This is what we came away with, but let me tell you what is actually behind each one of us.

Trenton, boy was he anxious. He did not want to sit still for two seconds. This picture was captured precisely between him yelling "Let me down" and "I wanna go play". I did feel bad, He had been awaken from a nap and was barely content finding "pirate treasure" in the sand before we rudely forced him to take this photo.

Simon... this child is ... a handful! He is actually screaming here. He was shivering, angry, tired, and only happy for this very brief moment because he had a Tic-Tac in his hand and somehow he heard us say "cheese".
(I can't believe this happened at the same moment Trenton smiled!)

Me... I am a master ventriloquist! I am begging them "please smile boys!" "One more smile and you can have another candy." "Trenton, one more and we'll find treasure!"

Emile... frazzled. He may not look it, but those eyes are ready to run away. Two boys crying and a wife grumbling threats and rewards get pretty old very quick!

Summer time and the livin's easy...

Our little tadpole is growing!
Look at him, he is still in the "goldfish" class, but we'll take him as a goldfish, a tadpole, a penguin or whatever they want to call him there at the Wilson Pool. We can't wait for his next session to start!

Riding the rails

Right now Trenton likes Trains, Transformers, TV, Tater Tots, and his new Trampoline. (Yes, this is seriously coincidental that they all start with the letter T!) So, to over indulge him and blow his little 3 year old mind, we took him out to the big train for a day. This was big excursion and a special time to spend with JUST Trenton!