Trick-or-Treating

PIRATE KNIGHT Garrison

PIRATE CHIEF Keyton

My two sweet trick-or-treaters!

Well...tonight my boys went out in their THIRD round of Halloween Costumes for the week! They dug into their "treasure chest of costumes" (again) and found them some costumes that were easy to travel in. Keyton went as a Pirate and Garrison as a Knight. However, since Garrison wants to do EVERYTHING that his big brother does....we had to call him a PIRATE KNIGHT! That seemed to satisfy him. They made pirate noises all night long! They had a great time trick-or-treating! Aggie went with us and they enjoyed showing her all of their treats! Later in the evening, they were treated to our ONLY trick-or-treat visitor. It was their buddy, Carter! They were very happy to see him and they made him a special goody bag! They wanted him to stay and play longer, but he promised to come back soon! We have had a very good Halloween WEEK LONG celebration with our church, school, friends, and family! We can't wait til next year...they boys tell me they want to be VERY SCARY!!!

School Halloween Parade

Keyton as...Recycled Costume

Garrison as...Bag of Groceries

Our school always has a big Halloween parade!  The gym is always packed.  They even open it up to visitors.  It is a very good program.  The children all enjoy it tremendously!  They award prizes for "most original"  and "scariest."  This year, Garrison was a "Bag of Groceries" &  Keyton was a "Recycled Costume."  I made Garrison's last night in about 10 minutes with stuff I had at the house.  (last minute kind of girl)  I got Keyton's stuff ready a few nights ago.  We just raided the "old costume" box and mixed different parts together to "recycle."  They had fun and they did a great job.  We have never won but we just always have fun participating!  I can't wait to go trick or treating with them tonight!

100 Things I Love...

I am so glad I started blogging to keep up with life's daily moments.  I cannot believe this is my 100th entry!  In honor of that, I quickly compiled a list.  This list is not perfect...it is just what came to my mind at the moment.  I could EASILY make a lit of 100 things I love about my sons!  

1.  God

2.  My family

3.  My friends

4.  My students

5.  My church

6.  My home

7.  My job

8.  My vehicle

9.  Blogging

10.  Hugs

11.  Kisses from my boys at the end of the day

12.  Seeing a student accomplish a goal

13.  Mail (except bills)

14.  Cheesecake

15.  TiVo

16.  Taking Pictures

17.  Scrapbooking

18.  Writing 

19.  Helping others

20.  Church hymns

21.  Music

22.  Guitar Hero

23.  Remembering fun times with My Daddy

24.  Making lists

25.  Organizing

26.  Watching my boys learn new things

27.  Making new friends

28.  Winning stuff

29.  Free samples

30.  Solving riddles

31.  Crossword puzzles

32.  Spelling

33.  Learning new words

34.  E-mail

35.  Surfing the internet

36.  Shopping

37.  Snowmen

38.  Holidays

39.  My birthday

40.  Tomatoes

41.  Bath & Body Works (brown sugar & fig)

42.  Old Navy

43.  Technology

44.  My ipod

45.  farm life

46.  Fall

47.  Turkey & dressing

48.  Surprises

49.  Presents

50.  Being warm

51.  Sunshine

52.  Walking

53.  Talking on the phone

54.  Playing with my boys

55.  Listening to my boys talk to each other

56.  Old comedy shows

57.  Twilight series of books

58.  Brad Paisley

59.  Snuggling  up to my boys at night

60.  Laughing

61.  Decorating

62.  Comments on my blogs

63.  Blogging Buddys

64.  Researching 

65.  Shoes

66.  Purses

67.  Pink Starburst

68.  How much my boys love each other

69.  Sleeping late

70.  Reading

71.  Planning

72.  My wedding ring set

73.  My THOUSANDS of pictures

74.  Sonic ice

75.  Subway

76.  Memories of our family beach trip

77.  Money

78.  Riding my four-wheeler

79.  John Deere stuff

80.  Precious Moments figurines

81.  Picture Frames

82.  Playdates with my friends

83.  Christmas shopping

84.  Christmas cards

85.  Funny headlines

86.  Proofreading

87.  My summer vacation with my family

88.  Blog giveaways

89.  Hearing my boys tell me they love me

90.  My hat Dana bought me in Florida

91.  Our Wedding Anniversary

92.  My sons birthday parties

93.  Remembering good times

94.  Family gatherings

95.  Church fellowship days

96.  Baskets

97.  Jewelry

98.  Kittens

99.  Crafts

100.  God's Promises

** I love my life!  ** 

Pictures, Pictures. Pictures...

