Happy Halloween!

This is the first year that the boys have been talking non-stop about Halloween and counting down the days! They came home about a month ago requesting to be Transformers. They had no clue who they were...they just knew they were cool and everyone was going as them. To make things simple for me, I ordered them Transformer costumes (mortal enemy costumes at that). Connor went as Bumblebee and Brady went as Megatron. To give them some idea of what the Transformers are, I also got them their first Transformer toy.

Halloween finally arrived! The boys spent a quiet day at home before heading out to Mimi's and Papa's for the first round of trick-or-treating. We visited a few houses in their neighborhood while visiting with their cousins, D & E. We then stayed for our annual Halloween dinner before heading to Grandma Darla's and Papa's. We visited a few houses in their neighborhood and then decided we were done for the night. We stayed at Grandma's for a visit and desserts. As if we needed Brownies after loading up the bags with candy!

Considering the fact that the boys only went to about 10-12 houses, they ended up with a 1/2 a bag each. They were still a little shy this year about saying trick-or-treat until they got to my parents neighborhood. By then, Brady was saying "trick or treat, give me something good to eat" and Connor was in story-telling mode. He would say "Guess what or I have something to tell you" and if they entertained his question, he would proceed to tell them all about the train we saw on the way over and why trains don't have cabooses anymore. Yet again, we skipped our neighborhood and we missed all the trick-or-treaters. Guess that means more candy for us!

Happy Halloween to all our friends and family!

Autumn Fest

Friday night, we ventured out to an autumn fest at a nearby church. Even though it was a rainy night, they managed to put on a good evening of fun and games for the kids. They had food booths set up under a massive tent, so we started the evening with a nice dinner of pizza, hot dogs, chili and desserts (for only $6).

We then proceeded inside where they had several game booths setup for the kids to win candy. It was crowded, but the boys didn't seem to mind. We then headed to the petting zoo area where they had a few rabbits, a couple goats, a guinea pig and RATS! The boys were typical - wouldn't touch them but talked non-stop about them afterwards. The final stop was the inflatable bounce houses. For the older kids, they had a mechanical bull, bungee trampoline, and rock climbing wall. Connor got a big kick out of watching kids try to get on and stay on the bull. We weren't sure if Brady was going to make it through one of the inflatables that required climbing a large wall and then sliding down the other side, but he managed it just fine.

It turned out to be a nice evening out with the boys, saw a few people we knew, and now have a Halloween activity we may venture to every year.

Connor's Field Trip to Mayse Farm

Connor's school takes an annual trip to Mayse Farm's Pumpkin Patch...here are a few pictures from the field trip. I love the one where it looks like he is directing or something. After they returned, they decorated their pumpkin as an afternoon craft project.

Haunted Hayride Fun

This year, we decided to try a new fall activity, the Wesselman Nature Preserve's Haunted Hayride and Harvest Festival. Saturday night, we met up with a couple of the boys' friends from school and their parents. At first, it was not going well. Brady had his feelings hurt when they wouldn't give him an admission armband because he was a free participant (since he was three). He cried and sobbed for over 20 minutes while we were waiting for one of their friends. Luckily, Carac's mom came to the rescue with a toy bracelet that made Brady's bracelet "special".

We then rode the hayride back to the Nature Preserve where they had craft activities set up for the kids and you could sign up for special shows. Connor and Jesse got right into making craft spiders and coloring owl masks while Brady and Carac where still adjusting. We ended up outside where we got the kids hot dogs and juice and that seemed to lift all their spirits and they were running around like crazy Owls. Before heading back inside, we made sure to check out the bonfire and campfire music.

We then rode the hayride through the Haunted Forest making sure to check out all the inflatable figurines. We did that a couple times before heading back to the Nature Preserve where the boys all made a second owl mask. We even got to see a family of deer during the hayride. The kids then visited for a little bit more before we caught another hayride back to our cars and said our goodbyes.

I think in the end the boys had fun together and Wesselman's did a nice job for the kids. We ran into the boys' cousins while we were there and another friend of theirs (their Valentine playdate). We will probably return again and perhaps we can do the night walk next year.

Friday night playdate

Friday night was a new first for the boys...their first playdate without the child's parents staying for a visit. We offered to watch the boys' best friend, Carac for the evening while his parents had a football game to attend (Carac's dad coaches). Lately, we have been spending a lot of time with them, so we figured we were past the "out of school" awkwardness.

When he arrived, my boys got very WILD. I guess they were super-excited to have a friend over or were trying to fight the exhaustion from a long day at school. Brady was especially out of control with tackling and bear hugs. Carac's mom ended up hanging out a little longer than planned to make sure that they were going to be okay. After we separated Brady for a brief timeout in his bedroom, things seemed to go smoothly after that.

