Happy Halloween!!!

 

Another Halloween has come and gone.  For once I actually feel like it wasn't over done.  In past years it felt like we dressed up 5 or more times.  This year it was just three, one of those being 3 weeks ago.  It also helped that Cooper had school on Halloween.  His preschool doesn't have a party, but they can wear their costumes and bring in treats if they like. 

 

Today Cameron & I went to Tracey's to hang out during school hours.  On the way I stopped by McDonald's to get some diets, I saw they had a sign advertising free kid sundaes for anyone coming in dressed up.  I swung by the house to grab Cameron's costume and we had ourselves an impromptu lunch and dessert after school.

 I tried my best to get one of them together, but Cameron was all over the place.  A reminder to me why he goes in a high chair while we are out.

 

After nap time I let them each pick out one piece of candy.  Cooper went for the Nerds and Cameron went for the Kit Kat.  Cooper always goes for candy like Nerds or Smarties.  Sugar is sugar, go for the gusto if you are gonna do it.  I'm with Cameron on this one.

 Scott came over to trick or treat with us. Michael Myers will always be the scariest/creepiest mask ever made!!

 Luckily he took it off around the neighborhood. 

 Brittany, if you are reading this is for you.

We got home and the boys went straight for the loot.  Cooper chose Smarties.... Is he even my son?  Do you see all the Reece's in that pile?  I also stole more Butterfingers.  I just can't myself.   

 Cameron had M&M's, that's more like it.

My favorite memory of the night was from Cameron.  At the beginning of the night he got a cookies & cream Hershey bar.  He carried that thing around our entire neighborhood.  Toward the end we went up to a house that had their candy out on the front porch.  I didn't see all they had but they did have M&M's, which may be his favorite.  Cooper helped him find some, as soon as he had those in his hand, the Hershey bar went in the bucket and the M&M's stayed in his hand.   He was just buying his time the rest our walk home until he could open them up.  I wish I could spell out how he says M&M's but I have no idea how to spell it.  You just have to trust me it's adorable.

 

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. 

Sellersburg Health & Rehab Trick or Treat

 

We went trick or treating tonight at the nursing home where Steve works..  It's one of my favorite activities we do all year.  It's hard to believe this was our 5th year.  We've had  a scarecrow, Nemo, a monkey & baby pumpkin, 2 pirates, and now a mad scientist and another Nemo.

 I tried to do my best mad scientist impression.

 We had a few visitors join us this year, my mom brought Emma and Layne along.  Emma was a punk rocker and Layne was Iron Man.

 Tracey, Reggie Wayne (the top receive in the NFL), and the cutest Colts cheerleader ever also joined us.

I mean really??  If he just wasn't so dang rotten. 

 I tried to get a picture of Tracey, my mom photo bombed it and took it out of focus.  She looks beautiful anyway.

 Don't ask, I was getting camera happy.

 Cameron figured it out in no time.  Of course he also wanted to stop and something every time he got a piece of candy, but the kid wasn't shy at all.

 Of course no trip to S-burg Health & Rehab is complete without a pit stop to dig into our buckets.  They got a ton of candy, good stuff too.  I found one Butterfinger in this mix and don' think for a second think I didn't stash that away in my purse. 

 

I love, love, love doing this every year and once again it not disappoint.

Taking our turn with 3 or even 6

Last night we had our friend Kyle and his kids over for dinner.  Kyle and his wife Erin are in our small group and go to church with us.  Erin has been in the Bahamas this past week, she was supposed to come home Thursday but Hurricane Sandy blew in and she has been stuck.  The earliest she can get home is tomorrow and that isn't certain.  We thought we would give Kyle a break and have them all over for pizza and help entertain the kids. 

 

 The kids had a blast!

We took our aggression out on the kids by having a ball fight.  It's what we do to keep our sanity.   

 Erin & Kyle have 4 kids between 1 and 7.  6 under the age 7, it was a fun night.

Today was one Saturday sandwiched between 5 that Steve & I were both going to be home together.  We took it easy and played at home most of the day.  This evening we took our shot at what it would be like with three kids.  

 

Our student minister and his wife, who are also in our small group, had a baby last month and have no family close by so we offered to watch him for a couple hours while they got dinner just the two of them.  He's such a little cutie!!!  I loved getting some newborn love, especially when I know I get a full night sleep.   Three kids wasn't too bad, of course it was only for 2 hours. 



Field Trip!

Cooper had his first field trip this morning, a trip to Huber's to pick some pumpkins.  He has been so excited about it all week.  I think he was most excited about riding the school bus.  He even prayed about it tonight, he was afraid he would miss it since we had to be at school a little early. 

 

He was ready to go, although I don't think he was quite prepared for the long drive.  I guess the safest route for a bus also happens to be the longest route to Huber's.

 

 

We got off the bus and it was straight to the pumpkin patch to get ourself a pumpkin.  He found a nice small round one right away.

 I need to make a confession, I had a major mom fail this morning.  I wasn't expecting it to get so cold so fast and we were only dressed in hoodies, it was 45 degrees up there.  Poor little guy was miserable and spent most of the morning like this.

 Once we got our pumpkins the plan was to spend the rest of our time in the Family Fun Park.  Mother Nature had other plans.  We knew it was going to rain, there was no doubt about it, but once again we didn't realize how hard and quick the rain would come.  Ms. Amy told us before we left the school that if it got miserable we would just head back early.  As you can see from this little face, it became miserable quick!

 We had walked back to the bus to grab a jacket, someone had an extra rain coat, on our way out we ran into a couple other moms.  They let me know Ms Amy was rounding everyone up for a quick snack and we were going to head back to school.  I packed some snacks with me so we just stayed on the bus. The kids pounced on them.   

