TEXAS!!!

Oh how I had been looking forward to this moment for a long time! The kids and I went back to Texas on November 7th and stayed till the 21st. We had a great time and we seemed to be consistently busy. I don't have too many pictures- I still have to get them from my sister since she took most of them.
When we were down there we stayed with my parents the whole time and were able to see Brady's parents when they were in town. We were able to eat at our favorite places that they don't have here in Iowa. Rosas, Whataburger, Rio Mambo, and Wingstop just to name a few :) Seriously, if someone opened one of those up here they would bank!
It was nice and warm so we were able to enjoy playing outside and sleeping with the windows open. Cailyn went with Grandma to Albertsons and found a buzzlightyear plate and she said "I cant believe it, I didn't know they made these- oh Bubby will be so proud!" Toy Story is her favorite thing to watch right now if you couldn't tell. Both of the kids enjoyed playing with my parent's dogs as the dogs would try and run away from them. Peyton would go straight at them with his arms out and not stop.
Cailyn enjoyed laying in bed with Grandma and Pops, she would take their food order and pretend to make whatever they wanted. Peyton favorite thing to do was go through Aunt Kelsey's mini dressor in the bathroom- there is no telling what she found in there after we left.
We hung out with Nanny and Pappy too for as long as we could. We went shopping, had Rosas and Wingstop, colored my hair, ate Sunday dinners, and of course- played the piano. Playing the piano is one of Cailyn's favorite thing to do over there and now Peyton really enjoys it.
All in all, it was a great trip and it was nice to be home! Thanks for coming to see us Kristi! Oh and Brady survived- although we had no food when we got home!
We will by home again around December 20th!

Uncle Kyle being silly

ahh the piano :)
Cailyn's Texas baby

Stay away from the plasma Peyton!

Bumps, Bruises, oh my!

Our sweet little Peyton- is without a doubt 100% boy. It is amazing to see how different a little girl is to a little boy. I don't know if everyone agrees, but this is the case for us. Ever since he has started walking and being able to crawl up and down the stairs on his own- I hold my breath a little more each day. Here is a great picture of his bruise that he got a few days before we left for Texas. He was walking around our bed, fell and landed his cheek on our bed railing.
When we were at my parents house for two weeks- I could not even tell you how many times he fell and hit something. His favorite thing to do is climb up and down our small set of stairs and he probably falls down those at least twice a day. He cries for a second when he falls then gets right back up and does it again. As of right now, he has two bruises on opposite sides of his foreheard- one from the bed railing again and the other from our living room table. At least he is toughening himself up! :) His soft side is still his 'momma' and his blankie- so at least I still have that!

YaY for Halloween!

The only part that counts as "YaY" is the fact that the kids got to dress up and eat candy. Up here where we live they have a 'beggars night' where the kids go out the night before Halloween to trick or treat- great idea except for the fact that it was rainy, windy, and like 30 degrees outside!
Cailyn was a pretty witch, but don't be fooled- she has an evil side :). Peyton was frankenstein, or "Bubby-stein" as we called me. That night Peyton had no desire to even step outside, and Cailyn's attempt only lasted about 10 minutes. Cailyn's witch hat kept flying away and she was shivering because she was so cold. Luckily, we went to our neighbors houses and got just the right amount of candy for her! She ate a ton of candy that night!
A couple of nights before Halloween we went up to Brady's school for a party. The kids favorite part was the tunnel- they pretty much took it over.

Peyton hi-jacking the candy

he is ready for trick or treating!
"Bubby-stein"

dividing candy...

our sweet little witch

the tunnel takeover...

Sooo Far Behind....

I sooo meant to stay on top of this blog- but our crazy life got the best of me I guess. I have a ton of things to add since its been over a month haha.

One thing that's good... its Christmas time! yay! and only a few more weeks till TEXAS!

SNOW in OCTOBER!?!

