Carm’s Hats

While we were all in picture-taking-mode, I caught this cute one of the boys in both their blue winter hats my friend Carm made for them – THANKS CARM! They are adorable and fit perfectly!

W&M

Our friends, Ned and Jeanette Turner, went out East on a trip and passed through ol’ Willy (aka Williamsburg... The College of William and Mary), our alma mater. They brought us back these adorable sweatshirts for the boys….

Race car driver

Grandma bought Tate this totally great race car driver outfit for Halloween. He had a great time dressing up and fun with all his friends at school on Monday (late because of the school cancelation due to snow).

I volunteered to take pictures of all the kids in their costumes at school. Below is a picture of Tate’s two teachers, Mrs. Vallence and Mrs. Caruso.

Here is Tate and his special friend Sophie at school.

Here is the whole class in there fun costumes.

Fall Family Fun

Due to an unexpected gut bug (for Mommy), we had to forgo a planned evening with friends for fall festivities. Nevertheless, we still ended up having a fun-filled weekend with lots of great memories.

Chase just adores wearing this cozy hat my friend Carmen made for him a while back.

Tate and Daddy built a train ramp that resulted in hours of fun.

 

Daddy made a special blankie hat for Chase and he just thought it was a hoot with all our giggles.

Tate went out for a snowy adventure with Gizmo.

Tyler and Tate had fun making this really cool jack-o-lantern. With carbon paper, they first traced on the Thomas image. Tate cut out the eyes (I missed the actual cutting), then Daddy did the rest with a power tool for the details that were cut only half way through the flesh.

 

We then baked the seeds (a little drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt and 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven). They turned out yummy.

 

Weekend fun!

Grandmommy came in last Tuesday. We had a blast! Then on Saturday, Tyler and I left for Boulder for a night away while Grandmommy watched the boys until Sunday afternoon. THANK YOU GRANDMOMMY!!! It was very refreshing!

Here are some highlights from the visit (note: Grandmommy was in her house clothes much of the visit and requested no pictures)

Swim class on Friday:

 

Movie night – Swiss Family Robinson

Box races around the house…they had a ball! This is definitely one advantage of having hardwood floors.

Grandmommy took a family photo – everyone is smiling!

Sad news

I am a little sad today, not overly sad, just a little. First, my dear friend Julia tells me that she and Paul have decided to move back to Connecticut. Not right away, but sooner than later. A few months back they had decided to settle here and start a small homestead, but things have changed….and I am a little heart broken. Julia and I get along really well, eat the same (so can share stuff) AND our kids like each other and play well together. They go to our church and I was hoping our kids would kind of grow up together in all the youth programs, etc. OK, no more, I am about to cry.

Second piece of bad news, one of my chickens died. I went into add clean wood chips and there she was…I won’t go into details, but uggg….poor chicken. Now we just need to pray it was a fluke thing and not some chicken virus that will pass on to the rest.

On a happier note, Grandmommy is here for a visit! It has been busy, but restful too. Yesterday we just vegged. Tate and Grandmommy watched pretty much the entire Little House on the Prairie mini-series. Today was swim class, a drive-by of Tate’s school and a trip to Vitamin Cottage. Grandmommy is staying with the boys on her own Saturday night so Tyler and I can have a night away in Boulder! So more upbeat blogging soon….

Fire Engine Birthday!

Tate has a healthy interest in anything trains, cars and trucks. So we went with a fire engine theme for his birthday party. One of our neighbors is a volunteer fire fighter. He generously gave us a fun tour of one of the fire engines at the fire station about 5 minutes from our house. He brought some plastic fire fighter hats and let the kids climb into the engine and see all its buttons and gadgets, it was a good time!

Chase loved it! He kept pointing and hollering at the big, red trucks!

 

Tate thought it was pretty cool too!

 

Tate then wanted a picture with his brother in the drivers seat.

Tyler and I made a fire engine cake. Since I didn’t want to use the artificial dyes, we had to go with yellow. It was a hit!

 

  

 

Fun was had by all!