Family Pictures and some other ramblings!

Last weekend my sister was so kind to take some family photos for us!  Despite planning it a few days in advance, achieving "happy kid" status with both my children was pretty much a failed attempt.  Aidan was great!  Owen.. meh, not so much.  First, we walked past the park.. I swear kids have "park radar" and within a certain distance they can just SENSE that there is happiness to be had and their MEAN Mommy is depriving them of that.. that was meltdown #1.  Then, we get to the nice grassy spot where we plan to take pictures.. but, Owen doesn't want to be on the grass.. he wants to be on the sidewalk.. ya know, naturally, because every kid wants to run and fall on the sidewalk and give Momma heart failure that he may smash his teeth or something.. right, so there was that.. and then there was the meltdown because we wouldn't let him hold his cup for pictures.. sigh.  Stupid cup.  Oh right, and there was my bright idea of trying to bribe him by telling him if he smiled for pictures I'd give him a cookie.. except, I didn't bring any cookies.. or any treats for that matter.. and finally, there was just the overall battle with the sun.. because, neither of my kids enjoy sunshine.. it hurts their eyes.. so, yea, it was a fun time!  Kudos to my sister for still managing to get some great shots despite the uncooperative 1 year old!!  (Check out some more of her photography at Http://pictureperfect4you.webs.com)

Love my boys <3  All three of them!  And, my sister for taking such amazing pictures!  She was even so kind as to offer taking some for the Holidays in a few months, too!  You can bet I'll be taking her up on that!

In other news.. today is Halloween.. it's still early, so no trick or treating yet, but we're hoping to get there in a few hours.. and by "there" I mean my Mom's house.. we get ZERO 'trick-or-treat'ers at our house.  I suppose that's probably because our driveway is like a mile long so it probably takes a good couple of minutes to walk from one door to the next door.. bad for efficiency I guess.

What are my children being for Halloween, you ask?  Likely nothing, if Owen were to choose!  Owen despises being dressed up.. my sister had given me some costumes her boys used when they were little (my nephews are 4 and 6 now.. where the heck did that time go?!) and we "practiced" dressing Owen up a few weeks ago.. major fail.. see below for proof!

Yup.  He hates costumes.  I'm hoping that today, being with his cousins and seeing other kids dressed, will make him a little more willing to put one on.. since it's 70+ degrees out I'm thinking we're going to go with the spider.. it's going to be interesting!! I'm hoping to at least get a few "non screaming" pictures!  Aidan man is going to be a little monster.. nothing fancy, just a striped jumper with a monster face hat.. And, I'll likely wrap him anyway (afterall, Halloween was my justification for why I bought my Ooga Spooky wrap!!)..wish us luck!