Trick or Treat?

Dylan was such a champ tonight! Daddy and I were trying to get him to quit after one block (both sides), but he was ready to keep going. It must have been that late in the day nap.

The weather was gorgeous, Brian even wore shorts tonight, and I didn't want to stay inside, so I left a giant bowl of candy on the door step, and all four of us walked around the neighborhood. Any time we were close to our house, I checked the bowl, and surprisingly, no big bratty kid came along and emptied the whole bowl into his bag! 

Dylan was so cute, saying trick or treat to everyone, and he also added a Thank You at each house. He really seemed to enjoy going from house to house. There was only one house that was too scary, and that was fine, because he had loads of candy by then anyway!

Brody rode along in the stroller and watched everything.

As you can see, Dylan's pail was full to the brim with goodies.

After trick or treating, Dylan went to the hockey game with Daddy. Brody and I hung out and gave out a few more pieces of candy before the official trick-or-treat hours ended.

Brody managed to get his little hands on the remaining candy. He's wearing a onesie, because his costume is so warm, that's all he needed under it in this warm weather. My car thermostat said 74 degress this afternoon!

Whew, one fall holiday down, two more big holidays coming up! 

We're headed to MN for a week, next week. It will be interesting to see how Dylan does on the car ride, and how many times he'll ask to stop for a potty break. There are no McDonald's or Burger King play-lands between here and the Twin Cities, so cross your fingers for good weather so we can get out of the van and run a bit at the rest stops! I'm taking the boys by myself, and I've never done that! I hope the ride up there and home go smoothly!

Mom's Club Party

This morning we started our day with the MOMS Club Halloween Party. It was a non-sugar event, which was cool. There were healthy snacks, fun activities, singing, and trick-or-treating for tattoos, play-doh, pencils, and other non-food treats.

Here we are, all dressed up.

Dylan loved the popcorn in a glove, with a candy corn in the end as the fingertip. He didn't even seem to notice that Brody was moving in on his bag of loot.

I just love the picture below. You can't see either of their faces clearly, but you can see the round little curve of their cheeks!

After the fun of the party, Dylan got in the big trampoline and had a grand old time. He loves, loves, loves to jump. He can't get enough!

You'd think all this activity would wear a kid out - but no, Dylan didn't settle down to take a nap. After an hour of staying in his room for quiet time, he came out. When Brody woke up, we went to Target, the gas station and Starbucks. Somewhere along the way, Dylan crashed. And he slept for an hour in the van! I opened the side doors, turned off the interior lights, and left the house door ajar so I would hear him. It was such a gorgeous day today, the garage was a nice temperature! He didn't wake up until Brian came home and opened the garage door!

Carving Pumpkins

Thursday night we carved our pumpkins. Dylan had a little help from Mommy and Daddy. 

He took a few looks inside the pumpkin...

...and put his hand in once. The look of distaste on his face said it all. He wasn't interested in helping us with the pumpkins after feeling the slimy, gooey stuff inside. I asked him if he'd pull out some seeds, and he said no, the pumpkin coughed. What? Yes, he said, the pumpkin coughed. 

After that, he watched Thomas Halloween while Mommy and Daddy did the pumpkin cleaning and carving. I must say, I think we had some pretty darn cool pumpkins. The one in the middle, that's Blues Clues, can you tell?! Daddy did an Owl, and I did a spider on Dylan's pumpkin. Brody's pumpkin was pretty small, so we decided not to carve it.

The beginning of Halloween

Monday was the start of Halloween week for us. Dylan's play group had a little party, so I got the boys all dressed up for the party. Brody was a little frog. He did not appreciate being in that puffy costume. It made it very difficult to get around and pull up on things.

While I was buckling Dylan into the van, the house door was ajar, and I heard a piano key being played. 

He was just barely tall enough to reach the keys!

After nap time, Dylan was coloring his new Thomas coloring pages with his new washable markers. Why all the new stuff you wonder? WELL...those were his rewards for wearing his big boy undies and staying dry all morning! He continued to stay dry the rest of the week, with the exception of one little accident. We're still working on going #2 on the toilet, but he has conquered going potty on the toilet! Yay Dylan!!

MOM'S Club Party

This morning we started our day with the MOMS Club Halloween Party. It was a non-sugar event, which was cool. There were healthy snacks, fun activities, singing, and trick-or-treating for tattoos, play-doh, pencils, and other non-food treats.


Here we are, all dressed up.

Dylan loved the popcorn in a glove, with a candy corn in the end as the fingertip. He didn't even seem to notice that Brody was moving in on his bag of loot.

I just love the picture below. You can't see either of their faces clearly, but you can see the round little curve of their cheeks!

After the fun of the party, Dylan got in the big trampoline and had a grand old time. He loves, loves, loves to jump. He can't get enough!

