What we've been up to

The weeks are getting away from me. This whole "being on a schedule" thing is really tough for me. I've loved our time of doing what we want and now we're trying to embrace the new

Celebrating with my boys. (and yes...I know I'm that far behind!)

Noah is loving all the fun things he makes at school. He loved running around "scaring" Mommy with his spider hat.

Who knew...they spent the whole summer avoiding the sandbox just to discover a love for it just as the leaves are falling off the trees. I've finally had to tell them the sandbox is closed for the season. But I forsee a bright future for the sandbox:)

We had a fun small group night of carving pumpkins. We are no dummies. We knew the boys' attention wouldn't last long, so we only carved one pumpkin. And as Aaron said...

That's as Hawaiian as a pumpkin can get in our neck of the woods:)

Most of our small group. The night was a success.

We also got to take a trip into the big city to visit the Aquarium and going in the middle of the week was great. We were able to take in all of the exibits we wanted to without dealing with the crowds.

The boys enjoyed watching the dolphins and whales

And I think the boys finally found Crush...from Finding Nemo

We had a great day. We ended the day at the Lego store and I could have filled a pool with all the boys drool. I wish I had pictures but they were in heaven...and definitely couldn't decide which set was their dream set

B likes to Rock the hair!

Field Trip!

We got to go on our first official field trip a couple weeks ago...a trip to the farm for a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hay ride, games for the kids and some farm animals.

B-are you excited to be riding on a haywagon?

N-what do you think about your first field trip?

We went with our buddies, Miss J and O! Fun to have a buddy to play with.

The boys took a trip on the cow train and thoroughly enjoyed making the "Moo" sound

...at the top of their lungs.

Noah could have played on these all day. Whenever we had even a moment of free time, he would dart back to these trikes and race

B liked to watch the ducks "race" as he pumped the water

And his group for the morning, with some siblings, right before our

crazy, we-almost-got-lost-in-the-itty bitty maze mania.

B wasn't so sure about the jumping pillow but N loved it.

I love how blue the sky is. I may have to keep looking at the picture all winter to remind myself that there is still blue sky and it will come back again:)

I think we wore him out!

More Candy!!!

I think I'm going to rename Halloween to the day of "More Candy!".

B would get so excited when we got to each house and shout "MORE CANDY!!"

Noah's trash truck costume-he requested to be a trash truck man. Thanks to a couple of friend's ideas, we created our own trash truck. Whew...this was a lot of work. And we didn't take into account how heavy it would be, but he loved it and manuvered around all the kids and houses pretty well. He couldn't really reach the door to knock, but quickly figured out that he could use his back end to bang against the door.

As B has already requested his turn in the trash truck costume, we need to design better wheels, as he was wheel-less by the end of the night!

B was our little Bee! He wasn't so sure about it until he went to show big brother and N told him how cool he was. (Way to go Noah!)

We planned to stay out for just a little while since the boys don't really need that much candy, but they were having so much fun, they begged to stay out even longer and we were out the whole 2 hours!

(Yes, for our back home family, there are designated times for trick-or-treating!)

And of course, what trick or treating would be complete without checking out the new stash! I really wish B was more into candy...(just kidding!)

And I thought it would be fun to go back and see all the costumes:)

2007

2008

2009

2010

Silly, silly boys!

So I just gotta get this down, because I know there will be many days when I won't believe its possible, but last week the boys actually played-together-without-fighting!

It was FANTASTIC!

It didn't occur to me until I had finished making dinner and realized that I hadn't had to seperate/mediate/correct:) that whole time. Who knew...its actually possible they just might get along after all:)

They put each other "in jail":) The took some suspenders we happen to have and connected themselves together.

I heart this little boy!

I love that he's his own independent person and won't change for anyone. I love that his mood affects EVERYTHING in his world. If he's in a bad mood, regardless of what you ask him, the answer is "bad". And when he's in a good mood, the answer to those same questions is "good". I love that he will sit for HOURS on the couch with nothing but a couple of cars. And I love how much he wants to be just like his big brother. -He now has his own "work".

And I heart this one too!

