Thanksgiving Day PowWow

Sorry for my blogging absence. I dropped the camera a few weeks ago and broke the flash, so it only works when we're outside. Needless to say, I haven't taken many pictures.

Rachel let me borrow her camera yesterday so I could take pictures at Ethan's PowWow at school. Ethan moved up to the 3 year old class on Monday, and he handled it way better than I thought he would. While he's still pretty reserved at school, he didn't cry and scream in his new class. They said he cried for about 3 minutes the first day, and it was less every day after that. Yea! He LOVES the new playground! It has a huge play set, with a track around it with BIKES!

Back to the PowWow...
Let's see... he wouldn't wear his hat, he kept pulling at his costume, he didn't sing a word, he didn't pay attention, and sometimes just picked his nose. That's my boy!

And of course, wouldn't smile for the camera...

But boy, do I love that kid! It cracks me up how different he is at home. He talks NON-STOP at home! He is silly, fun, and active. He'll come out of his shell eventually. It only took me about 20 years!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Halloween has been a total blast this year!!!! Last year was, well, torture in my book. Ethan wouldn't wear a costume, and he was just too young to really do anything with. This year is the total opposite!
Yesterday we went trick-or-treating at Lonnie's work and Ethan did a phenomenal job, considering how shy he usually is. For one, he actually walked the whole time! He usually wants to be carried everywhere we go, especially if there are lots of people around. And he actually went up to people and took the candy from them, and sometimes even reached in the bowl and got it himself. Huge for him! Eli just loved looking around at everything and everyone. Oops, though, no pictures.

Tonight we went to the Benders for a Halloween party, which was a blast. We got great pictures and Ethan loved playing with his buddies. On the way home we stopped at a church's Trunk-or-Treat and got some extra candy, too.

Enjoy our cute boys!

Caden and Keira look like giants in this picture!

Hello? Anyone there???

This picture got out of place and Blogger won't let me fix it, but this is our 'spooky treat.' Rachel saw this graveyard cake on the Today Show and wanted to try it. Rachel requested Lonnie's mad cake-decorating skills, and together they put together the AWESOME treat! Even won the best spooky treat award!

This is just too funny....Lonnie looks great, Eli's trying to eat the banana, and Ethan's distracted by who knows what...

Tomorrow we're excited to actually trick or treat for real in our neighborhood - another first. It'll be fun!!!!

CAMP'N

We went camping this weekend with a bunch of our friends and had a WONDERFUL time! This was the largest group we've ever gotten together; we took up 5 campsites! (of course, did I get pictures of everyone? No!) There's just nothing like being outside, spending time with friends, and watching the kids play together.
We did, however, get rained out. We knew the forecast was calling for nasty storms, but we figured we'd enjoy the fall weather as long as we could before the rain came. We ended up packing up and heading home Saturday night.


I never tire of seeing these boys play together...
And this one, man...he has got to be the happiest baby in the world. You'll see he's grinning from ear to ear in every single picture.

Taking an illegal ride with everyone crammed in the back to the playground.

Men doing important things...

And you can't camp without digital reception to watch the Hogs game! (at least that's what the men think)

After the rain hit....chillin' in the camper.

We're looking forward to spring when we can camp again!

So Handsome!

Hmmmmmm....

Can you tell who is in the picture that Keira's holding? It's not her Momma!

Her fabulous Aunt Margaret! That's me at 5 years old, just like Keira. Isn't that crazy?!

More Bath Time

I think I'll be taking lots of bath pictures in the next few months; the boys are just too cute playing together!

If you know me very well at all, you know I can't STAND mohawks, but I gotta admit, it's pretty stinkin' cute on this little guy!

Other stuff....

Eli loves being able to sit up and play with toys (and boy, does Mommy love it!)

Eli has made feeding time an adventure lately. He LOVES to blow raspberries as I put food in his mouth. On this particular night, I just decided to stop wiping off his face and see how messy he would get.

Yum yum!!!

6 month stats

I guess I forgot to post Eli's stats from his 6-month check-up last week.

Weight - 17 pounds, 7 ounces - 53rd percentile
Height - 27 inches - 77th percentile

He's sitting up soooo well now and continues to be an extremely happy, smiley baby. He is not crawling, but gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. He eats 6-8 ounces four times a day. He's eating cereal, vegetables, and we've started a few fruits. He wears size 3 diapers and both 6-9 and 12 month clothes. He LOVES his big brother and loves to wrestle with him. He goes to bed at 7:00 every night; we just lay him down and he conks out on his own, then sleeps all night. Love it!
We are so blessed to have him in our family!