Bounty Hunter

A couple of months ago the kids discovered what a great playmate they have in our beagle Jefferson. They chase him around the house for sometimes 30 minutes at a time coming up with fun ways to ”play” with Jeffy. As long as they don’t throw things or hit him I am ok with them harassing him a bit as he steals food right out of their hands and deserves the payback. I think he also secretly likes the kids playing with him as he keeps howling and chasing them, he could hide in his house or on a different level like our other beagle Gibbs.

After a fun play session with the dog late yesterday morning the kids had followed me downstairs to do some laundry. I headed back upstairs before them to finish a few things before nap and all of the sudden Ethan comes storming up the stairs. He had on his Optimus Prime mask, a gun slung over one shoulder and a very large softball in the other hand and asks me in this very serious voice “have you seen Jeff?” I just had to laugh!
And poor Jeff was sitting in the sunroom relaxing, you should have seen the look on his poor puppy face when Ethan rounded the corner of the island decked out in his gear (minus the softball).

What we have been up to

My computer crashed about two weeks ago and I am lost without it. I can’t get to all of my pictures very easily so I am a bit behind in blogging. Here is some of what we have been up to:)
We have been fortunate to have been able to spend a lot of time with family. The day after Halloween we went over to Mike’s Mom’s house to celebrate her birthday. We were able to spend time with family that we don’t see nearly enough, including Mikes brother Levi and his wife Katie. They are expecting their first baby in late February and Katie looked adorably pregnant. I am sad that I didn’t get any pictures of her.

Here are the boys helping Judy blow out her birthday candle.

We have been wrestling with Daddy

Cuddling with Mommy

working together

and watching the Redskins

Hopefully my brother can save my computer and the files on it and I will be back to blogging a bit more regularly.

Halloween Wrap Up!

After all of the parties, costumes, pumpkins and everything else we finally made it to Halloween! Ethan had a soccer game that morning and then we were having a get together with our closest friends and family for dinner before heading out to trick or treat.

All the kids looked adorable, including my parents baby:)

Ethan decided to be a dragon for trick or treating so that he was as adorable as Jax:) They actually looked really cute together.
Here are me with my very ready to go out and trick or treat dragons!

The weather was a bit iffy and we headed out really early in hopes of beating it.We did really well and only hit a few sprinkles. We were happy that so much of our family was able to join us for trick or treating and I think we can say we all had a great night.

Look I caught a dragon and he is smiling!

Ethan and Rachael leading the group!

The best of our little group

Here’s one that includes Kaitlyn, who just looked adorable!

Jax pretty much ate his way though trick or treating! He thought that every piece of candy he was given he was suppose to eat. I do not care to admit how much candy he ate that night.


Since we had gone out so early we were home in time for Ethan to hand out candy. I am not sure which enjoyed more, getting candy or giving it out! He would stand at the window and watch for people and then squeal with delight when the doorbell rang!

It was also Judy’s birthday so we sang Happy Birthday and the boys helped her open a few small gifts from us.

I have so many more pictures from Halloween, but with my computer crashing I am limited to the number I can get to right now. I also want to thank my brother Jeremy, my sister-in-law Nicole, my parents and Judy for coming out and going trick or treating with us. It means a great deal to us that you  join us for this fun holiday tradition. I can’t wait to have Baby Lucas with us next year!

Halloween Party 2

Our wonderful daycare provider, Ms. Dawn, throws great parties for each holiday and Halloween is no exception. The kids dress up, there are games, yummy food, and the parents join in. I like that the parents are invited as I feel more connected with the other children and it’s nice to get to know everyone. Ms. Dawn’s house was decked out in full Halloween decorations including a grave yard and spooky scarecrow in the front yard.

Here is Ethan with a few of his friends

Game Time!

And then you have Jax!

Who of course was only there for the food!

And what kind of party would it be if I didn’t make cupcakes?

Mike and I really enjoyed seeing the boys and all of their friends dressed up and excited about Halloween!

Parade of Costumes

Halloween was so much fun this year! There were three parties, a parade and trick or treating! Mike worked from home on Friday so that he could enjoy Ethan’s first Halloween Parade that morning and our daycare party that afternoon.
We were both so excited to attend Ethan’s first Halloween parade. Ethan had five costumes to choose from this year thanks to Grandma and her group of friends who kept donating costumes as well as one that I purchased when Ethan insisted he had to be the same as Jax. We are at that annoying stage where they both need to be the same and have the same things, it drives me bonkers!

For the preschool parade Ethan decided to be Optimus Prime from Transformers. He loves Transformers and I was surprised when he choose to be Optimus Prime instead of his favorite charater, Bumblebee. After we dropped him off we had some time to kill while we waited for the start of the parde and had to come up with creative ways to keep Jax entertained.

He’s getting an early start on driving lessons and seems to think he has it all figured out.

And snacking of course! Jax loves to eat!

Ethan’s class was one of the first to come out of the school and I have to say I had a Mommy moment when I stood there looking at this little guy of mine who was dressed up and acting like such a big boy waiting and walking in line with his school friends. I think when you are younger and imagine yourself with kids you see yourself doing things like trick or treating,  birthday parties, sports etc… not necessarily with a baby. These Mommy moments seem to be happening more and more as Ethan gets older and begins doing some of these activities. Did I tell you he has his first school pictures next week? Ahhh how is he getting so big?!?!

