Happy Halloween!

It has been a CRAZY busy week this week!

Last Friday was the Fall Festival at Jack's preschool. It was super cute. Lots of little games to play that they had to pay 1 ticket each time. But no matter what, they got to get a little treat. For some reason jack never went for the candy. Only the random little plastic toys that are now all over my house for my poor feet to step on!

here's jack playing the bean bag toss. He was sure to get a bean bag in each hole every time he played!

The Octopus Ring Toss

Hard to tell, but he's supposed to look like he's the witch in the picture. He kept going back wanting to take the picture but never never really smiled. But i promise, he wanted to do it!

This is Ms Laurie painting Jack's face. She is one of Jack's teachers in his room.

Then just lots of running around the beginning of the week trying to get stuff done. Wednesday i had a bridal portrait so both the boys went over to my friend Jenn's. Man do i have some good friends! Jenn ALWAYS comes thru and helps me out in a pinch. I think i owe her a few hundred baby sitting duties!

Thursday was jack's halloween party at school. He was excited to put the costume on, but by the time i got there for the party, the dino was no where to be seen. Apparently he told the teachers he was done and took it off himself. Oh well. It is a pretty warm costume so maybe he was just hot. I had gabe dressed in this super cute onesie with a ghost looking face on it. hehe.

we were trying to get jack's attention to be in the picture too. But he was on a pretty big sugar high and there was too much going on!

see all that candy in his mouth and none on his plate??


Then of course today is HALLOWEEN! We had a halloween party this morning with out playgroup. The mom hosting the party does it every year and she always outdoes the year before!

Jack at Gabe when we got to the party

Gabe sleeping

Jack playing at the party

Gabe is actually awake!

Tonight greg is visiting some buds in Atlanta so the boys and I flew solo for the trick or treating. I think we did pretty well! Gabe was in the sling and my friend Lisa came over with her 2 kiddos. Her son Life is about a year older than Jack so they had a blast running from house to house. Jack doesnt have the full out boy run just yet, especially not in a big costume. So he kind of bopped along and as he did his little booty and tail would wiggle around. It was so hilarious! And now that we are back home jack has a bucketful of candy that i'm trying to slowly hide. He doesnt seem to remember that Mama said 1 piece when he got home and thats it! Now it's 11 and he's still wide awake and raring to go! His early evening nap isnt helping and that coupled with the sugar buzz probably means i'm not going to get to go to bed anytime soon!

We continue our busy-ness into the weekend. once i get some more photos from the parties and what not i'll post them!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween!!!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Today is my mom's bday! Just wanting to give her a shout out!

A visit from Aunt MeMe

I meant to make a post before my sister, Michelle, came into town. But it didnt happen. Big surprise. haha.

Aunt MeMe got here at noon this past thursday. Her visit was so much fun! After Gabe and I picked her up from the airport, we got some lunch and then went to pick up Jack from school. She got to meet his teacher, see his classroom, and all that jazz. He was SUPER excited to see Aunt MeMe and kinda brushed right past me. haha. Ok, well i did get my GLAD TO SEE YA MAMA hug. :)

The rest of the day on thursday was just spent playing around the house and outside. It was a beautiful day so we took full advantage. While outside we discovered a praying mantis that was pretty much "just like a cricket" to Jack. Jack was very interested. The Meemster suggested putting it in a bowl so Jack could hold it. But when he did that he poked his little front leg thingys out and touched Jack on the hand and he was definitely not too sure about that! From then on he had to just sit on the table. haha. But he did call Gramma and Bopi to tell them all about it.


Friday we ran some errands, mainly to target. And in true Aunt fashion, she spoiled her nephews terribly. First jack picked out 2 toys from the dollar section. A plane (that he still wont put down) and a fire truck. THEN he got to pick out a movie. he chose Robots. Thank goodness it's a cute movie for adults to watch too! And THHEEEEEEEN they got cookie dough, frosting and sprinkles!
And then of course the rest of the day was one of hopped up on sugar and bouncing around the house only slightly sitting still long enough to watch maybe a scene of the movie before it was off to more bouncing. But I cant complain, Aunt MeMe made super yummy dinner, did all the dishes, and helped with some laundry!


And here's the way Gabe looked most of the day...
Ok, so he wasnt naked the whole day. haha.


Now off to Saturday... a day filled with more sugar and fun! haha.
We went to Chuck E Cheese (Meems suggestion of course!) But we LOVE Chuck E Cheese so i was more than happy to go. For some reason Jack kept wanting to play this game with guns. I dont know where he ever could have learned the concept of gun video games (AHEM... GREG!)

Anyway, the day was lots of fun and in the end Jack decided to use all of the tickets he won to get... yep... sugar! Cotton Candy to be exact. Luckily he fell asleep on the way home so i was able to hide most of it! Actually, both of the boys conked out for a bit. And i snapped this super sweet pic of Aunt MeMe and baby gabe!
and this one is just too cute not to put up here! Jack said "Baby Gabe gave me a KISS!"

