Moon

As I was driving home tonight Sam pointed out the moon. As I looked up it all made sense - Aha! It is a full moon. That must explain the wacky day we had today. Nothing really crazy just everything a bit off... A few things that drove me crazy:

-Sam has decided he is going to test the waters... push the limits... challenges... battles... everything is a negotiation. When I ask him to do something..ANYTHING... he either asks me why, tells me he'll do it in a few minutes or that he just doesn't want to... or gives me stink eye, attitude or ignores me. This is my usually compliant, sweet boy. OK so he is pretty compliant and sweet but I am getting glimpses into the teenage years and it makes me crazy. We talked over and over today about remembering please and thank you, listening, sharing, helping etc. The things he is usually pretty good at. Funny how much he can forget in 5 minutes.

-Ben has gotten 3 teeth in the last two weeks and the last of the bunch is almost in and giving him grief. Ben's teething=no sleep which means no sleep for me which means I have little patience.

-Mac is feeling better and is starting to move around a bit. I think I have rewrapped his bandages about 40 times today. Keeping bandages on a dog's forearm and elbow is a major pain... every time he takes about 2 steps they slouch down...now that it's healing he is interested in getting at it. Only one week left until the stitches come out and he gets back to normal - bandages off, walks etc.

-Ben purposefully dumping water all over his carseat and clothes via a leaky sippy cup. "Mom...I'm spilling my water...it's spilling...my pants are wet." I looked back and he had the cup upside down - just letting it run all over himself.

-Sam moaning about me cooking the wrong kind of rice... Apparently he wanted brown rice tonight...so he sat and stared at his plate for 30 min and whined until we threatened to send him to bed.

Things that made me happy today - and the above seem more insignificant:

-The sun came out today - yahoo!

-The sky was an awesome blue/turquoise color tonight after sunset and full of stars - gorgeous.

-The kids have been playing really well together... it is so fun to see them entertain each other, do nice things for each other and make each other laugh.

-Fun holiday parties and festivities coming up...zoo lights, peacock lane, tree cutting, Christmas music, cookie making, present wrapping, Starbucks red holiday cups, Christmas jammies...

-Ben is turning 2 in a few weeks. This is bitter sweet - but sweet none the less. He makes me laugh every day and is becoming such a big boy. He says a few sentences in a row now, runs wild, squeals and is a pretty silly kid. He learned how to jump this week - and get both feet off of the ground which is pretty hilarious. He does it over and over and over...

-Sam is getting really curious about everything. He loves asking why which can be annoying, but he is genuinely interested in how everthing works. He is learning so much at school and has recently started reading. He notices everything around him... right now he is really interested in the seasons changing...the leaves falling etc.

Our Furry Patient

The boys have been helping take care of Mac. He has been laying around while the kids read to him, cuddle with him, and bring him bones. He is still a little sleepy from the surgery but seems to be doing well. We should know more in a few days.

Little Helpers

The boys were excited to help Brian clean up the yard today. Sam didn't want anyone messing with his leaves...

Ben was more interested in running and jumping into the leaves, riding his bike through Sam's leaf pile and getting dirty...

Celebration

We had a great time last night celebrating Kim's birthday! Great food, wine, friends, cake. If you haven't discovered spanx... they are awesome! Check them out here.

Happy Birthday Kim. Have a wonderful time in Maui!

Random

We seem to be having a cool, soggy week... I guess fall has hit here in Oregon. The trees haven't lost all of their leaves and are still gorgeous. We are going to have to throw on boots and coats and continue playing outside as we are getting cabin fever already! Puddles - here we come!

Buzz taking a nap...

I can't believe the drool this kid can generate. He has gotten 3 I-teeth in the last 2 weeks and has one more trying to come in. He hasn't been his normal happy self today - so I am guessing the last one is close. I am hoping his final molars don't come in for a while so we can get some sleep around here!
Spinning, chasing, tackling, squealing...

Wrestling, more chasing, spinning... and finally crashing.

Superman! I need to paint my toes!

**The boys got to play with their friends Nolan and Hayden Scott this morning. Laura who is super artistic and creative helped me hang all of my family photos - they look awesome. Thank you sooo much!

**Mac is going in Monday to have the lump removed from his elbow. It will take about 3 days for the report to come back. Once we know what we are dealing with, we can make a plan.

**We are going to start a bathroom update on our downstairs half bath in the next couple of weeks. I picked out the tile yesterday for the floor. Next... paint. I can't wait to get started!

Little Reader

Ben love books like his brother...

Sam for President

Sam: What are you looking at on your computer?
Me: I am looking at the news. Today everyone in our country is voting for a new President. You see this guy? This is Barack Obama and this is John McCain.
Sam: Can I vote? I voted at school.
Me: You did?
Sam: Yes.
Me: What did you vote for?
Sam: Goldfish.
Me: What was the other choice?
Sam: Cheerios.

Later he asked if he could vote again. So I made him a ballot...each candidate had a box next to their name.

Sam: I want Obama.
Me: You do?
Sam: Yes.
Me: Ok. Put an X by his name.
Sam: Did I win yet?
Me: No dear. Either McCain or Obama is going to win tonight.
Sam: I want to win. Can I be the President?

Later...

Sam: Did McCain-Obama win yet?
Me: Obama won. He is our new President.
Sam: But I want McCain to win TOOOOOOO!

Election Day!

So today is the day. We finally get to cast our votes! And how exciting that we are expecting record turnout for this election.

Be sure to get your FREE cup of coffee at your local Starbucks...and from 5-8pm Ben and Jerry's is giving away FREE scoops of ice cream!