My cute little firefighters!

In front of our chicken house...

In front of my daddy's old Ford truck...

In the tractor wheel...

Last night the boys broke out their actual "PJ's" because they were cold. They had gotten matching FIRE TRUCK pajamas and hadn't worn them yet so they were excited to wear them. They ended up getting a little hot in them and kept the pants but traded the long-sleeved shirts for t-shirts! But...I was able to get some cute pictures of them before they changed!

Today, we wanted to make a few pictures around the house because it was such a beautiful day! The boys love getting their pictures made, so we just went exploring around the house for some cute scenery! They just wanted to wear their "farm clothes" and not be "all dressed up." So, I just let them wear what they had on. They turned out really cute and we had a nice little adventure together. I love sweet moments like these!

Church Halloween Party!

Dr. Garrison Dowdy

Dr. Keyton Dowdy

Our church had a Halloween Party tonight and I forgot about it...until today at school when I was reminded of it. Since we had to miss church from being on vacation, I hadn't heard the reminder and it totally slipped my mind! I hadn't started working on their costumes for the school parade yet, so I was not prepared. I like to wait to the last minute! ( I seem to work better under pressure!) Well, the boys wanted to go so bad, so I told them to go look through their old costumes and see what they could come up with! We always save costumes and even try to but some extra after Halloween. The boys have fun dressing up in character all year long! After about 5 minutes in their room, they came out with a bunch of gear in their hand and were very excited by their decision...DOCTORS! We have enough "doctor" stuff in our house to dress they whole church up like doctors! So, I helped them get dressed off we went. It was so much fun! They divided everyone up and we competed as teams. Our team came in 3rd place but we think we had more fun than any team there! Garrison got picked for "Most Professional" costume. Keyton was they only one on our team to correctly identify a "mystery substance" in a bowl by touching it. He even beat the high school kids! They won a bunch of neat treats and were so happy to some home and play with them. I let them stay up late because they were having so much fun! We love our church!

More Beach Pics!

My precious guys admiring the ocean!

Keyton on the beach!

Garrison on the beach!

My family on the beach!

My bunch brought khakis along with our jeans to have family photos made.  The group went with jeans because everyone had those.  But, I wanted some made in each!  So, we went back down this afternoon for more photos.  My 3 guys didn't even fuss one bit about having to get all dressed up AGAIN!  I was very impressed by them being so cooperative!  Christopher came and helped so we didn't have to use the tripod all the time.  The sun was setting just right but it was a bit windy. Of course that only affected the me because of the hair blowing factor! Oh well, a little beach-blown hair never hurt anyone.  It doesn't look so good in photos, but that is just part of life on the beach!  Tomorrow is our last day!  Surprisingly enough, no one is ready to come home!  We figured everyone would be getting tired of one another and be ready to get back home, but life is grand on the beach!!!  

Family Beach Photos

The WHOLE Dowdy Crew!

Our FUNNY FACE pose!

My SWEET family I love sooo much!

My FAVORITE picture of them ALL!  

We took family beach photos today.  We thought we planned it just right for the sun to be going sown but everybody got ready early(surprise) and the sun was still shining pretty bright!  However, there was no waiting to be done because when Edward & Bettie are able to get ready EARLY, you must act upon it!!! We did the best we could and we were pretty pleased with them.  It was a big accomplishment to get EVERYONE in the same photo.  I am sure we will cherish them forever!  MY crew is going to have some more taken of us tomorrow because...I can NEVER have too many photos!   

Just Chillin'

View from back porch

Goofing around

They wanted me to take a FUNNY FACE picture!

Today we just hung out and did nothing special except TOTALLY enjoy being on vacation.   A few of us split up at various times and roamed around the island looking in different shops. Then we all took dips in the pool and just hung out together. Keyton wants in the pool as soon as he wakes up of the morning!  Garrison asked me this today:  "Mommy, are we ever going back to our house where I peed on the bed?"  (FYI:  This means our REAL home where he had a slight accident the other night after falling asleep without using the bathroom!)  I told him we were only living here for a week and then he said:  "Well, we can't catch crabs at the other house!" (We haven't caught the first crab yet!  He has been looking for them in the POOL with his net!)  The men went fishing again tonight...fish for supper tomorrow AGAIN!

