Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Trick-R-Treat 2012.

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We've had a fun, candy-filled day. Both of the boys had so much sugar, I was afraid they'd go into a diabetic coma. Just a warning: this post is probably going to be boring unless you are related to us. But I love looking back at what we did, so wanted to document the mundane.

Our first stop this afternoon was Drew's work. They always put on a big trick-r-treating deal for the families at their office. All of the different office spaces are decorated in themes. I've brought the boys every year since Drew's worked there, and each year I've been amazed at the dedication some of these teams put into their themes. I sadly didn't get any pictures this year of the different set ups... I was too busy chasing around Spiderman and a monkey to snap anything. I was a bit unsure if Connor would understand what was going on. While that was true for the first 2 minutes, once he realized that everyone that had a big bucket of candy was giving it away, the child was on a beeline mission for all candy. It was so cute.
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Love these two so much!

We came back home for a quick dinner, and then headed to a local fall festival. Unfortunately there were long lines for most of the games. Brayden waited patiently, but Connor... not so much. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then decided to just go trick-r-treating. Both of the boys LOVED it. They had glo sticks, which was just as much of a hit as the candy. Again, no pictures. It was so dark and I was having to contain the herd.

Both of the boys LOVED trick-r-treating this year. The only downside is that you can't really control some of the scary costumes that other kids wear, or the scary decorations. Brayden overcame his fears quickly with his "super powers"-- shooting his imaginary spidey webs on any of the evil, bad guys. Connor just kept saying "scaweeee", and after a bad mummy incident on someone's doorstep, we had to carry Connor the rest of the way. I know a lot of people skip halloween festivities because of stuff like this. But I just used it as an opportunity to remind my boys that those things weren't real, but that even if they were that we have our trust in God, who will protect us when we are afraid. I think that's a good reminder for all of us to remember!
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Braydenisms and 3 Year Old Fashion.

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Brayden is in a really endearing stage right now. Don't get me wrong, he still presses my buttons better than any other person on earth, and most days we have our quarrels. But he also keeps me rolling with the things he says. I haven't decided yet if he knows he's being funny, or if he's just got the cutest little imagination... perhaps it's a combination of both. I've written most of these on facebook, but wanted to document them here so I wouldn't forget.
  • Me: Brayden, for dinner, do you want noodles with beef, or spaghetti?
    Brayden: Wellllll.... spaghetti makes a HUUUUUUGEEEEE mess, so I think you should probably make mac n cheese.
  • "Mom I am SO hungry! I have 5 soldiers in my tummy!"
  • While eating his first Bliss Cupcake, Brayden said "mom! This icee is SO good. It's the best part!" Yes. Yes, son, the icing is the best part. #heismychild 
  •  "mom. I can't stay outside! I'm burning up and I might get a sunburn."
  •  "Mom I am SO hungry! I have 5 soldiers in my tummy!" 
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Conversation 1:
Me: I don't really like that music. It's kind of for old people (I know, I know. Probably not the best use of words to use with my 3 year old).
Brayden: Well do you want music for new people?

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Conversation 2:
Me: Brayden yall are killing me today.
Brayden: Yeah, I know. I like killing you.  

Lastly, in case you couldn't tell from the pictures in this post, Brayden has been insisting on dressing himself. Oh, the joys of having a three year old ;)

Friday, October 26, 2012

AWANA Costume Night.

Well, it's the moment Brayden's been waiting for since I got his costume at Rhea Lana's a couple of months ago... costume parties galore.

This year Brayden is Spider-Man. I enter this season slightly sad. No more really cute Halloween costumes where people think your kid is adorable (I mean, Brayden IS adorable, but Spider-Man doesn't catch the oooo's and ahhhhh's quite like a tiny cowboy or monkey).
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Last night Brayden had costume night at AWANA, and he was beside himself with excitement to dress up as one of his favorite super heroes.
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Connor is never one to be left out.
Here's to the next week, packed full of Spider-Man dressed up fun!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

