Halloween!

The boys had a great time on Halloween! Grady dressed up as an octopus, and Landon was a porcupine. We attended a few pre-Halloween festivities and then headed out to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. We got Landon a wagon for his 1st birthday (which is next week), but decided to give it to him early so we could use it for trick-or-treating. The boys loved riding around the neighborhood in it!

From a little earlier in the day at the neighborhood parade...

Carleen came over for trick-or-treating!Landon decided towards the end of the note that it was a lot more fun to push the wagon rather than ride in it. :)This is post trick-or-treating! Despite the fact that it was past Landon's bedtime, he was still very excited to play in the candy! Grady also made sure to point out whenever possible that Landon could not each chocolate (due to the milk allergy), which meant that Grady got most of his candy as well! :)

More of October...

We've been keeping busy and recently enjoyed a visit to Ganyard Farms (the pumpkin patch) in Durham. The boys had a great time on the hay ride, playing in the corn, watching the goats and picking their pumpkins.

There were of course a few meltdowns! :)We're still debating whether this was an actual hug (or more of an attempted strangulation). :) This time last year I was very pregnant with Landon, so I couldn't help but post a picture from almost exactly a year ago at this same pumpkin patch. It's hard to believe little Landon was curled up in my stomach!

In other news, Grady has been "studying" about farms in preschool, so they had "dress as a farmer" day a couple weeks ago.

Last weekend Brandon ran in a 5K (his first one) for the March of Dimes. We all went to support him and had a great time (despite the fact that it was in the 40's that morning...hard to believe it was in the high 80's this week)! And we were of course all very proud of Brandon.... he came in ahead of 100 people in the race! :)

Finally, here is a picture of Landon in his new carseat. (I'm still wondering how my little baby turned into a little boy!) Special thanks to Granny and Gramps for the early birthday present for Landon!

Going into Fall we have been staying busy and enjoying the cooler weather. Grady started playing soccer and really loves it so far! Of course it helps that his two good friends - Gavin and Grant - play on the same team! Here they are after one of their games....

Here is Grady about to kick the ball!

Carleen and Kevin came to watch Grady play soccer too! As you can tell Landon is having a great time hanging out with them!

In other news, Landon now loves to clap and is picking up new words all the time. He now says ma-ma, poop, da-da, grady, cat, doggie, puff, bye-bye, and ball. By far, the cutest word he says is Grady, which he pronounces "Ga-dy." He is also becoming increasingly more confident with walking and loves pushing his little walker around.

Here is a picture of the boys in a "drive cart" (as Grady calls it) at Harris Teeter. This is, by far, the highlight of grocery shopping for them! (Oh- and I'm pretty sure this exact cart is where Landon picked up a horrible stomach virus that he eventually gave to all of us....and eventually Mimi, Popeye and Ma! Ugh! Look how much fun he's having...still didn't make the 8 straight hours of throwing up worth it though!)

And I just had to include this because it's just so cute. Grady is a very sweet little guy, and he recently adopted this little puzzle piece of a baby elephant because the match (the mommy elephant) is missing. He said the baby is scared because she can't find her mommy, so he's going to take care of her. He even brings the puzzle piece into his bed for naps and bedtime. It's really sweet, so I just had to snap a picture. :)

Weekend in Pinehurst!

We went down to Pinehurst a week or so ago to visit with Mimi, Popeye and Ma! While we were there, we went to Pinehurst Lake, which has a great beach area. In addition to playing on the beach and swimming, we also took a pontoon boat out on the lake and had lunch. It was so relaxing, and the boys absolutely loved it! :)

The next day we went out for ice cream (as you can see from Grady's face!), and Popeye taught Grady how to play chess (at Grady's request). The preschool version is not as complicated! :)

New year of preschool & Landon turns 10 months old!

Preschool started back up after Labor Day, so Grady is now going three days a week from 9am-noon. While it's definitely nice to have a bit of a break and know that Grady is making friends and having fun, it is still bittersweet. Grady was happy about going the first day and didn't have any problem with me dropping him off. I was of course clutching on to him trying not to sob and look crazy! Here is a picture on his first day before we left the house.

In other news, Landon turned 10 months old last weekend. The next day (Sept. 12) he took his first steps all by himself! He's also starting to talk a a bit... his first official word was "ma-ma," which was then followed by "poop." Yep, no surprise there. With a 3-year-old brother who thinks it's hilarious to go around the house saying that, we knew we were doomed. He now also says "da-da" and we think "cat." Not sure how Brandon feels about "da-da" coming in third (especially to "poop"), but that's how it goes! :) On another note, we have also recently confirmed the fact that Landon has an allergy to dairy, so he can't have yogurt, cheese, etc. We're hoping it's something he eventually grows out of, but until then he will be on a dairy-free diet. Hard to imagine since it seems Grady lives on yogurt, cheese and milk, but we'll figure it out!

Here is a video of him taking some steps (not the first time, but the second time).

This same weekend Grady, Brandon and Gramps went down to Atlanta to wach a Braves game. This is a tradition that Brandon and his dad have shared for many years, so this was the first year (of many) that Grady joined the fun, and they had a great time! Grady did tell me that he "didn't like it when the people growled really loud." This is apparently what he called it when the crowd cheered really loud. :) Pictures will be coming soon....

A couple of weeks ago we randomly decided to go to Jordan Lake for an afternoon (well, for 30 minutes really). It took us 4 hours to prepare - or it felt like that anyway - and we stayed there about 30 minutes. Go figure. Grady and Landon seemed to enjoy themselves though, so that's what mattered. Here are some pictures from the day. You can tell Grady loves taking care of his little brother. :)

Here are some other recent pictures and videos just for fun! Maybe Landon has a future as a model for Levi's.... :)

Great spot for relaxing....Landon's carseat. :)

One thing Landon loves lately is having us chase him around the house (mostly when Grady does it, but he likes it when we do it too). He especially loves if we growl at him, which is so funny because he used to be really scared when Grady would make his dinosaurs growl. Now he loves it (as you can see)!

August!

T-ball officially ended a couple of weeks ago, and Granny came down to watch Grady's last game!

Kelly, Louis and Hannah were vacationing with some friends in NC, so we got to spend some time with them as well. This is the last time we'll see them until Christmas since the citrus season starts up in November, so it was nice to squeeze one more visit in. (Here is the web site for their citrus farm: http://www.schachtgroves.com/. They literally have the best oranges you'll ever taste!) Here are the little ones at Maple View Farm after getting some ice cream. :)


We went to campus (UNC) one day to meet Brandon for lunch. Since one of his offices is located under Lenoir Dining Hall, we decided to eat there. It was actually a great place for kids (since it was a buffet), but we definitely stood out! It was the day before classes started, so there were loads of students everywhere. It was definitely a little bizarre to be eating in the dining hall (with our kids) where we all ate when we were students 10+ years ago. Here is a picture of Hannah sitting in the window overlooking campus.

They are true UNC fans! (Landon of course tried to eat his blue hair!)

During their visit, we took a trip to Kidzu one day, which is a children's museum in Chapel Hill. The kitchen area was a big hit! :)

We randomly decided to take a day trip to Mt. Airy (or "Mayberry") where Andy Griffith grew up. It was a really cute town, and the people were extremely friendly! :) Here is a picture of Brandon and Grady with Andy and Opie. :)

Opie's Candy Store! (They actually had squad car tours, but we decided not to do it. Couldn't really picture three carseats in a squad car!

It was a long day in Mayberry. :)