Happy Halloween!

This is my 1st Halloween away from my C.  I was not looking forward to it!  We decided to make it exciting still and planned a Halloween block party with all the neighbor kids.  It was a small get together of about 20 people that turned in a large gathering of about 40 people with a bounce house in our driveway!  

The morning started with C waking up and exclaiming, 

"My tooth is missing!"

We found it in his bed, so somehow it came out in the night.  He was SO excited to sport a new smile & hear his new lisp when he spoke!  My cute little Cat-in-the-Hat was ready for his Storybook parade at school with his cute new grin!

As I had plans to run to a few stores after I got C to school, the bounce house company decided to deliver the bounce house for the party a little early.  As soon as Noah saw the bounce house up in the driveway, I knew my plan for running errands was going to be postponed.  

Once the big kids were all home from school, it didn't take long for them to all migrate over after seeing the bounce house.  The party wasn't set to start until 5:30pm, but the bouncing started around 4pm.  It took some convincing to get the kids to take a break & get their costumes on.  

(These are most of our neighbor kids in nearby houses.  I tried to get a picture of the kids in costume before the party got hoppin'.  By mid-party, we had about 25 kids here.)

My sweet Mario & Luigi!

It was a miracle that Noah kept his hat on.  I wasn't going to push hard for a smile on top of that!

Connor and his best neighbor buddy, Michael

Another cute neighbor, Alyssa.

The Falcones--our neighbors from the other side of the community--in their home made "Nightmare before Christmas" costumes.

Heather & Ella (Noah's little buddy & Michael's little sister).

*Noah will be playing in the morning & just exclaim randomly, "Fun with Ella?"  They're only about a month apart in age & are starting to play well together.

Bowser & Yoshi

 (I had hopes of a family shot with our Mario & Luigi to complete our ensemble, but I didn't want to pull the boys away from bouncing).

I looked up some last minute easy games for oodles of kids that afternoon & found "Mummy racing." I may have cleaned out my toilet paper stash, but the game was a hit with the kids!

And...the coolest Nana & Papa that ever lived.

Nightly fishin'

There was a fabulous breeze, the fish were biting, snacks were yummy, and Aunt Kris was here!

It was a great night fishing!

(A blowfish and snapper combo at the start of our fishing evening)

Goobs

You never know what this Goob is going to do.

The other day while Connor was at school, Noah woke from his nap & said, "Kee-kee, ABCs, couch!"  Translation:  Noah wants to watch ABC videos on the couch with his blankie.

So I got the tiny boss situation on the couch and he proceeded to point to his toes and say, "Kee-kee toes."  Translation: Cover Noah's toes with his blankie.  

So I did as he asked yet again.

As I walked into the kitchen, Noah muttered something else, yet again.  "ABCs bay-her bed."  I asked him if he wanted his bear from his bed, and he explaimed "YESSS!"  So off I went to retrieve it.

When I handed him his bear and he hugged it so sweetly, he says, "Mouse bed?"  I then told him, if you want your Mickey Mouse too, this is it!"  I went in to grab his Mickey Mouse from his bed and brought it to him.  

He then hugged both stuffed animals and watched his ABC videos intently with this face....

This kid!

Then big bro came in from school and he immediately grabbed a blanket and cozied up with Noah on the couch.  The boys decided to watch videos of children opening 'surprise eggs' (basically easter eggs with random toys inside).  They just sat, Noah asked, "What's this?" after each toy was revealed and Connor sweetly explained each one.

They were funny to watch.

Then on Wednesday night just before bed, Connor went to bed later than usual.  Let's just say Connor's front tooth could have easily come out a week ago, but he was too afraid to pull it out.  I tried giving him tips, letting me wiggle it, etc, but there was no getting this child to pull his tooth out.  It was finally to the point the tooth was discolored since it wasn't getting any blood circulation and was literally hanging by a thread.  

Our night went like this.  Brush teeth, wiggle tooth a tiny bit.  Tooth starts to bleed.  Connor panicked thinking he was hurt, but I explained how it's normal & it just means the tooth is ready to come out.  Connor ran down stairs to show Matt.  Connor was convinced the bleeding was now hurting him, so I suggested a little ice to numb his gums.  Back upstairs we went.  Connor wiggled tooth to the point the tooth could now spin 180 degrees.  He was still afraid to pull it out, but we giggled so much at how funny he looked with his front tooth spun around, that he had to run downstairs to show Matt yet again.  When he finally came back upstairs, I told him the tooth was coming out tonight & we just needed to do it.  He was still afraid, so I got my hand in his mouth fast & popped it out!  He was overjoyed and ran back downstairs to show Matt his new smile!

