Happy Friday

Be sure to take some time to stop and smell the flowers this weekend

a day at the park

The boys and I met our friends at the park yesterday. They were so excited to see Taylor and Rylynn! They hugged, ran around and had so much fun playing together. It's so great as a mom to see your little kids loving their friends and enjoying themselves.

just following the rules

acorn obsessions and a ghetto bike

Austin's favorite bike is at least 14 years old. It belonged to my niece Taylor and my sister got it at a garage sale, so who knows how old it really is. Even though we have lots of new bikes for him to ride, Austin prefers the run down, ghetto one. He also prefers to use his feet Fred Flintstone style instead of using the pedals. I'm thinking one day that bike might accidentally disappear...

Counting acorns with daddy

The boys are slightly obsessed with acorns. Rarely do I wash a load of clothes without an acorn being washed and dried. In case you were wondering, acorns come out the dryer just fine. Ethan even made his own acorn garden in the backyard. He cleared out a patch of ground and "grows" his acorns there. He tries to make sure the acorns get enough sun and water to grow. We may end up with 50 oak trees in a tiny spot next to our deck, but hey, it keeps him occupied!

sweet little birdies

Some colorful animals found their way to the tree in the baby room. My dad cut an owl and bird out of wood and I had fun painting and decorating them. I know I'm probably going a little overboard, but it sure is fun!

cravings

1. Blueberries and strawberries sprinkled with a little sugar
2. Frozen grapes
3. Egg and bacon sandwich with mayo, cheese and jelly for breakfast #2
4. Twix
5. Water with ice instead of just cold water
6. Homemade strawberry limeade
7. Cherry poptarts right out of the toaster for breakfast #1
8. Tub of ready to bake cookies for whenever the urge arises
9. Chocolate Frosty with a couple Doritos

YUM!

night night machine

Ethan invented a "night night machine". He woke up one morning talking about the machine he built. Eric climbed up on his bunk bed to see it and sure enough, there it was. Here is how it works...

• Crawl into bed
• At the foot of the bed are books to read to help make you sleepy
• Move on to the stuffed animals to cover them up and tuck them in
• Move a little further to your blankets and pillows
• Voila! You are fast asleep!

Apparently they are portable, because he built one on our coffee table in the living room too.

I love the age he is at right now! I can really see his imagination working and it's so fun to see what he comes up with.

6 years

Eric and I celebrated our 6th anniversary by heading to our favorite place Outback to eat. I think we have eaten there almost all of our anniversaries. We thought about branching out this year, but my pregnant self couldn't resist the thought of the cheese fries or yummy salad.

Eric brought to my attention that I have been pregnant 1/3 of our marriage. Isn't that crazy? 2 1/2 kids in 6 years is pretty good. I feel so blessed every day to have such a supportive, loving husband and such sweet little boys. I love that our family is growing and I couldn't ask for a better partner to share it with. I love you sweetie!

Pirates' Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween this year. The boys were very excited to be pirates and were even more excited about going trick or treating. I think it was actually the thought of candy that excited them the most.

Trick or Treat!

Tinkerbell wooed the pirate boys, but only one eventually won her kiss.

Mommas partying it up

Eric's mom was in town to join in the festivities.

The boys both wanted to fill their buckets "up to the top". Austin checked his progress with his flashlight often. We had a really fun time just watching the kids enjoy themselves.
Happy Halloween!

happy halloween!

halloweens past

The first few years of the boys' lives I was able to pick out their Halloween costumes. I took full advantage of this by dressing them as cute as I could before they want to be zombies, Frankenstein or some other awful creature. We have had a frog, monkeys and skunks so far. This year they decided they wanted to be pirates months ago. Once their minds were made up, that was it. I am very excited to see them in their costumes and am looking forward to taking them trick or treating this year. Hopefully Austin will enjoy his costume more than the skunk costume last year!

How are you?

I'm finally feeling really good now at 22 weeks. I have energy and sometimes even forget I'm pregnant. Someone asked me a week ago how I was doing and my answer was "great" for the first time in 5 months.

I can really feel the baby moving now. At first I could just feel the little thumps every once in a while, but now they are getting stronger. Yesterday Eric felt her kick for the first time. It was exciting! I'm trying to savor each moment of this pregnancy since it will be my last. I'm also really trying to enjoy feeling good since I know before too long I will have heartburn, won't be able to sleep, and my sciatic nerve pain will get worse. Who knows, this pregnancy has been so different, maybe those things won't come. Hey, a girl can dream.

fortune cookies

We had Chinese food tonight and apparently Ethan and Austin's fortune cookies were written just for them. Ethan didn't want me to read the fortunes because he wanted to read it to us. Here is what my big boy said...

"Dear Ethan,
You are a good boy. You do good at school and ride your bike like a big boy."

"Dear Austin,
You need to learn to go poo-poo and TT in the potty."

What a cutie pie!