Yard Clean-up

We had a family yard clean-up day a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of work, but that didn't stop the kids having some fun in the process. Our beautiful work was quickly ruined with some wild leaf pile jumping kids. The extra work was worth it to see the joy on their faces. 

A bath was MUCH needed after a long day outside. Our sweet babes all in one little tub. I love them.

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

The boys had their Thanksgiving feast at school the week of Thanksgiving. It was super cute. All the kids wear headdresses they made and the teachers dress up as Pilgrims and Indians. They  all eat together at a long table with the traditional fixins': turkey, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, green beans, applesauce, and my kids favorite, corn muffins. It was so sweet to watch. Happy Thanksgiving y'all. 

Halloween {a bit late}

I am a bit late on posting Halloween pictures, it snuck up on me and not it's flown by me. Good grief it's almost Thanksgiving and then Christmas! Wow. Moving on . . . this year the boys wanted to be superheroes. They actually spotted their costumes at Costco back in August, yes, August. So the costumes had been hanging in the closet patiently waiting to be worn for a couple of months. Luckily I thought to have the boys try them on the week before, as both costumes required some alterations. Whew. I decided to stick with the superhero theme and Kate had the choice between Supergirl and Spidergirl(nothing homemade this year - all Target had to offer (in a size 4 no less)!). Naturally, she gravitated toward the pink, so Spidergirl she was. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of her striking a pose. Her brothers on the other hand were more than willing. : )  

Justin had to work this year, so I loaded the kids up and went trick-or-treating with my SIL, BIL, their kids and Grandma and Grandpa. The kids had a great time and luckily the weather wasn't too cold. It was another successful Halloween. Until next time...

 Doesn't he make a great Captain America!?!

 The most adorable Spidergirl, Iron Man, and Captain America EVER.

The coolest Iron Man

Beating the chill . . .

It's getting cold, very cold. I despise winter. If it weren't for family, I would move to Florida in a heartbeat. Seriously. Ok, moving on. With the weather cooling off, we are home more (nasty colds will make that happen, too). I am finding that I need to be more creative with filling the time . . . I just can't stick them in front of the T.V. - too much energy to burn! So this is what our day looks like . . . today, anyway. 

 Coloring (I'm learning to shoot on manual - too much light, I know)

 Playing dress-up

 Puzzles

 Blurry dance parties

 train lovin'

 kitchen lovin'

 soccer in the hall

 picnic lunches 

 building towers

and celebrating the fact that we're still in our pj's and scavenger hunt victories. 

I think I may like this staying in the house for the day business. Well, for now. : )

1st Trip to the Dentist

The boys took their first trip to the dentist last week. They were both a bit nervous about it, but once we got there and they saw the awesome games in lobby, they relaxed a bit. I have recently become friends with a gal that is a pediatric dentist, so it was an easy choice in going to her. Luke went first and was a rockstar. He listened to the hygienist explain each of the instruments, laughed and was ready to get the ball rolling. Perfect patient. Evan (I always have to remind myself that he is 3, not 5) was a little different. He watched Luke and saw that everything was fine, but when it came to his turn, he was pretty worked up. (Proud parent moment . . . Luke was so sweet and consoling with Ev. He rubbed his leg and said things like, "it's okay buddy, it's no big deal, I'll hold you're hand - so sweet) Anyway, Ev worked it out and did awesome, too. After they got their teeth cleaned, had x-rays, and had one last look by our friend, Ginelle, they got ice cream. Yes, the dentist office serves ice cream after the appointment. Hey, what better way to get them to keep coming back! Overall - huge success. Hopefully the same will be said in six months!

Kate is 2!!!

Our sweet girl is officially two! We celebrated at home with a few presents and cinnamon rolls for dessert. It was perfect. 

Kate is such an energetic, loving girl. She adds so much life to our family. She absolutely adores her brothers. She wants to do everything they do, which sadly doesn't always happen. She LOVES to color and draw - she can spend hours at the art table just doodling and scribbling. She also really enjoys puzzles, blocks, books, anything associated with Dora, and is getting interested in taking care of her babies. We have started "feeding" them and "making dinner" for them in her kitchen, it's pretty cute. I'm just waiting for her to start being interested in Barbies - I was crazy about them as a young girl. We'll see if she follows suit. Happy 2nd birthday sweet baby, we LOVE you so much!!!  

