Halloween and November

Since the Christmas decorations are up, it's about time I put up pictures of Halloween! We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, meeting some new neighbors, and that was about all Caleb and Levi wanted to do. John took Ian to the mall after that, where they had trick or treating, and he saw some friends from school and thought that was fun. Caleb liked the candy, after I let him have some that night and said he couldn't have any more, he said, "but there's still three treats in my bucket!"

Caleb was Piglet and Levi was Winnie the Pooh. There are a lot of pictures here but I put on these first two because of how similar their expressions are! I guess they are identical :)

And here is Ian, the ghost. He decided he wanted to be a ghost long before Halloween and never changed his mind.

I put these next two on because I realized Caleb matched his bedroom wall......

and Levi matched the door! I didn't feel like looking through old pictures to find Ian matching our old yellow kitchen wall, but he did when he was a toddler :)

We also worked on cleaning out our yard. There are so many trees right by the house - one had ruined the shingles - and many bushes we want out, like the really thorny one that got Caleb one day and he couldn't move. Plus if we want a garden spot we need some out. Someday I will post pictures of before and after, but this is taking some of it to the recycling place. There is a leaf/outdoor trimmings recycling center, and we hauled many many bags of branches and leaves there, all in the van. I could get 5 tall paper leaf bags in there, trying not to poke Levi too badly.

This is what Ian did in November, even when his brothers were playing practically on his head!

He loves to read, and is reading fairly well. He likes The Magic Tree House books and The Magic School Bus books, especially if they're related to space or inside your body.

For some reason they like playing while laying down.....

And this is Ian coming in for the finish in his school's "Turkey Trot." They put everyone on teams (it was voluntary I believe, but the PE teacher signed up all the first graders) with one child per grade per team. The 6th grader on each team was the captain. Then they raced by grade, all the first graders, who are each on different teams, then the second graders, etc. It had snowed and then was melting, I'm surprised more kids didn't slip and fall. He said his team captain did (I only stayed for the first and second graders, Caleb and Levi weren't liking it). They raced around the school yard, a pretty good distance. I'm very proud of Ian for finishing, partway through he started to cry but he kept on running and finished! He was 53 out of what he said were 60 teams. Then the team captain added up the scores of all the team members, and the team with the lowest number won. Each member of the team got a turkey. Ian's team got 202, I don't know what the winning score was.

And finally, here are the cornucopias we made. Well, John didn't make one but the rest of us did. It was pretty fun, they are made with bread sticks and they all did really well with it! Then we made salt dough fruits and vegetables, then painted them. We had a quiet Thanksgiving, with an abbreviated Thanksgiving menu since it was just us and not much food is consumed by the majority of the family members. It was a relaxing and nice holiday.

October 2009

Here's a few things we've done in October.....

** had Tigger, Barton Bear, and two pirate boys help turn frozen apples into applesauce


** had some cold days for little boys to wear clothes that make them look like such big boys!

** used tools (wrenches and screws mostly) to play doctor with

** had some really warm days to play outside. These two played for TWO HOURS sitting right here in these little rocks, scooping and loading and dumping them out.

** started to take out all the extra foliage we don't want in our yard.

** read

** and read

** and read some more

** read even more

** Ian read

** even upside down!

** we played at some parks

** Levi got really messy eating

** they made themselves into hot dogs, ketchup and mustard included

** and played with lots of loaders and dump trucks!

At the beginning of the month we made a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa, and at the end of the month they came to visit us. It was very nice to have them, to visit, plus Grandma read lots of stories to little boys and did dishes and helped figure out what was wrong with our dishwasher (we've since got a new one), and Grandpa fixed our doors and put in deadbolt locks and fixed all of our screens that had holes and rips in them (which was most of them). And yes, we had Halloween - I'll have to post pictures later.

Pictures, September 2009

Levi helping can pears. He was a great helper! We canned peaches, pears, tomatoes, grape juice, and applesauce.

Caleb was actually able to crawl around with Levi on his back!

Caleb reading. He's quite attached to both his blanket and anything Winnie the Pooh.

Ian in tight places......

....and Levi! I thought Levi was actually going to fall asleep in here.

Levi just like Grandpa! Also wearing his sticker from his GI doctor. Both he and Caleb are doing great and will probably not ever need to return to see this doctor again - hooray! They now really will only need checkups yearly from their pediatrician - so different from the past three years that have included many many doctor and therapy visits.

Whenever Grandma's phone rings Caleb answers it on their (unplugged) fax machine.

The Great Outdoors

Caleb playing at the park. He loves loaders, dump trucks, everything with wheels!

I just thought this was cute, holding hands going to the park :)

Feeding the ducks. The duck pond is right by our house. They think it's fun to watch them go after the bread we throw. Once, a duck flew up to the grass and Levi totally panicked - he ran away and kept yelling, "I don't like that duck!" Luckily, he has wanted to go back to the pond since :)

A better view of what I can see out my window every day!

We went to the county fair, which was really fun - and free! These baby pigs were their favorite thing, there are 8 piglets and a really big mommy pig!

Cows at the fair. Levi is a bit nervous to be so close.

Ian talking to the pig.

We went apple picking, which was also really fun!

Many of the trees were so low it was really easy for Levi and Caleb to help. They stayed interested for the whole hour we were there.

Our apples! Now the work begins.....I am sure it will take longer to make the applesauce than it did to pick the apples!

Near the river. I could not get them to look at me, all at the same time, so this is what I got. This is a place we stopped on our road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa and many others of our family.

Levi with his pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

Ian

Caleb

We've had a lot of fun doing things outdoors lately, the weather has been nice and we've been enjoying it. I need to remember all these nice times when we're buried in snow this winter.......

First Day of School and Super Heros

Ian is a big first grader. I'm trying to decide if I'm happy or sad about that! It is nice having him home, yet he also needs some more stimulation than his brothers give him sometimes :) He was so excited he could hardly stand it! The night before school started the school had a big picnic and open house, to see the class and meet the teacher. Everyone seems really nice so that's good! He's had some adjustments to all day school but he's been for about a week and is still liking it so that's good!

My boys have a sheltered TV life, they mostly like to watch Winnie the Pooh videos. There is one with a segment called "The Masked Offender." Christopher Robin is reading a story about the "Masked Avenger" to his friends and then Tigger pretends to be the "Masked Offender." His goal is to help people, but it doesn't work out. He sees Rabbit's scarecrow and thinks it's trying to get his garden, so he cuts it down. Then of course the crows eat his garden. So, that's the basics of the movie. So lately Ian has been the "Masked Offender." It's great, because his purpose is helping! All I have to say is, "oh, who can help me put away this laundry?" and Ian says in his deep voice, "have no fear, citizen, it is I, the Masked Offender, who can help. Masked Offender, to the rescue!" Then he does it. Afterward I tell him thanks and he says, "no need for thanks, citizen. Masked Offender, away!" It's sure a great way to get some work done - that's my kind of super hero!

This is his airplane hanger he made. He likes paper airplanes these days. He's saving some up to show his grandpa when we see him next.