Happy Birthday Boys!

 Today we had a little party to celebrate Taylor's (7/27) and Brady's (8/1) birthdays (I'm not sure on the proper grammar there).  We had a Star Wars theme.  In the photo below, Brady scores a point.

I borrowed Megan's Darth Vader costume. 

 Posing for pictures without a fellow competitor was a little harder.

 Singing Happy Birthday to Brady.

 Singing Happy Birthday to Daddy.

 Both kids had fun playing with Daniel.

 And this girl loves to play with her Uncle Jeffrey.

 The girls : )

Look Ma, No Kids!

The Shanle family is moving back to Nebraska, so we had a few couples come over to send them off.  We were all super excited that our kids happily watched movies inside while we sat outside and talked.

 Taylor's birthday was today.  His parents took us to Brennans while Ann and Daniel watched Brady and Anna Belle.  It was really a treat to have grown up time, and (as always) Brennan's was fabulous.

 Birthday boy

Early 2012

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New Braunfels (Part III)

Brett and Allison came up to visit for the day.  Fortunately the weather was really nice.  In the photos above, Anna Belle had just woken from a nap.  Brady took this photo of the three of us.  He's quite the photographer.

... but he had to pout when someone else was taking the picture.

 This is the view from the baby pool looking towards the big pool.  The river is just beyond the big pool.

In the mornings, we got to Naeglin's bakery to get specialty donuts and kolaches.  Afterwards we go to Landa Park to let the kids play on the playground.

 I'm having such a hard time getting Brady to smile for photos, I started acting like we were playing chase with the camera.  I would yell "Gotcha!" every time I snapped a photo.  He's running away and therefore the pictures are blurry, but there's a happy boy on the other side of the lens.

 We went to lunch at the Gristmill.

 ...with a great view of the river.

While Anna Belle napped, the Brett, Brady and Taylor went out to the river.  

New Braunfels (Part II)

I forgot to mention on the last post that Brady went down one of the BIG slides at Schlitterbaun.  He was actually afraid of the slides we photographed him on (at first).  Ann and I took Brady on the "Black Knight" which is in an enclosed black tube the whole way down.  Brady and I shared a double tube, and he loved the whole thing.  We'll definitely come back to Schlitterbaun next year.

Part of the reason Brady's been so bad about posing for pictures is that he constantly wants to be the photographer.  Here's some of Brady's work:

 ...and back to my photography

 Brady in a mood

 We got this face by telling Brady that he had to smile for one picture before he could play with the camera.

 These are Brady's shots

 I took identical photos of Brady doing this 3 years ago.

 Anna Belle and Brae have attracted a lot of attention.  I never have a camera around at the right times, but last night they hugged and cooed over one another for quite awhile.

 Jill and Brae (Jill designs for Tiny Prints and we use her designs for Christmas cards and such)

 Jill's oldest son is Pace, who's just a few months younger than Brady.  They enjoy playing with the same toys, though Brady still plays mostly independently.