Tatum's 10 month shoot

I entered an online contest and actually won (unbelievable I know)! One of the things in my prize pack was this cute little pillbox hat from Monkey Shine Designs! I couldn't help but take some beautiful pictures of my daughter as the model.

Love this face :)

The boys tagged along for the photoshoot also. They enjoyed watching the trains that went by as we were at the train station in Abilene. 

Here we are on the drive home. Cramped quarters on a road trip with 3 kids! (You can kinda see the top of Tatum's head in the bottom right corner.) Since then we've rearranged the carseats and turned Tatum around/forward-facing and have them all on the same row. Fun times in the Dishmobile. 

Rent-a-boat

Despite the fact that Ty HATES WITH A PASSION Groupon, I bought a Groupon for a boat rental on Lady Bird Lake with dinner for 2. I was thinking we could have a romantic date on the lake, just the two of us hanging out in peace and quiet, basking in the glow of the sunset. 

Then, I thought about our sons who without fail notice the boats on the river every time we cross the bridge. I thought of our boys who would love watching the bats fly out from under the Congress bridge at sunset. And, as you can tell by the pictures, we decided to make this once romantic affair into a family affair. (To be accurate, we did leave Tatum at home with a babysitter. She goes to bed at 6:30pm, so a fussy baby on a boat would definitely be no fun!)

O Captain, our Captain

Hmm... probably should've photoshopped this one a bit more, but am too tired to do that now :(

The Groupon provided 2 dinner plates (fajitas from the Hyatt hotel) which were delicious. We brought some dinner and a dessert for the boys and a bottle of wine for us and were good to go on food for the evening. The boys loved the chips and queso. 

We had such a fun night as a family on the lake. I will say that it was a bit stressful to navigate the boat as there are several areas of shallow water we had to steer around and we didn't want to break the rental boat. I would definitely plan to buy this Groupon again, but next time maybe go with some friends and hire a captain so we could just relax! And while Ty may not be anymore pro Groupon after this experience, he would hopefully agree this one was worth it. 

September

I took some pictures of Colt recently that I really like. This is Colt at age 4.

He loves our dog, who doesn't love the camera this particular day.

Someone else wanted in on the camera action too.

This is the dress Tatum wore to my brother's wedding this summer. We realized she didn't get any good pictures in it, so I took a few in our backyard for my mom (she bought the outfit - Thanks!)

First Day of Pre-school!! 

The boys are back at Noah's Ark this year. We love the kid's teachers, but I'll post more on them later. Levi even has the same teachers that Colt had when he was in the 2s class!

Showing their ages

Levi LOVED his first week of school (they go Tues/Thurs). But, after the first week, he has been throwing a fit at every drop off ever since. Colt also continues to resist drop off time but they both do well a few minutes after I leave. They both love the playground and Levi is usually really proud of his art projects. Colt enjoys show and tell and telling on the little boys in his class who get in trouble :/

Zoo Adventures

We recently took a trip to the zoo with our friends Kellie and Jake. We love hanging out with them, so were eagerly awaiting this day. What do you know, we wake up that day and it is raining! Now this is a big deal because we are in the midst of an awful drought. Well, my boys were so excited that it was raining (just a little bit) that they wanted to wear their rain boots/coats, even though it stopped raining before we left our house. Crazy kids!

Levi, as is his daily desire, wanted to wear his FAVORITE shirt. 

 This boy asks to wear this shirt every single day. He loves Pluto and the whole Mickey Mouse crew. 

Anyway, back to the zoo... Tatum was excited to be there and ready to go.

The boys enjoyed looking at a huge pig, 

feeding lots of goats, 

and riding the train. 

Thanks again to Kellie and Jake for the invite. It's fun to see our boys having so much fun together!

CrAZy HaiR

We have some crazy hair going on in Tatum's life right now. 

 No matter what we do, it sticks right back up. 

(See how this big girl is playing with her brother's trucks/trains/planes? Maybe we should buy her a doll or something. 

She doesn't seem too worried about her hair though.

Hmm...

Maybe she takes after her brother. 

I love seeing them play together. They are so sweet together!