In the Dog House...

Austin loves our dog Hunter, and lately they've been the best of friends. Austin has taken it upon himself to fill up Hunter's food and water bowls whenever they are empty (we seriously have to start monitoring this...Hunter could be eating 10 times a day for all we know!), and he loves to chase Hunter around with all of his dog toys. It's pretty darn cute watching Austin take such good care of his buddy :)

Austin prefers to take his naps in Hunter's "crib" now!

Hanging out in the dog kennel, fun times! Austin just moved right in, his own blanket and all!! (I don't think Hunter's too sure about this though!!)

Austin LOVES watching Hunter eat and will get all up in Hunter's business when he's eating!! Hunter is such a trooper, he lets Austin sit there right on his dog bowls and watch him!

Austin never lets Hunter alone these days!

Our "watch dogs" keeping an eye on things!

Ranger Ride...

Brian got a new toy, a Polaris Ranger, and we finally got to take it out for a ride! Brian had always gone on Ranger rides with his buddies in the past, but always as a passenger. He was so excited to finally have his own now, and we are too, for we get to go along with him now! Austin loves Daddy's Ranger, and even has a matching camo car seat to ride in on our trips! Austin did so great on his first big ride, and he loved that his two best buddies, Lauren and Kaelyn, came along with us in their Daddy's Ranger!

Getting ready to head out!

Austin couldn't wait to go out on the Ranger! Now that he has his camo car seat, we need to get him some camo gear to wear just like his Dad!

Weeeee!

Getting dirty!

Austin loved looking at his buddies in the ranger next to us!

Taking a break up on the top of a little mountain to enjoy the view!

Kaelyn, Austin and Lauren

Quite the trio!

We made friends with a donkey on the way home...we spotted him up on a hill and slowed down to show the kids, and he just walked right up to us to say Hi!!!

Fun Visitors...

Last weekend we had some really fun visitors come and stay with us! Brian's Aunt Helene, his cousin Andrea and her daughter Grace drove out from LA to spend the weekend with us. We had such a great time with them and it was so fun watching the kids play...they had a blast together! They were so cute, we wish they lived closer so we could do this more often! Thanks for a great weekend you guys!

The "first cousins once removed!"

(I think...how does that work again?!!)

Austin, Grace and Brooke..how cute are they?!

These two had so much fun together!!

Grace and Austin

How cute are they, seriously!! We had to pry these two apart at bedtime, they could have played all night had we let them!

Cousins rule!

Brookie and her Great Aunt Helene!

Mr. Pouty...

Our sweet little boy is developing quite the attitude as he grows into his 2's. Here he is protesting over something I can't even remember, but to him was obviously worth throwing himself down on the floor for!! ;) (He sure knows how to throw a good tantrum these days!)

(I know, he's looking a little frankenstein-ish with his cut off jammies, but his toes were literally poking through the feet! Time to get this kid some longer PJ's stat!)

Date Night!

Back when my parents were here visiting us, they offered to babysit the kiddos for us so we could go out for dinner and a movie together! I can't remember the last time I had been out to a movie!! It was fun getting dressed up (basically in clothes that don't have baby food, slobber, or boogers all over them!) and going out for a date with my hubby :) Thanks mom and dad!!

I never get pictures of just Brian and I anymore!

Matching Jammies...

How cute are these two in matching jammies! They almost look like brothers!! (Sorry Brookie, but we just couldn't resist!)

This has to be some sort of torture putting our little girl in boy's pajamas...one day when Brooke is older and dealing with an identity crisis or something, she can pull out this picture and blame us ;)

Throw your hands in the air if you're a true player!

(Thanks for being a good sport Brooke!)

M's & W's...

Austin is getting a lot better at recognizing and saying his letters. Right now his two favorite letters are "M" and "W," and he gets so excited every time he sees them and loves to point them out! We have a little ledge under our fireplace and media unit in our family room that makes the perfect little bench and step for Austin...whenever the news ticker runs at the bottom of the TV screen he runs up on that ledge and follows it with his fingers pointing out every M and W he sees!! It is so cute and funny to watch, he literally gets so excited when he sees those letters!!

There's the "M!"

(So much for keeping some distance from the TV screen to not go blind!)

...and there's the "W!"

Stay away H1N1...

The entire Falky family has now gotten all their regular flu and H1N1 shots...lets just hope it was all worth it and we don't see those nasty viruses affecting anyone in our house! It was like a scavenger hunt trying to locate shots for everyone, so they better work...so far we have managed to avoid the flu, but I can't say the same thing for the cold...both kids have gone through what seems like a million kleenex boxes this past week and I have wiped away enough snot to fill the Grand Canyon. Brookie even came close to having her first ear infection, and has been on antibiotics all week. Fun times. Let's just hope those flu shots work and colds are the worst we have to deal with this winter!!

Our tough guys showing off their flu shots!

The last 3 weeks...

The best thing about being home has been seeing all of our friends and family again! It has been so wonderful seeing Brian's parents, our friends here in AZ, and even my parents, who drove down from Washington with our dog Hunter and stayed with us for 2 whole weeks! We are so thankful they were able to watch him for us while we were in Japan all those months, they were the best babysitters! We have had a lot fun hanging out seeing everyone, and are so appreciative for all the help we have had getting settled back into our house after being gone for so long! We couldn't have done it without you Mom and Dad, thank you so much!!

Brooke's first time in the pool with either Lauren or Kaelyn, I can't tell!! We are lucky to be able to still go swimming in October!

Pool time in October at the Putz's! We sure missed them!

Brooke loved being in the water for the first time!

And she loved splashing!!

Austin putting a lot of trust in Brooke and I...he was nervous we were going to dump him over!

Brookie with Pop-Pop and Grandma!

Brooke and Grandma!

Getting some kisses from Dad!

Austin loves his Dadda!

Getting ready for some smores with the Putz's!

Austin had never made smores before, he wasn't too sure about putting his marshmallow in the fire!!

Austin's first smore...and sure to have a lot more!

Brookie taking a nap on Grandma!

Brookie with her Great Aunt Tisa, Brian's cousin Christy and her daughter Emily!

Brookie and her Papa color coordinating!

Austin & Brooke with Grandma & Papa!

We missed you so much Hunter!!

Brookie and "Auntie" Mandy!

Our first Chateau-Briand Dinner of the off season with our good friends!

Austin is quite the clown lately!

Hanging with my mom!

You're so funny Grandma and Pop-Pop!

We love having Grandma and Pop-Pop in town!!

Austin's new love, Thomas Kemper Orange Cream Soda! He is a huge fan!

We couldn't pry this stuff away from him!

A night out at the wine bar!

Austin was obsessed with the baseball bounce house at Lauren and Kaelyn's preschool carnival!

Showing how it's done!

At the carnival with Pop-Pop and Grandma!

Having fun in a bounce house with Lauren and Kaeyln!

Austin and Lauren had a blast together!

Needing a hand from Grandma to cross the rickety bridge on the play toy! (But once he saw another little boy run across it, Austin didn't need Grandma's hand anymore, he could do it all on his own!)

Austin, Kaelyn and Brooke!

Brooke is growing up so fast!

Brooke loved playing with her Pop-Pop!

Lunch with Grandma!

Brookie got spoiled by her Pop-Pop!! He loved holding her!!

Starting to get enough hair to wear some bows!!

We are really going to miss you Grandma and Pop-Pop!!!! It was so much fun having you here!!