Halloweenies

Sorting through the goods.

Jake Thomas

Waiting for the siren to start the trick or treating

Nanny and Papa were having a hard time getting them to sit still.

The boys were too busy for picture taking.

Anderson James

What a fantastic day! The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better Halloween. We started the day off at Switzer to see Grant and Claire in their Halloween parade. The boys wore their costumes and enjoyed joining in with the big kids. Claire was a flapper and Grant was Indiana Jones.

This evening they got dressed again in their costumes and played outside while we waited for the sirens to go off at 6. Anderson and Jake were running around, chasing eachother and just beside themselves with excitement. We trick or treated at about 6 houses and probably could have done more but they were dripping in sweat from the unusually warm day so we brought them home to strip off their costumes. The rest of the evening was spent handing out candy. They had mixed feelings about that. Jake liked to hand it out and so did Anderson, but then as the stash got smaller they had a change of heart. Anderson began to refuse to give away candy and Jake would fake kids out. He would put his hand in the bag but not drop the candy in. At least 5 kids got cheated out of candy.

Now I just need to figure how out erase the monkey costume from Anderson's memory. The stinker is relentless about asking for it. Today he spent most of his waking minutes asking to wear it and if he was wearing it he was telling you over and over "monkey".

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin carving time

Anderson and Jake gutting the pumpkin

Anderson digs in

Jake takes a turn

We carved our pumpkins after dinner tonight. The boys enjoyed taking the seeds out with their giant spoons. Both of them were very apprehensive about putting their hands into the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds. After we carved the pumpkins we bundled the boys up and headed to Romeo. For those that don't know Romeo is an area with many historic homes.

There are countless streets of beautiful homes from the late 1800's, but one street in particular called Tillson Street is really decked out for Halloween. About 80 percent of the homes on that street go all out for Halloween. The spooky displays are amazing and it is so much fun to stroll through the historic neighborhood of haunted houses whilst feeling the crunchy fall leaves under your feet. It was pretty busy, there were even some local businesses selling parking spaces. We were joined by Uncle and Grant so the boys were pretty excited. Tomorrow we will be going to see Grant and Claire in their Halloween parade at school and of course doing lots of trick or treating in evening.

A dash of them, a heaping spoonful of me

Anderson saying his ABC's....Jake video coming soon.

The boys have been making great strides lately. They soak up new information and seem to learn new things constantly. Both can count to 10 and say their ABC's. They usually leave out two or three letters but I still think that is pretty darn good. The funniest is when they get stuck on a letter and will repeat q, r, s over and over until they finally remember that t comes next.

This week they have been mastering their shapes and colors. They are able to identify a circle, square, triangle, heart and star. The colors they know are red, blue and yellow. I've lost count of the words that they say but I do know that the most popular ones this week are witch, pumpkin, pirate, spider and vampire. Anderson is stringing 2-3 words together and Jake is right on his heels. Last week at the library, Anderson told two strangers he had "poo butt". It was quite embarrassing but he really did have a "poo butt" so what is one to do?

While we were at the library, we realized just how much the boys LOVE trains. They played with the library's train set for about an hour with no sign of letting up. I once tutored this really strange boy who was obsessed with Thomas the tank engine. He was a pretty freaky kid so I always kinda associated the trains with weirdness. In fact I used to tell Kevin our kids wouldn't play with trains. Well guess what is on their x-mas list? My sister will be picking them up a huge set that Costco has right now and I guess Santa will have to pick up the odds and ends.

Santa is going to be pretty busy this year. Kevin has asked for lasik surgery and I am getting braces. Kevin eyes are pretty bad, poor guy can barely see a hand in front of his face without contacts or glasses. He will be having his surgery done after the first of the year.

My present is a bit more complicated. I'm treating myself to braces for the third time in my life. I was lucky enough during my childhood to have been privy to braces twice, three retainers, and a head gear contraption. After 8 years of that nonsense the orthodontist waved the white flag and told my parents that he couldn't do anything more for my severe overbite and underdeveloped jaw. Surgery would be the only answer. So when I was 19 I consulted with a maxillofacial surgeon but chickened out. A possible complication of corrective jaw surgery is permanent nerve damage. Picture being numbed up by the dentist for the rest of your life. Didn't sound fun to me.

