Life as a Brandtito

You might not recognize these guys.... Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. It was definitely a Success with the Brandito bunch this year. We had a busy night of visiting family & friends as well as some good ol'fashion trick or treating. Annabelle as Cleopatra  Gavin as Waluigi...the moustache was short lived... Heaven as a "Southern Belle" who found a witch broom The kids had a blast getting all dressed up!! Well minus the moustache that came with Gavin's costume. He hated that pretty much instantly and I don't think it made it past a visit to Aunt Jessica's.  Heaven LOVED her witch broom (though I assured her that no Southern Belle actually ever found a witch broom) and AB fluttered her cape around most of the evening. We also had a surprise guest of Thor with us for a part of the evening. Gabe "Thor" Simmons I call this photo, "The Death of the Stache'" After their candy capturing frenzy had end

Happy Halloween!! Today was country day @ PRE so we’re having a double day of dress up!! I’ll definitely be posting pictures of the Halloween action photos from tonight as well. The girls have been begging…and I do mean BEGGING to wear their costumes for weeks now!! Since their costumes are not exactly washing machine friendly they’ve only been able to wear them for very short increments time wise so I know they will be getting into them the minute we say go tonight! My favorite Bandits!   We had a weekend of festivities as well. We had the Fall Festival at Olive on Saturday & the Harvest Fest at Pace Assembly last night. The girls sang the books of the New Testament from their Awana cd for the crowd @ Pace Assembly last night. They did awesome and were definitely a hit. I was very proud!!    Pumpkin Heads Archery @ the Olive fall Festival...they REALLY enjoyed this!

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a caramel dipped, chocolate sprinkled apple doesn’t keep anything away but skinny jeans. Tonight we adventured into the wonderful world of caramel apples. Although my head said this was a catastrophe waiting to happen, it was actually a much easier than I’d imagined. The girls were expect caramel shellers and though the kitchen still ended up a sticky countered, chocolate scattered mess, the end result was totally worth it. I don't think I've seen the kids eat apples this fast in a long time....and with no complaints!

Just a quick prayer request from anyone who may drop in. My grandad is recovering from a recent surgery. He's expected to be in the hospital close to a month. We're hoping to bring this party animal home sooner...He turned 86 this Saturday.

10/23/11 may just go down in history. On this date...we claimed our first soccer victory... Kinda. For the first time in our soccer season, we did not lose...we TIED!! :) We'll take this small success regardless!

We adventured on our first camping trip of fall this weekend. The weather was perfect, hot enough to let the kids swim (though me and John were smart enough to sit on the shore) and cold enough for a fire at sun down. I am a big fan of camping...so long as it only last 1 night. Oh,  and as long as there's a bathroom & shower facility on site. Oh and I'd prefer to see no wildlife whatsoever either...also, I will require an electric hookup...but under those conditions I really do love camping.   Raccoon tracks Coco time! Not bad for a campsite breakfast! Annabelle Approves I need to take a class on french braiding... GAV!  We also had a special campsite visit from the tooth fairy. Annabelle let Aunt Jessica pull her tooth after her soccer game Saturday. I bet that tooth fairy had a tricky time getting into the tent!

We've had some really close games and some games involving total annihilation and though we have no wins...our team spirit remains strong. The team is definitely improving and both girls are doing better each game. Annabelle has claimed the goalie title and is doing really well. She's made several great stops even the opposing coaches at last weekends game commented on her fearlessness. Soccer Monster! Heaven is doing equally awesome. She's most often assigned as a defender. I'm told this is for her speed (per Heaven). She's known for "Baywatching" about during about 1/2 her game time. You know, running and smiling at the crowd making no effort whatsoever to make any form of contact with the ball. She assures me she's working on focusing on the ball more. She was doing steller last weekend and then she took a ball to the face. It was back to Baywatching after that. Gabe is also playing at GP in the U8 league. We haven't gotten to watch a ful

Fall is in the air, which down here in the Panhandle means we're enjoying outside activities for the first time in months. This past weekend we visited the Peanut Festival in Jay, Fl. I'm pretty sure this festival actually takes place in someones back yard, but hey, it's the country...that's how we roll.    The kids were dying to try this...so even though we had to wait ALMOST AN HOUR at the Peanut Festival...we had to make this happen. I was so super jealous...it looked SO FUN! I'd say the day was a success...even if we didn't eat any actual peanuts....