2012 Pumpkin Patch Fun.

One family tradition Drew and I started when Brayden was a baby, was to go to the Pumpkin Patch in the fall. Since Drew is off of work this week, we took the opportunity to go on a weekday to miss the crowds. We practically had the whole farm to ourselves. The boys had so much fun playing games, picking out a pumpkin (we waited till the very end of the season this year, so the picking was sparse), going on a hayride and mule train ride, and posing for pictures at all of the little stations. (To see pictures of the last 3 years at the pumpkin patch, you can view 2009 HERE, 2010 HERE, and 2011 HERE). Just a fair warning, this is picture overload.
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the big pumpkin is looking smaller and smaller each year as our boy gets bigger and bigger. Also, please note Connor in the background holding 2 butternut squash.
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screaming "King of the mountain!"
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they had corn hole games set up (or I guess in this case, pumpkin hole). This was probably the boys favorite part of the pumpkin farm this year
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I somehow convinced them to leave cornhole and head out to the pumpkins. Brayden insisted that he pull the wagon. It reminded me of our trip in 2010, except this time he handled the wagon with no problem, even with his 30 pound brother in tow
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seriously. this picture melts my heart. I am so blessed
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a halfway decent picture of my two babies
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Brayden found a lady bug. It's the little things in life that bring the most joy
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a lot of the pumpkins were rotten, or eaten by deer, so trying to find a good pumpkin was a bit of a challenge. Brayden ended up finding one that suited his fancy. It was the biggest, most lopsided pumpkin in the jack-o-lantern patch. I just laughed. Drew ended up switching the pumpkin out later on when the boys weren't paying attention. We needed one that stood up so we could carve it later
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headed back to the farm
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going on the hayride with the boys. The farmer was quite the comedian (or so he thought). Brayden kept asking "what's he saying momma?". Then trying to explain gremlins and skeletons to Brayden while we drove through the "haunted woods" was interesting as well. I just told him that it was the evil part of Halloween that we didn't believe in. And then we talked about how we didn't have to be afraid of anything because we could trust in God (thank you Veggie Tales). Brayden responded "yes! We can trust in God! And if we have a super suit, like Larry Boy, we don't have to be afraid of ANYTHING!" Atleast he gets part of the story... :)
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waiting on the farmer to start the mule train ride
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Brayden was SO excited
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cutie sheep
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love these three!
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I love that Brayden will now pose for me.
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He's gotten so big since we first brought him in 2009
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Connor was NOT happy about leaving the pumpkins. He left throwing an epic two year old tantrum. It was classic toddler moment #103982 at our house
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we still had a little bit of credit before we left, so Brayden and I headed back out to the field to pick out a baby pumpkin. When we got there Brayden said "look at all of these cute little ones Mom." The afternoon ended on a good note, when Brayden left so easily and even said "I had so much fun!" 
 
I love making memories with my family!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Showering Rachel and Thatcher.

Last week I attended a shower for a good friend of mine, Rachel. She's having her third baby, and her first boy in just a few weeks. I can't wait to meet little Thatcher and see his sweet face! I loved getting to catch up with friends, pig out on some good food, and see lots of cute baby stuff.
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Me and Rachel. Can't wait to welcome her into the "mom of boys" club ;)
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these little containers had ties in them... for the little man!
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my favorite part of any shower... FOOD!
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all the shower peeps. Rachel is well loved!
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and this, my friends, is like heaven in your mouth.

Now we just sit and wait. Come on baby Thatcher, we are ready to meet you!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Weekend in Review: Family Pictures, Goose Eggs & Hiking.

We've had quite the weekend this weekend, and I feel like I need to sleep for about 48 hours to recuperate. Too bad sleeping for even 12 hours hasn't happened in years. I digress....

Saturday morning Drew headed out to help some friends move. For some reason solo Saturdays seem so much harder than the week days. I've yet to figure out why. Brayden was actually unusually compliant. I think the Lord knew I needed a little reprieve :)
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I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for breakfast on Saturday. I think Connor was a fan, no?

Saturday afternoon we had family pictures. I should have known things weren't headed in the right direction when we realized I had written down the wrong time for our slot and were 30 minutes early. Thank goodness Lowe's was close. We occupied our time by pushing the boys around in the race car buggy. Both boys were in good moods, so I was hopeful things would go well. Unfortunately the minute we tried to sit down, Connor had nothing of it. Back arching was involved, as well as some awesome screaming. The drama pinnacled when the boys were running down a concrete trail, and Connor tripped, bonking his head really hard on the concrete. An egg immediately popped up, and Connor was pretty upset. It pretty much ended our session. I'm just praying for 1 good family picture. I'll be happy with that. Thankfully Connor is pretty resilient and by dinner time was laughing that he "got a bonk on his head". The kid's just had a rough month! As if Connor getting a goose egg wasn't bad enough, Brayden ended up falling in the creek after our session. At that point I had maxed out on the drama, and we headed home.
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egg on the head. bloody nose. A sucker was much needed

Today we went to church. We had planned on spending most of the morning there, but after the service was almost over, one of our teaching pastors came out and calmly explained that there was a bomb threat and we needed to leave calmly. For the most part, everyone stuck to the calm part. It was awkwardly quiet. And quite strange, being at church, somewhere I've never really been scared, and all of the sudden not knowing if I should laugh at the fact there was a bomb threat or rush out, grab my babies, and try not to cry. Glad that saga is over, to say the least.

Since we had extra time we hadn't really accounted for in the day, we decided to carpe diem and went hiking with the boys for an hour or so. The weather was perfect for it, and the boys LOVED it. I brought my big girl camera, and wouldn't you know, after the first picture I took, realized I had forgotten to put my memory card in the camera before we left. Bummer. So I was once again left to my phone to capture the memories.... thank goodness for smart phones!
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this is about how group shots go. Brayden sits and says cheese. Connor gets up and runs away
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Give Brayden sticks, and he is one happy boy.
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the leaves are changing here, and are absolutely gorgeous. My camera phone doesn't do the fall colors justice
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we stopped on a log for a lunch break.
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Brayden was all about climbing trees
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It didn't matter how big the tree-- or sapling-- was :)
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Connor enjoyed climbing on the rocks
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and walking ahead of us on the trail

The rest of our Sunday was relatively non-dramatic. The boys played outside after naptime until dinner. We have a busy week ahead of us, but some fun things planned too. Hope yall have a great week!
 

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