Family Photoshoot

A friend of mine asked me to take photos for their Christmas Card. Many of you know this beautiful family...

I won't reveal their Christmas Card, but wanted to share a few of my favorites of their girls.

This one is my favorite. They just moved to this beautiful new house and I love the Welcome mat in front of the new front door!

Couldn't have asked for more beautiful scenery with the fall leaves.

I had a great time working on their photos. Thanks for letting me practice on you guys! 

Birthday Boy!

Look who turned 3 today!

(These pictures were taken before the cold hit earlier this month!) 

I am trying to write a little something to remember what he is like right now. Amazing how hard that is! This little boy is full of complexities! In one instant, he's laughing hysterically at Tom & Jerry and in the next, he's stomping up to his room in a crying fit because his plate is the wrong color! In one instant, he's singing silly words to a favorite song and the next he's hitting his brother. Despite the challenging moments, this little guy has added much joy and laughter to our family over the past 3 years. He's full of cuddles, of silly songs, and belly laughs! He's so big, but yet still my baby.    

And, this boy is just as special to us too!

Cat in the Hat Birthday

We celebrated this little guy's 3rd birthday a little early. Here are the highlights!

The invitation 

The Birthday Boy

Playing with his new Criss Cross Crash! Favorite gift of all!

Blowing out his candle

A fun party! Thanks for all who made it so special!

Since I last posted...

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted. So, let me catch you up...

Since I last posted, I had
...  850 sq ft of wood installed and 1200 sq ft of wood stained
... a house that was ripped up for 14 days straight
...  2 plumbing issues (yikes!)
...  new tile put in our laundry room and no washer/dryer
... many fights with contractors (Still fighting!)
... 2 Grandma's come to visit
... a 3 year old birthday party with 12 adults and 10 kids
... a dead car battery
... a husband who traveled on and off for 2 weeks
... a husband with knee surgery and is home recovering.

So, forgive me for not updating you!

Since I can't leave you without a photo- enjoy this for now! (This was at Big Brother's Thanksgiving Feast at school.) I promise to update about the new floors and the party really soon!!!

Fall Leaves

It's a tradition every year to pile up the leaves and jump and play. Let me clarify- the boys play, we rake...

When I heard snow was coming, we headed out on our last nice warm day to play... and rake~!

Sleepover

This weekend was big brother's first official sleepover. His best buddy spent the night at our house on Friday. They had light saber battles in the dark, played Star Wars, played video games, drew pictures, wrote letters.... We took them to see Despicable Me, as well. Cute movie, by the way!

At about 9:30pm, Big Brother asked his friend if it was time for bed, to which he replied, "sure!" I read them stories, tucked them in and didn't hear from them until 7:30 the next morning. This was nothing like the sleepovers from my childhood!

More weekend updates soon!

Crazy Day

Today was Crazy Spirit Day at school for Big Brother. He planned for days what he'd wear, how he'd do his hair and was very excited. This is what he ended up with... 

Baseball pants and socks, star wars shirt, Batman Cape, Daddy's Tie, and crazy spiked hair. He was pretty proud of his get up!

This week has been a crazy week in general. Kevin took the week off of work and has been home with us all week. It's the first time in our entire marriage he's taken time off and just stayed home! It's been awesome having him around so much! I could get used to the extra help and company around here! Today we took Little Brother to his tumbling class. Here's a look at the fun he had!

We've tackled a home improvement project. We are getting new hardwood floors and tile put in next week. That means, our house is torn apart for the next 2 weeks. If you know me at all, you know this is a real test for me. I NEED my house organized and put together. That's not happening! 

This is just the beginning!

My life as I know it is in the basement, garage and anywhere else we had space. We'll see what happens when I have no kitchen, laundry, or couch in the next weeks! You may be wise to avoid me for some time.

But, Mr. Homebody made me this while I was tutoring tonight. It's a new chicken enchilada recipe I found here. (My pictures aren't quite like hers.) These are amazing! If you're looking for some new recipes- she has a fun website. Anyways, even my picky oldest son ate 2 of these and had to call daddy to thank him for the amazing dinner! A home cooked meal at the end of a crazy week was gladly welcomed!

Trick-or-Treating with the Force

Well, since I couldn't sleep tonight, I thought I'd catch you up on a fun Halloween with my Star Wars Boys. We were blessed with warm temperatures again and had a fun time collecting loot from the neighbors! The boys enjoyed themselves, but are enjoying the 2 huge gallon-sized baggies of candy even more!

This was the first year big brother wanted his face painted. He requested to look like Darth Vader when Luke takes off his mask at the end of the movie. He said it would be better if he was bald- but we had to draw the line somewhere!

Little Brother got in on the Star Wars action too. He made a pretty cute Yoda, I must say!

 The boys started out with our next door neighbor who gives them handfuls of candy! 

We caught up with some of the neighbor kids and actually had to have an "intermission" to drop off candy and gear up for the other half of our street. There wasn't too much whining- well, nothing a little lollipop couldn't handle!

The boys love to play with their lightsabers in the dark. I played with my camera and we came up with this photo!

These Halloween Lights were made with empty milk jugs, sharpies, and a string of Christmas Lights. Found the idea out in cyberspace somewhere! Big Brother enjoyed making the faces.

Of course, our Star Wars Halloween is not complete without Star Wars pumpkins. The larger is the pumpkin we grew ourselves from a seed! It's a stormtrooper and the smaller is Yoda!

Well, until next year! I wonder what the kids will be into by then?