Family Pix

Our sweet friend Nicole recently took our family pictures and did a great job. Even though our kids were running around like crazy, she managed to truly capture their personalities. Thank you Nicole!

Batman and Robin to the rescue!

The boys did great and had so much fun Trick or Treating this year! They both really got into it. Carson was determined to hit every house, especially the scary ones. Grandma Bain (we had a lovely suprize visit from Karen & John for Halloween) pulled Colton in the wagon & he was just thrilled to eat candy & sit in the wagon. I think they would have gone all night if we let them. Carson's friend Eli joined us for a little while & they were quite the super hero crew.

Now I'm just trying to secretly get rid of all the candy. For the past three days all Colton wants to eat is candy. Such sweet memories!

Fall Activities

It hasn't really felt like fall because of the warm temperatures; however, we got a quick cold blast for a few days. So we visited a fantastic local pumkin patch. They had a hayride, maze(which took Carson over 30 min to find his way our), bounce houses, all kinds of photo spots, and pumpkins galore. We also carved our pumpkins, and as you can see it turned a bit crazy with Daddy smushing pumpkin guts in Carson's face. Colton wasn't too sure about sticking his hands in there at first, but after the whole pumpkin fight he jumped right in. We were so excited about these kits Chris got to carve the pumpkins, but after over an hour of carving we didn't think they where so cool after all. I think they turned our great, though. You can see Chris's artistic side coming out.

Florida & The Pirate Festival

In October, we joined mom at the beach house in Ft. Myers Beach for our second annual Pirate Festival. Carson talks about this event all year. The kids do real treasure hunts in the sand, costume contests, sand castles, a parade of pirates, real pirate ships with cannons shooting off and everything. This year they added pirates battling which was Carson's new favorite event. We also visited the alligator farm which was right up the boys alley. In the picture of Carson on the swinging bridge he is standing over thirty or so huge crocs. We just love visits with mom at the beach house. Thankfully Colton didn't eat the sand this year. And we all enjoyed rafting out in the ocean, one of my favorite activities while we're there. Grandma treated us to such a great time we can't wait to go back.

Carson's 4th Birthday

Carson had such a special 4th birhday. It all started with a surprise visit by both his wonderful grandma's! They were able to share in Carson's exciting Snake Encounters Party. Yes, it was going to be the Critterman, but that's a whole other story. Carson and all his friends were thrilled with snakes, lizards, and even a little magic! Do you see all those bins in the picture? They are filled with live snakes. We even had a 12 foot Burmeese Python in our FAMILY ROOM! AHHHH! Carson was not scared at all. He actaully loved it! Maybe he will end up being an entimologist/ herpatologist/ zoologist or whatever he is thinking today, afterall. A couple nights later he told me that he had the best birthday party ever....that's all we could ever ask for. We love you Carson!

Visit to Indiana

We had such a fun filled three week visit to Indiana this summer. After the wedding we went with John & Karen to Lake Cumberland and stayed at their condo for a few days. The water was a bit cold so no tubing or skiing, but the boys loved swimming & cruising in the boat. We returned back to Indy and stayed with mom & Joe. There is just nothing like relaxing at your parents. We went to the pool, hung out at Sherilyn's, went to Becky's for a couple days, watched fireworks, fished in the pond, roasted marshmallows, stayed up late and slept in, and on and on... One day mom had a truck load of dirt delivered (she always has some project going) and the boys played in that 10 ton pile of dirt for hours. My girlfriends and I had a great night out on the town. I didn't know what to do with myself not having to worry about a babysitter. It can be quite the chore finding one here. We love being with our family than just about anything....I miss you guys terribly and am already counting down till next summer. Ok - I have to end this post because I'm starting to get homesick:)

Adam's Wedding

What a wonderful day! Not a cloud in the sky, even though there was a 70% chance of rain - thank you God! Adam and Amy finally got married. We are so happy for them, and just love Amy. It was great to see so many people, a bit funny because lots of people thought we still lived in Charlotte.

Camping at Dinosaur Valley

We recently took Colton on his first camping trip. The boys haven't been so dirty in their lives, but we had a great time! This park, Dinosaur Valley, had real dinosaur footprints to find in the riverbed. The boys also did a bit of fishing, where Carson caught and reeled in a fish all by himself. Daddy also spoiled us with his wonderful cooking. A great time was enjoyed by all!