I got in the water!

I am terrified of the water...yes even pools! I wish I could overcome this fear but it is something I cannot seem to accomplish.  I usually don't get in pools anywhere but.... I did today for my boys. They kept begging me to get in with them so they could "teach" me how to swim!   So, after much begging, I gave in.  I had a good time, but sadly I still cannot swim!  (shock)  Oh well!  I had fun splashing with my family!  

Water Fun!

Keyton having fun at the pool

Garrison deciding on a good spot for a castle

Keyton getting braver in the pool

Garrison riding in a float boat

Today we played on the beach and in the pool. The weather was great except for a little windy at times. The boys had a great time playing in the pool with their daddy. He had a great time with them too, but he did lose a few chest hairs where they held on to him so tight and grabbed him every time they moved a little. :-) They can't swim yet but we hope they will learn by the end of our stay. Keyton did learn a little today. He is really starting to love it in the water. He wanted to stay in there all night. He has been practicing his swim moves throughout the house. The highlight for Garrison was playing in the sand. The men caught us a BUNCH of fish today and we cooked it for supper. We cooked the biggest fish that weighed about 25-30 pounds! All 15 of us ate some and there was still lots of leftovers. We are having a great time.

We are at the beach!!!

Me & my little guys on the beach!

Dana & the boys testing the pool.  (COLD!)

We arrived at the beach earlier today.  The whole Dowdy family traveled to St. George Island in Florida.  We are a party of 15!  I was most excited about seeing the faces of ALL my guys. Neither Dana or the boys had ever viewed the ocean until today, so I was excited for them to experience the spectacular view!  The boys got so excited when they first caught sight of the ocean.  They could hardly wait until we made it to our island.  The house we are staying in is beautiful!!!  Tammy did an awesome job selecting it.  It has everything and it is RIGHT ON THE BEACH! We went and got a van load of groceries so we can stay at the house and relax all week. I can't wait to take BUNCHES of family photos on the beach later in the week.  Whitney & I think we should wait until we get a good tan first!  :-)  I am looking forward to a great week of DOWDY FAMILY VACATION 2008!  

My Basketball Boy

My sweet basketball boy!

Me and my little dudes!

Keyton has been playing on a basketball training league for boys ages 5 & 6. They played 6 games and we won 5 out of the 6! I think that is pretty awesome. The game we lost was a very close one as well and we had a little problem too...we only had 4 players at the game! It was cute though and those 4 tried their best! Tonight was the last game and all of them received a medal. He has had so much fun learning how to play the game. He doesn't like it when his family (read:me) yells tips at him. (or any other players) Oh, well..that's just what a mommy does I guess! He has been so sweet about stuff that he shouldn't really be sweet about! He don't want to try and take it away from the other team. He thinks that is cheating and that it will hurt their feelings! How cute is that?!? When he told me that, I immediately had one thought: He is too kind-hearted just like my daddy! Even though that is not the nature of the game of basketball, I did feel some pride in the fact that he cares about others so much. I hope if he continues to play this sport, however, that he will get over this somewhat! I am sure his coaches will hope for the same thing. Garrison has had such fun watching Keyton play. He was just wanting to get out there with those big boys so bad! He got to practice with them a little before the games. Keyton made sure he felt like he was part of the team too. When Keyton was on the bench, he came and got Garrison to sit with him. I love these little fellows so much and I am so very thankful of the strong love they have for one another!

Our favorite shirts

Keyton

Garrison

Sweet Brothers

Ever since I ordered these two matching shirts for the boys, both Dana & I have just loved seeing them wear them! We just think they look so dog-gone handsome in them. (We may or may not be biased.) We always make their pictures when they wear them together. We have so many pictures of them in these shirts! This past Sunday, when they got ready for church, Dana once again said, "Did you take their pictures?" This time, he wanted me to take a back-view shot because he thought they looked so cute with their belts. So, of course I took the pictures! The boys call them their "John Deere" shirts because they have green in them. They are always cute to us, but there is just something about these shirts that make us smile even more.

We love these two little guys so much!