Do you see him waving? Does it get any cuter than that? He is just so sweet!

All of the the kids came out starting with the two year olds and ending with the kindergartners and let me tell you they were stinkin’ adorable!  They all walked around the circle the school is on and then each class stood in front for a picture. Mike and I really enjoyed seeing all of the kids dressed up and excited for Halloween. After the parade there were class parties and everyone was anxious to get back inside for the yummy haunted treats and goodies.

The parade was a great start to a very fun Halloween. Stay tuned for more Halloween blogs!

Showered with Love

I am a little behind and doing my best to catch up:) Two weekends ago we threw my sister-in-law, Nicole, a baby shower for baby Lucas. My Mom and I had been thinking about it since she announced her pregnancy and were very excited to host this special party.

We had it at my Mom’s house and ended up with a light blue train theme. I was of course in charge of dessert and decided upon Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, as well as Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting. I had a hard time figuring out how to decorate them, but ended up making cupcake toppers that had cute little sayings that related to Nicole and the Shower. Mom and I assembled them late into a weeknight, and they ended up being perfect!

Many of the guests attending were Nicole’s family that live in Maryland, as well as her Mom and Aunt who came down from Pennsylvania. We also had a few of her work friends and my Aunt Jodie came down from NY to celebrate Nicole and baby Lucas.

*My how the tables have turned:)
*This was taken at my baby shower, I just want to note that I was further along for my shower.

*Tina, Nicole, and Me:)

*Mom, Nicole, Aunt Jodie, Me
*Nicole and her Mom

Nicole was showered with many wonderful gifts for baby Lucas, but most of all we enjoyed being together to celebrate this wonderful time in Nicole and Jeremy’s life.

I cannot wait to meet my Nephew!!

Pumpkin Carving

Thank goodness we picked out one large orange pumpkin, because that is the one we ended up carving (which I knew would be the case). Mike and Ethan had fun pulling out all of the guts!

Ethan originally said he wanted a monkey, but I don’t particularly care for monkey’s so I suggested a dragon since both boys are dressing up as dragons this year.
Mike is our master carver and I don’t think he appreciated my suggestions too much. But Ethan thought a dragon was a great idea and it was up to Mike to make it happen. I have to give Mike a ton of credit, b/c with out looking at anything or with any outside help he came up with two designs. One of a dragon’s face and then I suggested the side of a dragon blowing fire, so he kind of grumbled and did that one as well. Ethan liked the one with flames so we ended up with a pretty cool dragon blowing flames!

Sick Day

Jax has been fighting a cold again. You can tell he doesn’t feel well when he does this….
(taken Saturday morning)

and this, taken Tuesday morning when I stayed home with him

My poor baby:( I took him to our Dr. and he just has a cold. He is on the mend, though his mood has been very up and down.

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

We have been very busy the past few weeks, but still found time to go and find the “perfect” pumpkin. We were thrilled when my Aunt Jodie, who was visiting from NY, was able to join us in our pumpkin hunt.

It was a bit iffy weather wise so we had planned a quick trip and got lucky that the rain held off. They had the largest variety of pumpkins, gourds and squashes that I have ever seen. I wish I had gotten some pictures of them.

The boys ended up choosing white pumpkins or as Ethan calls them “spookies” and then I helped Jax pick out a large orange pumpkin because not having one seemed a bit odd.

We then walked over to the barns and pet a few of the animals there. Jax especially liked the Pony.  I  had put my camera in the car so sadly I don’t have any pictures of him with the pony, but we ended up having a ton of fun picking out pumpkins and visiting with the animals:)

This picture was taken about 2min after Jax ran into a trailer hitch and got a boo boo on his head.  Which happened about 30 seconds after we got there:)

Emotional State

Sometimes I look at the boys and feel an intense amount of sadness. I feel sad that they are getting so big on me. They are no longer little babies, they are little boys! I can’t believe how quickly things have changed. They use to need me for so much and now they both seem so independent.
Jax is doing more and more every day and talking more too, he can even sing parts of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And in areas where Ethan needed me to help him, Jax seems to do physical things much quicker making me feel less needed and them older.

I look at Ethan and he is a silly as they come. He is a silly, hyper, crazy, but sweet little boy. He cracks himself up by saying things like ‘outside diaper’ I mean what does that even mean? We got his first sports picture from soccer in the mail yesterday and we were all so excited about it. How many more sports pictures will we have? Tons I am sure, not to mention he has his first set of school pictures coming up. When did my tiny little baby who wanted me and needed me turn into a silly little boy who has sport and class pictures taken?

And Jax, Jax is so opinionated and so independent. He does not want help with anything. He thinks he can do everything himself. He doesn’t want to hold your hand, he doesn’t want you to put him in chairs, he wants to do everything himself! He’s only 19mths, but in ways he has the attitude of  a much older toddler. If you ask him a question he will clearly answer you and his favorite answer right now is “No”.

When I look at this set of pictures I see me with little boys and wonder where those tiny babies of mine went.