N made a turtle in preschool and made himself a hat! I love seeing a new creativity come out of him through preschool. I love seeing his compassion for everyone around him. I love that he is addicted to Adventures in Odyssey and Legos. I love the hugs and snuggles he freely gives. And I love that when I'm in the shower after they go to bed he comes in to turn down my bed and leave an animal to keep me company (and I'll admit, I have a hard time handing out consequences for getting out of bed when he's handing out love:))

Visit to the big city

We just got back from a Family Fun day in the big city.

We did have a specific reason for going, but I'll get to that later.

We went the night before and stayed the night at a hotel. And let me tell you...one room for all of us was definitely harder than I thought it would be. By the time we got to the hotel, swam in the hot tub (the pool was like a giant container of refrigerated water...brrr!), showered and got them into bed, it was 10, waaaaay past normal bedtime.

After a long day and all that play in the pool, you would think they'd be out like little lights, right? Wrong! They talked and laughed for quite a while (with us in the next bed over trying to get them to stay quiet) And I think they tossed and turned all night. I was up every hour listening to them. Finally around 4:30, I heard B whisper/shout "I can't sweep!" We are definitely spoiled to all have our own rooms.

I went to help him out and found that N had rolled all the way over to his side of the bed and B had about 5 inches between the edge of the bed and N! No wonder he couldn't 'sweep'!

I don't think any of us slept after 4:30 so after some more tossing and turning, we finally threw in the towel and got up, had breakfast and made it out the door to our appointment.

Why is it that they can't ever give you a real smile?!?!?!

The reason for our visit was really to see a specialist for N. He has a lump on his ribs that our pediatrician was concerned about and because of its location near his lungs and heart, he sent us to a meta-skeletal specialist at a well known Children's hospital.

Thankfully, the news was good that there is nothing to be concerned about. Its just a bone growth in a very rare place and only needs to have it removed if it starts to bother him or make him self-conscious and only when he's much older. Praise God!!

So since we were already in the big city with almost a whole day in front of us, what did we do?

Have some fun, of course!

We went to the Children's Museum and discovered all kinds of new things. Like how to drive a train. B had so much fun driving, we had to pull him away to keep exploring.

Being sized for future race car driving...

Learning how hard it is to be a dinosaur.

Noah, how long do you have to sit on your eggs before they hatch?

Poor B's tail seems to be half his body weight...

But the best part of the trip was getting to see the "robot". They don't know about Transformers yet, but they still thought it was pretty cool.

What we've been doing....

So I've had these waiting to post since before Colorado, but as they are still relevant, I'm still gonna post 'em:) Oh, wait...Noah just told me that he wanted to show you these pics. Take it away, Noah!

Daddy and Mommy brought us back these chef hats. What do you think? I think I'll go make a omlet!

Don't worry. Even though Daddy and Mommy get tired of us fighting all the time, we still love each other.

Typical B. He's always taking my legos. I just hope he doesn't break them anymore.

This is Daddy's friends Jeep. Its cool and fast and has big tires.

Its even Red, my favorite color!

Its awfully boring to sleep the normal way. Gotta mix it up every now and then.

Mama says she's gotta get her snuggles in somehow...

Hey, look! Its Daddy and B. Mom? What are they doing?

Reporting for duty, Captain Mommy, sir!

Silly Bug glasses!!

Celebrating the end of summer

The boys and I have fallen in love with the beach this year. And so, to celebrate the end of summer, we decided one more trip was in order. So we invited some friends, packed up the van and headed off for some sun and sand.

B's ready to jump in!

The boys have discovered how to dig really big holes...lets just hope I can keep from falling into them!

At one point, I looked over to see this. I have no idea how he got the sand up there, but once he discovered it, there was much whining until it was off.

It started raining while we were eating lunch, so what better way to stay dry?

Eating ICE CREAM!

And to finish the day off, we took a walk on the pier. A little heart stopping for this Mama, I will admit, but the boys loved it. They got to be really close to the boats and loved waving to all the captains.

And I saw this pic and love how it shows these 2 are definitely brothers. Maybe not from the front, but definitely from the back!:)