Looking for the Great Pumpkin

I was lucky enough to get the day off on Carter's actual birthday (yay!), so we (and by that I mean Sean) spent all morning putting together a zillion new birthday Lego sets with the boys.  We took a family trip to the pumpkin patch that afternoon to get a break from all that brick work.  It was a fun, muddy outing.  The boys didn't seem to mind, but I'm glad we decided not to take the electric car.  Sorry, babe!

 The birthday boy!

 Brothers.

 Looking for the perfect pumpkin...

 Nope!  That rotten one is NOT it.

 Pumpkin Picker.

 Love them!

 The bouncy slide was surrounded by mud.

 Cookies make everything better.

  Fun with wooden cut-outs.  

 This way through the hay maze!

 Taking a break.

 Meeting a pony.

 Fall family picture fun. 

Driving off into pumpkin paradise.

Happy 7th Birthday, Carter!

We can't believe that our little boy is SEVEN!  That is just the craziest thing to say out loud.  Carter is such a joy in our lives and we feel so fortunate to be his parents.  I told him that he is not allowed to get any older and then he informed me that that was physically impossible. Anyhoo--we celebrated with a party at Jump City with seven of his best buddies from school. He is developing a little peer group with these guys and it is just so neat to see.  They all had a blast...pizza, cake, trampolines and arcade games.  What's not to love?!

Pizza time!

Davis loved every second & was so happy to be the brother of the birthday boy. 

Transformers rule at our house right now. 

It took forever to light the birthday candles, then Carter blew them out before we could even sing to him. Oh well.

Trampoline tag.

Davis loved the slides.

Foam pit fun. Can you see Carter?

At one point, there was a pretty fierce group of 1st grade boys playing dodge ball.

We let Carter open his family presents before the party...

Lots of time yesterday and today was spent assembling Lego sets.  That never gets old!  Thanks to Aunt Sister for coming all the way up to the party last night and to everyone else for the cards, texts & gifts. Carter enjoyed it all!

Fill 'er Up

We found out at the boys' last dentist appointment that Carter had a tiny cavity.  Our dentist (who incidentally I want to be BFFs with--she's amazing) said we could take a "wait & see" approach, but that it would eventually need to be filled.  So, we decided to get the filling while it was tiny and wouldn't take long. Carter was not thrilled, but he did great!

When we got there, the dental assistant asked Carter what movie he wanted to watch (Lego Movie) on the TV mounted on the ceiling.  She set him up with headphones, a soft pillow and a little laughing gas.  Davis was happily playing out in the waiting area/play room in the beginning.  Before we got started with the filling part, Davis wandered back & decided he would rather watch the movie with Carter.  So, he pulled up a chair and sat by his brother.  The staff decided they could do better than that & made Davis a little bed on the floor.  There we were, Carter chillin' on the big chair, Davis in his soft floor bed & me in the chair next to Carter, holding his hand for support.  I was blown away by how smoothly the whole thing went.  We absolutely LOVE our dentist! She is a mom of two little boys and just "gets it".  Also, she assured us that even though Carter turns SEVEN tomorrow (crazy, right?) it is not strange that he has yet to lose a tooth.  Whew!  We were beginning to wonder if that Tooth Fairy was mad at us or something.  We'll keep you posted!

Minus Two

Aunt Christy & Gwenyth moved out a couple of weeks ago and things have been pretty dull around here. We had gotten used to being a family of five and Macey had gotten used to having a cat BFF.  But, we were treated to a fabulous dinner at Benihana to celebrate the past six months.  Miss you already, Sister!

 The boys were really into it this time.  (Maybe Carter not so much in this picture.)

 Sister & I got cool glassware to commemorate the occasion. 

  Watching this guy work was awesome!  Great entertainment, great chef.

Carter wanted to use his chopsticks, just like Daddy.

 Before moving day, Davis used some of Aunt Christy's boxes to make his "office" where he did work "to help people".  Love it!

 Davis & I visited Sister in her new apartment last week.  It is amazing!  Gwenyth seems to be adjusting nicely.  

 Love her kitchen!

...and cute office/guest room. Perfect for when I need a little time away! ;-)

Can't beat that view!  Wow!

Grandparents+Car Show=Awesome

Sean's parents drove their camper out to Colorado last week and we were happy to spend some quality time during their visit!  Davis loved racing Hot Wheels with Grandpa Dan and Grandpa was a good sport even though he fixed the rules so Grandpa could never win.  

 Grandma Pat brought the boys some fun new Halloween books and helped get the grumpies out of Davis. 

On Saturday, everybody headed up to Georgetown for a car show.  Sean said it was a really good one (and he's been to a zillion, so I guess he would know) and it sounded like they had a great day!

 I don't know about the cars, but the setting was beautiful!

 

 ...and, they're off!

This daddy is hoping to pass along his love of cars to the next generation...we shall see!

School Carnival

Our elementary school put on a fun carnival last Friday!  It was a chilly day that started with snow, but that didn't stop the festivities or the Beilmans.  We had Sean's folks and Aunt Sister join us which was a real treat! The boys got to do tons of activities & we literally had to drag Davis out of there to avoid a mega-meltdown because he was so tired.  It was a good first run for us and I'm sure we'll be back for more next year.  We are blessed with a great school community and amazing PTA.  Did I mention there were food trucks instead of traditional concession stand fare?  Yummy!

Popping balloon is fun for everyone, right?

 Davis was happy to have his 10 minutes of cool playing video games with the big boys.  I'm pretty sure he never even got his controller to work, but he was thrilled to be in there!

 Aunt Christy nailed it when she said "Davis has no idea he's not a big kid."  He confidently stood in line to climb "Jacob's Ladder" and tackled it without holding back.  He held on for dear life and was so cute to watch.

 He made it to the top!!!  GO, Davis!

 Hamster Ball races 

 Launching a kangaroo into mama's pouch.  Awesome!

 Lassoing a Longhorn.

We ended the night with a trip into the photo booth.  This is Carter trying out some props with one of our neighbors.  He decided this hat was too girly.