You'd think all this activity would wear a kid out - but no, Dylan didn't settle down to take a nap. After an hour of staying in his room for quiet time, he came out. When Brody woke up, we went to Target, the gas station and Starbucks. Somewhere along the way, Dylan crashed. And he slept for an hour in the van! I opened the side doors, turned off the interior lights, and left the house door ajar so I would hear him. It was such a gorgeous day today, the garage was a nice temperature! He didn't wake up until Brian came home and opened the garage door!

Carving Pumpkins

Thursday night we carved our pumpkins. Dylan had a little help from Mommy and Daddy.

He took a few looks inside the pumpkin...

...and put his hand in once. The look of distaste on his face said it all. He wasn't interested in helping us with the pumpkins after feeling the slimy, gooey stuff inside. I asked him if he'd pull out some seeds, and he said no, the pumpkin coughed. What? Yes, he said, the pumpkin coughed.


After that, he watched Thomas Halloween while Mommy and Daddy did the pumpkin cleaning and carving. I must say, I think we had some pretty darn cool pumpkins. The one in the middle, that's Blues Clues, can you tell?! Daddy did an Owl, and I did a spider on Dylan's pumpkin. Brody's pumpkin was pretty small, so we decided not to carve it.

Beginning of Halloween

Monday was the start of Halloween week for us. Dylan's play group had a little party, so I got the boys all dressed up for the party. Brody was a little frog. He did not appreciate being in that puffy costume. It made it very difficult to get around and pull up on things.

While I was buckling Dylan into the van, the house door was ajar, and I heard a piano key being played.

He was just barely tall enough to reach the keys!

After nap time, Dylan was coloring his new Thomas coloring pages with his new washable markers. Why all the new stuff you wonder? WELL...those were his rewards for wearing his big boy undies and staying dry all morning! He continued to stay dry the rest of the week, with the exception of one little accident. We're still working on going #2 on the toilet, but he has conquered going potty on the toilet! Yay Dylan!!

Halloween Partay!

We had our annual Halloween party yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! Costumes are required for this party, and everyone did a great job!

Kelly and Matt come down for the party every year, which is really cool. It's fun to have time with my siblings. Kelly was a witch and Matt was Braveheart! Isn't his wig funny? As I'm cleaning today, I keep finding fibers from his wig everywhere.

Brian and I were a '50's couple.

These are our friends Janine and Joe, Oh, excuse me, the King and Queen.  I made Sliders to serve, and Janine claims her recipe is better. I propose a Slider competition!!

Our friends and neighbors Paul and Monica were so cute as a Mobster and a Flapper. Aren't they just so darn cute? P.S. Monica's mink was real, and we were all a bit creeped out.

Our friends Nate and Erin. Nate was a board game, The Settlers of Catan. What is that you ask? Oh, just a nerdy strategy land-ownership game we play together!! :) Erin was Sarah Palin, dead Moose, rifle, and all.

I asked everyone to bring a food item to share. Nate and Erin's contribution was jello shots. They were SO delicious and SO popular. Though they brought three gallon ziploc bags full of them this year, we've requested they double the amount next year.

As the night wore on, I forgot to get everyone else's pictures, sorry! It was a very fun time, and really made me appreciate having many of our friends together. Starting in the morning, the kid's Halloween fun begins!

Halloween Party

We had our annual Halloween party yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! Costumes are required for this party, and everyone did a great job!


Kelly and Matt come down for the party every year, which is really cool. It's fun to have time with my siblings. Kelly was a witch and Matt was Braveheart! Isn't his wig funny? As I'm cleaning today, I keep finding fibers from his wig everywhere.

Brian and I were a '50's couple.

These are our friends Janine and Joe, Oh, excuse me, the King and Queen. I made Sliders to serve, and Janine claims her recipe is better. I propose a Slider competition!!

Our friends and neighbors Paul and Monica were so cute as a Mobster and a Flapper. Aren't they just so darn cute? P.S. Monica's mink was real, and we were all a bit creeped out.

Our friends Nate and Erin. Nate was a board game, The Settlers of Catan. What is that you ask? Oh, just a nerdy strategy land-ownership game we play together!! :) Erin was Sarah Palin, dead Moose, rifle, and all.

I asked everyone to bring a food item to share. Nate and Erin's contribution was jello shots. They were SO delicious and SO popular. Though they brought three gallon ziploc bags full of them this year, we've requested they double the amount next year.

As the night wore on, I forgot to get everyone else's pictures, sorry! It was a very fun time, and really made me appreciate having many of our friends together. Starting in the morning, the kid's Halloween fun begins!

Stay at home mom

This job is hard. Really hard. It makes you question yourself everyday, and whether or not you are doing the right thing for your child. And then when you think you are doing the right thing, but it makes your child very upset, you feel guilty. And you wonder, am I drowning his spirit because I'm not strong enough to deal with it?

I've never once had the thought that going back to work would be better than this. I can't fathom going back to work, doing something that, although important to the functioning of a business, is really not important in the scheme of things. But when I find myself feeling so frustrated over a tumbling class, and more specifically, my child's spirited refusal to pay attention or listen to a single command, I have to wonder what the heck do I want? Being home with my kids is what I so desperately wanted. Why isn't it pure bliss all the time?


