Pre-school Halloween Party

Our city's rec department has some Saturday workshops geared just for the pre-school age and today's was, of course, a Halloween party. Now usually all of my posts are about what ANGELS my children are (HA!), but this one would be a total LIE if I put that spin on it. Beckett wore his pirate costume (unwillingly, at first), but that was the last cooperative thing he did. Coloring a picture was tolerable, but sitting nicely for a story or standing in line to play a game was beyond him today. I finally put the kabosh on the festivities for him about 30 minutes into it. That explains why you only get to see 2 (questionably) crappy pictures of him at his event.
They have other Saturday fun days scheduled, but I'm not sure we'll even attempt another one at this point =(

4 year old Dr's visit

We're only a few weeks behind! Today Beckett saw our family physician for his yearly exam--knock on wood, we RARELY have to take the kids out for anything BUT this delightful appointment! No innoculations today, so Mom did very well while there as well =) He was an awfully good boy and only balked at walking on his toes. When I pointed to my toes to illustrated the idea, he stepped on MY toes! HA!
Beckett came in at 36.8 pounds and 41 inches tall. He's doing everything for his age appropriately or above, which we'd suspected! They've started a new program within the last few months to encourage kids to develop a love of books/reading and every child who is there for a well-child checkup from ages 6 mos to 6 years goes home with a new book and Beckett will be adding "If you give a mouse a cookie" to his library. (Already a favorite selection here!) I tried to get him to show me his book and a smile, but all he wanted to do was push door buttons and start the car!

Mom's Night Out!

A couple of months ago, one of my friends thought it'd be fun to have a monthly "Mom's Night Out". This month Jessie and Tabby thought that maybe a small wine-tasting event would be a fun change--and it was!! They talked with Brent at Wine Down on Main, our local wine specialty shop here in town. Between them, they chose a few bottles that might be good to sample and after hearing about them from Brent, we decided which ones to open and sample. Of course there were munchies to "cleanse our palates" with in between wines and lots of talking--with no kids!! I personally found a couple that I absolutely would buy and plan to do so in the next couple of weeks!
As you look at the pictures you'll see: Tabby, Angie, Janelle, Jessie, Me, Melissa and Jessica. Janelle blogs--I'm going to start following her blog, she reviews lots of children's toys and books and has a really cool post with a baseball guys set up, AND she does TONS of giveaways! If you can't wait for me to get her link in my sidebar, you'll find her at www.brimfulcuriosities.com
PS: Brent was our photographer, THAT'S why you are forced to see an actual picture of me on my own blog--I KNOW, the HORROR! I guess it IS Halloween time...

Trick or Treat on campus

Every year, one of the residence halls on campus does a trick or treat/Halloween party event for the local children. We got there a few minutes early, which gave Beckett ample time to attempt to knock as many leaves of off an innocent bush while we waited in line.
Once inside the dorm, they have simple games in the lower level to keep the kids occupied while they wait to be led in smaller groups through the halls that are decorated in different themes and collect a smattering of candy. It was a much smaller scaled event than previous years, and I'm not sure we'll return next year, but the boys said they enjoyed it so that makes it worthwhile.
Getting them to look at me was next to impossible, so you'll have to take in the view from behind--like Parker and I did! They plan to go to Grandma's on Saturday night and "throw candy at the kids who knock on the door". Apparently he is combining parade-like activities with trick or treating....

Getting the pumpkins carved

The day after the adventure of picking out our Halloween pumpkins, it was time to turn them into Jack o'lanterns. A process in which the little boys had no interest. Kurt, Parker and I worked on gutting the orange buggers while they watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and wrote letters to the Great Pumpkin. Parker insisted we save every single seed (HA! good luck with that) so I could make him roasted seeds later on--which I did!
The finished products are in the breezeway until Saturday night--too big of a temptation for college kids to smash if we put them out early =(

And on the way home......

