The First Snow...

Last night it started snowing, and Ian was really excited about the 'flurries', but by the morning, there was 5-6 inches of that wonderful white stuff on the ground! Ian was so happy and kept saying that it was December now and Santa could come! haha... too bad he has to wait longer. Anyway, after school, Ian and Luke got to play in the snow. Luke really doesn't know what to do in it yet, and Ian just throws snowballs at Luke and makes him cry. I tried to get them to pull each other on the sled, but that didn't last too long. Maybe I was a little older, but I remember playing outside in the snow for hours with my little brother. We'd play GI Joes, make roads with the sleds, try to build igloo's, have snow ball fights, and make snow angels! I always had SO much fun in the snow. But as of now, Ian just runs back and forth in the yard, and plops down and eats the snow. Luke will just walk around and kick his feet in it. But they had fun today until one of Ian's giant snowballs landed right on Luke's face and went down the front of his coat. Needless to say, snow time was over.... *wink wink*

Smiley at Bedtime

One of the things I LOVE about Mason - and all my boys actually - is that they actually like going to bed. Rarely do I have problems getting them to go to bed! It's great - and I don't mean to rub that in to anyone who struggles with their children. I think that the Lord knows by the end of my day, the thing that would put me over the edge would be kids who didn't go to bed. SO, anyway, this picture was taken a few nights ago, and, really, NO LIE, as soon as I swaddle up Mason and lay him in his cradle, he gets the biggest grin, and seems to say to me with his eyes and grin, "oh thank you - I love my bed!" It's the cutest thing, and I hope it lasts forever!

Last night, Dave and I were at our wits end with trying to entertain the boys. And I feel really bad, because between Dave's school projects and my work things, it seemed as if we didn't spend any time with the kids yesterday. So, Dave had a brilliant idea and the boys absolutely loved it. Dave brought the tent into the house and set it up in the living room while the boys were taking their baths, and we 'went camping!' It was fun just to be all together in the tent and we let the boys play with the flashlights and we read stories and talked. It was awesome for me to imagine the upcoming years with a house full of boys and going on fun family camping trips! Ian fell asleep in the tent and Luke wouldn't settle down long enough to go to sleep, so he had to go to his bed. Dave even fell asleep in the tent for a few hours until he finally woke up with a sore back at 10:30! It was really fun, so I thought I'd share!

HALLOWEEN 2008 - TRICK OR TREATING!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

HALLOWEEN 2008 - KINDERGARTEN PARTY!

Ian and his Teacher, Miss Dulin

Ian's school does a Halloween Costume Parade every year and then their classes have treats and games at the end of the day for Halloween. I got to visit Ian's school (good thing my background check checked out!) and it was fun to see him in his school enviornment. The kids were all lined up to parade around to each grade level, and Ian was excited. There was another Iron Man in his class, and he thought that was neat! After the parade, they gathered in the cafeteria and had cupcakes and punch, then off to their classroom for games. Ian had a good time and was happy, I guess, to see me there to show my support!

HALLOWEEN 2008 - THE PUMPKINS

Luke and his 'Jack the Pumpkin King' Pumpkin.

Ian and his 'mad Jack the Pumpkin King' pumpkin.

Mason and his happy face pumpkin!

On Thursday evening, we got out our pumpkins and sharp knives and went to town with carving pumpkins! This, as a matter of fact, is one of MY favorite parts of Halloween! Probably cause we had so much fun doing it when I was growing up, I just love this part of Halloween. Ian and Luke have BOTH gotten into the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and absolutely LOVE Jack Skellington. SOOOO they both wanted a Jack face on there pumpkin. Ian OF COURSE chose the mad one (he has a thing for bad guys) and Luke like the smiley one. Mason, probably got ripped off because his pumpkin was very hard to carve, so we did a standard face. But I'm sure he loved it! ;) Luke did NOT like the 'yucky stuff inside' and Ian finally got his hands dirty this year! It was a great time and I hope that my kids really enjoy these memories I'm so desperatly trying to create!

The Threat of the Blankie

Well, as a lot of you know, I have been racking my brain trying to understand why Luke stopped the whole potty training thing. He just was having issues with the whole poopy thing. Yuck.... I couldn't get him to be ok with going on the toilet, and frankly, I am at my wits end changing two sets of diapers! ugh! So, my friend and I were talking about what could I threaten to take away and I just didn't know at all, because Luke is not really attached to any of his toys at all... he could take them or leave them. So, one day, it was like a light bulb when off! THE BLANKIES!!!! Now, for those of you who know our little Luke a bit, you know that he has 2 flannel pillowcases that he's tattered up over the last 3 years that have become his 'blankies'. It didn't even dawn on me to use these as leverage in the whole potty training process, until one day last week, I was putting them in the laundry and he about had a cow because he didn't want me to wash them and he HAD to have them! DING! There was my leverage. Now, as you can tell from the picture, one of these pillowcases is toast. Therefore I didn't mind doing what I was going to do next. The threat: Luke, go poopy in the toilet, and you can keep your blankie. OR.... Luke, go poopy in your pants, and blankie goes in the garbage! I know... I'm such a cruel mommy! But really, I need this potty training business to be done for a few years. Ok, so Luke ACTUALLY got that message, and did GREAT the first day and pooped 2 times!!! YEAH! But the second day, he did it in his pull-up and - well, whoops... the tattered blankie bit the can! Luke was pretty devastated, but felt better knowing that he has a second blankie that he deperatly wants to hang on to... so needless to say, we haven't had an accident since Wednesday, even through preschool and nursery at the YMCA, and I am very proud of him! (I do give him suckers if he does go poopy, so that's a positive, right!?) Anyway, we're on our way to being diaper free - from one body that is! hahah ;)

Family Halloween Party!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mason Loves his Rice Cereal!

Last week we started Mason on Rice Cereal! Oh my gosh! He caught on pretty quickly and actually loves it. I am very impressed that just after 2 or 3 feedings of the cereal, he already knows how to open his mouth when the spoon is coming, and swallows most or all of it! It's amazing how fast babies develop. Poor Mason probably thought we were starving him as he was crying for a bottle every 2 hours or so... then we realized that he just wasn't getting enough to eat! Gosh... he MUST have Dave's appetite! *wink *wink! Mason seems a lot more content when he is fed and full, although we're still trying to figure out why he has days that he just pukes everywhere! Oh well! We love him anyway! OF COURSE WE DO! What a cutie pa-tootie!

Chess Anyone?

The other day, I was attempting to teach Ian how to play Chess - considering I'm no good at the game at all, I thought I did ok! He knows how to play checkers, thanks to his Great Grandma Beeler, so he really wanted to learn this. I tried to teach him that each piece has a specific move it can make. He thought it was pretty cool. So, the next morning, I woke up to quiet - which is VERY unusual - and came into Ian and Luke's room to them playing chess together and Ian was trying to teach Luke the moves. I was VERY impressed to see that Ian had set the board up exactly right! Ian really loves playing - and even had his babysitter play with him yesterday! He sleeps with the game box on his bed now, and I just think it's funny, but great! I love my Ian! What a smarty-pants!