Meet the Green Ghost...Brandon & I had a little photo shoot in the preschool playground before their Halloween Party started. He thought he was a pretty scary ghost ... Charming ghost...
Silly ghost...


Hard to find ghost ...

Last Sunday Nick & I painted my new office. The green was a touch mintier than the paint chip, but it's not too far off that I felt compelled to go back to Home Depot & complain.

Boo at the Zoo 2007

Laedyn is a Harlequin - with a cuddle bunny to keep her company... Once we got into the zoo & the sun set, she fell sound asleep and stayed that way until we got home.

Nick is Nick from the late 80's, early 90's - well except for the hat & Tattoos...yes that's an authentic Danzig t-shirt. Some of those who knew us back in the day might recognize it since it was in the regular rotation for quite some time. He says he got it at Record Revolution in Coventry. Now it resides way up in the top corner of the closet as a momento (or a halloween costume). The jeans...acid washed. Possibly from when he was in high school. We wondered if people thought this was his normal look...He's actullay considering getting the tattoos for real - NOT. Hahahahaha
Brandon is a Green Ghost - his choice. I bought green hairspray and face paint. He did OK with the hairspray, but didn't have much patience for the face paint. Up close you can see the tear streaks down one of his cheeks. Poor thing...
I took Brandon thru a "fun house maze" for the kids. At first he wasn't too sure about approaching this spider. I told him not to worry, that it was pretend. Thereafter, he informed all the other kids that it was just pretend. Jennifer found this highly amusing...I just wore a halloween shirt, some heavy eye make up (Brandon kept asking me to close my eyes so he could look at it), and a bit of glitter. Of course, I'm BEHIND the camera, so you'll have to do without photographic evidence...maybe another time. Instead, you can enjoy some group shots of the rest of the family!

Here are the final shots from our trip to the zoo last weekend with Tyrus. They were getting set up for Boo at the Zoo which is going on now thru Halloween. (We actually went this last Saturday with Jennifer & her sister, brother-in-law & nephew. I haven't even downloaded those pictures yet!!!) How is it that I am always a week behind posting my pictures? Starting one's own business tends to take over everything else it seems...Oh & making TWO Hallowwen costumes without Mom & Mark here to help.The zoo has a new exhibit of Rainbow Lorikeets. We just happened to be there while they were being fed & got to hold up little cups of nectar for the birds to eat. Tyrus had to hold Brandon up - & Brandon is not very light anymore. Luckily there isn't much nectar in the cup, so it didn't go on for too long. The exhibit was pretty cool - check it out next time you're at the zoo. Laedyn enjoyed riding in her stroller even thought she can't see much from down there. Here's a really good one of Tyrus. He wasn't expecting me to get a picture at that moment...we were having lunch in the new cafe. They did a really nice job with the renovations.Check out the HUGE leaves! Their size isn't obvious in a picture unless there's a person there to compare them to. Nick, as usual, is my most reliable,if not entirely willing, model...I thought this picture turned out great, even though Tyrus is posing as a tough kid. I guess that's his cool look or something. He & Brandon were both laughing until I did the picture countdown...

The zoo was already setting up for Boo at the Zoo when we were there last weekend. Brandon wasn't quite sure how to react to this giant spider decoration. We told him it was a man eating spider, but he didn't really believe us. On the other hand, he didn't want to take any chances. He kept a judicious distance at first until I told him the spider could not get past the red roping. Then he decided to thoroughly inspect the "danger" sign.
He still wasn't entirely sure it was safe to be so close to such a HUGE ugly spider...
Here, I asked him to look scared for me. It was too funny. I put this picture as the wallpaper on my laptop because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Got some good pictures of the animals at the zoo last weekend:

Nick's friend Rich brought his son Jackson over the other night. Brandon & Jackson had a great time making Halloween brownies. Jackson made ghosts and Brandon made jack-o-lanterns. Both boys were LAVISH in their application of Halloween themed sprinkles to their brownies. While the brownies were in the oven, the boys raced around making lots of noise. Jackson was singing "Who Let the Dogs Out" while jumping up & down. Brandon was just jumping up & down. Laedyn was VERY amused. She laughed more than she ever had before. I missed most of it, but she was still pretty entertained when I finally came in with the camera.

I know there are far more pictures of Brandon than Laedyn, but that's just because he does alot. I take a bunch of Laedyn, but she's usually just sitting in one of her seats looking serious. Anyway - I thought she needed a bit of the spotlight tonight, so here are a couple recent ones of her. Isn't she cute in her little purple velvet hoody??? And amazingly I managed to catch her laughing for a change!

Last weekend we went for a walk across the Big Dam Bridge. It was a beautiful day & there was a nice breeze. Obviously the view was lovely. Although it looks like we have the bridge all to ourselves, it was really quite busy. I just lucked out that there was no one immediately behind us as we rounded the corner headed to the top.
Brandon enjoyed riding on the front end of the stroller. Laedyn kept kicking at him, and he was mildly irritated by it - but not enought to get off & walk. Doesn't it look like she's deliberately trying to provoke him? That reminds me of my brother Eric - he was always trying to instigate trouble...
Brandon likes to stop & look at all the informational signs. When we tell him what they say & ask if he knew it, he says yes (of course). Then he repeats it & says to us "YOU didn't know!" That's his favorite phrase. The way he says it makes it even funnier.On this sign, he's pointing out the the native birds & telling us that none of them live in Arkansas. Of course he concluded his lesson by saying, "YOU didn't know."
Laedyn got hungry at the halfway point on the way over to the North Little Rock side so we had to stop & feed her. Luckily they have a couple of wider areas there where people can stop to soak in the view without blocking the path of people just trying to get from point A to point B. That CERTAINLY wasn't us!
When we reached the North side, Brandon was hopping around in obvious discomfort. Happily they have a couple port-a-potties. Then, while I took some pictures, Nick sat with Laedyn and held her upright so she could watch all the people walking, running & biking past. She really enjoyed that.While taking our break on the North side, we acquired a passenger. We named him the hitch hopper. He rode all the way back to the Little Rock side and didn't seem inclined to ever leave the stroller. Nick had to make him get off. I hope he's not too lonely over here so far away from North Little Rock . You can't tell in this picture, but he's missing his big rear hopping leg on the other side. Poor guy!

Daddy & his kids. Aren't they cute???

On our walk at the Big Dam Bridge, we ran across this little guy. He was eating some berries that had fallen off a tree and onto the paved trail. He wasn't shy at all - walking right up to me to see if I had any goodies for him. When he realized I didn't, he wandered back into the woods. Needless to say, Brandon thought it was pretty cool. Honestly - I did too! I've never seen an armadillo up close & personal before. Not even in a zoo!