Fall Family Photos with Laurel

We recently had a fall photo session with my friend Laurel, who is a photographer (www.laurelphotography.com)... so get ready for a bit of a picture overload as I share some of the pictures from our session:)

Laurel Photography-more pics:)

More Pictures by Laurel

Trunk-orTreat!!

Last night was our annual church Trunk-or-Treat! We enjoyed the pizza for dinner and the boys liked the face painting and games around the church. Unfortunately just as it was time to head outside to "trunk or treat" Tanner told me he had a migraine headache. So he laid on the couch with me inside while Logan trick or treated. Then just as we were leaving, Tanner threw up all over the back seat of the van...needless to say I spent most of last night scrubbing out the seat and carseat, and washing costumes. Happy Halloween to me huh!? I learned that when a costume says it's not washable..it really isn't! Both the boys have flattened, nappy manes on their horse and lion now:) Oh well, such is life. They are looking forward to trick-or-treating tomorrow. I love Halloween, but between all the various Halloween events the last two weeks, I'm just about ready to have things calm down and move onto Thanksgiving:)!!

Halloween Costumes!

So this year I suppose we went with the animal theme:) I had a bee costume saved for Preston from when Tanner and Logan were one...and I lucked out and found a lady bug costume at our mom-to-mom sale so I thought that would be a good match to the bee for Mallory to wear:) That was easy. Onto the boys...I had a heck of a time finding good costumes for the boys. First of all...now that they are size 5/6 I've noticed that many of the costumes are violent, scary, or dark, or have weapons or fighting associated with them. I refuse to have my four year olds wear that kind of thing. I was looking for something "friendly". Secondly, I refuse to spend over $20 for a costume... and third...all of a sudden the boys have an opinion about what they want to be:) (how dare they!)...so every costume we looked at it was a battle telling them they couldn't be certain things because it was too violent or scary. Anyways...after four different stores...we finally found the lion and the horse...wasn't in love with them, but they were "friendly", warm, the boys liked them, and they were less than $20...score! I didn't love them, but they would work:) Next year I will try to plan ahead better...maybe I'll get really cretive and make their costumes...Mallory could be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and the boys could be the scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man??...hmmm?...Or maybe I'll just check out all the costumes next week when they are discounted at 75% off:)...yeah, that sounds like a better idea:) hehe

Pumpkin Carving!

For FHE this week we carved pumpkins...I figured the boys would love this...getting all messy and digging out the seeds. Turns out they don't like getting messy all that much!...and MOM had to do all the messy stuff! They did like using their spoons and digging a bit and then they drew the faces on themselves and I cut them out:) We've almost come full circle. We planted pumpkin seeds and grew pumpkins in the garden this summer...so carving them was extra satisfying...and so we saved all of our seeds from the pumpkins this fall to plant in the spring to grow another batch of pumpkins:) The boys favorite part was when we lit all pumpkins and turned out every light in the house!...Happy Halloween to each of you tomorrow (or I guess since it's 2 am...it's today!)

Fall Pics of the Kids:)

As I am posting this post and the previous one...I am feeling terrible guilt. The last two days I feel like I haven't been very patient, kind, and loving with my kids. I'm not sure why...I've just been short with them and have not spent the time I need to listening to them, smiling, and giving them the love and attention they deserve. Do you ever have times like that? I'm sure everyone does...but I hate when I'm like that. Usually it's nothing they've done, but rather me just letting little things get in the way of what is really important...I end up getting impatient with them...that's my clue that I need to re-prioritize. As I just downloaded my pictures from my camera to post, I looked at all the pictures of my sweet children and just about started crying. My kids are all asleep...so I think I will go give them all a kiss on their foreheads and vow to be a better mom tomorrow...

The Joy of Raking Leaves:)

Yesterday was the boys first day of pre-school. They are going to Pooh's Corner at Brighton High School. It is actually a pre-school run by the high school students that are taking a block class in child development. So, the boys are going two afternoons a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yesterday was orientation...so they met their teachers...there are two "real teachers" and then they met some of the high school students. I like the ratio because there are always two teachers plus 4-6 high schoolers in the room at a time, who all seemed wonderful. They got to explore their classroom which is very nice (and big!)...and they found their cubbies, hooks, bathrooms:), and all the centers and play areas. They went right in with no hesitation and had a great time! Scott and I went to the parent meeting in an adjacent classroom while the boys were in the pre-school part...I am extremely impressed by the program...it is very organized with the themes, lesson plans, learning objectives, special days and events, field trips, daily schedule, etc.

One funny thing was that the whole time I had talked up this pre-school thing to the boys, they thought they would be riding the school bus! When I told them I'd be dropping them off and picking them up, they were highly disappointed:) Also, Logan was very excited to find out there are two other Logan's in his class so he gets to be "Logan B." (and we thought we were so original in naming him:)

So here are a few pics from their first day...

BHS Homecoming Parade

As a former BHS alum, I feel it is my duty to support our football team:) hehe...so tonight we went to the Homecoming Parade in downtown Brighton. It was fun for me to think back to homecoming when I was in highschool. I was a band geek, so I remember marching down the parade route looking like a dork just like the band did tonight:)...but oh, such fun memories...freezing my little rear off every football game:) My dad and two brothers LOVE Brighton football...and Gary and Brian each played on the team. I'm sure they would have liked to go to the game tonight:) However, we only went to the parade...it's a little too cold for my liking tonight:)

Anyways, so here are a couple pics...one on the porch right before we left for the parage(bad pic of the kids, but hey), one of us waiting for the parade to start, Scott on baby duty, cheerleaders mid-air jump (I thought this pic was cool...it was a total fluke that they jumped right as I snapped it:), and the boys with their candy stash. They got pretty good at soliciting candy from all the people in the parade as they went by:) We had a good time...then came home and enjoyed pumpkin pie (from Costco:)...yum, my fav. It was a fun night:)