Best Wishes Bruno

So about 1 year and 1/2 ago we brought on a new member to the family- Bruno. We had our fun with him and he was a nice addition to the family... sometimes! More often than not he was just causing trouble and we really didn't have the time for him. So off he went to a new family- one that wanted to return him less than 16 hours of picking him up. Luckily, the young girl who really wanted him talked her dad into keeping him at his house instead of her mothers. Hopefully they are a better fit for him. Here are a couple of photos from his last day with us. Surprisingly it was a fairly tear free evening. (I was a little worried because about a week before I found a new family for Bruno we were watching a movie -I think it was called The Dog Who Saved Christmas- and at one part the family was saying good bye to their dog because the parents didn't think it was working out and Isabelle got very emotional. I looked over and she had the biggest tears coming down her cheeks and when I hugged her she started bawling. She must get her movie watching emotions from me...)

1, 2, 3.... Cheese!

A couple of weekends ago we took the kids to the festival of trees at the Lansing Center. With the abundance of Christmas decor, I thought it may be a good time to attempt to snap a photo for our christmas card this year. However between disappearing Santa, Isabelle's insistance to wear her winter hat all day, and the goofy superhero poses my kids like to strike it was an unsuccessful attempt; Not to mention the poor quality of the photos due to the fact that I still have not replaced my lost camera and am using my phone. (Luckily, I think Santa may be bringing me a new camera for x-mas). Here are a couple of our practice shots... the actual shot is yet to be taken. Hopefully soon since the cards do need to get out before Christmas!

Happy 5th Birthday Chris & Izzy

Monday was a big day in the Shuart household- Christian and Isabelle turned 5! It's really hard to believe that it has been 5 years since the little blessings arrived. To celebrate the day we all took the day off work and school and headed to Chuck E Cheese's, a family fave. Both grandmas, Aunt Becky, and some of their fave cousins- Ben, Sophie, Leah, Alivia, and Connor joined us there for a fun birthday celebration. It was a fun filled day of pizza, ice cream cake, gifts, games, and family. Here's a group shot of the kids with Chuck E and one of Brian and Izzy B in the ticket blaster (a ton of fun if you ever get a chance to try it!).

A cute side story-

We decided to let Carson pick out his own gifts for the twins this year. The day we were going to go shopping for them Isabelle and Carson got into an argument and Carson told her "If you don't start being nice to me I'm going to buy you a doll for your birthday." Needless to say, Izzy started crying and yelling "No you won't because then I'll buy you a doll." They must have made up because here my little 'princess' is all smiles with the gift her baby bro picked out.

Little Chubbs Gets a Haircut

Carson has been in desperate need of a haircut for a couple weeks now but his long blonde curly locks are just so adorable that they are hard to cut. We decided on Saturday that it was finally time to bite the bullet. The poor kid could hardly fit his spiderman mask on over top of all that hair. Being the little diva he is, we asked him what kind of haircut he would like and his response was "I want a buzzhawk". I have no clue what he was referencing as a buzzhawk but all I could picture was David Beckham and P Diddy circa 2006 with a buzzed head and small strip of hair down the center. That wasn't quite an option (although I'm sure he could rock it since he's cute enough to rock any hairdo). In the end he decided that he would surprise me and he and Brian went on their way. He returned looking as cute as ever. Here's the before and afters.

Halloween Season

My kids love candy (who doesn't?) and they love dressing up in costumes so Halloween has become a season at our house. Last week we attended Halloween story time at the Okemos Library and then on Sunday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and headed to Potter Park Zoo in Lansing for their annual Boo at the Zoo festivities. The kids had a great time enjoying all the activities and stocking up on candy. And we still have Trick or Treat on the square, a begindergarten halloween program, and halloween itself to look forward to. Spiderman, Batman, and Batarina are determined to make the most of Halloween this year. (They each picked out their own costumes this year and did a great job. They all transform into their characters perfectly.)

My Three Little Loves

"While we try to teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

Fun at the Cider Mill

We decided to take a break from the Saturday routine of college football and take the kids to Uncle Johns Cider Mill in St Johns. We spent the whole afternoon there enjoying all the activities, and of course, the cider and doughnuts too. It was the kids first trip to a corn maze so we all had a lot of fun with that. Brian and I let the kids lead the way and after being led all the way to the farthest end of the maze Carson decided he was going to use the map to find our way out. And while we did find our way out, it ended up being out the same entrance we came in rather than the exit. Christian inists that if he had the map we would have made it to the exit so I guess we have a challenge for next time. All in all, It was great way to spend a fall Saturday.