Gingerbread House=Family Time

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we participated in the Gingerbread event at our church.  Each family got a gingerbread house and a ton of candy to decorate it with.   We had so much fun creating our house.  The boys really got into it.  Unfortunately, the night ended with Owen getting sick on the church's floor.  Besides for that, it was a great family night.

Fun in the Snow!

I am going to try and get caught up with our activities over the holiday season.  Hopefully, I can update these blog posts fairly quickly.

I will start with some pictures of the boys having fun in the snow.  It snowed here around Thanksgiving.  Which resulted in days of playing outside because school was closed.

Here are some of the shots of the boys exploring a snow covered yard!

3rd Birthday for Seamus

It is hard to believe that our sweet middle child is already three years old.  Seamus is such a blessing to our family.  He has a personality that is gentle, sweet and loving  yet also mischevious, curious and adventurous.  I think he is our most outgoing child.  He is ready to try any new adventure you throw at him. 

His speech has exploded in the last year.  We started off the year with a speech therapy appointment.  Now, we have a chatterbox on our hands.  He is always asking questions.  Sometimes the same question many times!!  I can tell his imagination is starting to develop.  Everyday he is someone else.  Sometimes Curious George, sometimes Sheriff Woody.  Most of the time he is Buzz Lightyear.

Poor Seamus (or Buzz) couldn't really enjoy his birthday on the actually day.   We think he got the flu.  They were both sick boys that day.  He did rally to open his presents on his birthday.  The next day we blew out the candles on his chocolate Buzz Lightyear cake.  So he got a two day celebration!

Trick or Treating

I realize that I am behind on these posts, but I figured I would let you know about our Halloween activities.  The boys and Brandon went to the Maple Valley community center.  The city parks a lot of trucks and you can climb on them and get candy.  Sounds like a great combination for little boys!  Seamus even got his picture in the local paper at the event!   They went with their best bud, Isaac and his dad. 

After the Trick or Trucks event everyone came back here for pizza and trick or treating.  We were a popular house.  The door bell seemed to ring nonstop.  We live on a street with lots of kids.  We gave almost 3 huge bags of tootsie rolls and the fixings.     

Meghan and I stayed home from Trick of Trucks because she really wasn't feeling that great.  She had diarrhea the whole weekend.  Poor thing.  The next day, she had to go to the emergency room and to get an IV because she was dehydrated.  She is on the mend now, and back to her smiley self.  Which makes us very happy. 

As I write this post, we still have tons of Halloween candy in our house.  If you visit us, you are welcome to it!!! :)

Carving Pumpkins

Since life has kept us pretty busy this year, we didn't get to carve pumpkins until the day before Halloween.  Brandon carved our two big pumpkins.  I helped the boys put stickers on their little pumpkins.  Meghan just sat and took it all in!  The World Series was on in the background.  It was a fun evening with family.

Fall=Pumpkins

I just love Halloween.  Not the scary, gross, haunted houses part of Halloween.  But the apple cider, pumpkins and cake donuts part of Halloween.  I love the leaves changing color and the cooler weather.   I love watching my kids get dressed up to go trick or treating.  It is so cool  to watch them get excited to gather candy all they can.  Not that I want all that candy in my house.  But I always love a reason to celebrate something.  This Halloween will be more special because Brandon will be with us this year!!  Last year he was out of town.

My reason for all this ranting is to reflect on our time on the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. (I am a little behind in my blogging.)  Because every good Halloween needs a good pumpkin!  We came home with five, one for each of us.  We went to Thomassson Farms in Enumclaw, Washington.

**On a side note, we had to replace Seamus's pumpkin a few weeks later.  It got so rotten even before we cut into it.  I heard it was a bad season for pumpkins.  It rained a lot here this summer. 

When Daddy's away, Grandparents will play

My parents came for a visit since Brandon had to go to Europe for over two weeks.  My mom and dad both came on a seperate week.  It was neat for me and the kids to spend some one-on-one time with them.  Both my mom and dad got to see Owen's school.

The week with my dad consisted of many trips to the local parks!  We even spent a day at the zoo.  The boys always love getting outside and playing.  We took advantage of the nice days while we could.  My dad did some work around the house which was a really big help. 

The week with my mom included shopping, shopping and more shopping.  We didn't buy much.  We mostly just window shopped for things.   It brought back some memories of when we used to go shopping with our Gammy.  The three of us would window shop and get lunch.  My heart aches because I miss my gammy a lot.  And today, I really hate that I am so far from my mom.  Although I know God has a plan and I am trusting in him.

I am so thankful that I got to spend this precious time with my parents.  I am even more thankful that my husband is back safe and sound.