Trick-or-treat!

Candy dump-trucks!

The servant

Lilia can be a lazy bones and Alex already has a servants heart at age 2.
Lilia was tired of carrying her candy-filled pumpkin at the end of the night. She asked me to carry it, but I said no way. So she pawned her pumpkin off on her baby brother.
What I love about this picture is Alex's hand-down expression as he carries the pumpkins. Like he's saying, "Oh this is such hard work to carry all this candy!"

Those baby blues

No folks, those eyes are not photo shopped.

Halloween Quote of the Day

Lilia wanted to hand out the Halloween candy tonight to the trick-or-treaters. Here's what she said to Dave, "I am doing my best to not think about keeping all this candy for myself."

Fall leaves

Don't you love fall?

The Frog & The Giraffe

Magnolia Plantation & Garden

The Ashley River

Dave and I drove out to explore the grounds of the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. It was so beauitful.
Majestic oak trees were every where with spanish moss draped on every branch. The Plantation sits on the Ashley River.
Over the years the gardens became the main focus of the plantation, with the owners spending much time cultivating flowering trees all year long.

Katie sitting on a oak tree

A newt sits on a leaf eyeing an ant

Bamboo

Getaway

Forgive the grainy quality. This was taken with my IPhone.
Dave and I have the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary, which was last month, in Charleston SC. Friends of ours live here, 10 minutes from the beach and 25 minutes from downtown!
This is a vacation! This is restful & relaxing!
We ate dinner the first night on an inlet. It was just beautiful.
We explored Charleston by foot yesterday. We were blown away at the houses and the gardens.
Unfortunately we don't have a working digital camera at the moment. So I broke out my old school film camera. It's a nice one; Dave got it for me as a wedding present. Oh yes, I said film.
It's so weird to think of the idea of it.
- The pictures I take on the trip will never make it on to our computer.
- Every picture I take will get printed out, whether it's good or blurry.
- I can't see the picture I just took!!!
- I am very selective of the scene, the angle & the zoom. After all I only get 24 shots on this roll of film.
- I can't "delete" a shot and try again.
I know, weird right!
Anyway, we are having an amazing time!

Surf, sand & shells

 As a kid my family would often go on vacation to the beach. When you live so close to Jersery beaches it becomes the default destination. That was fine by me! I love the beach.
Ever since I can remember I would collect shells. They could be whole or broken pieces. Some would be these amazing ones, but that was rare.
Well I have not grown out of that beloved hobby.
Side Note: This past summer we went to DE beach for vacation. Dave and I walked along the beach on our date night and the stones/pebbles on this beach were PERFECT! I spent the walk with my face to the sand picking up anything that caught my eye. Dave's pockets were so weighed down that his shorts hung very low.

So yesterday morning we checked out Isle of Palms beach. It couldn't have been more perfect. There was a place for Dave to hang out and read his book. This wasn't a bench, but a gazebo. If you know Dave, then you know his dislike for sitting in the sun. He read his book in a gazebo, shielded from the sun, while I scoured the beach for shells. I remembered a bag to put them in this time!

A starfish was washed ashore.

The beach

Birthday at the firehouse

Who wouldn't want to go to a birthday party at a firehouse?
Jesse Hudzina turned 5 in early October. Danae & Tom celebrated with a party at the firehouse and man oh man was it fun!
The kids got to play in the truck, go for a ride around the block - with sirens blarring, and fire the house. So Cool!
Alex is a typical boy who loves sports, trucks, diggers, cars, fire trucks and the like. He had such a great time.

Firing the hose

Jack Hudzina, Ava Manni & Lilia

Alex firing the hose

Turning 2 & all the milestones

Alex on the day he was born

Playing with Nannie

Who knew that this tiny little baby who started out so unbelievably fussy and difficult would turn into such a wonderful boy. As an infant Alex had colic, eczema, and reflux. He was down right miserable! He didn't sleep well at night until he was 5 1/2 months. Driving in the car was terrifying because you never knew if he would explode into tears and nothing would console him.

Well that little baby is behind us and now our toddler is a joy. He is mostly pleasant, he loves his big sister so much, he makes us laugh and he is very polite. He is an excellent sleeper, like his mother. Driving is the car is no big deal; he's great. In fact any time we're in the car his eyes are open and he's looking for diggers. "Mommy digger!!!"

We love our little Alex. We are so thankful for him. Happy Birthday buddy!

Party Time

 Cupcakes baked in a cone

So for Alex's 2nd birthday party we went with a sports theme. He still loves sports, but currently he's far more into diggers, cars, trucks and Thomas the tank engine, also known as "TomVince." Dave's sister Julie gave me the idea for the cupcakes. The kids loved them. The die wasn't very easy to work with; too drippy. They turned out ok. Kids don't care!
Alex officially turns 2 on the 12th.

Lilia, Adeline & Alex eating their cupcakes

We celebrated Alex's 2nd birthday with friends and family.

Alex with his cousin Ellie (3 mo)

Poppy, Alex and Grandpop

Grammy & Alex

Nannie & Alex

Leaf Art

Today was such a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. It was just what Pennsylvania falls should be.
This morning I packed up some lunch for the kids and myself. Alex and I picked Lilia up from preschool and we headed to South Ardmore Park for a picnic lunch and some playground time.
I was looking down at a few of the leaves that had fallen when I was hit with an afternoon craft. Leaf rubbings! On Saturday we went down town to Philadelphia Fine Arts Museum. They were having free kids crafts. One that I loved was placing leaves and flowers between paper and hitting them with a rubber mallet to show the shape and color. So...when I saw the leaves it gave me the idea for the rubbings. We collected 3 and I showed Lilia what to do.
She was so excited that as soon as those three were done we ran outback and collected more leaves. I want to make a banner of some sort with these. They look so cool!

INSTRUCTIONS:
lots of paper
an assortment of leaves, not too dry
crayons with no paper on them

1. Place the leaves or leaf between 2 pieces of paper. Rub with the crayon and you've got it!

Dictionary additions

I love the things I say differently as a result of having kids. I don't mean that silly parent language that you do to help your kids learn to speak, but I now have a new vocabulary because my kids don't say the correct word. Therefore I no longer say the correct English, but I often say it the way my kids do.
Let me introduce you to the Brindley Family Dictionary,

armpickle - armpit (Lilia)
creditor - preditor (Lilia)
TomVince - Thomas (the tank engine) (Alex)
Eeya - Lilia (Alex)
Aadi - Alex (Alex
Blah - no (Alex)
Beza - zebra (Alex)
Bubble Jum  - bubble gum (Alex)

This is the Reason

Read this quote slowly and carefully; read it twice if need be, but certainly take it to heart. It will change the way to live and look at life.
"Now, if a man's heart is set on earthly things, on earthly possessions, on earthly happiness, on earthly pleasures, on earthly ease and comfort, he is of all men most vulnerable. For, in the nature of things, he may lose these things at any moment.
There may come at any time a reversal of fortune, and he may find himself stripped of them all. On the other hand, if a man gives to Jesus Christ the unique place in his life, if the most precious thing for his is his relationship to God, that is something which can never be taken from him; no experience can despoil him of it; nothing can take it from him. Therefore, his is completely secure. His treasure is untouchable by the chances and changes of this life."               - William Barclay (speaking of 1st Peter 3:13-14)

Wow! I mean wow! I certainly don't live like this, but I sure wish I did. I wouldn't be so grumpy, I wouldn't complain so much, I wouldn't get angry with my children as often, and I wouldn't care if the house was messy.