Maxy's 4th Birthday!!

Maxy had the sweetest, "puppy-rific" 4th birthday!  All he wanted for his birthday was to go to Topeka and go to "Puppies Galord" with GG, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy and Cole.  He wanted to pick out 3 puppies from the huge display wall of stuffed animal puppies.  He has been talking about it since he first saw it when we went there on Father's Day last June.  When we walked in that day, he saw the whole wall of puppies and said, "Puppies Galord..." in such awe.  He is just in love with all things puppy.  We went over to Topeka Saturday afternoon after Craig got out of work.  We stopped at GG and Poppy's first and they let him open some really cute puppy gifts.  I especially love this puppy hat that he now wears all the time! :)

 GG and Poppy also gave him a special puppy book.

 Puppies Galord!!!  Cole grabbed the birthday crown and brought it along for him to wear when we went to the toy store for him to pick out his 3 puppies.  He chose quickly and didn't look back.  He chose "Blackie", "Brownie" and "Spot."

 Afterward, we went to his favorite Topeka restaurant (and Cole's)... Bobo's!  The boys all sat at the counter.

 Maxy and his special puppies... such puppy love!

 The boys love to sit on the back of Poppy's truck... always have.

 Back home on Sunday after we spent Saturday night in Topeka

 A puppy cake for the bday boy!  Connor, Grayson and Jack came over to celebrate with us.

And this week Max had Holden, Coco and Noah over with their puppies to play. :)

This pic is from last week.... Max had Grayson over for a playdate to celebrate Grayson's bday, which was the day before Max's.  These sweet boys are such good buds.

Omaha

We took a little mini vacation the day after Halloween to Omaha.  We had never been with the boys and had been wanting to do the Children's Museum and zoo there.  We had the BEST time... it was so wonderful to have a whole weekend of family time just the 4 of us without distractions or obligations.  We left Saturday morning and arrived around 11, just in time for lunch at Stella's... they've won best burger in Omaha for many years.  The deserve the title... we had some fantastic burgers,  homemade fries and onion rings!

 Then we headed to the Children's Museum... it was such a great stop.  They were at perfect ages to enjoy everything there.

 A sweet puppy for my puppy loving guy!!

 They both loved this "ball" room and Cole especially liked this game where balls shoot out and you try to catch them in a bucket.  We spent a lot of time in this room!

 Riding the train at the museum

 The boys' favorite activity of the weekend.... swimming at the hotel pool!

 Saturday night we went to dinner at a sushi place in the Old Market.  The sushi was amazing and the boys' behavior was even more so... we had such a nice time out to dinner with them!!

 On Sunday, we hit the zoo.  It was windy and cool at first, but warmed up nicely.  There was plenty to do indoors too.  It was great being at the zoo when it wasn't very crowded.

 They loved the sky ride!

 Sea lion training

 Cole's favorite part of the zoo.... sting ray beach... he loved petting the sting rays and they got to feed them too.

 Scary bridge in the rain forest... I didn't ask them to make these faces!  I think they really were scared at first!

Souvenirs from the zoo... Maxy picked out a stuffed shark and Cole picked out a bug catcher kit.  We had an awesome time with our boys and hope to do another family getaway before too long.  We just love being with our sweet boys!!

Halloween

Halloween started a day early at Max's school.  Craig and I got to go for his first preschool Halloween parade.  Our little night was pretty darn cute!

 Max with his preschool class.  I got to stay for the party and do the games.  They are so sweet... just love the little preschool age!

 The boys wanted to carve really "spooky" pumpkins this year... I think Daddy did a great job achieving their goal!

 GG and Poppy came Halloween morning to stay with Maxy so I could go to Cole's school Halloween parade and party.  GG brought special monster suckers she made and lots of Halloween books from the library that Maxy loved.

 Kindergarten Halloween parade and class.... it was a fun party!  The mom that organized it did a great job... the kids had so much fun!

On Halloween night, we went over the VE's for dinner and trick-or-treating.  It was SUCH fun having neighborhood friends to spend Halloween with!!  We all had a blast and Cole was very into the trick-or-treating this year!  I brought Maxy home early after hitting a few houses.  He was cold and tired and wanted to go home with Mommy.  Craig and Cole stayed out and Cole's candy bucket was overstuffed when they got home!!

 Jack, Cole, Charlie, Max and Mason

Coach Will Muschamp made an appearance at the VE house!

In candy heaven!! ;)