Our new pet

We have lizards all over here in Texas. And even though mommy isn't much for animals, she reluctantly agreed to allow Carson to keep the lizard he caught climbing on his play house. Carson named the lizard "Eyeball." It's now a fixture on the KITCHEN COUNTER. We even have live crickets to feed him. Never knew how Aunt Becky did it...now I understand. Carson is showing his friend Eli the book his cousin Mitchell gave him all about lizards & such. Of course he thinks there is a picture of "Eyeball" in the book.

Carson's Spring Open House

Carson recently had his Spring Program and Open House at preschool. We've been very please with the school and have already signed him up for next year. At the beginning of the program it was so precious because Carson could not see us in the audience because of the lights. He searched and searched ---wouldn't even sing until he found us. Finally, with our crazy waving he spotted us & then jumped right in. I know these pictures aren't very clear, but you can at least get the idea. After the program we went to his room where Carson showed off all that he is learning & doing. We were so proud!

The Bain's Trek to Texas

The boys & I were so fortunate to have John, Karen, Adam, and his fiance' Amy come for a visit at the end of March. We got to do so many fun things we had been wanting to do. It was great to experience lots of new sights together. Their visit started out with dinner & a show at Medieval Times, in Dallas. It was right up Carson's alley with jousting, knights, swords, horses, loud cheering and of course "bad guys." Carson is still talking about it. He is also still talking about all the creatures we saw at the Fort Worth Zoo. Most of us had only been to the Indianapolis Zoo & were all very impressed with Fort Worth's. More snakes and primates than I've seen in my life.

Karen, Amy, and I had to do a bit of shopping, of course. I was so happy to have some female shopping companions. The boys don't always enjoy my love for shopping. I know some of you are noticing... yes, soon there will be two Amy Bain's in our family. I've told everyone I don't want to be called "Old Amy" or "Big Amy." I'm still not sure how we're going to work that out. We are very excited to have Amy join the family. She is so sweet and loves the kids. We're looking forward to their June wedding.

One evening we visited "Leapin' Lizards." Grandma Bain is so good at wearing out the boys on the bounce houses- or is that the other way around? Chris and I are still laughing about our bounce house dual against Adam and Amy. We rounded out that night with a great steak dinner at the Fort Worth Stockyards. Yum!

The boys and I were sad to see them leave, but sooo enjoyed their visit.

We brought snow to Texas!

Much to our surprise we got a quick blast of snow on Wednesday. Carson and I were ecstatic! He and I have been praying for snow. So God answered our prayers with about 3 inches of snow. In fact more snow than they've seen in years. The little girl next store told us that she hadn't seen this much snow in her whole life. We lived it up with a snow ball flight, snow angels and even a snow man. Chris and Colton did not share in our sentiment. Chris said that he thought we moved away from the cold. And Colton pretty much hated it. I don't think he is use to the cold. Well it's back in the seventies just a couple days later, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

Rachel & Zach's Visit

Rachel called me last Monday and asked what we had going the following day. I responded with an oblivious, "not much." In complete Rachel style she arrived just about 24 hours later. We had a wonderful visit just hanging out and a bit of shopping the first couple days. Oh, and as you can you can see Carson and "Auntie" had fun playing in the irrigation system. On Thursday night Rachel's boyfriend Zach joined us for the weekend. It was wonderful getting to know Zach better, as we had only met once over Christmas. Visiting Ikea was on the top of Rachel's list of things to do; so we spent an afternoon crusing through one of the biggest stores you've ever seen. Since we're in Texas now we wanted to give Rachel and Zach a taste of what it's really like. We went to the historic Fort Worth Stockyards to see a Rodeo. Yeeha! I can't tell you how much enjoyed their visit so much!

Colton's 1st Birthday

In the the midst of moving, remodeling, and unpacking we stopped to celebrate Colton's 1st birthday. He is getting to be such a big boy. Actually weighing just a few pounds below Carson. "Chunky Monkey" as he is often referred to around here is babbling up a storm, crusing all along the walls and funiture, and putting everything in his mouth. He even took his first step to daddy two days before his birthday. He now has four teeth and eats and drinks real food all by himself. He loves his brother, but secretly can't wait until he can tackle him. Colton is a great sleeper- 11 hours at night and two 2 hour naps, if we're home. Colton loves tractors, music, and playing ball. This has been such an exciting year. We're so excited to see how Colton learns and grows in the years to come.

Welcome to our blog!

Since our big move to Texas, we thought we'd start a blog for our loved ones to keep up with our family happenings. I will try to update every week or so. This will hopefully be a place where I can download some of the many photos I take of the boys so that you can see how they are growing. We are gladly getting settled in our new home, and hope you will all come to visit!