Trick or Treat (in the rain!)

Rain can't deter my little Angry Birds from trick or treating!

I was super bummed this afternoon when it started raining at work. When we got home, the boys & I practiced trick or treating to make sure they knew what to do. They would say "ding dong" and I would give them candy for their buckets. So cute! I hoped that once Cole realized that costume = candy that he would love his costume. And thankfully I was right!

We hung on until about 6:30pm before taking the boys out to trick or treat at a few houses. We ended up at about 8 or 10 and they got a lot of laughs and lot of candy. Guess when demand is low, supply is very high! Both boys had a blast in their costumes and in the rain. It was great seeing everyone's reactions to them. We got lots of laughs and smiles from the houses we visited. There are a few things I would have done differently about their costumes but they loved them and had fun and that is all that matters!

Hanging with Daddy watching Spookly the Square Pumpkin before going out.

Mommy's Little "cheese" Monster

Right before we went trick or treating. Cole wasn't happy at first but that changed quickly.

Our first stop (as always)......Ms. Amy's house!

Notice Cole was MUCH better already!

Ms. Breda's house - see their smiling faces. We were a funny bunch!

Daddy and his Angry Birds.

Fun in the rain

Mommy's Little Angry Birds

The haul - my oh my. I've tried to interest them in the Candy Fairy (to switch for a toy) but they're not too interested just yet. Maybe in a day or two.

Random

Both boys have started wearing hats. They see Grandpa wearing them and want to be just like him. It cracks me up to watch them put one on and adjust it to perfection. And a camo hat with Monkey pj's, talk about some style!

The rug has become the Monster Truck track. The boys put things under it to create obstacles / jumps

and then they create their own Monster Jam, including commentating!

School Halloween Parade + Parties

The boys had a great time at school today for their annual Parade of Costumes and Halloween parties. The weather didn't cooperate too well - cold and sprinkly rain - so they only did one lap in the parking lot and headed inside to get the sugar flowing!

A shot this morning testing out their costumes.

When I got to school, they told me that Cole wasn't too happy about his costume. He looks like a Sad bird instead of Angry.

4 year olds READY to go!

Eli & his buddy Evan in the parade

Sad Cole with his teacher

Daddy saved him

THIS is what they came for. Bring on the treats!!

Juice box / Capri sun - what parties are made of. Cole loves when he can get them.

Daddy came to the parade and party too!

Eli's classroom - all business!

Eli's class - lots of Spidermen. But only ONE yellow Angry Bird. =)

Total cuteness

Halloween Teacher Treats

Tonight the boys made treat jars for their teachers for Halloween. I was super impressed with how well they did with our project. Eli even wrote his name on the tags for his teachers!

First we gathered a bunch of goodies - Cheez Its, Teddy Grahams, Chocolate chips, Pretzels, Candy Corn, Bagel Chips and Popcorn.

Then we added some to each of their bowls and let them stir the mixture with a spoon.

And then they used cups to scoop the goodie mix into the jars. And when they were done, they took their bowls into the living room to snack on what was left. =)

And then Mommy decorated them with ribbons. Great job Eli & Cole! I know the teacher will love them.

Halloween shirt day

Cole's class

Eli's class - he chose to wear his new Monster Truck shirt and not a Halloween shirt.

Costumes done!

Finished the boys' Angry Bird costumes tonight. CAN NOT WAIT!!

Crazy hair day

Mohawk boys for Crazy hair day

Cole's class - check out the mohawk on the boy in the blue shirt. Awesome!

Eli's crazy class. Love the rock star hair up front!

Class theme costumes

Today was class theme costume day. We had instructions to dress Cole in all black and Eli in all blue not knowing what they would be. Fun that we got another "Noontime nugget" photo from school. Check out these cuties!

Cole's spider class
Eli's Smurf class - Eli was a tanned smurf because we only had dark blue. =)

Pajama Day

Pajama Day today started off a fun week at school. Check out my cuties!

