Solids

Danny has been super interested in watching us eat lately. You'd better watch out if you're drinking a glass a water and holding him at the same time because he will lunge for the cup! So we figured his desperation warranted a journey into the world of solids. That and if I have to keep dealing with him waking up every three hours thinking he's hungry, I might just loose it.

I figured with his interest in food he would be a champ eater from the start.

He's excited and loving sitting up high.

So far so good...

Yeah. Definitely not a fan.

 I think it's going to take some time for this little guy. He wouldn't do much more than spit it out or gag after this. Even his mad/grossed out face makes me smile. :)

Wine and Dine Half Marathon

Michael recently ran a Disney half marathon. He got to run all through each of the parks, starting at about 10 PM. He had a lot of fun. Sadly he didn't have a 10K time to submit, so he had to start way at the back of the pack of like 14,000 people. While trying to weave around thousands of slower runners didn't give him a great time, he still had a blast! He's now enjoying a few days of ice cream and Doritos to reward himself. ;)

School Pics

Our printer/scanner hasn't been working quite right ever since our computer came back from the dead, so you'll have to put up with a picture of a picture for now. :) VPK and 2nd grade.

And here are a few of Danny because he's just too dang cute to skip. Ben is too, but I don't have any of him yet this month. :)

Halloween 2013

So, even though Florida is very south, it's definitely not "The South." I knew that coming in, so I wasn't expecting accents or anything. But every now and then I am reminded that we are not out West anymore. Long-term locals say "Haul-oween" rather than "Hal-oween". But then the other day a mom at Chandler's school said pajama "Pa-JAH-ma". Seriously. I told Jessica about it later and she couldn't repeat the accent without using the accent on her whole sentence. :) So am I the weird one or what?

Anyway... Halloween.

We started off with a trip to a pumpkin patch. Chandler's VPK is run by the local Methodist church. We went to the patch they run. Jessica, Chandler and Benjamin just ran around exploring. Fun times.

Leave it to Michael to pick the most ridiculously massive thing EVER. We could have fit a couple of our children in that thing. (The kids just learned about photo-bombing and have been trying it out ever since).

We carved the Monday before Halloween. It's a good thing we didn't do it any sooner because they were already looking good and fuzzy. It made for an exciting candle-lighting experience.

I feel like such a slacker mom - I didn't take any pictures of trunk-or-treat or any pictures of Danny on Halloween. SLACKER! You'll just have to take my word for it that he was very cute in his pumpkin onesie and his skeleton sleeper. See? I didn't even get him a real costume. Poor neglected child. ;)

Jessica decided to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Chandler was Captain America for trunk-or-treat and Batman for Halloween, and Ben was a dog. Jessica was super creative and came up with the whole outfit on her own. They got way too much candy, but it's ok because The Great Pumpkin came that night and took it all away anyway. He left some surprises behind. :)

October

Just a few happenings around the Hales household this month...

The garden is doing pretty well, thanks to Michael. He has a pretty cool system all set up.

Tomatoes, yellow squash, and okra. I'm still not sure there's any good way to eat okra. Ideas?

Michael has some very happy clients. Did I mention he's a senior associate now? I just have to brag about my guy.  :)

Perfect angel. He'll still sleep pretty much anywhere.

Love this guy.

And this guy loves this guy! How could you not?

My little beauty.

Nothing like a good snuggle from this one. This chubby cheeks love kisses!

Fire Station

Some friends from church have been doing a couple of mommy preschools this year. And although Ben is old enough to participate in the younger group, I decided I needed to keep life a little more simple right now. Next year. But we did join the group for their tour of a local fire station. Let me begin by saying that Ben is afraid of fire trucks. I knew that. But I hadn't realized that it would be more accurate to say that he is totally and completely terrified of anything even remotely having to do with fire trucks. We pulled into the parking lot and he lost it. Like, totally lost it. Crying and screaming and begging to leave! But I'm mean and made him come along anyway. :) It definitely took some time and the good example of his best buddy, but we got him comfortable enough for a walk through the station and some pictures. We had to leave when they turned on the lights on the truck. Not the siren, just the lights. Oh my tender little guy. I love you.

Don't be fooled by the smile...

This is much closer to reality, though it doesn't include the crying and screaming as we walked through the garage to the inside.

Danny thought it was super fun!

I did not expect this picture to take place. Amazing progress.

Thanks to Ben's little buddy, he was willing to jump up on the truck for some pictures of his awesome smile. 

Yes, this is his smile. :)

It's so fun to spend my days with this little guy!

Hiking in Florida

Hiking out here in the flat swamps is not exactly what we are used to. For the most part, we love Florida. But I do miss mountains (that and good grass). One afternoon we decided to venture out on one of the local trails. The kids were convinced we were going to see howler monkeys. Hmmm... that has Michael written all over it. But even without howler monkey sightings, it was still a fun time.

Wow Ben. Thanks for your awesome contribution to this one. :)

Yeah, this was not the most pleasant discovery on the hike. Banana spiders. Like, lots of them. Everywhere. Shudder. Yes, they are huge and nasty. And I don't care if they are completely harmless or whatever. I. hate. them. Where is a good, super-cold freeze when you need it?

I'm excited to try out some more trails nearby soon. Hopefully some less spider-infested. Is that even possible around here?

Little Man

October 2013

Our little Danny-man keeps on growing up, despite my pleas to stop. He has discovered both his thumb and toes. But he's usually more content with just a binky.

For the most part I think little girls clothes are way cuter than boys clothes. But dress clothes are the exception. Little boys dressed up for church are a MUST!

We love our little guy! Jessica is so happy to finally have a brown-eyed buddy!

September

September 2013

We hung out at water parks to enjoy the last of the REALLY hot weather.

But at the same time we enjoyed finally being able to go out and play on the trampoline without coming inside bright red and dripping sweat. Fall is coming!!

Jessica helped to right a wrong when she discovered that Danny was in the wrong color on game day.

I was not in the wrong color. :)

Chandler dressed up as a knight. Yep, that's a knight's helmet.

He also hung out with his good buddy Danny. Such cute little guys!

Danny also enjoys dress-up. Dying! I am DYING of the cuteness!!