Thursday, October 31, 2013

Trick or Treat!

Ding, Dong.....Treat or Treat!!

The boys LOVED trick or treating this year. Our little football players had fun running from house to house, ringing the door bell and saying "Trick or Treat!". Cole was especially into it, once he figured it all out and left Eli in the dust after a while. We just stayed close to home and when they thought they had enough in their buckets (about half full), they wanted to go home. Great for Mom and Dad! I also love that they chose very traditional costumes - Carolina Panthers football player for Eli and NC State football player for Cole. The helmets are already worn every day to play / tackle each other and I know they will be worn for a long time to come!

Cole really was happy to trick or treat, he just didn't want to wear his helmet and stop for a picture. Mean Mommy!
First stop every year, Ms Amy's house! And this year we got to see Ms Breda too!!
Football Mom!
With our little neighbor Brody, the cutest elephant ever
Football Daddy
Love my little football loving boys!
Decided he was done and started into his bucket....in the middle of the road!
Managed to get a better shot of our Carolina Panther and NC State players
Cole's candy loot
Eli's candy loot
And he is TOTALLY my child......sorted and organized his candy. =) 

Cole's Halloween Parade of Costumes

This afternoon was Cole's annual Halloween Parade of Costumes. It's always so much fun to watch the kiddos walk around and see them in costume. Cole's friend Will decided to be a green ninja because Cole told him he was going to be a ninja for Halloween - all this afternoon telling us he wanted to be a football player and us buying that costume. Well, turns out he wanted to be BOTH!! He wore Eli's white ninja costume from last year (thanks to our friends for letting us borrow karate pants again) and had a blast. He didn't wear the head cover / mask piece but he loved it anyway. All the kids walked around the parking lot a few times and then it was party time! Lots of great snacks and a fun time. 

There's my little ninja
hi-yaaaahhhhh!
Cole's class - lots of Spidermans this year - I remember one year there were 7 Buzz Lightyears in Eli's class!
Sweet ninja
Selfie with Mommy
Mommy, Daddy, Cole the Ninja
I don't usually like pictures with me in them but I loved these. 
Cole and his buddy Wyatt being silly fishes
Cole, the white ninja and Will, the green ninja
Silly buds!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

First sleep over.... away from home!

Last night Tim and I had our first night totally alone since Eli was born - yes that's over SIX years ago!! Eli and Cole had their first sleepover with their friends Matthew & Jack and apparently it went really well. They all went to Kanki for dinner (BRAVE move on Brandy & Mark's part!) and then went to church this morning. They seemed to have a really great time and didn't miss us a bit. I'm sure Brandy & Mark felt the way we did after going from 4 boys to 2 - amazing that you can feel two are "quieter". 

For our part, Tim & I did some shopping - Lowe's for a new kitchen faucet - and then out to dinner. We joked that the boys NOT being with us cost us $400!! This morning we went on a mountain bike ride and just enjoyed sleeping in. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive that the boys were spending the night somewhere else but they did great, had fun and we will hopefully do it again soon! 
 Crazy crew for dinner at Kanki (Cole is mostly fascinated by the elevator)
Mommy & Daddy out for a mountain bike ride Sunday morning - single track was awesome!! Just like old times. =)

Sunday, October 20, 2013

"Helping" Daddy with the leaves

Cole and Eli helped Daddy with the leaves this afternoon. Doesn't it look like Cole was a huge help?! 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Happy Birthday 6th Valentino!

This afternoon we had a great time celebrating our friend Valentino's 6th birthday. Valentino is Eli's mountain bike buddy and they go to school together (due to birthdays though, Valentino is a year behind Eli - in Kindergarten while Eli is in 1st grade). There was a bounce house - which the boys thoroughly enjoyed and tried to constantly tackle each other. Then lots of playing! It's so great to watch all the little people have fun. 