Five years ago I went back to the surgeon thinking it was time to have the surgery. Long story short I decided not to do it for a second time. Last week I returned to the same surgeon for the third time in 13 years. I'm surprised he agreed to see me again, I was afraid he might have had enough of me.

The typical surgery takes around 1.5 hours, he anticipates my surgery will be about 5 hours. I need a lot of work. In layman's terms I will have my upper jaw expanded and pushed back and my lower jaw will need to be brought forward and some work on my chin will be needed as well. I'm saddened to say that I need every procedure that the man does. BUT before any of that can happen I need to get braces. My braces should be on in the next 4-6 weeks and at this point the surgeon and orthodontist believe I should be ready for surgery in about 6-10 months.

I have mentioned the surgery to a couple of people in my life and have chuckled at their reactions...."what for?" I appreciate the polite gesture but come on people. It is quite obvious "what for". So I'm excited at the prospect of throwing my insecurities out the window over my buck teeth, but I'm also scared sh!tless of not waking up from surgery. I cried today when I found out in two weeks I'll only see the boys for an hour on Nov. 13th due to parent/teacher conferences. I can't stand the thought of not seeing them for one day let alone missing out on their little lives.

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Trick or Treat

Anderson, Simon and Jake

Monkey and Dragon not wanting to take pictures

Family Pic

Monkey and Dragon 2008

Bumble Bees in the same spot 2007

We took the boys to downtown Rochester this afternoon for some early trick or treating. They were so excited wear their costumes despite the near heat stroke I imposed on them. They had on so many layers they could barely move. Anderson didn't care, Jake was slightly annoyed but after all he is our hot box. Baby Simon joined us this year and although he was too little to collect the good stuff, he still looked awfully cute as a little giraffe. The boys quickly learned the routine...hold open your bag, say trick or treat and move on to the next store for more goodies.

Some new pictures

Jake Thomas

Anderson James

Creative ways to play with blocks

Jake showing off his bear slippers

Anderson toutin about in his

Fun with stickers

Jake stickerin' up his coloring book

Anderson places his stickers carefully

" See, see?"

Look Momma!

The boys are becoming increasingly more difficult to entertain. Boredom comes fast and furious on some days and today was one of them. It was much too cold for a walk outside, we've already putzed around Target about 8 times in the past 7 days....and its only mid-October.

The last time we tried stickers, Jake managed to eat one completely but this time it was different. They both stuck stickers for about 20 minutes and even though Jake tasted one, eating it wasn't his main focus. Anderson was very thoughtful in his placement of the stickers and easily removed them from the paper. Jake had a more difficult time removing them but soon got the hang of it. He didn't pay much attention of where he put them or if he stuck six of them on top of eachother. Either way they both had a good time.

That's Two! Two Cute Babies! HaHaHa (Thunder! Lightning!)

Jake giving it a shot.

Anderson nails it. (With a little encouragment from Jake)

We have been trying to teach the boys all the things you teach toddlers: numbers, alphabet, colors, shapes etc. They have been making strides lately and will often spontaneously start counting things when playing alone. Everyone does there part in teaching the boys including the Grandma's when watching them during the day and to who we are eternally greatful, and myself after work but I think most of the credit for shaping our little monsters goes to Mumma. Tammy has been the best mother to the boys a father could ask for and they are very lucky to have someone as thoughful and loving as her.

I have writers block for titles lately

I adore this picture of Jake

Anderson on a mission

The boys have been getting a lot of outdoor time lately. We have had a streak of nice, comfortable weather days but we know they are drawing to a close. Pretty soon we'll be stuck in the house due to the cold or too layered up in sweaters, jackets and hats to even move around.

Anderson had his first visit to the dentist on Monday. He bumped his tooth a few months ago but recently it started showing some discoloration. Everyone I asked thought he needed to go, he might have an infection that could damage his permanent tooth.

