Fall is upon us!

Well we transitioned into the month of October with the stomach flu :( Not fun with children at all!! We were sick for 9 days with Hunter throwing up in my car on the way to the bus. Brayden followed suit 2 days later throwing up on me, himself and one of the dogs. Of course once they were feeling all better and I had shampooed all my carpets and bleached every surface in my house I came down with it 7 days after Hunter started. We have not had the stomach flu in this house since I was pregnant with Brayden and I can't tell you what is worse. Being pregnant with the flu or having the flu and still trying to keep up with two VERY active boys. Kids absolutely amaze me that one minute they are hovering over the toilet or your carpets and puking everything they have in them and the next minute they are laughing and playing. Now once I got sick it took everything out of me. Boy was I thankful that Sean was home this past weekend so I could take some well needed naps and get on the road to recovery.

On to a better subject....Saturday night the boys got to have their first "real" meal after being sick and they were waiting for Sean and I to finish dinner. I had put their drinks and vitamins on the table and told them they couldn't have either until dinner was on the table. They were chatting among themselves at the table and Brayden told Hunter that if he didn't take his vitamins his arms would fall off. Hunter of course asked me if this was true and I told him "No". He started laughing and said, "Mom, I told you that Brayden is the funniest one in our family!". I got the biggest kick out of this because Brayden is our little jokester. If he is in trouble he will try his hardest to make you laugh. It is one of those really hard parenting things for me to keep a straight face and continue with the punishment. Now he's in this stage of just saying funny made up things and it is hilarious.

Things are continuing on in our house in our "new" normal. Having both kids in school has really made our weeks busy. Friday is a nice day to just spend together and have down time at home and I try my hardest to keep that day free of no plans. This week we didn't have school on Monday and Hunter told me he missed his "best friend" so we had a playdate with his friend from preschool that he adores. They played for hours and were so happy to see each other and it made me very happy that we were able to do that. Both boys are still enjoying school and they were both ready to go back to school. I am learning that there are some tough questions that get asked now that Hunter is in school for so many hours and there is exposure to so many different ages of kids. Hunter is really good about asking me when we talk about school when he gets home and I am glad that he feels comfortable asking me. I am still in awe over the maturity that seems to have developed overnight.

I had a tough time when we had our first rainy day at school and Hunter told me that he walked around all by himself at recess. He wasn't sad about it and I didn't act sad for him. My heart was breaking when he was telling me but I knew I shouldn't respond emotionally about it because it is a good thing to learn to be okay with being on your own. I asked him if he was okay just walking around by himself and he said that he just didn't want to play what the other kids were playing so he just walked around. Now he has found a few friends that it sounds like he plays with on a regular basis. I know part of me feeling sad was because I took him away from all of the kids he went to preschool with and instead of there being almost 70 kindergarteners he is now with just 28 in his new school. Thankfully he is a friendly and outgoing little boy that loves his teacher and is enjoying school. I missed my first day of helping in his class because of the flu but I am looking very forward to my first day next week.

I am loving all the things we are learning in school with the apples, pumpkins and leaves! As we were driving to and from school today all the leaves are changing. With the rain and the wind everyone is wearing sweaters, raincoats and boots. I just LOVE fall! Can't wait for pumpkin patch adventures and trick or treating with my little monsters!

A few pictures from some camping we did in July and August.

Sean and I got kicked out of our bed on one of our camping trips this summer!

Oh to be a kid again....


This was just after doing the water park at Silverwood. We let them take a little nap so we could go back and do all the fun amusement rides!

Busy, busy week!

This was Hunter's 3rd week of school but only his 2nd full week. He is enjoying school so much and is so excited when he gets home to tell us all that he has done. We get another recap at dinner when dad is home and he beams when he tells us all that he has done.

This was Brayden's first week of school and he did so good at school and I can tell that he is very ready for preschool. He settled in but had a hard time with me wanting to leave on Thursday. I am going to leave on Tuesday next week because I am going to start volunteering in Hunter's class in October so Brayden needs to get used to me not always being at preschool. I know he will do fine and we just love Teacher Kim so I'm not worried about him because she will take great care of him.

This week was full of meetings for school and our HOA. It was also Hunter's open house at his school and Sean made sure to be home in time to come with us. It was really fun to go and be able to see all the things that he talks about when he comes home. There were a few things that we were not sure exactly what he's been talking about but once we saw everything we figured them out. The teacher had a lot of nice things to say about Hunter and she told us that he keeps track if she misses anything during the day. This made me laugh and I told her that he is a routine kid and notices if things aren't done just so. We talked about me starting to volunteer in class next month and she said that she heard from Hunter that I make playdoh for the preschool and would I do it for her class too. Of course I said yes and then we made our way to go meet Hunter's P.E. teacher. She too told us what a joy Hunter is and that she had asked Hunter earlier if she was going to get to meet us. I am so glad that he is doing so well and that he is a pleasure for his teachers.

Hunter has been wanting to sign up for wrestling and I got some information about it. I told him that I would and that we would make a family decision once we got more info. The kids meet at the high school on M-W-F from 6-8pm and once I saw that I told Hunter that I didn't think it was a very good idea yet. He knows that he goes to bed at 7pm and that if we did wrestling he wouldn't get to bed until 8:30 or 9pm. He's been so tired and has had a few tears on Thursday mornings because of being tired and he said that maybe he can do it when he gets a little bit bigger. The maturity level that is showing lately with him and his thoughts and actions has just amazed me!