The boys had pizza for dinner and then played together for awhile. There were a few more wrestling sessions until they eventually sat down to watch a show. After the show, we let them make the pumpkin and ghost cookies that Carac brought for the evening. The evening ended with Carac and Brady dancing around and rolling around together. Connor at one point yelled "You boys need to calm down". Brady and Carac were sitting on the floor together and I would've swore it was Connor. Carac was doing everything in his power to get Brady's attention or annoy Brady with his kicks and hugs and crawling all over him. Just like Brady does with Connor....he ignored him. It was so funny!

I think the boys passed the test of having a friend over for a visit and Carac reported to his parents that he had fun. We'll have to do it again sometime!

Baby Bump

Okay, it's time to admit that the baby bump is making its appearance. The funny thing is that it is pretty high up, because I am still wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans with no problems and no button extenders. However, the shirts are making the bump known.

Everyone at work has obviously been very nice about making comments that I am not even showing yet (except for the one comment from my boob-envy friend). Last week, I ran into a lady I know that I haven't seen in 6-7 years. She glanced down at my belly, then looked at me and asked how my children were. When I proceeded to give her an update on Connor and Brady and then told her I was expecting, she exclaimed "I thought so". I went back to work and called my co-workers bluffs!

Time to get the maternity clothes out of storage....they just aren't that fun to wear!

Soccer Pics

This fall, the boys played Soccer together and with a couple of their friends through the YMCA. That session has now ended and probably not soon enough as the kids were starting to dread the cold and rainy Saturdays of play. However, we did get a nice souvenier picture.

My Goofy Boys and their underwear

Every time I turn around, Connor and Brady are stripping down to their underwear (they would probably go all the way if I hadn't put a rule down somewhere along the way). It's like it is some prerequisite for being at home and playing games together. I constantly hear "Wait, we can't keep playing clothed, this game requires underwear only". I was even banned one time from playing in the office with them unless I was willing to get down to my panties - no thanks, guess I will pass this time.

Tonight, there was a new game and boy did we get some good footage for the future wives of our dear boys. They stripped down to their undies and then proceeded to take turns bending over into a V formation while the other popped a beach ball off the bottom. They felt like they got extra points if they managed to bounce it hard enough to hit twice....once on the bottom and then came right back to hit again.

On a side note, they do a pretty good job of taking their stripped clothes into the laundry room or hamper in their bathroom. Not always as I have found the occasional sock or shirt left somewhere random, but usually.

Great weekend!

Some weekends, it is nice not to have anything to rush around to so you can kick back and relax a little bit more than some weekends. Friday night, we kicked off the weekend with breakfast for dinner and then the boys played Aquadoodle on the floor for what seemed like hours. Saturday morning, they decided to skip Soccer since it was really cold (and I wasn't about to argue for the same reason). We were planning on just hanging around the house all day. That morning, we had an unplanned visit from the boys' best friend, Carac. Carac was a little disappointed that the boys skipped Soccer, so he came to them instead. They had such a blast playing with him upstairs and showing him all their toys while the parents all visited downstairs. Later that afternoon we did venture to Toys R Us for a few birthday and christmas presents. The boys were clueless that we were buying gifts for our family. We ended the evening with the boys playing throughout the house (and I mean throughout by the evidence left behind), while mom and dad relaxed.

Sunday started out as normal with a big breakfast for the boys while mommy headed to Hot Yoga. After lunch, Connor and mommy went to a classmate's birthday party. The theme was Smurf and the whole backyard was setup like a Smurf Village including a mushroom house, Papa Smurf's Lab (Koolaid and Pop Rocks), and Smurf hats for everyone. This classmate's mom thought of everything! The kids ran around and had a lot of fun while mommy got to visit with and meet some of the classmates' parents. The rest of Sunday was more fun for the boys around the house. The laundry baskets were the focus of the day. When they weren't using them as TV pods, they were used as stadiums for Connor to conduct interviews about our local Zoo.

These low-key weekends are nice, but I know we are also looking forward to the next couple weekends of Halloween fall fun!

Our Inventor....

Why do you need a bean bag when you can invent your own TV watching pod? Later in the day, Brady also joined in after Connor created one for him also.

Connor's Dreams

As I was tucking Connor into bed tonight, he expressed concern...."Mommy - I can't get Brady out of my head. He is in my dreams, he is always talking to me and bugging me, he is always there." This explains the dream he awoke to at 4am this morning where he was dreaming about Brady - something about Brady getting on a bus.

I told him he needs to dream about mommy and he said "but you're not in my head"!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Tis the season for pumpkin patch fall fun....here are some pictures from the boys visit to the Goebel Farms Pumpkin Patch with the grandparents a couple weekends ago and our visit to Mayse Farm last week.