Trick or Treat

It seems like forever ago now... but I never got around to posting photos from Halloween.

The night before Halloween we went to an event at Patrick Henry Village Chapel called Truck or Treat. Everyone got dressed up and about

15 cars decorated their car trunks and passed out candy. There was a moon bounce and games for the kids as well as a fire pit to roast marshmallows and horse drawn carriage rides. It was cold and we arrived later than we had planned so we missed out

on a few of the events but with the weather being so cool we spent more than enough time there.

On Halloween night we enjoyed trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Of course, most Germans do not "celebrate" halloween but in this area which has a high population of Americans there were quite a few Germans dressed up for trick or treating as well as all the American kids.

The boys and I went trick or treating within our gated area as well as another gated area across the street from us. Don stayed back home with Grace and sat outside with some neighbors to pass out candy. To say that the Army community got into the spirit of Halloween would be an understatement. Some areas went all out with tons of food and drinks in addition to candy and lots of decorations as well as a big moon bounce.

We bundled our lil Spiderman and Superman up and I, in full "Batmom" attire, pulled them

in their wagon. They had a blast and are still working on polishing off some of those Halloween treats.

Spiderman, Snow White and a Fairy

Benjamin was off to preschool today where they were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes or dress as their favorite character from a book. Benjamin had been looking forward to this all week!

And last night he received a huge surprise from our dear old neighbor in Ashburn, Virginia. Ms. Katie sent Benjamin the Spiderman gloves he was dreaming of having to make his Spiderman costume. They came just in time and he could hardly wait to try them on as soon as he opened the package. (THANK YOU Ms. Katie!)

So, off to meet the little girls that are in our carpool... one of them was Snow White and the other was a Fairy (whose wings were going to be attached at school). They were so cute and of course, I had camera in hand!

More photos of our Halloween adventures coming soon...

Pumpkin Carvin' Time

All of our housing goods arrived last Friday and we are still living amidst lots and lots of boxes but slowly the amount of boxes is diminishing. But even with the boxes and the mess around our house we are happy to have our things... and life must go on.

Last night we did our annual pumpkin carving!

Don was on baby duty while I carved and scooped the pumpkins with the boys. The boys were not excited about dipping their hands into the pumpkins and pu

lling the insides out but otherwise we had a good time.

The boys were happy with the way their happy and scary pumpkins turned out.

Things Are Getting Batty

Halloween is right around the corner and the kids are getting excited. Benjamin has been saying all year long that Halloween is his favorite holiday. (With all the candy the kids end up with from trick or treating-- who can blame him?)

Grandma Pat and Pappa Harry send them some Halloween cards that were more than just cards... there was a cut out on them which turned into these batty glasses. The boys had a blast with them!

I'm also posting a picture of our happy lil Grace showing off some of her seasonal attire. She is such a ham these days as it's so easy to get her to smile.

Gracie Jo

All our stuff arrived on Friday. It's been crazy with boxes literally everywhere but we're slowly unpacking. It may be a good while before I feel motivated to spend a lot of time back on the blog but thought I'd post a couple cute pictures of our sweet baby girl.

Tee Hee

I took this picture of Grace recently and it makes me smile every time I look at it. She is always sticking out that little tongue of hers and you can tell she's about to really stick it out here.

Our lil Grace turned 3 months old on Monday. She is growing and changing more and more each day. I saw a two week old baby recently and I looked at our "little" Grace and she looked huge. Wasn't she just 2 weeks old? hmmm. Well, she is weighing in at 14 pounds and her personality is growing leaps and bounds. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and bursts out into a huge smile when she sees herself. She eats up all the attention she gets from her big brothers and has turned them a little ga-ga over her as they talk and sing to her, wave toys for her, etc. to get her to smile. And she does and then we do... it's contagious... that smile of hers.

Brotherly Love

Moving to Germany has really opened my eyes to what great friends my boys are to each other. We haven't had many toys for the boys to play with the past month and a half but they continue to amaze me by what they come up with to entertain themselves with. They invented a game they call "Slippery Socks" and that's just them running around the place, acting silly and sliding around on their "slippery socks." So, I often hear them saying "Wanna play Slippery Socks?" to each other. They also love to rearrange the borrowed furniture and come up with new ways to entertain themselves just by pushing the chairs together (like in the posted photo). One day I noticed them being awfully quiet which always makes me suspicious so I headed back to one of the bedrooms to see just what they were up to. I heard a lot of giggling once I got closer but my boys were out of sight. I opened the closet door in one of the bedrooms and there I found two lil boys coiled up like snakes in shelves in the closet... just giggling away with excitement at their new found hiding spots.

All in all, they get along

great... they entertain each other and they love to laugh, be silly, hug on each other and tell

each other that they love one another... BUT they do have their moments... like any brothers. There is usually not a day that goes by that I don't hear Samuel crying and banging on the bedroom door because his big brother is declaring that he wants to play by himself. Then a

fiasco usually ensues and Samuel starts swinging... and Benjamin starts swinging... more crying, etc. Such is life with boys! Overall, I cannot imagine making this move to Germany with them not having one another to entertain each other, wrestle with and laugh with.

And now they are working on that everlasting bond with their little sister.

As I often find them confessing their love to her, singing her songs, giving her bottles, dangling toys in her face, etc. At the end of

the day, their love for one another and their love for life makes being their parent so rewarding.