 Although the Family Fun Park was rained out, I don't think Cooper had a clue anything didn't go according to plan.  He had a blast and that's all that matters.  He especially loved the bus ride home when he played with his friends.  This is Lilly, her mom Amy & I already talked about this going in the senior slide show.

 Just because we got rained out didn't mean our fun was over, during Cameron's nap time it was time to paint.  I walked back to get my camera and he had almost the whole thing already painted.  Of course the pumpkin wasn't enough, he needed some paper too.  I didn't get a picture but he also painted his chest.

 

I hope he always remembers today, his first field trip, getting rained out, and having a blast on the bus.  Good Times!!!

 

Spoiled Rotten

My boys are spoiled rotten, no questions about it. This comes from a variety of sources including my mom, Steve's parents, Uncle Scott, and of course ourselves.  The most recent goodies came from my mom.  It was like a clown car, she just kept pulling things out of the grocery bag.

 

My mom works 3rd shift on weekends and we had plans for her to come over for dinner Sunday evening before work.  I had made a few side dishes and we was bringing some chicken from Jay C.  She came in with all kinds of stuff, including a cake to go with our dinner.  However, it was the kids who made out the best.

 

They each got a seizure inducing, mind numbing, light up noise maker.

 

They each also got pumpkin cups, which Cameron was figured out how to take the straw out and dump water all over himself.

 The fun didn't stop there, they both got some glow sticks.   We had a good ol' fashioned rave in the bathtub tonight. 

My favorite of all had to the box of Froot Loops.  I didn't really know what to think about this.  Is it just a fun snack or does she just think I'm too poor to buy my kids cereal?  

 

Whatever the reason, they have enjoyed all their new toys and treats.  And I appreciate all the love our family shows my boys.

Getting Back

Looking at the time span between my last post and now I'm sure you can tell we are back to our routine.  A routine of constant clock watching.  School, speech, school, Bible Study, and school pretty much sums it up.

 

Every day this week after dropping Cooper off at school, Cameron & I made a grocery store run.  Sit him in the cart, give him my phone, and pile groceries around him and he's fine with anything.

 

 

Cameron spent the night with Steve's parents last night.  It was the first time he has even been away from home without us.  He did great!!!  Cooper on the other hand wasn't so great about it.  He didn't understand why he couldn't go as well.  We made it up to him by taking him on a walk in the rain, making homemade milkshakes, popcorn and a movie night, and chocolate chip pancakes this morning. 

 He also insisted on riding Cameron's tricycle instead of his own bike. 

 Steve went to Hoosier Hysteria with dad & brother today.  After lunch I took the boys up to my mom's house, she dog sat for a friend of hers this week and since Cooper is terrified of dogs we weren't able to visit.  Cooper begged my mom to let him stay for a couple hours.  He stayed there, Cameron & I went home and took naps.

 

Tracey's parents had their annual fall festival at their house this evening.  It took all of about 1.234 seconds for the boys to jump on the barrel ride.  Don't you just love their matching jackets?  Uncle Scott got one for Cooper a few years ago.  Last year he started to grow out of it so he got him a new one.  Now Cameron fits in the one Cooper used to have.   They are both a size bigger than they would normally wear, I'm hoping they can both last another year.

 

The fall festival was a blast.  Cooper went up and down the inflatable slide and obstacale course over and over again.  I ate some fantastic chili and even won a door prize- a new Christams wreath.  We were leaving and they were running down a hill to our car, Cooper asked me run with them.  My reply, "I am carrying a backpack, three camping chair, and a freaking wreath, no I can't run with you".  I didn't really say freaking but  I was thinking it. 

 

Thank you again Tracey for inviting us, the boys loved it and we got out of the house.

 

 

Flashback Friday

I'm sure everyone knows the sad, sad story of the Bush family leaving us a little over 2 years ago.  However, do you guys remember it took all of about 2 weeks before Gretchen & the kids came back for a visit.   Cameron was 5 days old when they had their going away party and 2 weeks old when they actually moved.  I was not in a good state of mind, baby blues have always been a little rough for me.  When they came back for that visit it had been about month or more since I had spent anytime with Gretchen.  Gretchen, Tracey, and myself met up at Bod Hedge Park for a play date.  I was roaming around on G's blog the other day and came across this.

 

 

 

 

I will always remember that day.  Steve was in Bloomington for an IU football and I was so dreading the day.  Cameron was flown blown colic and reflux, despite my reservations it was a good day.  This despite being stranded at the park with a dead car battery with 2 kids at lunch time.  I nicely explained that to the AAA lady and she had someone there in no time.  It's so funny how you can remember all the small details of certain days.  This was one of those.



Finishing it up

After our epic week of fun we had a fun weekend to top it off.

 

Saturday started off with our final soccer game of the season.  Steve left after the game for Bloomington for an IU football game, the boys and I came home to relax.  We ended up eating a late lunch so our morning flew by.   We had some special visitors come over for dinner, and it took me no time at all to put Tracey to work.

 

 I almost kept Maggie all to myself, super cute kid that she is.

 Cooper & Levi were out.of.control.  They were hyped up.  Both of them had sweat running down their heads.

I love this picture, you can see Tracey taking the same one with her phone.

 These two, need I say more?  Adorbs!

These two are quite adorable as well.

 

Steve's football started at 8 so he didn't get home until 2:00 am.  Which means I didn't fall sleep until 2:00 am..  Yuck!  We were both exhausted, luckily everyone got a nap after church.  After naps I took the boys to Chuck E Cheese for my nephew's birthday party.

 

Never under no circumstances go there on a Sunday evening, it was crazy. 

 The things we do for kids. 

The birthday boy and Cooper.

 

 

I am not ready for tomorrow.  I want to stay home and be lazy.