Trick or Treat!

We had a re-do on the video!

More to come after halloween cookies, carving pumpkins and trick or treating!! Happy Halloween!

This is a picture of Sam's preschool
class this morning.

Pumpkin Carving With Friends

We carved mini pumpkins with our friends this morning. The kids had fun cleaning out all the "guts" and carving themselves! (well, sort of by themselves). Here are the finished products...

JT's Sports Class

Well, it has been a roller coaster of emotions, but he seems to enjoy his classes on Monday and Wednesday for the most part! Today I asked him, what did you play? and he said, "shoccer & basketball"

















He also seems to be pretty comfortable with coach Eric since he is pulling on his shirt and laughing in this pic!

"JT Poopy on Potty!"

Well, here we go! Today, JT asked to go "poopy on potty" which is not unusual for him, but he didn't have anything in his diaper yet, which is pretty good!
Later, when I was changing him before putting his PJs on, he said, "I go poopy on potty" and we ran into the bathroom. Well, to my surprise he peed!!! That is a first! Then he gave me a high five! We celebrated and I gave him some smarties.
And now the real fun starts!

A Pumpkin Patch in the Desert?

We went to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It was fun, but a little crowded and very dusty, or, as Matt refers to it as, "a dust bowl!"


The kids had a good time with their friends anyway. They got to pick a little pumpkin, decorate it, and see some farm animals. Of course, if you are Sam, you don't care to decorate the little pumpkin with silly stickers, you hold out for the carving!! We ended up going to the grocery store for our actual pumpkins because they were sooooo expensive and not worth it!




Of course, this whole pumpkin patch trip is totally nothing compared to our fond memories of a fall experience growing up in Rochester! Where are the donuts and apple cider?????

Sam's Cool School Shirt

Ok, so Sam went to school today in jeans and a polo and after school we met up with Kelli and Arwen for some lunch. Kelli said, "Boy Sam, you are lookin pretty big in your cool shirt and jeans today!" Arwen agreed and Sam got a huge smile on his face. After Costco, we got home and I put JT to bed. I asked Sam if he wanted to get into something more comfortable since we were home and it had gotten warmer and he said no. This is NOT like him... he would normally live in his underwear or, god forbid... naked! So I asked him why? He said, "because this is my cool shirt and I look cool in it!"
Here is a picture of him doing his homework in his "cool shirt"

And this is a posed picture... Could he BE more Chandler Bing?

I thought the day would never come...

Ok, so up until now, Sam and JT liked eachother, but never really went off and played together. Well, I guess they do grow closer as they get older! They went upstairs a little bit ago and we haven't heard from them. So, I went up to check on them because, in my experience, the quiet is not always a good thing. Boy, was I wrong - I was pleasantly surprised! They were playing together in Sam's bed (with all his animals, but who cares!?) And they even said, "OK Mom, Just one more picture, then can you go downstairs? We are playing!!!" Right now as I am posting this, they are still up there playing together! I guess I can safely say, they never cease to amaze me!

I had to get photo documentation of this as well, of course!!

Matt just went upstairs and came down with the same surprised look on his face!
We are both in shock! :)

Soccer Sam

Well, Sam's first game was kind of a flop. His team is still getting used to playing together and they lost 3 -1. Sam was tired and not feeling well (had to do a breathing treatment from 2-3:30 am the night before) so we didn't get any good video footage of him playing like he usually does. Add to that the 95 degree weather in OCTOBER and sitting out in it all day because we went to Casey's baseball game in the morning. About 1 hour later -Sam passed out and was down for the night. At least the game was good for something!

So, the first picture says it all....

But, he still had fun!

And JT did, too!

We finally got to meet "The Cousins!"

So, after months of hearing about them... we finally got to meet Sammy, Greg, Casey and even little Sammy. We had a great time talking and the kids played together. We all decided, the next Cira Family Vacation will be on the west coast.... 2010! So, start preparing now!

