Halloween 2012

I was really excited for Halloween this year. I thought Miles would be old enough to "get it" and he...sort of was :)

Miles had lots of costume options thanks to some hand-me-downs from cousins. Unfortunately, I underestimated my sons' rate of growth and they didn't fit. Luckily, we already had this cute rain slicker that a friend gave Caroline when she was this age and the Dollar Tree had the helmet. Voila: fireman. He loved it. He watches a show on Netflix called "Fireman Sam" so he totally knew what he was all about :)

As usual, Caroline decided what she wanted to be months ago. I figured a peacock-like dress/skirt would be easy enough, but had no idea how to do the feathers. I wish I had taken a picture of the back! It was pretty cool and we had fun making it. I especially love the headband. She was definately the only peacock we saw!

I think Caroline's favorite part of Halloween is that she gets to wear make-up :)

Miles would NOT look at the camera! He does look awfully tough, doesn't he? Thanks to falling face-first on the bricks the day before, he had some authentic scrapes on his face. Hey, what's Halloween without some blood, right?

Boys boys boys

I was a mother of one girl for over five years. Now I spend a few days a week at home with three little boys!

Even Miles love Target.

Last week I filled the swimming pool with rice crispies and buried little dollar store toys for the boys to dig through. They had a lot of fun, and then the dog ate most of the spills :)

I love how easy boys are to please. Little cars and airplanes make them so happy!

Miles loves play doh now. I've started making my own and love how soft it is.

This is a rare moment when these two actually shared the caterpillar. A lot of my time is spent resolving disputes between two kids who want the same thing!

I think it's good for Miles to have some other kids around. It gives him an opportunity to learn that he's not the only kid in the universe! Life requires occasional sharing and waiting!

Disney on Ice!

A few weeks ago we had a super-fun girls activity with some of Caroline's cousins and aunties at Disney on Ice! It was so great and even better that we got to share it with such fun girls!

So excited! I didn't tell her until right before she left and she was jumping up and down with glee!

It was a great show. We went to a Disney on Ice a few years ago, but this one was all princesses - very fun for a girl's day out. We had a blast!

Mail is fun

Dave's parents sent the kids a package for Halloween.

It.Was.Awesome.

Fall Break

We spent a few days of Caroline's Fall Break in Gilbert. It was nice to get away as a family and do some fun things and hang out with some fun people. I love that we live close to our families now. We used to only see our siblings and nieces and nephews once a year, maybe less. It's so great to be a short ride from most of them now.

Caroline and her cousin Lucy. After I took the picture and showed it to them, they said "we looked like twins!"

Uncle Jeff used some of his fancy hair products to give Miles a mohawk - I thought it was pretty cute.

We spent a couple of days checking out some Phoenix attractions that we've never been to before. We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum one morning. Other than being too expensive, it was great :) Miles wanted to stay in the car/racetrack section all day.

We also went to the Sea Life Aquarium in the Mills Mall. It was neat and the kids loved it.

Miles kept trying to kiss things through the glass! So funny!

We also took our first trip to Ikea - thanks to Karen for being our guide :)

It was a great little get-away. I'm always proud of us when we do new things - we're kind of a stick-to-the-familiar sort of family.

Caroline had an exciting few weeks when she lost both front teeth in 24 hours!

They had been loose for a looong time - we're talking months here. Then one day at school she collided with another kid and that knocked them *almost out. She tells the story much better and mentions her trip to the nurse where they had to give her a new shirt because her's was all bloody :(

That night we pulled tooth #1 out.

The next day tooth #2 came out!

Her grown-up front teeth are already starting to come in. But, Man! Do little kids look different when they loose teeth. She looks so big to me now!

The weather has been nicer in the evenings, so we occasionally venture outside.

I saw these "pool-noodle horses" on facebook and made a few for the boys. Immediately after I took this picture Miles pulled off the eyes, ears, and mane - basically everything that made it look like a horse. Pretty soon they were all riding around on plain 'ol pool noodles!

"Muscles!!!"

Dave flew back to Memphis to work with his brother again for a few weeks. We knew he would be gone at least two weeks, and ended up staying for a full month. We missed him a lot! Picking him up from the airport was so exciting - I got that Christmas Eve feeling! We made signs and waited at the airport and when he came down the escalators - it was the sweetest thing. Caroline ran to him and he picked her up and she got emotional - sweet little tears. Miles put his arms right out to Dave for him to be held too. It was such a sweet reunion and people at the airport probably thought he'd been deployed for months or something!

Right afterwards, we went to Arizona Mills Mall for lunch and some fun before the ride home.

It's Soooo nice to have him back - I won't take him for granted ever again!!!