Now get out there and vote!

Into November...

Our weekend:

1. A great time Trick-or-Treating Friday night
2. Saturday we cleaned up the yard and cleaned out our office - yeah!
3. Brian and I had a date Saturday night. The kids played at Papa and Mimi's house while we enjoyed some delicious Thai food.
4. We took the boys to get haircuts on Sunday (Ben refused)... and then headed to our neighborhood library to pick out new books.
5. Long naps Sunday afternoon
6. A great time over at Lee and Dee's Sunday night. Dee made a yummy taco salad and some cute little burritos. The kids had a great time playing with the Goldens, Ned, Lisa, Heather, Maddox, and Papa Erv.

They are both very excited about their new library books. Sam is very serious about his...a certain little brother isn't allowed to touch them, and he took all five to bed tonight.

The boys playing their caterpillar in a cocoon game.

Sam reading with Aunt Dee.

Watching a little football with Grandpa Erv.

Lots of Treats...

Tonight we went over to Kelsey and John's for dinner and trick-or-treating. Thanks Kels for the yummy chili, cornbread and goodies. Everything was delicious. Here are some of the little ones ready to go...

Sam and Kaitlynn on their way to their first house...

Spooky house... This was the first year Sam has been really into Halloween. At each house my normally shy boy was yelling "Trick-or Treat!" and was so excited to collect his treasures.

Mmmmm....look at all of those treats to choose from...

Sam running from house to house ahead of the pack.

The monkey got tired after a while but was right up there with the big kids at each house. He even put some of his treats in one lady's treat bowl. :-) He tried to go inside several houses and kept saying "Happy Halloween!"

Papa and Mimi stopped by with some wind up teeth... A bit hit!
We had a great night - It was so much fun watching the kids enjoy themselves and get so excited. Brian bought 3 bags of candy and since we were gone most of the night we didn't have any kids! So not only do we have all of Sam's loot that he doesn't really eat... we have a giant bowl of chocolate - oh my.

Moms and Monsters

Ready to party...A fireman and his trusty sidekick... the monkey.

My girlfriend Laura hosted a Moms and Monsters Halloween Party this morning. The kids had a great time and are currently crashed out after all of the excitement!

Here are most of the monsters...

Games included finding a treat in a cauldran of cold spaghetti. The littler monsters thought it was lunch time and started gobbling up the spaghetti...

Looks like this Snow Princess (Sam's buddy Kaitlynn) has a crush on the Fire Chief....

Diego, Pirate, Buzz and a friendly Dragon...

Kristi turning from Mommy to Mummy...

The toilet paper was a hit...
Finding Sam's fire hat...

Laura put on such a great party - the Halloween decorations, treats and games were too cute. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the food - witches brew, eyeball cookies, mummy trail mix etc. Super creative and so much fun!

It will be here soon... the rain that is.

I'm not ready for the rains to come... not yet. I have loved every minute of the sun this week! Yesterday while we were waiting for Brian to get home we went out to play. I swept a bunch of leaves to the side of the driveway...and of course where did the kids want to ride bikes? Yep - through the leaves! They played speed racer though the driveway, garage, around my car and giggled and squealed up a storm.

Pretty soon these gorgeous red trees will be bare...
And the rains will come... and it will be dark by the time Brian gets home!

A Toy Story

Woody and Buzz. Buzz and Woody. Woody and Buzz. We have been hearing a lot of that around here lately. The kids played with Woody and Buzz all day. Ben carries Woody around and takes his cowby hat on and off..and on again...and off. Sam flies Buzz around the house and yells "To Infinity and Beyond!"

Today when Sam hopped in bed for his nap he had Woody perfectly positioned on his sleeping bag. He leaned over, kissed his nose and said "Goodnight Woody." Silly kid. He has been watching Lizzie put her babies to sleep for years.

Sam slept with Buzz tonight and Ben with Woody. Ben laid in bed saying "Reach for the Sky"...and "Gimme a high five Woody... Hi Woody... Hi Woody."

I'm sure they will have more adventures tomorrow.

Halloween Pre-Funk

We got together for our yearly pumpkin carving, dinner, kids run around with glowsticks and costume party. Brian and Ben scooping the pumpkins out for us....

More scooping...

Cute cousins.

Scary cousins.

Sam wore this monkey the last 2 years... now B gets a turn.

This is the first year Sam has been into the carving. The original plan was to have spooky pumpkins. Sam wanted all of the pumpkins to be "happy and laughing"... This little one grew in his garden.

The big kids informed us tonight that when they are lit up the are called jack-o-lanterns. They reminded us of this over, and over and over...

Big Mac

Mac had his follow up appointment today with the surgeon. It turns out he has a blown ACL in his knee. During the exam they also found what they believe to be cancer on his elbow joint. Just gets better and better doesn't it! They could do both surgeries together for the small price of $5000... (that is not a typo). We could choose not to fix the knee although he would eventually develop painful arthritis. If we opt for the surgery there is a 50% chance that his other knee could go out. He is only 7 yrs old which makes it such a hard decision. So not a very uplifting visit with the vet. As you can see Mac looks a little bummed about the whole situation.

Enjoy it while we still can...

The kids have been feeling a little cooped up...can ya tell?

So we decided to head outside for a while. It has been CHILLY here in Portland this week – in the 30s overnight... But not too cold to play outside. The kids had fun watching airplanes, running, jumping, sliding, spraying the hose, riding bikes and just being boys.

Did I tell you how much I LOVE my neighbor's tree this time of year?