They brought Sammy a bat made by John. It is so cool. It even has "Sammy" written on it! Casey only uses the gear John makes! Thanks! That was awesome!First Swing...

Gotta be just like my brother...

One More Stop....

The boys were a little tired of our vacation until they realized where our last stop was...
(to hear the video better, you may want to pause the music player)
I will warn you... the first video is a bit whiny!
They were tired, or at least that is the excuse I am using! :)

A quick visit with Uncle Buddy & Lindsay

Another highlight of our trip was our short but sweet visit with Lindsay and Uncle Buddy.

Thank you for the Halloween treats!! We miss you!

San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is every bit as big as they say it is! He had to take a bus tour! We had fun finding new animals though. It was really cool to see the Pandas and the Koalas. We have never seen those before!

They even got me on the "Skifari" which tight lines you high above the zoo from one end to the other! Not really my highlight... but the boys loved it!

Disney Again!!

I know - we are spoiled, but when you live driving distance from Mickey.... you almost have to go when the kids are this age. Plus, it is "Halloween Time" in Disney and it was decorated so cool! It was a blast. Sam rode every big boy ride he could including Tower of Terror! And loved every minute of it by the way! John Thomas was a little bummed that he didn't get to ride all the rides that his big bro did, but was most disappointed he didn't make the cut off for Star Wars. He did enjoy both Buzz rides.

Walk through the gates and who do we see? Donald Duck! That is why we LOVE Disney!

BUZZ!! MY HERO!

Finding Nemo Ride... JT was really interested in this one!

Waiting for the new ride - Toy Story Mania. It was super fun!

Toon Town Roller Coaster. Are we havin' fun yet?

"I shoot Bad Guys." (It sounds much cuter when you actually hear it.)
But the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster was JT's favorite ride!

Sam and Dad liked it too!

San Diego Mission Beach

We packed while the boys were asleep and surprised the boys by not telling them we were going on vacation until the morning we left. This first picture was in the car when we left Thursday morning!




Our first stop on the whirl wind tour of California. Mission Beach. Unfortunately, the clutz that I am ...I dropped my camera in the sand at Mission Beach on the first day of the trip so the rest of the trip had to be documented without a zoom! :( We still had fun. These are a few pictures I was able to capture before I dropped the camera! The boys enjoyed finding sea shells by the water and we came home with a bunch of them. Although it doesn't look it... it was cold!

Thank you Ya-Ya and Poppy!

Thanks for our halloween package, Ya-Ya and Poppy. I think the suckers lasted about 5 minutes! The boys really enjoyed getting mail. Thank you again!!

Swimming Season is OVER!

Well, this was our attempt at the last official swim in our pool. But this is as far as we got! It is too cold in the pool to swim. Now, I know you are all going to laugh, but the pool was a freezing 78 degrees! One toe in and it was over! So, the boys hammed it up for the camera instead.

Bills in Arizona!

Unfortunately, the outcome didn't turn out too well... but the pictures we do have were good - PREGAME! :) Matt had fun with the guys, anyway! Can't win 'em all!

Sam's Birthday/First Day of school

I just realized I never sent out all the pictures from Sam's birthday and first day of school,
so we will start with this. ;)

There is also a slideshow of more pictures below.
If you click on the link that says "view all images" you can see them individually.

JT's Drawing

We were all drawing together when JT said, "look!" Matt and I were so surprised when we saw what he had drawn. As he drew more for us he said, "head, eyes, mouth" As you can see, he was really right on! We had to put this up for you guys to see. If you click on the image, it becomes 100%. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Aunt Debbie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

Cookout and Smores

We had a little get together with our friends for a cookout. We had 4 families here with a total of 7 kids, Sam, JT, Chase, Tatum, Owen and our new friends, Jackson and Jordan! They all had a great time! At the end, we roasted marshmallows and made smore's. Check out all the pictures in the slideshow at the bottom of the page. :)

JT has saved a little chocolate around his mouth for later!

Sam & Mommy roasting marshmallows