Eli's class

Cole's class

Love that school sent us pictures at lunch time of the boys' classes.

Where do the weeks (and weekends) go?

Remember how when you were little, it seemed to take FOREVER for anything to get here? And how as adults, you can't seem to make life slow down and things get here sooner than you thought / wanted / expected? That is how life feels. Even when we try to slow down, it just goes by so quickly. And oh by the way, Eli informed me this weekend that there are 8 weeks from Halloween to Christmas in case you didn't know. Thanks 'Space Case'.

So anyway, blogging has been sporadic but life has not. The past two weekend we've had a lot of fun with Grandparent visits. 1st up, Grandma C on the 14th-15th weekend and then Grandma & Grandpa N this past weekend.

We loved having Grandma C here for the weekend. The boys were cheering and chanting Friday morning ready for her to be here. They were so happy that she went with me to pick them up from school. We had a fun night and despite wanting to go do something, Tim & I couldn't make that want turn into action so we hung out at home. Saturday morning the boys had fun with Grandma while Tim & I went mountain biking. We had a great time at Umstead and Crabtree. After lunch, we got the boys to take quick naps before we headed to Kylie's 2nd birthday party. Oh what fun! Eli & Cole had a great time playing with friends and celebrating Sweet Kylie. After the party, Tim & I forced ourselves to get out of the house and enjoyed some quiet time at Barnes & Noble. Sunday morning the boys enjoyed cartoons with Grandma and more play time. Thanks for coming to visit Grandma!!

Eli & Cole had fun the boxes from Cole's new car seats.

Cole in his new big boy seat.

Swing sets are always fun - playing on Noah & Kylie's.

Eli was quite impressive with his monkey bar skills. He was able, with only spotting by me, to get all the way across.

Slide happy.

Can not believe how big he is!

Noah decided that he wanted to play tag and said he wanted to chase Eli. I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into. Eli ran all over, Noah chased and chased - Noah's in the blue shirt coming out of the woods -

and chased and chased. It's so cute watching them run around.

Eli & the birthday girl Kylie.

Cole played his own version of cornhole.

This picture cracks me up - Eli's smiling in the back corner and Noah is cheesing for me as he tries to get out.

"Doesn't anybody want to play with me?"

Cole and Savannah in the play house. They were airplane spotting.

We don't have a glider on the swing set at home so Eli had fun on this one.

Dinner at the kiddie table.

Mr. Cheese Puff - can't hide those orange fingers!

Brothers - LOVE it!

Party central

Time for presents

and CAKE!

Cole & Kylie shut down the cake eating table.

Grandma's boys

Lounging around Sunday morning watching cartoons. Cole kept using Grandma for a pillow.

Love our pillow pals!

This series of shots cracks me up as Cole attacks a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin.

That's one good muffin!

The boys were sad to say bye to Grandma - she plays as hard as they do and they love it!

Some other random shots this week:

Little Monster in Training

Eli playing Angry Birds

Mommy's snuggle time with Cole

This weekend, Grandma & Grandpa N came to visit. Eli and Cole got more special grandparent love. We took it easy Saturday morning and the boys were excited to see them. They played outside, inside and were all over. We had a great visit with them and are glad they came to see us.

Saturday morning hanging out waiting for Grandma & Grandpa to arrive.

A special project with Grandma.

Grandma traced the boys' hands onto sandpaper

and then they colored it

lots of fun coloring.

Finished project! We've excited to see what Grandma does with them. She has a neat idea.

Snack time - popcorn while watching Monster Trucks.

This was my view as Eli & Cole decided to wrestle Mommy.

Ready to go home with Grandma & Grandpa

Thanks for coming to see us!

Eli decided to show me how strong he is and picked up his little brother.

Here is what happens when you repeatedly say you don't need a nap.

Sweet thing fell asleep watching Monster Trucks - that is serious tiredness!