Sunday was super fun as well. We went to Niven's Apple Farm! Which was another suggestion of Aunt Meme. Well, she said we should go to a pumpkin patch. And i looked some up online and we decided Niven's would be a fun one. It was! We got there about 30 minutes before it even opened (woops) but no biggie. They had all kinds of stuff to do there! I think this will be the place we go to every year. Now instead of trying to place all of the photos within this paragraph, let me just explain all we did and then post the montage of photos! First there were these inner tubes with 4 very tall pvc pipes inside them. A strange looking contraption but it was for jumping on. Jack LOVED it. I'm thinking Greg should build one in the backyard. He owes me for gettign Jack hooked on "gun" video games! Then there were LOTS of animals to be seen. Jack loved yelling HI CHICKEN! at the pheasants. I dont think they were pleased. There was also a donkey, a pig, a llama, and i'm sure some i'm missing. There were baby chicks inside the barn that he got to see. We skipped the corn maze but we did go on the hay ride. Lots of fun. We bought a bag to pick our own apples. Picking apples is a little tougher than you might think. Finding ones large enough to pick, that are low enough to reach, all while walking around with a toddler and a new born and a diaper bag, camera bag, and purse with only 2 adults. tricky! But we filled up our peck and then had to walk back to the barn since the hay riders dont wait for you. Did i mention the toddler and newborn? With now this huge back of apples, diaper bag, camera bag and purse? Still it was LOADS of fun. Jack loved the apple cider and conned the old man with his cuteness to give him another cup. A very full day. And now for the montage of photos...

Me and my boys...

the jumpy thingy

a big tunnel thing they had hanging from ropes

Jack is 3 feet tall!

no i promise we didnt cage him

Jack having a convo with the donkey

Jack and Aunt MeMe in the TeePee

Aunt MeMe with the fig jam... and only she and i get this joke!

Aunt MeMe and Jack picking apples

Jack getting his own!
and then last but not least capping off the day... aunt meme and gabe!



Monday in comparison to the other ways was pretty dull. We had fun at home, but didnt go anywhere until we sadly had to take Aunt MeMe to the airport. But i must share one last photo because it's my favorite!


It was a super fun trip. Jack has gone to bed by 8 the followin 2 nights. not so lucky tonight though. But it's time to go and put him into bed. Trying to follow a much stricter policy! Wish me luck!

Trying this again...

This blog has been acting up on me and i havent been able to post pictures and such, so sorry it's taken me a minute to get some more photos up! So i'll try to finish up the post that i started writing over a week ago!

First I have some sad news. Grandma Deana passed away this past week. My mom flew to Nebraska for the service, but I was unable to go which was a big bummer. This was my mom's stepmom. She was living in a nursing home in Nebraska, so I'm thankful that she wasnt alone. Extra prayers for her children and step children are appreciated. And I'm glad to think that she's now in Heaven with Grandpa and where she doesnt feel any more pain from diabetes, or dialysis or just plain old age.

And on with the "cotton ball" news...

We survived week 1 without gramma (and bopi). The potty training regression that you hear will happen when a new one arrives... has happened. Grrr. I was really hoping it wouldnt. I wont go into those details because quite frankly, no one wants to read about poop. But its frustrating to say the least.

Other than that, we're doing well. Jack still isnt jealous in a way that he resents us or his little brother, but he's definitely making sure we still know he's around! He also has decided he no longer needs to take naps. However, mama does! Hopefully it's just an adjustment period and he'll go back to wanting to take naps sometimes!
I have been successful however at getting him to fall asleep around 5:30 which is definitely not the time for him to take a nap. Here we went for a walk in our super cool new stroller that Gramma and Bopi bought us and both boys fell asleep. As cute as it was, Jack is so hard to put down at night if he takes a nap in the evening!


A week ago last Sunday Gabe had his first bath. He actually didnt mind it too much. He did look at me like i was nuts though.



Here's another picture of Jack with his permagrin as he holds Baby Gabe. He just loves to hold him!!!


Yesterday was Firetruck Day at school. I couldnt even go to try to snap a picture because Gabe had his circumcision appointment yesterday. I'm hoping that they took some pictures but i know the teacher's helper was out yesterday so it was 1 gal, with 13 two year olds. Now i do think of Ms Jill as super woman, but even super heros have their limits! But i'll ask, just in case. :)

As for poor Gabe, he was a little out of sorts yesterday (Wouldnt you be!?!). But what i really wanted to tell you was that he weighed in at 10 lbs and 14 oz! He's gained nearly 2 lbs since his birth 3 weeks ago! And he's been eating every 2 hours (including thru the night!) the past couple of days. He has his 1 month appointment next tuesday, so we'll see what he weighs in then. I'll also have a height then so i'll know how much he's grown up as well as out!

Thats about all for the Cotton news this week. I should be getting some more of those pictures from the photographer of Gabe when he was a week old. When i get them, i'll be sure to post some more!! I'll also be getting some professional prints of them, so if you're interested in having a copy of any of them, just let me know!