I guess it's a little bit like running your own business. You are the boss, there is no one to tell you what a good job you are doing. And even if people tell you "good job", you still have some doubts in your mind because you are the boss. You have to constantly analyze if you are doing the right thing. You have to wait until you see your business is failing or succeeding before knowing if you are doing the right thing. And with kids, when do you finally know you've done the right thing? When they turn 18? When they have kids of their own? When they retire and mellow out and enjoy their grandchildren and realize they should have done things differently?


Maybe the key to everything is expectations. I have high expectations. Of everyone, including myself.

To think, this thought process started because Dylan was not a good listener at tumbling today, so I didn't let him have his sucker. Yes, I know, he's not even three, what do I expect? I expect that he will make an attempt to listen. I expect that he will not totally disregard the few rules we have set the minute we walk in the door to class. I'm not going to give him the sucker just because everyone else got theirs. Why should I reward behavior that doesn't deserve a reward? Wouldn't it be better to give him another chance to earn it, and then he'll truly value the sucker and the fact that he worked for it? Sometimes I feel sorry for my kids, because my expectations are so high. But then I decide they will be fine in the end. They'll probably still go to kindergarten and succeed, and maybe they'll even become mature, responsible adults that don't blame their parents for all the wrongdoings of their childhood.

Stay at home mom

This job is hard. Really hard. It makes you question yourself everyday, and whether or not you are doing the right thing for your child. And then when you think you are doing the right thing, but it makes your child very upset,  you feel guilty. And you wonder, am I drowning his spirit because I'm not strong enough to deal with it?

I've never once had the thought that going back to work would be better than this. I can't fathom going back to work, doing something that, although important to the functioning of a business, is really not important in the scheme of things. But when I find myself feeling so frustrated over a tumbling class, and more specifically, my child's spirited refusal to pay attention or listen to a single command, I have to wonder what the heck do I want? Being home with my kids is what I so desperately wanted. Why isn't it pure bliss all the time? 

I guess it's a little bit like running your own business. You are the boss, there is no one to tell you what a good job you are doing. And even if people tell you "good job", you still have some doubts in your mind because you are the boss. You have to constantly analyze if you are doing the right thing. You have to wait until you see your business is failing or succeeding before knowing if you are doing the right thing. And with kids, when do you finally know you've done the right thing? When they turn 18? When they have kids of their own? When they retire and mellow out and enjoy their grandchildren and realize they should have done things differently?

Maybe the key to everything is expectations. I have high expectations. Of everyone, including myself.

To think, this thought process started because Dylan was not a good listener at tumbling today, so I didn't let him have his sucker. Yes, I know, he's not even three, what do I expect? I expect that he will make an attempt to listen. I expect that he will not totally disregard the few rules we have set the minute we walk in the door to class. I'm not going to give him the sucker just because everyone else got theirs. Why should I reward behavior that doesn't deserve a reward? Wouldn't it be better to give him another chance to earn it, and then he'll truly value the sucker and the fact that he worked for it? Sometimes I feel sorry for my kids, because my expectations are so high. But then I decide they will be fine in the end. They'll probably still go to kindergarten and succeed, and maybe they'll even become mature, responsible adults that don't blame their parents for all the wrongdoings of their childhood.

9 month pictures

We went this morning for Brody's nine month pictures. It is so hard to choose which ones to have printed! Here are some of the pictures that I thought were cute.

Trick or Treat?

Dylan was such a champ tonight! Daddy and I were trying to get him to quit after one block (both sides), but he was ready to keep going. It must have been that late in the day nap.

The weather was gorgeous, Brian even wore shorts tonight, and I didn't want to stay inside, so I left a giant bowl of candy on the door step, and all four of us walked around the neighborhood. Any time we were close to our house, I checked the bowl, and surprisingly, no big bratty kid came along and emptied the whole bowl into his bag!

Dylan was so cute, saying trick or treat to everyone, and he also added a Thank You at each house. He really seemed to enjoy going from house to house. There was only one house that was too scary, and that was fine, because he had loads of candy by then anyway!

Brody rode along in the stroller and watched everything.

As you can see, Dylan's pail was full to the brim with goodies.

After trick or treating, Dylan went to the hockey game with Daddy. Brody and I hung out and gave out a few more pieces of candy before the official trick-or-treat hours ended.

Brody managed to get his little hands on the remaining candy. He's wearing a onesie, because his costume is so warm, that's all he needed under it in this warm weather. My car thermostat said 74 degress this afternoon!

Whew, one fall holiday down, two more big holidays coming up!

We're headed to MN for a week, next week. It will be interesting to see how Dylan does on the car ride, and how many times he'll ask to stop for a potty break. There are no McDonald's or Burger King play-lands between here and the Twin Cities, so cross your fingers for good weather so we can get out of the van and run a bit at the rest stops! I'm taking the boys by myself, and I've never done that! I hope the ride up there and home go smoothly!