A Tom and Jerry Home Depot Party

We just got home from Little Brother's 4th Birthday Party at Home Depot. He chose a Tom and Jerry theme, which is perfect since he watches it every day after school. He invited a few friends from school and a few more family friends. All the kids had off school today for the Thanksgiving weekend, so it made it the perfect day for a party! Daddy took a long lunch and brought over the pizza to celebrate with us too!

Tom and Jerry isn't an easy theme- so we improvised and made it ourselves!  First off, I made the invitations and had them printed at Costco:

The "cake" was cupcakes from Costco with Tom and Jerry characters I bought on Ebay. A few birthday candles and sprinkles and there was one happy little boy!

We heard that Home Depot did birthday parties, but had never been to one. It turned out to be the perfect place for our celebration. They gave us a room for 2 hours, 2 helpers, and building kits of the kids' choice (about 6 to choose from). In addition, a woman volunteers to decorate a special hat and apron for the birthday boy and each kid gets their own apron to take home (as well as their finished project).

The kids had to wear safety goggles and listen to some directions before they started their projects. Ironically, the man in charge was named Jerry and he shares the same birthday as Little Brother! The kids listened, learned their safety lessons and went to work!

Big Brother wore 2 pairs to be extra safe, I guess...

Little Brother made a Home Depot race car and Big Brother made a spy periscope.

Here are all the kids with their creations. Little Brother got knocked in the head just before this photo, so there were some sad eyes!

Little Brother agrees with the balloon above. This was the best party ever!!!

Fun Run and Limo Ride

Big Brother's school does an annual fundraising event each year. They ask friends and family for donations and run in a 45 minute Fun Run. This year, our family rallied, and he raised almost $400 for his school. Considering our bond and levy just failed in the election, we need all the fundraising support we can get.  Little Brother and I met him up at the school back in October to "donate" our laps to his class. He was pretty grouchy- so no photos of the little guy!

As a reward for raising over $200, kids got to go to lunch in a Hummer limo last week. It was his first time ever in a limo. He was in line to get on when I got there to pick up Little Brother from pre-school. (He's in the camo jacket and blue pants) It was fun to see his reaction. They put the girls in his grade in one limo and the boys in another. He loved that there were mirrors on the ceiling and the limo driver played really loud rock and roll music the whole way there. He had a great time and we are so grateful to everyone who donated in order to make this day happen for him.

Halloween: 2011

All was safe in the neighborhood with these 2 watching out on Halloween:

We started the day with a party at school. All the kids in school got to dress up except Little Brother's preschool class. I have a feeling the teachers didn't want to help all the little super heroes and princesses go potty all day. So, I helped out in Big Brother's party and got to see his school-wide costume parade. After Little Brother got home from school, he immediately put on his costume. That's how I found Batman raiding my fridge for a yogurt drink!

After school, we had pizza dinner at the neighbors house and headed out to trick-or-treat. It was a fun night, just our family this time. We even trick-or-treated at Big Brother's teacher's home! He was so excited! She even gave him 4 pieces of candy!!! About 7:30, Big Brother started to ask to go home. He wasn't really himself. I should've known we were in for it. He woke up the next morning with stomach flu. Poor kid!

One Tired Mama

When Kevin travels, I get wiped out. I can't seem to settle down at night (that's why I'm up to date of these blog posts all of a sudden!) and I stay up way too late. Then, I go all day and it compounds itself. Well, to top it off this week, Little Brother got a double ear infection and a sinus infection. He stayed home from school 2 days and was pretty miserable.

Finally, he was on the mend and the boys begged me to take them to the school to go sledding. My first reaction (in my head) was "NO WAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW TIRED MOMMY IS?" But, I was able to supress my will and we piled on the clothes, packed up the car and headed out.

This was Little Brother's moping to get me to help him carry his tube back up the hill. It worked.

(Big Brother just got this "mohawk" hat. I think it's pretty cute!)

It was a lot of climbing up and down hills. It was a lot of wet clothes to take care of when we go home, but it was well worth the happy smiles and good memories with the boys. And you know, I wasn't so tired once we got out in the fresh cold air! I'm thankful for these moments in motherhood when God helps me get it right.

My Pumpkins

On our last night without Daddy (he's been in Brazil for work this week) we tackled our pumpkins! To be honest, I was kind of dreading it. In years past we've had tears and fits over the smell and slime. Big Brother started off the night by saying, "Hey, Mommy. This pumpkin looks like your head." I wasn't really sure how the night would turn out! However, this year proved to be the easiest of all!