Yesterday and today I made time for some very special friends that I haven't seen for a couple of months. We got to enjoy some grown up conversation while the kids played and it was really nice catching up now that it seems like our lives are just getting busier and busier with these kiddos.

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend! Happy Fall!!!

Football Sunday!

The weather took a drastic change from high 80's to cool fall weather and lots of rain this weekend. I must say that fall is my favorite season with the cooler temps and the beautiful colors that we are graced with in the Northwest. Now the first day of fall is not until later this week but I felt like it started for our family this weekend. I love to pick up my scrapbooking in the fall and we enjoy watching Sunday football together as a family. Sean and I used to go to a lot of games since we began dating in September but that was 8 years and 2 kids ago. So now we enjoy them from the comfort and warmth of our own house :)

Last night I went and spent the evening scrapbooking at a local store while Sean and the boys baked yummy peanut butter cookies and had a boys evening in. This morning we woke up to even more rain than yesterday and we spent the morning on the couch watching the Seahawks. Now the game was pitiful without any score on the board by the Seahawks but as the pictures show I had my own game going on in my living room. The game in my living room was much more entertaining than the one on t.v. Gotta love my boys!!!

Hunter's first day of Kindergarten!

Today was Hunter's first day of Kindergarten! Back when Hunter was first born I thought this day was so far in the future but it seems like just yesterday that I was holding that little bundle of a baby in my arms. Now he is so big and he was so confident today. I was a very proud mom! His teachers name is Miss Kennard and she is very friendly and outgoing and Hunter has 13 other kids in his class.
We got up this morning and had breakfast together. Then Brayden and I drove Hunter to the bus stop. We watched him get on the bus and then we drove to the school to watch him get off and walk him to class. Once we got him all set up in class is when Brayden lost it. The principal heard him crying and invited us into the library for coffee and banana bread. After a little while of visiting with the other kindergarten parents we snuck down to the class to see all the kids listening to a story and then we left to go get Brayden's haircut and do some shopping. Brayden and I had a long day of waiting for Hunter and Brayden told me a couple times how much he missed Hunter. Just a couple weeks ago Brayden told Hunter at lunch that he was going to miss him when he got on the bus. I knew that this was going to be a hard day for Brayden because his whole life he and Hunter have been together.
When it was time to go pick Hunter up from the bus stop Brayden was thrilled. I was interested to see how Hunter was feeling after a full day at school and was expecting him to be tired. Most of all I couldn't wait to see how his day was and I was hoping that he had a fun day. Hunter got off the bus and walked straight over to Brayden and wrapped his arms around him and gave him the biggest hug. There are no words for how I felt when I saw that. I just know that my heart melted. Then he gave me a big hug and I was so happy that he was happy to see us. Brayden had the biggest grin on his face and he told Hunter that he had missed him. Hunter then told us about his first day and how much fun he had. He was a little tired but for the most part all he wanted to do was play with Brayden. They spent the next hour outside playing in this beautiful weather we are having and I got to go through all the stuff sent home after the first day. I am a very happy mom and so happy that my boys are such good friends and brothers.

And June

Hunter informed me that his tooth was loose. I wiggled it and sure enough it was ready to come out.

Dad pulled it.

He was a little shocked by everything but was thrilled for the tooth fairy and then informed us that the one next to it is loose.

Sean found a frog and told the kids. They came rushing out and Brayden couldn't get enough of the frog.

His little buddy.

When Hunter first touched the frog he screamed and dropped it. Then it jumped onto his boot and he screamed again. Brayden scooped it up for Hunter to hold again.

Lotus finally got a turn and she was super excited too.

These were my best dollar store purchase. The boys played like crazy all day sucking water out of a bucket and shooting each other, the dogs, me or anything else they could find.

The newest edition to our family! We are very excited for our trips this summer in our new toy.

Pics from May

Hunter had an early morning baseball game and Sean was in Miami so we spent the afternoon at the annual Touch-a-Truck event. The boys were in boy heaven!

Hunter checking out an ambulance. The EMT told him that he could try on his helmet. Hunter had a million questions for them. The EMT's were pretty impressed because Hunter kept calling them doctors.

There were work trucks everywhere.

The army was there too. They showed the boys how all their tools work.

Brayden even got to honk the horn!

The fire truck had to leave on a call but we waited around for them to get back. Hunter was thrilled to be able to walk around in their truck and ask them what everything did.

In the back seat of the fire truck.

The firefighters put on the emergency gear to answer Hunter and Brayden's questions.

They even opened up the sides and back of the truck and showed the boys all the tools they have to help in an emergency. It was a pretty cool day even for me.

The Great Wolf Lodge! The boys still pretend play that they are there and they constantly tell me that they can't wait to go back.

Lotus' 12th birthday! She requested a red velvet cake and that is what she got.

Lotus riding her new bike!

This was a sweet moment. I was folding laundry and Brayden brought Hunter this book and asked him to read it to him. They sat together and read this book while I did the laundry. It was precious.

Aaaaahhh.....sweet mud!

Sean and I were planting trees on Memorial weekend and the hose sprung a leak. Dirt+water=mud and lots of play for little kids.

They had a blast but then it was time to clean off.

Some pics from the last couple months

Thought I should start with the rest of the pics from April :)

We thatched the yard and the boys were very good helpers.

Pitching right on in without even being asked.

Trip to the tulips!


They found all sorts of mud puddles for their boots.

Getting some candy from the Easter bunny!

Hunter is now a pro at this Easter egg hunt

Brayden doesn't need much guidance anymore.


Sean checking out their stash.

My new garden corner. Gotta love spring!