Playground Fun!

While in Dallas, we have explored many playgrounds just to keep the boys busy and add some fun in this otherwise chaotic life we have right now. The temporary situation we're in right now is rough on everyone, but fun outside helped us ease into things up here in Dallas.

Jonathan explored more this day on his own, and tested his limits.

Surprise!

We had a morning of fun with the boys' cousins at a playground near their house. The boys enjoyed the time with their cousins!

Jonathan wasn't too sure what to think about Gracie, but the two of them had fun together once he warmed up.

Matt explored all over the playground.

Gracie showed Jonathan all around the playground.

Auntie Kim supplied the water packs, and Uncle Steve supplied the help to make sure every drop was ingested.

Jonathan races down the slide with Chase.

Next he took on Blake.

Auntie Kim steps in with the promise of sugar!

Jonathan took her up on the lollipop offer.

The boys took some time out from playing, to eat lollipops together.

Gracie joined the boys for the sugary snack.

Jonathan took it all in...well, almost all of it!

We joked around that Jonathan looked like he had a french mustache after eating the lollipop. Either that, or he was saving a bit for later. He was such a sticky mess (and loved it all)!

The Village

There's a great little play area in the city of Allen that we happened upon one day. The boys love it there, even though there's not any playground, there are little shops, stores, and a caboose to play in. It's great! Plus, there are a few great kid friendly restaurants nearby. These are pics from our first stop there.

Jonathan examines the gas pump.

I guess Matt was trying to make sure Jonathan was pumping the gas for the customers.

Must stick tongue out to walk down stairs!

I wonder if he was trapped in the ATM vestibule???

Checking on Mommy.

Apparently I was on fire.

Matt prepares to put out a fire on his brother.

Putting out fires everywhere.

Matt recruited the services of a little girl to help him put rocks down the fire hose. He'd hold it and she'd run across the park to get more rocks. They cracked me up!

Halloween

I was so excited for Halloween this year, and with all the chaos surrounding the move right before Halloween, I was impressed that I had everything we needed. I wanted to make things easy, so we decided (at Matt's suggestion) that the boys would be pirates again. Unfortunately, while we were trying to eat dinner, Matt started complaining about his tummy hurting. We tried to convince ourselves that he just didn't want to eat dinner, but he really didn't feel well. After one house, he & Nick headed home. Jonathan & I did the rounds for a block.

Here's the pro at the beginning of our trip around the block.

He held my hand up to the doors, but he wanted to be on his own in between houses.

My little pirate!

Fall Carnival Time!

The church down the street from my dad's house had a carnival right before Halloween, so I tried to plan ahead with nap times and waking hours so we could go enjoy it! I barely made it with the timing, but we managed to get to the carnival just in time to enjoy it all!

We got there in time to have the last ride on the "train"!

Matt was making the best smiley faces, but wouldn't look at me so I could get a picture. He loved the ride around the parking lot!

Bounce house obstacle courses are the best!

Actually, the best ones are the ones the boys can enjoy together! We found the 4 and under bouncing area and the boys had a blast!

Peek-a-boo!

"Jonathan, go that way!"

"Hey!"

Matt's giving Jonathan more orders of what to do and where to go.

This was as close as I got to a picture of the boys on the fire engine. I guess they are both in it, and both on the engine, but not looking at me at all! The sun didn't help either!

We had a great time together and the boys ended up coming home with quite some loot from the carnival!

More Pumpkins!

We brought our painted little pumpkins up to Dallas with us, but we needed to carve some once we got here. So, we stopped and got a larger pumpkin that the boys could get messy with a bit closer to Halloween.

Matt scoops out the innards with some hesitation!


Yucky, Mommy!

Jonathan gave it a go after standing back for a bit.

Jonathan even tried some while cleaning it out!

I didn't get a picture of the final product for some reason! We ended up retiring our carving tools this year because it was a bit harder than it should have been to carve that silly pumpkin. I can't wait to try next year's pumpkin with our new tools!

The Perfect Playground!

The move to Dallas was, well, not as planned. That's the short story. As goes with moving and selling a house, not everything goes as you think, so you pad the time you need for everything. In doing so, we were able to send Nick home for a weekend to finish things up at the house and drive the rest of our things up to Dallas. In doing so, the boys and I drove him to the airport, and instead of going to some great pumpkin patch as I had planned, Matt just wanted to watch airplanes. So in the spirit of my very spirited 4 year old, I decided to help him on his mission to watch planes. We happened upon a great park on Bauchman Lake and the boys were in love! The playground had not only an airplane, but ramps all over (as it was an accessible playground) which Jonathan loved because he could freely run all over!

Matt could see the Southwest planes taking off on the other side of the lake. We even watched Nick's plane take off and he texted us as he left the ground. They loved it!

Jonathan was in full on running mode all over the playground.

Cheese!

This slide was so high up I was a bit scared, but Jonathan was eager to give it a try!

"Fight On" while flying a plane! What a little Trojan in the making!

A silly little look for the camera

I just love how the boys entertain each other sometimes! Jonathan was cracking up at something Matt said or did.

The Big Move (or so we thought)

Little did we know when we moved up here to Dallas that this move would be oh so temporary. My dad and stepmother graciously opened up their house to us for what we thought would be a few months while we looked for a house in Dallas. Then, Nick's phone rang with an offer our family just couldn't pass up. It means yet another move for our family, but hopefully the last. We are very excited about the new adventures that are ahead, but the boys and I are hanging in Dallas for a little while longer while we get everything figured out for our move to California.

These are pics from our first week in Dallas.

Jonathan wanted so badly to be near the cats when we arrived, but they were a bit hesitant. This was a rare moment.

Ooh, the kitty likes me petting him!

He's a little giddy about being near the cat!