Big Brother's practice sketches

Big Brother carved it all on his own this year. I was very impressed!

We had to finish off with a photo of the 3 before they rot or dry out. Mine is the Angry Bird, Big Brother's is in the middle and Little Brother requested Batman. They are in the back doing to the Lightsaber show for the camera in the dark!

We even ended the night with Charlie Brown's Halloween movie and some gummy worms. Not a bad night after all!

Around our house

I've been busy posting about special days and special visitors, but I felt it was time to share a little of the day to day stuff that is happening around our house these days.

1. A Random Conversation:

LB(lil bro): Do you think we'll trick-or-treat or just hand out candy?
Me: Which do you want to do?
LB: Trick-or-treat because I love candy. It's so yummy.
BB (Big Bro): Yah, but candy isn't really the healthiest.
LB: Yah, I know, protein is the most healthy.
BB: What is the most healthiest food on earth?
Me: I don't know, I think blueberries are one of the Super Foods.
LB: Probably cherries. I love those cherries on top of ice cream! I think they are the healthiest.

2. Lots of Angry Birds on the iPad. (Not just them, I'm addicted too!)

3. The reason Chocolate Cupcakes are banned from our house.

4. A note left for his little brother. 

(I write a note each day on Big Brother's napkin in his lunch. Today, Little Brother was home sick with a double ear infection and a sinus infection. This was the note Big Brother left for him.

And just in case you thought he was all grown up and mature from that note above, here he is doing his homework. (And yes, Curious George is on in our house every day!)

 5.  Lots of progress on Little Brother's Speech.

These are words he's able to say correctly in isolation. He has a hard time with them in conversation, but he's encouraged by how much the list grows every day. We've got a great Speech Therapist coming to the house every other week and he's making great progress. 

The next Tebow

 Big Brother's Flag Football season ends this weekend. He got the chance to be quarterback a few weeks back. Here he is in action. He's come a long way in the past couple of months. It's been a long season for the boys- 1 win 6 losses. All in all, they don't seem to mind too much when the parents make a cheering tunnel and when those after game snacks come out!

Granny's Visit: October 4-7

Granny came for a quick visit the beginning of October. We've had a beatiful and warm fall and enjoyed a lot of time outdoors. Unfortunately, she came for our first bit of cold wind and snow! We did manage to head to a Pumpkin Patch just south of town. The kids enjoyed it, but we adults thought it was really lacking! To start, they charged quite a bit just to get in. Then, while helping Little Brother launch his gourds, one got stuck in the pocket and rocketed into my throat. It hurt like crazy. The boys loved the hay bail slides and spent a good amount of time. They took us on a tractor ride that looped around and the boys enjoyed petting a few animals. When we couldn't bear the cold wind any longer we headed out without buying any pumpkins (I know, gasp!).  As we were leaving the owner told me I could pick one out for the damages to my neck. It was nice of him after all.

Granny babysat while Kevin and I went out to dinner and a movie. I, then, spent the night with the stomach flu. YUCK!

We woke up the next day to SNOW! Little Brother headed out in his PJ's and crocodile rain boots. Though the weather and activities were a little bit of a bummer, it's always a great time with Granny. The boys didn't mind one bit!

Burning Bear Creek- Hiking Trail

On Grandma Sheryl's last full day of visiting, we headed up to do some hiking. Along the way, the boys decided to count motorcycles. It just so happened that they picked a great day for finding motorcycles. We were right in the middle of a motorcycle rally to raise money and awareness for a local foundation called "I Luv You Guys." They rode from Columbine High School to Platte Canyon High School, both where shooting tragedies took the lives of innocent students. 

So, we counted and counted and counted! We counted 700 motorcycles and then we just had to stop! 

Finally we made it to our hiking trail. It's a trail we did last year as well. This year we started across the street and headed the opposite direction. We parked by this aspen grove and I was hoping it wouldn't be the only changing leaves we saw. We had heard there was a river and a clearing with amazing aspens and vivid fall colors. Along the path, we'd ask people descending how long it was to the clearing. It became a running joke because EVERY hiker told us "about 20 minutes." Well, about 2 hours later, we found the clearing. It was amazing and totally worth the time to hike in.

Amazingly, the boys hiked the entire way in and out with very little complaining. It was awesome to see that we are getting into an easier stage of life to get out and about! A highlight was running across a deer that was probably less than 70 yards away. It was a little nervous around us, but stuck around for quite some time. I got very blurry pictures of it- so they aren't on here!