I made an appointment with a pediatric dentist and on Monday the whole fam showed up to see what a pediatric dentist was all about. Jake and Anderson loved the fish tank they had in the waiting room and took no time at all to trash the play area. I took Anderson in back to see the dentist while Kevin had the pleasure of changing Jake's stinkies.

The whole thing took about 3 mintues. Dentist walks in, lets Anderson touch his gloves, looks at the tooth (gets bit), and says all is fine. Now please proceed to the checkout and pay 65 dollars. I wish I made 20 some dollars A MINUTE!!! Good news is he is fine, bad news is my mommy instincts told me that for FREE.

I thought they loved eachother...sniff, sniff

While Kevin was bathing the boys this evening we were suprised to find that someone bit someone else on the back, through their clothes today. Poor little guy!

I have heavy soakers

New cloth diaper without giant maxi pad insert

Cloth diper with giagundous maxi pad insert filled with THREE triple layered inserts.

Lugging around about 5 lbs. of diaper

I have what the diaper industry calls "heavy soakers" at nighttime. We thought we had solved our problems months ago when we came up with the ingenius idea of sending them to bed with TWO diapers on. We just doubled them up. It worked for awhile but then they started soaking through those a couple times a week and now we are just at a point where they are literally up to their necks in pee come morning time. Thank god for sleep sacks, it keeps the mess contained.

So after some research I decided to buy them some cloth diapers. They look so much more comfortable than sposies and I know I wouldn't want to wake up soaked in my urine either. We tried them out last night and they were a bust. The leaks weren't quite as bad, but they did leak. So tonight we added extra inserts and we'll see what tomorrow will bring.

Just a side note...the boys got their hair cut yesterday. I'm tired of haircuts every few weeks so I told the lady to shave them down to a one on the sides and back. They look so ridiculous to no fault of their own, they are completely bald on the lower half of their heads. They look like little mushroom heads. Sorry guys, forgive me?

Jake choosing a book from his new library

So many choices!

Reading with Daddy before bed.

When your Mom is a teacher, you have a lot of books. I had been buying books for years through the school book orders to set aside for my future little ones. I had two large tubs full of books...christmas books, halloween books, thanksgiving books, books about teeth, being afraid of the dark and the list goes on and on. The boys aren't quite ready yet for anything but board books, but we set up a little library anyways. They were pretty excited when they saw all the books I have been hoarding for them.

Kevin had Friday off so the boys got to spend a lot of time with Daddy. They ask for him constantly when he is at work and anytime I take them out they think we are going to meet him for lunch. They get so upset when they realize we aren't meeting Daddy. So when they get a bonus day with Daddy they love it.

Yesterday we did our annual pumpkin picking with the McBrides. Nanny and Papa came this year and the boys loved the every minute. They really enjoyed the wagon ride through the pumpkin patch. Both of them were trying to lift and carry any pumpkin within reach. Afterwards everyone came back to our house and we ordered carryout. Fortunately we didn't forget the camera on our outing, unfortunately we did forget the memory card. No pictures to share.

Today we played catch up. We set up our little library, cleaned the bathrooms, and I organized the little people's closet. I packed up all of their summer clothes into bins and washed some of their new fall/winter wardrobe. After dinner the boys spent some time playing outside. When it was time to come in I picked up Anderson and started to carry him into the house. Jake began to cry immediately. He knew what that meant and he wasn't happy. Before Kevin knew it Jake was making a break away down the sidewalk at full speed. Poor Jakey!

Happy 21 Months

The boys turn 21 months today. It is unbelievable to me that it has been 2 years this month since I was put on bedrest as they turned somersaults inside my belly. I miss being pregnant....I loved every second of it. It was such an incredible time for Kevin and I to prepare and relish in the anticipation of their arrival. We had moments of fear of course due to our pre-term labor scare, but for the most part it was such a blissful time.

Now they are starting to string two words together, "bubble bath" and "see Mama". Today they ate their banana whole for the very first time. They proudly held their half peeled banana, taking such pride in their accomplishment. Each milestone distancing them further and further away from babyhood. I'm watching their wings grow, but I'm not ready to let them fly. I need them far more than they could ever need me.