trick or treat

all ready to go

Coby was "army guy" (that's what he calls his costume)

Halloween tradition...

Every Halloween we start out the evening at Clint and Michele's house. We eat dinner there and the boys are spoiled with fun goodies from Clint, Michele and Barbara (Aunt Michele's mom) and bags of toys and treats from GramPat and Papa. Then we go over to Nina and Poppy's for trick or treating. We were especially excited about trick or treating this year because cousins Lincoln, Lauren and Madison were all able to go with us. We had lots of fun and as always, we came home with WAY too much candy.

Uncle J and Lincoln (he was a golfer)

Madison was a CUTE monkey

Darren and Lauren (the cutest pig I've ever seen!)

Connor was Big Poppy

Trick or Treat?

Aunt Emily and Cale

all of my boys

me and the boys taking a rest after a hard night of trick-or-treating

Cale was Tigger (this costume has been passed down from Connor to Coby and now Cale)

little boss

Every Monday morning Cale and I drop Connor and Coby off at school around 7:50 and then go straight to GramPat's house. She keeps Cale on Monday mornings while I volunteer at the school. When we get to GramPat's house, I stay and chat for about 45 minutes since I don't need to be back at the school to volunteer until 9 am.

Yesterday on the way to GramPat's, Cale told me "don't talka GramPat mommy." I ignored him knowing exactly what was going on here. He cannot stand that I stay as he wants GramPat's undivided attention...he is the "baby" and he is spoiled! Since I didn't answer him, he repeated himself again. And again, like any good mother would, I ignored him. I just thought I'd ignore his bossiness and that would be the end of it. Wrong! Next thing out of his mouth was "did ew (you) hear me mommy?" "Talka (talk to) me!" Oh, boy!

I can't believe how much Cale is talking. We never know what he's going to say next. He is very bossy (Darren says he's just like his mommy...I completely disagree) and amusing and just SO full of life. I really wish that I had Cale's boundless energy. I could get so much accomplished.

(not so) dreaded phone call

Be prepared, I am going to brag about Connor again today! It's my blog and I can brag if I want to! :)

When the phone rang on Monday, the name on the caller ID got my attention. It was the call that all parents hope to never get...you know, a call from your child's teacher. Yep, it was Connor's teacher calling. I couldn't understand why his teacher would be calling since he has been so up on school lately and actually told me just that day that he is "really doing well with his education and that he smoked his AR goal." Those were his exact words (cracked me and Darren up). Seriously, where did he come up with that? Hmm...Come to think of it, I believe that I've overheard Darren tell Connor that he smoked him on an xbox golf game before. It was just so funny to hear it from our 8 year old. He is growing up way too fast.


Back to the phone call...


Mrs. T just wanted to let me know how proud she is of Connor. She said, "Can you believe his reading? He got over 30 AR points in the first 9 weeks and his goal was to get 12 points." Then she told me that he is Top Dog again this week for the third week in a row. Pretty cool huh, 3 of 9 weeks he's been the Top Dog. I kept waiting for something bad to come up, but Mrs. T really did just call to let me know how proud she is of Connor and wanted us to know.


What an amazing teacher! There are many wonderful teachers in our school, but we have been truly blessed to have Mrs. T this year. I don't know of many teachers that take the time to call and say, hey, I just wanted you to know how proud I am of your child, as they usually only take the time to call for something negative. She has brought out a fire and pride in Connor and I just love to see it. I prayed and prayed over the summer that Connor would end up with the right teacher who would help him want to reach his potential and discover that learning and going to school can actually be fun! God took care of it in ways that I never would have dreamed. Connor loves going to school. He hasn't felt that way since Pre-K! He wakes up with a smile every morning and cannot wait to get to school (and I can't wait to drop him off either...he is just a little too chipper first thing in the morning). I love it!


The pics below were taken last week. I cannot believe how much Connor is growing and changing. Time is going by way too fast!

sweet sibling moment

I took a break from cleaning the other night to check on the boys. I found them all in Cale's room playing with the Fisher Price farm that was first Connor's, then passed down to Coby and finally on to Cale about a year ago. Never in a million years would I have thought they'd all enjoy playing with it together. Such a sweet, sweet moment!

Of course, it was business as usual the next day. Coby did something that Cale didn't like and a tantrum was in order! I love when my camera just so happens to be nearby to catch these moments. They are some of my favorites to capture. I think the boys will get a kick out of seeing them one day. It really is hard being two, ya know?

good day, good talks

Tonight we went to my twin nieces' birthday party. They turned one today. It's always fun to get together with the family and the boys just had a ball with their cousins. We had a great evening!



My favorite part of the evening came as a surprise to me. It was the drive home. I was dreading it as I was on my own with the boys tonight since Darren was working. I thought the boys would be cranky and argue the whole way home. I was wrong and I am glad to admit that I was. The boys shared more information with me in the thirty minute ride home than they've shared over the entire last month.