Field trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We had Luke and Evan's first field trip of the year last week. It was at the Pumpkin Patch, obviously. Thankfully my awesome mother-in-law watched Kate so I could spend some time with my boys. We had a great time and thankfully the weather cooperated, too. 

 Our little pumpkins. I scratched out the name of the preschool in case there are some weirdos out there that stumble across our blog.

 The boys were very excited about s'mores, but not so sure about the fire. The smoke kept blowing in their eyes, so mama had to take over on the roasting front. 

See their faces. Even little Emerson wasn't impressed. 

 Freshly made kettle corn. Amazing. This was actually what got Ev to smile. You'll see in the pictures below. . . he was a bit grumpy that morning. The kettle corn seemed to snap him out of it. I will note (I'm a bit freaky)that this was their first time EVER having popcorn. I know, a bit freaky to some people. Luke enjoyed it, Ev wasn't a huge fan.

 There were some awesome activities for the kids to enjoy such as pushing a gigantic ball around, exploring a tepee, a corn maze, a hayride, and a small playground. I forgot to mention that the pumpkin patch is actually at the director of the preschools house. Pretty cool, right?!?

Again . . . he's 5! I'm not sure when I'll stop doing that. 

 Luke was trying REALLY hard to get Evan to smile for me, but to no avail. Thanks for trying, bud.

It's so much fun to spend time with the "big" kids by themselves. With Kate at home it allowed me to actually pay more attention to them and less time chasing the crazy girl around. We need to have more times like this. I love those boys (and Kate, duh). 

Luke is FIVE

We have been so busy over the last month, time has just gotten away from me. Now that vacation is over and the party has been thrown, I can sit back and breathe. As I sit here during naps and edit photos from the last month I find myself getting emotional about the time that is sneaking by me so quickly. When I think of the time passing, I can't help but think about how quickly five years have gone. Luke is going to be in kindergarten next year. I am going to have to send him off all day, five days a week and trust him to be taken care of and taught by someone other than me. I know that he will thrive, but it makes me sad and somewhat sick to my stomach. I've always heard that "it goes so fast" but when you're in the midst of raising three small kids (all within 18 months of each other) it's easy to think those people are crazy and they have no idea what I'm going through. Oh, I take it all back, y'all are right. IT GOES SO FAST. I know, I know, five is just the beginning, but to me it is big. Huge, actually. Ugh. Enough. 

Moving on to what this post is all about . . . Luke is an awesome kid. He is scary smart, kind, loving, funny, and inquisitive. Lately he loves putting together puzzles, building with Legos or blocks, drawing, coloring, and playing games on his iPod. He loves being the oldest, he thinks that's pretty cool.  He is his brothers best friend (most of the time) and loves Kate like the pesky little sister that she is. He adores his daddy and thinks that he hung the moon. He's kind-of sweet on me, too. He's doing fantastic at school and is learning more and more each day. We love him dearly and thank God that He has blessed us with such an amazing son. 

Newborn!!! No joke, I seriously cried when I pulled this picture up. 

1st Birthday Party - he wasn't walking yet, but was sooo close.

2nd Birthday Party. 

3rd Birthday Party . . . looks very similar to now, doesn't he?

4th. He looks so big!!!

And, 5! Wowza. So handsome. Love you, buddy.

A Superhero Birthday Party

Luke and Kate both have birthday's in October, so we decided to combine their birthday parties this year. What a relief to only have to host one party! Luke is interested in superheroes lately and Kate likes anything, so we went with a superhero theme. It was so fun. I made capes and masks as party favors and then added little touches of superhero stuff here and there. The kids all really enjoyed the capes, so worth the effort. 

 Luke requested a Spiderman shirt for me to make and Ev wanted Captain America. I went with a lightening bolt for Kate.

 He's 5!!!

Little miss has one more week till she's 2. Wow, kind-of blows my mind. 

 My cousin made the most adorable doll for Kate. Seriously, her creativity knows no limits. I love it. You can see how much in the second picture. Thanks Carrie for taking pictures so Justin could enjoy watching the kids open presents while I helped AND for catching this expression. Too funny.

 Grandma and Grandpa bought Kate the cutest tricycle EVER. She loves it . . . so do her brothers. It's taken up permanent residence in our house for the time being. Our poor walls may take a beating in the process . . .