Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone, and a super-special Happy Birthday to our dear Hampton!

Birthday Eve

Today is a big day around the Howard household...Birthday Eve. If you ask Bo, it's a day of reflection on the past year before you start the new one. Tanner just knows that it means the next day is a year older!

It's Hampton's Birthday Eve today, and with it brings lots of memories. We can't believe ( we mean CANNOT BELIEVE!!!) that he's been with us 3 years now. It seems like just a minute and a lifetime ago all mixed together. What we do know is he's changed our life forever in all the best ways.

Today he is a loving, rambunctious preschooler. He says the most hilarious things, and he hasn't met a stranger. Everyone who knows him loves him, because with his personality, you can't help it! He has so much energy that if we could figure out how to bottle it, we'd be rich. However, he loves playing by himself, looking at his favorite books about animals and the Bible. His three obsessions are trains, music and animals. We're not sure what type of career combines all three, but if there is something, he'd love it!

He's still getting used to being a big brother....he loves Harrison and always wants to know where he is, until Harrison comes near the trains. Then he's more "leave him" than "take him"! Hampton is so curious about everything. His favorite question is "What happened?" and he wants to be in the middle of the action. The best thing about him is how loving he is. He's not shy with "I love you" and nothing could be better than hearing that!

We are so, so lucky to have this little boy in our lives, and even though we (read: Tanner) can't stand that he's going to be the big-boy age of 3, we can't wait to see what this year has in store for him!

 

One Day

 1-year

 2 years

almost 3-years

Hampton's 3rd Birthday Party

This weekend was Hampton's 3rd Birthday party. We decided to just have a low-key party at the playground at church because Hampton LOVES playing outside and the playground is fenced in, which means that the parents would be able to socialize a little not having to worry about where the littles had run off!

It started out COLD outside (which explains the crazy getup that Harrison has on...sweatpants over a jonjon!), but it warmed up nicely. Of course, the little ones didn't seem to mind at all, since they just ran around chasing each other the entire time!

Even though there were a few decor hiccups...including a few balloons blowing away (sorry, dolphins!)...at the end of the day it was a perfect party with our closest friends and family. And since in every single picture Hampton had a huge smile on his face, we'd say it was a success!

To see more photos from Hampton's big day, click HERE.

 

Boo at the Zoo

Last night was one if our favorite nights of the year. The annual Halloween party at the zoo, where we get all dressed up and go booing amongst all the animals! Last night we met up with some friends and saw several more while we were there. Afterwards, we headed to a fundraiser for a friend's brother & ran into most of the same people we saw at the zoo. It's nights like last night that remind us that even though we have some big-city tourist draws, we definitely still live in a small town!

So Happy!

Harrison loves his Granny!

Harrison 9-Month Photos

We know that Harrison is quickly creeping up on his 11-month birthday, but we're just now getting around to posting his 9-Month photos. He is such a cutie!

 

Pumpkin Patch & Festival of Flavor

This weekend, we did one of our favorite fall traditions...we headed to the pumpkin patch! We've been going to the same place for years, and it's just a small patch that the boys can run around and have a great time. This time, we got there super-early and were able to see the tractor full of pumpkins arrive. Of course, we knew it was a photo op, so we promptly put Harrison (safely!) atop the large pumpkin pile & snapped some photos.

Afterwards, we headed to the Alabama Festival of Flavor, a new cooking-themed festival in downtown Foley. We walked around, danced & sang along with some of the entertainment, and then had to stop and ride the train as well as drop in to the train museum for a minute. Fall is definitely in the air here, and we are LOVING it!

School Success

We'd been having a little trouble with Hampton not napping at MDO. He doesn't nap at home anymore, although he does have a daily quiet time. So it's not surprising that he doesn't nap at school, especially since he's so excited to play with his friends.

The problem has been that he wakes the other littles up trying to talk to them. He's been sent to the office a few times and even got sent home one day.

Luckily, we have the best teacher EVER. She has worked with him & us trying to come up with solutions. Well, apparently it worked because he has napped 2 days in a row this week & the other day he was quiet on his mat the whole time. Yay! Plus, she had gotten him well on his way to potty train, and we haven't had to do a thing! WhooHoo!

Our teacher even sent us this photo of him napping today. See why we love her?

Sleeping Beauty

Nothing says "the good life" like a nap on Grandi's porch on a rainy afternoon! We are so jealous that it's not us napping!

Too Sleepy To Eat

Harrison was so exhausted that he fell asleep during his lunch today! Bless his little heart....

Back to Reality

We made it home late Saturday night, used yesterday to start working on laundry, grabbing some groceries, and a quick trip to the Shrimp Festival. This week, it's back to the real world with Bo starting his new job today! He'll be in New Orleans for a few days, while Tanner works on all the monogramming orders that came in while we were gone. Hampton was so excited to go to school & see all his friends (as he told us 100 times) and Harry is just thrilled to be out of his car seat!

We'll share lots more of our Disney pics soon, but since we took over 2000, it's going to take us a while to weed through them all!

What a week!

What a great week it's been! Today we're visiting the Magic Kingdom one last time before heading home tomorrow. We're looking forward to making a few more memories that will last us until our next trip to The Happiest Place on Earth!

Family of the Day

We were chosen as the family of the day at Animal Kingdom today! It's amazing...we couldn't be more excited!

Ready for Mickey's House!

Vacation Is Exhausting!

We're on our way to Mickey's House!

We're on the move, heading out at 5 this morning to go to Orlando. We have dinner tickets tonight, so we're hoping for a smooth, uneventful ride today. Of course, we already had quite the adventure at breakfast this morning....let's just say that potty training & public bathrooms make for quite the adventure! We'll be stocking up on the hand sanitizer at our next stop!

Here are a few photos of the boys, along with their Mickey travel treats :)

We're almost there!

It's a busy day around here today as we scurry about trying to get packed, get loose ends tied up, and the house in some sort of order for when we return from Disney World. Hampton is so excited that he just can't stand it...we've been counting down for weeks!

Chalk it up

Now that it's gotten a little cooler, we've been getting outside to enjoy the weather. Hamp loves playing with chalk, so we've headed out to the driveway to play. Hamp colors while Harry runs around in his exersaucer. Our driveway looks a little crazy with all these decorations covering it, but as long as the boys are having fun, we don't mind at all!

Weekend Update

This weekend was supposed to be a full one. We had a community yard sale on Saturday, then on Sunday we were supposed to meet cousin Ben at the Jubilee Festival in Daphne, then head back to church for the Blessing of the Pets event Tanner's committee hosts every year.

The yard sale went as planned (we even quit a little early....hooray!), but when we woke up to rain yesterday, we knew that Sunday's plans had changed! Instead, we made the best of it by catching up on orders and napping. Can you tell by the photo who did what?