Halloween 2006

This was the year that we bought our house. We got the keys the day before Halloween so we didn't decorate at all that year. Kinda bummed me out but the payoff was worth it. We had our own home!! Since it was going to be a low key holiday, we decided to take the boys to the City of Auburn's Halloween Carnival a few days before. They had fun playing the games and trick-or-treating down Main Street.

The actual day of Halloween I took the boys to visit Grandma Shellie and "Skunkle" Mike at work. After we were done there, we went home and ordered pizza before Grandpa Jerry came over and went out with the boys to collect some serious candy. Logan was pretty grumpy by that time though so we didn't stay out too long. A few days after we started our move to Bonney Lake.

Oh yeah, and Logan was Mickey Mouse (obviously). Brandon was Jack Sparrow. I sewed the whole costume (minus the white shirt) and even beaded the wig myself. The boys still play with the hat. Except now they use it as an Indiana Jones hat.

Our first Halloween as four.

Logan joined our family in 2005. I immediatly knew that I wanted to have the boys wear matching costumes. I searched online for baby costumes to start out with. I knew I would be able to find pretty much anything in Brandon's size, but baby costumes are a bit harder to track down. When I saw the Batman and Robin thing I fell in love.

They were so cute in their costumes. Logan didn't pull too much at his mask which was surprising. I can't believe how tiny Brandon was. And in these pictures, Logan was 6 months old. The same age that Sawyer is now. He was a beast!!

Break out your broomsticks!!

It's my favorite time of the year. I adore the Fall. The smells, the colors, hot cider, warm sweaters, going to the pumpkin patch, Thanksgiving and best of all.... HALLOWEEN!!

I still have yet to figure out costumes for the boys. I'm torn between letting them each pick what they want to be, or deciding on a trio type costume for all 3 of them. We have a great costume idea for Sawyer already, but I really love the matching costumes. Whatever we decide, it had better be done quick. I hate waiting until the last minute.

Before we moved to our house, we lived in a big neighborhood in Pacific. We had the coolest house on the block at Halloween time. We always went all out with our decorations. Smoke machines, strobe lights, our entire walkway draped in spider webs, one year we even turned our garage into a little haunted house. Where we live now is a bit different though. Nobody trick-or-treats in our neighborhood. We live at the very dead end of a gravel road. Beyond us is forest. Kinda bums me out to put out tons of decorations when nobody is ever going to see them. But this year will be different. We are letting the boys have a Halloween party for their friends. I'm so excited. I've got a million ideas for decorations, food, and games. It's going to be so much fun!

So to help get everybody in the spirit of the season, the next few posts are going to be about Halloweens of the past. Some I don't have the best pictures of, but somethings better than nothing! To kick it off, the best Halloween picture of all time. I LOVE this photo. We went to a "Trunk"-or-treat thing at a local church with some friends. Logan couldn't actually have any of the candy since he was only a baby, but he knew he wanted it, and bad.

Sawyer is 6 months old!!

Time has gone so fast and he's grown so big. I'm starting to forget how teeny he was. It's amazing how much they change in such a short period. Sawyer has been crawling for nearly 2 months already, but now he's doing it the traditional way, knees and hands, instead of army crawling and pulling himself everywhere. He is a pro at getting himself into a seated postion. He's even gotten up on his feet while holding onto taller objects. Pretty soon he'll be walking!

He can spend hours on the floor playing around with the boys and they are so good with him. They're having a lot more fun with him now that he gets around and sits up with them. Brandon will pick him up and carry him to different spots that they are playing so he can join in. Sawyer just sits there and plays right along, studying everything they do.

We started trying to give him solid foods about a month ago, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He would just scream if I tried to put the food into his mouth. So rather than traumatize the poor child, I just decided to put it on hold. I was afraid I was going to give him a complex or something. So we waited about a week and a half until we tried again. When we did, there were no problems at all. Since then we've slowly been adding more solids to his daily diet. He does still sometimes have his moments where he has difficulty remembering how to swallow it the right way, but it's getting easier. Oh yeah, and he has 2 little teeth coming in on the bottom.

I can honestly say that Sawyer is probably the easiest and happiest baby I've ever been around. He is so friendly and responsive with everybody he meets. He is so easy to make giggle and his smile is infectious. Everybody wants to be around him. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Back to school!!

This summer really seemed to fly by. We didn't get everything done that we had planned. Not even close. But I think that with a new baby that's to be expected. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part though. This was probably the easiest summer I've had with them. They were both pretty good kids for summer break. There wasn't much whining or grounding this year. They keep each other entertained now and that gives me plenty of time to focus on the baby and household stuff.

Even though it was a pretty laid back and relaxing summer, I'm INCREDIBLY glad to be getting back to a regular routine. It's nice to wake up each morning and have a set schedule for the day. Every little moment is timed out, which would be boring for most people, but it keeps me focused.

Brandon is now in the 3rd grade (Lord give me strength!) and started last week. His teacher is new this year. We all know how much I love young fresh teachers (insert sarcastic tone here). I'm hoping this teacher and class is better than the one we had to remove him from last year. After a week he is off to a great start. He's having a hard time getting back into the homework routine, but we're keeping on him about it. He's such a grown up kid, it's incredible. My little baby is getting so big!!

Logan is starting his second year of preschool tomorrow. He is beyond excited. He's had his outfit picked out for days. Last year when he was 3 he was in the 4 year old class so this year he will again be in the 4 year old class, but all of his friends from last year have moved onto Kindergarten. He's kinda bummed out but still he's looking forward to making all new friends. And I'm looking forward to the 2 1/2 hours a day of just me and the baby. Hopefully I can get him to nap while Logan is at school 3 days a week and then I'll have some REAL quiet time. Here's to wishful thinking.

Here are some pictures of Brandon's first day, leaving and coming home from school. We always go out to greet him when he gets off of the bus the first day. Logan gets so excited when he sees the bus coming down the road.

Speedsters!!

On Sunday we decide to make the most of the last few days of summer we have and took the boys to play miniature golf (pics of that to come later). We finished the game quicker than we had expected and we didn't really want to go home yet, so we decided that the boys could each ride with Chris on a double seated go-kart. Neither one of them had been in one before and they had SO much fun. They were the only ones on the track which made me much more comfortable with it. When Brandon climbed out his hair was all windblown and sticking up in the front. It was hilarious.

Stranger things have happened

Sawyer needed his diaper changed, so I jokingly told Brandon that he should change it for me....and he said okay (right after making sure that it was just pee)!! So I showed him what to do, gave him the diaper and walked him through it. He did a pretty good job for his first time. I just had to go back and tighten up the sides a little. Luckily Sawyer wasn't his usual squirmy self while he was changing it. He was very cooperative.