Coby started out when he noticed what he thought was 'frost' on the windshield (it was just dirt). "We've been learning all about Jack Frost at school," he tells me proudly. He told me about Jack Frost and how he comes and puts frost on windows while kids are sleeping, but you cannot open your eyes and peek when he is there...he puts frost on daddy's police car when it is not parked in the garage....and he grows his hair and teeth out really big. He went on and on about JF and I learned things that I never knew about good ole Jack. I was saying that I was so glad that Coby had shared that story with me when he quickly set me straight. "But mommy, it's not a story because Jack Frost is real." What was I thinking, of course he is!


Then Connor started to tell me about his day. Cale interrupted him and Coby quickly interjected, "Cale we don't interrupt while people are talking." Woweee, I just had a talk with them today about not interrupting people when they are having a conversation...and I couldn't believe it, they actually listened, understood and are following through on what I had told them. It's a good day!

So now that Cale was put in his place, Connor proceeded to tell me about his school day. He was the Top Dog today. What is that you ask? Well let me tell you! Every Friday, a student in Mrs. T's class gets chosen to be the Top Dog because they are really standing out that week. Connor got it because he has been reading tons of books and has twice as many AR points as he needs to have by this point in the school year, and he passed the principal's math test on the first go round.

As he put it, he is successful this year! Oh, those words were music to my ears. Connor did not feel confident with himself at all during the second grade. He needed to have a great third grade year. I needed for him to have a great year. So I know I am bragging about him, but I am just so happy that he is so happy. Of course he has his struggles, but I know that he is giving his all. I am so proud of my little guy!

Connor showing off the stars he got for each book he has read.

Cale didn't have a school story for me since he doesn't go to school yet. However, anytime we are taking Connor and Coby to and from school, he says "you are a good driver mommy!" Well thank you, Cale. I try. I have very precious cargo with me and I will always try to protect you and keep safe.

tumbleweeds

They're everywhere! They've taken up residence in our backyard and poor Darren, he has had to listen to me gripe about them for weeks now.

While I planted flowers on Sunday, Coby took it upon himself to rid our front yard and porch of these lovely tumbleweeds (he probably got sick of hearing me whine about them every single day). We love the fact that we live by an open field which means we are neighbor free on one side (for the moment), but we are not loving the tumbleweeds that come along with that field!

I actually thought that we had a lot of these nuisance tumbleweeds...that is until Darren got home today. He said you wouldn't believe the tumbleweeds in the neighborhood. Some houses have them completely covering the front porch. Sure, I thought! So I had him take me so I could see for myself. Here are just a few houses and there were many more just like them.

I am now considering myself lucky! Our porch is below. After Coby's cleanup, ours has stayed relatively tumbleweed free. Maybe I'll quit my griping about these annoying tumbleweeds...it could be worse, much worse!

family fun Friday

Over the last several months, Fridays in our house have become an important time of spending time together as a family. Fridays are no longer just Fridays,
they are family fun Fridays. The kids always ask on the way to school on Friday mornings, "is it movie night?" I am so glad that the boys know that this has become a family tradition and that it is something they can count on happening from week to week.

To begin our family fun Friday this week, we headed to Clark's Pastry Shop after school for some yummy frosted pumpkin cookies to celebrate the beginning of Fall and mommy's love of pumpkins. Oh, who am I trying to fool...we just went there because we really wanted a cookie! After satisfying our sweet tooth, we headed to the local library so that Connor could get more A-Z mystery books as he had finished reading the ones we had picked up last week. As he told Darren tonight, "I am a reading machine!" I am so glad he is. There is just nothing better than curling up on the couch and enjoying a good book.

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside, riding bikes (Cale learned how to pedal today!), sidewalk chalking, and a few of Connor's friends dropped by to hang out for a bit.

After our usual Friday night meal (Papa John's Pizza) we settled in for our movie. Tonights feature was "The Wild" and we all enjoyed it. However, any time a part came on that would make most 2 year olds nervous, Cale would turn around and look at Darren and me and say "I okay." You know, like I know I should be nervous and I am a little bit nervous, but I have two older brothers so I'm going to pretend like I'm not nervous! It was so cute. I just love these times with the boys.


This pic of Coby was taken last Friday while getting ready for bed after our movie. I just have to write down what he said that night. We were all hanging out in his bed just before our family prayer time. For some reason we were discussing what the boys want to be when they grow up. Connor wants to be a professional baseball player. Connor then said that Cale looks like a truck driver, so now Cale says that he will be a truck driver. When we got to Coby, he told me very seriously, "when I grow up I am going to be a Chinese guy!" Oh, how I laughed...I have never laughed like I laughed that night.

We try to always tell our boys (just as most parents do) that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. Poor Coby, he can be many things, but a Chinese guy he'll never be! I hope he won't be too broken hearted when he finds out. ;)