Aren't they Cute?

And because none of my friends inside the computer know what my hubby looks like--I'm sharing this one. My SIL Michelle took this at a family wedding and it's probably about as good as it gets of me...

HA(!)lloween...

Against my initial (and as it turns out, better) judgement, I thought I'd give the American tradition of trick or treat a try. We had a "dry run" on Wednesday and since it was 70+ degrees today, you couldn't ask for a better night weather-wise. We were going to start at Grandma and Grandpa's, do their street and see how it went. It didn't. They got going on some favorites at G&G's, refused to put on costumes even though it meant that candy-grubbing wouldn't happen without it. They were only interested in a rendition of drive-in movies, so Mom came home to update the blog and do a little homework.

Trick or Treat on Campus

Wednesday night was Trick or Treat at Dobson Hall on campus. We've never gone before, but since Kurt was off, we thought we'd give it a try. We got there early and there were games in the lower level and ToT in the Residence areas. It was crowded, but the boys were troopers (with the exception of Mom getting to take a few pictures.

Progress?! Don't be Fooled...

Well, as you all know, Beckett is THREE now. A big thing when you're three is to be wearing big boy undies, right? Not so sure about this kid! He LOVES the idea of sitting on the potty--like big boys do. But does he DO anything while he's sitting there? Um, not really. But he hops off with a big ol' smile and exclaims "I DID it!" and we say with big eyes "no you didn't!" Maybe Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity will come into play one of these days and something will just kinda fall out of him. Until then? Sigh...

It's the Dreaded 4-letter "S" word!

Yup, SNOW!!! Parker and I spent the day changing furniture in his room and doing a VERY healthy cleaning in there. We stepped outside to take a nice load of items to the Thrift Store and were UNpleasantly surprised to find the white stuff falling down. Well, considering that there is a 50 mile per hour wind accompanying it, "down" is a relative term! I tried to shoot the nasty stuff against the burning bush in all of it lingering red glory, let's see if you can see the bits of flakes.

The Next Generation of Stampers...

The other day I had my "stuff" out so I could make a few cards. I went downstairs to start supper and when I came back up, I found Paxton trimming up some images he had stamped. He trims a LOT, so excuse the mess! He had used one of my stamp sets and made an image with each of the stamps in the box. Did a pretty good job too, I have to admit =)

Candyland =)

Paxton is REALLY into playing Candyland lately. He and Grandpa played a few rounds last night, even though boardgames aren't Grandpa's favorite passtime. Let's hope there was no repeat of what happened when Kurt and Paxton played a few days ago:

Paxton: Dammit! I got the Peanut card!

Kurt: Paxton! That's not a nice word, let's not say that OK?

Paxton: But Daddy! I got the PEANUT card!

Snuggletime!

The other night I went downstairs to tell the boys it was getting to be bedtime. When I came around the corner I found the two of them snuggling on the ottoman, watching Cars, sharing a blanket and one pillow. Beckett heard the camera come on as I tried to capture the moment and popped his head up to yell "Smile"! So try to envision the moment just PRIOR to this one...

Jungle Boy...

We have a rock land-scapey thing in the backyard with lots of foilage planted in it. I couldn't tell you why Beckett felt the need to plow through it, but there he goes.

Studying pays off!!

For those of you who know I've gone back to school part-time, you know the bulk of my waking hours AFTER all of my other obligations (work, family, doing what it takes to run a house, etc) is spent studying. Paxton took some pictures to prove it and I know they're kind of distant (he's yet to learn zoom) he's pretty proud of his "work". All of that book time seems to be paying off because my last test in Microbiology earned me a healthy "B"!! I know it's not an "A", but quite frankly, I'm pretty tickled with my "B" =)

Now, to maintain it...

Party Like You're Three!

Today we celebrated Beckett's monumental event of turning three! It was a gorgeous day and we were able to head outside for a good part of the party. A pretty small group as usual--no monster kid parties yet! He wasn't feeling the best, we think he may have some small allergy issues, but he rallied long enough to open a couple of gifts (thankfully Paxton was willing to pick up where Beckett left off), get plenty of green icing on his shirt and tear around the yard with brothers and cousins!

Hit and Run Accident

After 20+ years of deer vs. car-free driving, the streak ended last night on my way home from class. It was very foggy and I was slowing to possibly make the turn that would get me close to home and then decided that it was too curvy of a road for such a foggy night. I was almost at a complete stop and about to accelerate to continue on my way when I saw a deer dinking around in the ditch line. In an instant he decided to try to cross my path, but I knew he couldn't and BAM! Stoooopid deer ran right into the side of the car. He turned and ran back the way he had come from, hopefully with a concussion or at least a full-blown headache!

I stopped in town under better light and out of the way of any traffic traveling in the fog and saw that he had put two dents into the doors of the car and knocked off the mirror. Minimal damage, considering what COULD have happened at a higher rate of speed and if I had run into him (I call it a him because, well, come ON!). My welcoming committee at home was two men in blue--ok, one was Kurt and the other was technically in brown since it was a deputy, but you catch my drift!

Anyone care to guess what kind of monetary damage the little blankety blank may have caused? We haven't done an estimate yet, be kind...

Strangers on the Internet...

So this is a picture of Beckett opening a birthday card from his little friend, Avery--whom he's never met. Avery's mom is Sara--a friend of mine, whom I've never met. Waaaaaay back when Beckett was still an ankle-biter wanna-be, I joined an online expecting club. Through that group I became close with other Momma's who all were expecting babies in October of 2005. We've shared the highs of BFP's (big fat positives--as in pregnancy tests) and the lowest of lows in the loss of a child. I consider a group of these ladies some of my closest friends and the bulk of them I've never met.

Beckett and I did fly to Ohio about 18 months ago to meet up with some others from "the board" (yes, I took my toddler across state lines to meet up with strangers I knew from the internet) so some I HAVE met in real life, but others, like Sara with Avery are still on my wish list to meet! Some of the blogs I follow are on the left side of my own, so if you peek you can "meet" their Pumpkin's too (Pumpkins is our collective name for our 3yo's)

This was my opportunity to shout out to all of my dear PP Mommies and my chance to thank you for being in my and Beckett's lives!!!

It's tiring being THREE!!

So our last little one is three now! It seems to fly by SO much faster than with the other kids, certainly because he is our last. His actual birthday was pretty low-key, we'll do his party next weekend and post plenty of pictures from that day. Hopefully he'll have a little more stamina that this photo shows!