Yes it is undeniably true! Our first snow came on October 10th! Now once again... we are from TEXAS, we don't see snow very often if ever. So when we came down stairs and opened our blinds- we were pretty amazed. Our neighbors had already been outside playing in it for like 2 hours- while we were shocked- and I think the kids were trying to figure out what the heck it was! Cailyn was just happy she could eat her froot loops first! :)
I managed to get them some breakfast and all bundled up so we could go play outside too! Cailyn was very excited, Peyton was mad because he was wearing all the winter gear, and I was scared because all my winter gear is still in TEXAS! Oh and the only reason why I have winter gear like snow pants and boots is because we went skiing one year, you don't see stuff like that on the shelfs at Target like you do here.
We successfully played outside for about an hour, but had to go in because poor Peyton couldn't walk or really move in his gear. His gear did fit him perfectly though (thanks Dana & Carter)! I told Cailyn we could go back out during his nap time, but it all melted by then- I am quite confident we will have plenty more opportunities! :) Her favorite part was making snowballs to throw at each other!

Cailyn giving Bubby a kiss through the door

her very own snowball!
at least he is smiling!

poor Peyton...

making tracks around the house

right before we went out to play...

Pumpkin Patch!

We were sooo excited for this pumpkin patch trip! It's really not too far from our house and its in the beautiful farm land. The area is even prettier now because of the fall colors! The only negative of this fun trip... was the flippin cold weather. We can do cold, but what we can't do is the cold plus the wind chill! We got there at about 10 am and froze our butts off till 2 pm. By the time we left, it was warming up- but we were cold the WHOLE time!
Let's see... we went on a hayride and picked out some pumpkins. This is always Cailyn's favorite part- except this time her lips were turning purple and she was shaking because she was sooo cold. We got back to the main area and warmed up and ate some lunch. We then went to the kiddie area where she rode on a tractor, played in a huge corn pit, slid down some haystacks, held a bunny, and fed some baby goats. She had a great time and was so excited to tell Brady all about it! Peyton enjoyed the hayride, but after lunch he slept the rest of the time there! He is such a good baby, right after lunch- he knows its nap time. He was for sure the warmest out of all of us!
We plan on going back- maybe on a low 60 degree day- without wind- and with Brady.... I don't know if we will be that lucky for all 3 of those things to happen, but we will see! :)

in the corn pit....

on her "just my size" tractor
this is about the time we could have suffered hypo-thermia

love this picture! on our way to get a pumpkin!this is what happens when an animal gets too close.... we won't tell dad :)

she loved this little goat

PaRtY TiMe!!

For Peyton's first birthday we had a firetruck party! Cailyn was super excited about it because she knew what was going on! We started the day with storytime down at the library, picked up some balloons, lunch & nap time, then Dad was home and we could start the party!

Our kitchen table was decked out in firetruck things including fire chief hats for the kids. There were a ton of presents (thank you) and I even made a firetruck cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it & it was more pink then red, but you could at least tell what it was!

That afternoon we went down to the local firestation and we were able to see all of the firetrucks and go inside of them! Everytime we saw a new truck Peyton would go "ohhh!" Cailyn, of course, didn't talk to the nice fire-woman & fireman but her face the entire time was priceless. When we were done looking at all the trucks they surprised us with a ride in one of them! They let Cailyn choose and she chose the biggest one known as the ladder truck! Cailyn and I sat up front while Brady and Peyton sat in the back. Peyton the entire ride was going "ohhh" or "ahh", he was just so excited! After that fun event, we went home and opened presents and had dinner and cake. He loved the cake, but I made the mistake of keeping it in the fridge too long because it needed to set. So the cake was a little too cold for his liking, but he still ate it! From the firetruck cake, he got the cab part where the firemen sit!

All in all, it was a great first birthday for Bubby! Although, we did miss having our family here to celebrate, maybe next year! Happy Birthday Peyton Brady! We love you and look forward to many many more!