Tub time.

Don't ask me why I didn't use this type of tub seat before

because I LOVE it.

And Vance loves it too.

If you don't have one.

You should really get one.



BOLD Football.

Dome-ward bound we went today.

BOLD Warriors played their semi-final game.

They played great, but couldn't quite pull off the win.

Having fun with grandma in the stadium. 

Vance was relaxin with his aunts.

Aunt Robyn will have her baby any day!

Hopefully we'll have another addition by Thanksgiving. 



Home with mom.

Today was a very nice day.

We stayed home.

We didn't go anywhere.

It was so nice.  Did I already say that?

Well when you run around every day of the week

for either preschool or swimming lessons

or a trip to the grocery store or some other place

that just seems to fill up my day...it's nice to just be at home.

 This is what I woke up to this morning.

He was like a little worm all snuggled up on his tummy

& ohh so darn sweet.

 

Vance likes to be involved in what the rest of the family is doing.

So here he is watching mom cook up lunch.

 

How typical.

The older boys making a play dough mess,

but also keeping Vance entertained

(so I don't know which is the lesser of the evils!)

all while I'm trying to get lunch made.

 

Then it was decided that spider cupcakes should be made.

Adler saw a picture in my recipe binder and felt it was recreatable.

Is that a word?

Anyway, we gave it a shot

& regardless of how the boys looked & the spider cupcakes looked...

they sure tasted yummy.

Look at my little one in the background.

Man he's funny!

Isn't he?! haha

This one is just unbelieveable!

I swear I have to wipe his face off about every hour.

I don't know how he gets like this sometimes.

But this time I do know!

Needless to say they got to lick the beaters.

And one really enjoyed himself apparently!

Here's a great mom tip!  Buy the mini cupcake pans.

The kids love a small cute little cupcake & it's a lot less sugar.

(Well unless you eat about 4 or 5!!! haha but that's just the parents right?!)

It does make a great after lunch or dinner treat,

if they ate all their food, that is!

 

Ahh what a nice day at home.

And as I was putting Vance to bed I noticed that he has

2 bottom teeth poking out!

And I'm still home by myself.

Luke went to St. Cloud for the BOLD highschool football game.

They might just make it to the dome for Thanksgiving weekend!

Go Warriors!



A new addition.

Have I told you that we are planning to add on to our house?

We live in a little rambler and space is pretty tight.

I'm just trying to imagine what our house would feel like

10 years from now when the boys are older & have friends over.

Our house will be tiny!

So we're adding on a family room.

A relaxing lightly colored room with a fireplace.

I can't wait to snuggle by the fire...

next winter!

Until then...I've been keeping my eye out for good finds & great deals.

And I've already bought some things for the room,

even though we have not even got our permit to build yet!

But hopefully that will be in our hands in a couple weeks

& shortly after that we hope to start building.

I bought this beautiful rug.

And the boys made a fort out of the box...of course.

What else would you do with all this cardboard at their age?!

 

See that deck.

That's where our new room will be!



Trip to Grandma's

The boys have been telling us for awhile that they would like to go to Grandma's house.

We have not been to Olivia in probably 6 months

so we figured it was time for a visit.

We were greeted with my latest favorite food....

apple fritters!

And the boys got their 'special treat' from grandma.

Orange pop in a glass bottle.

Ohhh did they feel special.

At Sadie & Sam's swim meet in Big Lake.

 

Lovin on Vance.

The boys are still at it....

snugglin & huggin & holdin

Vance.

Poor guy.

Sometimes he probably just wants some space.

But I suppose that will never happen!

Ohhhh well.

At least with 2 big brothers...Vance always has something/someone

to entertain him.

Here's a little Elefun.  

Someone just recently found their toes. 



Playdate.

I know this post is a little late,

but I didn't have my camera

& just got my fingers on these pictures.

For Kelly's 30th birthday Joy had a little get together.

  And of course, all of our kids tagged along.

We all had a great time.

What I meant to say was....it was quite WILD!

But a good excuse to see everyone & sing some happy birthdays.

Joy made a waterslide by holding the hose for all the kids.

They loved it.

Boys in their undies of course!

Here's the clan!

 It's so great to live in MN & be close enough to have play dates like this.

Ohhh yeah...and to be at home with the boys all day

so we can do things like this while dad's at work 'bringing home the money'.

Thanks honey...we LOVE you!

When they finally got clothes back on & sat down for a minute

this is what I found on the couch.

The other day at about 9:30am I found Brock like this.

Man when that boy is tired he just crashes.



Halloween.

The week prior to Halloween

downtown businesses have kids parade up & down the streets

to get bags full of candy.

And every year I take the boys

& they love it.

Thank goodness grandma Y stopped by so I could leave Vance

at home with her, since the weather was quite chilly.

So Captain Hook

& his side kick pirate

ventured out for candy!

A couple days before Halloween I figured it was time to carve the pumpkin.

I sometimes wonder why I do things

just for the fact it's what you're supposed to do.

But anyway, here we are carving the pumpkin.

I was not in the mood.

The boys didn't want to touch the guts of the pumpkin

& we couldn't find our carving utensils,

so Luke took out a big knife & made some sort of

typical pumpkin face.

Ahhh thank goodness it's over.

Onto next year....and maybe we will skip this part of the festivities,

at least until the boys want to do it themselves! 

The weather was gorgeous for Halloween

& the boys couldn't wait to get out the door!

We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood

& they got bags full of candy.

Then Luke dropped Vance and I off at home and the boys and him

went to visit the Hanson's in town.

They came home with the best treat ever....deer bacon!

Thanks Hanson's you made the boys' night. 

Happy Halloween!



the joys of a good outfit.

Vance tends to have blow outs

when it's least expected.

Anytime he's in the jumperoo...watch out.

When you pick him up you better check his pants.

It always happens right before we're walking out the door for preschool

or as I'm trying to get a meal on the table.

I've grown to LOVE this outfit in particular.

You can probably imagine why.

Because it's mustard color.

Which means I don't have to scrub & scrub & scrub

 to try to restore the cute white, light blue (or whatever color it might be) outfits

that are now caked on with poop.

Ohh the joys of little babies.

At this point, the outfit gets thrown!

Especially the onsies.  I have enough of those to just not care

if I throw it right in the garbage.

And today was particularly lovely. 

I had two poopy incidents at the same time, with 2 different boys,

all while trying to cook lunch!

Lord help me!