Phew!!  This is the 2nd out of 4 teeth I've had to pull out when Connor wasn't expecting it!  Good grief! Haha!

"Mom, remember how I said I didn't trust for you to pull out my tooth.  Now, I do!"

The Tooth Fairy delivered a whopping $6 for his tooth this time!  She even left a little glittery dust on the dollars.  We have 2 more wiggly teeth too.  My sweet boy's smile is ever changing these days!

Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!

I had to reschedule one of my weekend sessions for last night, so had to leave Matt with the boys for about two hours.  I received some sweet pictures while I was gone!

Our neighbors at the end of our street got their son LOTS of ducks for his birthday.  They created a koi pond on their patio, clipped the wings of the ducks, plan to raise the ducks until they are grown, then hope to have the ducks live in the lake behind our houses.  I'm assuming the ducks will be dependent on being fed, so I'm guessing they'll still have ducks to feed each day in their backyard.  Not sure how all that will work out, but excited to know we have lots of little duckies down the street!

A group of the neighbor kids (and parents) trotted on down to visit the ducks.  From the reports and pictures from Matt, our boys thoroughly enjoyed it!  I hate that I missed it!

I'm sure it won't be long before we go back to visit them again!

Fall Festival with my boys

We ventured out to a nearby farm for a little Fall Festival.  It was refreshingly easy, low stress, and both boys were entertained.

AND they miraculously sat together without squirming for a picture.  This hasn't happened since Noah was immobile.

We thought we might look for a few fish on their little dock & were delightfully surprised to see baby alligators, fish, and turtles (what Noah likes to exclaim as "turdies",,,which always makes me laugh).

We explored the farm area & made our way over to the mini petting zoo.  Noah just loved the cow!  The boys got to feed the animals fruits/veggies.  Connor was apprehensive to feed the cow, donkey, and goats, while Noah dove in fearlessly.  Noah would have brought the cow home with us if we let him!

Noah spotted the playground & had to do the slide a good 100 times.  Mr. Too-cool-to-play Connor stood with me for a few minutes then realized it still looked fun & hopped on up on the playground with Noah.

Noah tried out the big boy swings for the first time and definitely loved them.  We made our way back to the car with two pumpkins for both the boys to decorate this Halloween.

We now have a napping toddler & my biggest boys are rooting on their Fantasy Football teams on the couch.

Happy Sunday!

Dad's B'day!

Papa was surrounded by lots of people that love him tonight (mostly little boys) to help celebrate another birthday!  There was football, a variety of desserts, ice cream sharing with my 2 year old 'seagull', difficulty sharing toys, quick baths, and a race out the door to get home for bedtime.

"Buh Bye Papa" was on repeat out of a certain toddler's mouth for the first 5 minutes of our car ride home followed by a mini dance party to the Jungle Book soundtrack.

We know how to party it up!

Look who's TWO!

My BABY is 2!  Over the past week or so, Noah has definitely been acting two!  Lots of whining & meltdowns over the tiniest things.  I remember telling Matt how when he's two, you'll know based on how he acts.  Man, was I right!

If he's not melting down though, he is the cutest stinkin' mischief maker ever.  He's talking so well, which definitely helps.  When I decided to do his b'day party with an ABC theme, I knew he'd be beyond thrilled.  Man, I was right again!

The first thing he noticed when he woke was the alphabet decor :).

Then we moved on to gifts!  Noah was really liking this whole birthday thing.

 After I got Connor to school, I picked up some balloons to use as party decor & as a cute photo prop.  I figured we could get an effortless photo of Noah by tying some balloons to his new bike and just have him ride it down the center of the road.  Well, Noah had other plans for me.  After a firm "NO!" from him, he trotted away, picked his nose, and chuckled to himself.

Oh, this child.

After waking up crabby from his nap & being very hot/cold for the few hours leading up to his party, this little stinker finally caught a 2nd wind & was one happy kid with his ABCs.

When family began to pile in, the fun began.

The babies enjoyed the balloons...

 Noah unwrapped oodles of great toys!  We were amazed at all the educational/ABC toys & we didn't get a duplicate of anything.

Connor was the sweetest big brother ever-- helping read Noah's birthday cards, opening Noah's gifts, and showing him how to use them.  He came to me after gifts were opened & asked for some crayons & paper.  He brought back a paper with the alphabet written on it & he said he wanted to give it to Noah since he didn't get him anything for his birthday.  I adore his sweet little heart.

Noah's favorite part of the party was when everyone sang, "Happy Birthday" to him.  He just sat there & was amazed.  When we were done singing, he exclaims, "Again!"  

Thank you to all who came & for all of the wonderful gifts!