Present time!
The pinata - V's dad kept making the dinosaur go up and down. It was pretty funny. 
Cole came from the garage and tried to sneak up on the dinosaur. 
Finally they beat it open and discovered some goodies. 
Candles and birthday cookie!
Make a wish Valentino!
Such cute boys - Happy Birthday V!
Painting pumpkins
Such a cool take home activity. Eli & Cole's pumpkins are now our porch decorations. 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Spidey-Eli

Spidey-Eli can climb just about anything. He discovered he can climb the door opening. Unstoppable!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

A weekend with Grandma & Grandpa N

This weekend we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa N. It's been a while since we've been down to their house so off we went!! We drove down Friday night after dinner hoping the boys would go to sleep. They did, but it was only a few miles from Grandma's house! It took a little to get them settled once we got there but all was good and we got a good night's sleep. 

Saturday morning, we took it easy - the boys got lawn mower rides from Grandpa, played and explored outside and we just hung out. All was great until Cole came crying into the house with his foot bleeding. Once we cleaned it up, it was obvious his little toe needed stitches. Somehow he managed to completely slice the inside of his baby toe - ugh!! So Tim and I took him to the Urgent Care while Eli stayed with Grandma & Grandpa. Not our ideal Saturday morning but thankfully the Urgent Care wasn't too busy when we got there (but very busy by the time we left). The doctor and nurses were great and took great care of our Cole-man. Some shots / numbing, cleaning, four stitches and antibiotic prescription later we headed back to Grandma's. Cole did great through the cleaning and stitches - he wasn't happy but handled it like a trooper. He did however take the opportunity to milk it for all it was worth with his cuteness and his little foot bandaged up. It took a little while to figure out what happened but we "think" Cole was riding his bike barefoot and when he was on the brick sidewalk, hit the edging with his pedal and when his foot slipped off, it was cut by the hard plastic pedal (sharp edges). No matter what actually happened, it was painful for our little boy!
Grandpa Lawn Mower rides - Cole looks like a rodeo cowboy with his arm in the air
Waiting for the doctor to show up - iPhone helped =)
Pitiful with his bandaged foot
Cole wouldn't walk on it the rest of Saturday (not trusting me that he could walk on his heel) and enjoyed some tv time (and later a nap!)
Eli takes his football everywhere - he had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa. 
And Grandpa got him this time!
Our tired injured boy
With Cole napping, we took our first trip to Hobby Lobby. I was WAY excited, Tim tolerated me. =) 

Sunday morning, we (again) took it leisurely to start the day and the boys helped me put together a puzzle we bought on our Hobby Lobby trip. They did great and we had fun putting it together. (Puzzles are a GREAT mountain / camping activity - I look forward to many more puzzles and games as the boys learn how to relax.) And Cole discovered that his foot still worked and he could walk - yay! Grandma cooked us a yummy breakfast and Eli & Cole played outside for a while. We were super impressed that Cole got back on his bike without any prompting - but he did wear shoes this time! We are adamant that helmets are worn when riding bikes but we never thought to make wearing shoes a rule - but now it is! We also took a little time to head down to the Morehead City waterfront and see the new sculpture in honor of the Big Rock tournament. It was pretty cool - a big king mackerel and signs for the winner of the tournament each year. I can't imagine reeling in some of those big fish. Sometimes, I think they can fight them for hours. Not to mention, it's an expensive hobby. I think we'll stick with bikes and our boys - those are expensive enough!!

It was a quick but fun visit. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for having us!

Helping Mommy with a very cool hot air balloon puzzle
Cole is most definitely our car guy
Super Cole - back on the bike!
Loves Grandpa's tractor. One day he'll be driving it and mowing Grandpa's grass for him. 
Eli loves to ride over roots and takes the opportunity to practice his skills whenever / wherever. 
Four stitches - poor baby toe
Silly boys
A brotherly hug - that normally ends in a tackling / wrestling match. 
That's a big fish!
This was the largest one we saw. 
Love Grandpa & Grandma N!!
More silliness - I think Cole shot Eli. 
My three boys - the biggest one loves and misses the water. Sorry Honey! 
Pretty cool - this dog was just hanging out on the boat. The boys got a kick out of it. 
Quick family shot
I can't remember if it was Eli or Cole but they accurately pointed out that this boat was in trouble (uh yea, it kinda sank).
Right before we left, I spotted this huge spider and had to take a picture. He would give me the heebie-jeebies if he were at our house. Thankfully we left him there!