So the kid that wore his 3D glasses on top of his head for the duration of the movie had NO problem with them on his face for the drive home. It cracked me up everytime I turned around to look at him!!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I absolutely LOVE this book. Love it, I tell you. So when they adapted it into a movie, I was pretty excited. But any previews I saw did not seem much at all like the book =( We decided that we'd venture out to see it with the boys. (It was that or Where the Wild Things are--and I know that lots of people are loving that one, I've even read several blogs attesting to that. But in chatting with Momma's who have kids that are as old as Paxton and Beckett, I decided that was not the movie for us). Kurt got online and while it was no longer here in town, Dubuque had it--in 3D no less if we so desired!
I will say that this foray into a theater went MUCH better than when we took them to see Ice Age a couple of months ago. All in all it was a nice afternoon out--except for the fact that the theater only serves COKE products!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Although the weather was less than perfect, we ventured out to get our pumpkins for Halloween. It had rained pretty steadily for the past 2 days, so saying it was muddy is an understatement! They had a barn with a ton of pumpkins to pick from, along with a little table filled with shelled corn and soybeans for playing in, or you could hop on the tractor/hay wagon and be driven out to the actual growing patch. We opted for the full experience and found four beauties with relative ease.
When we got back, Parker was lifting them onto the counter to be weighed and the stem snapped off of one of them---SPLAT! Toast on the barn floor! Good thing there lots of "spares" to swap out our smashed one for =)
I guess tomorrow means that carving is on the adgenda!

Man in Training....

Once you get Beckett's movie started (usually Clifford or Charlie Brown), he likes to have "his" remote in his hand and he'll take it from there. If he were old enough for a brewski, he'd be all set...

Wordless Wednesday...

I didn't forget about Paxton on birthday party day...

Halloween Costume Reveal!!

OK, the sewing is complete! There were 3 comments making guesses that the boys would be pirates, and--that's correct!!! Paxton had been talking about being a ghost (courtesy of Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin), but once he saw Beckett's costume in the finished phase, he was excited for me to begin on his! SLIGHT differences in fabrics make them not totally identical, that makes Kurt a happy camper!!
I think they need some matching candy bags made from the leftover material now....

Brothers...

It's been a pretty nice weekend of the little boys playing nicely together. I have to flash back to these moments when things change and they are at each others throats. These are just random pictures taken of Paxton and Beckett in the last little while.

What's for Supper Saturday

Mmmmmmm, BBQ Spareribs!!! One of my hubby's favorites =) I usually do 2 big racks (purchased when they go on sale, of course). Let them cook for hours on low in your crock pot. Transfer them to a baking dish (they'll be 'fall off the bone tender' at this point) and cover them with sliced onions, I use LOTS, as you can tell from the picture! The sauce is:

1/2 C ketchup
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs vinegar
2 Tbs worchestershire sauce

I usually double this and then pour on a bottle of Baby Ray's Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ sauce as well--love the flavor of the 2 combined. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with coleslaw, baked beans, mac and cheese, cornbread muffins or any other "classic" sides and dinner is served!

Baby Kieran's blankie...

Kurt's boss and his wife had a sweet little boy a few weeks ago and this is the blanket that I crocheted for him.

What will this be? (Halloween edition)

This is the fabric for the little boys Halloween costumes--any guesses? Let me just say that the pattern selection for boys is pretty slim pickings! As cold as it has gotten here, I'm glad I planned to make the next size up from their usual size, so we can layer up underneath if we need to by the time the big day rolls around!
Kurt worked until 4am today, so he is upstairs getting some much needed sleep, making this a perfect day to work on this project! I think it'll go pretty quickly, so stop back soon for the reveal =)

Welcome to adulthood, Arielle

HA! The age anyways! The only baby girl I have turned 18 (OK, it was a few weeks ago), but she opened gifts on the day of Beckett's party as well. She had to work, so her supper break was well-timed and she appeared for gifts and some cake! Some of her gifts were a new purse (like she NEEDED one...), some UW-P logo'd items, new clogs (a standing gift for her, she can ruin a pair every 6 months!), DVD player and a fan/cooler thing for her laptop.