Trick or Treat!

This Halloween Noah dressed as a Fireman and Collier was a Dalmation. I love coordinating their costumes and will continue to do so until they will no longer let me! (Last year, Noah was a cowboy, Collier was a horse).   We had to make several stops on our Trick or Treating excursion for all the family to see the boys and we ended up in my parents neighborhood where we took the boys door-to-door to some of our long-time neighbors/friends.  We've been working with Collier on saying "Trick or Treat!" which comes out like "twick tweat" but he was kind of bashful and wouldn't always say it for the neighbors, although he loved knocking on all of the doors.  After visiting a few houses we came back to my parent's for dinner and spent the rest of the evening handing out candy.  This was Noah's favorite part.  He, my dad and Derrick sat on the front porch passing out candy and Noah loved seeing all the kids come up to the porch in their costumes!  The kids had a great evening and racked up with alot of candy.  And I can't believe another Halloween has come and gone!

 

 

 

 

 

we ran into collier's friend lily 

 

 



harper's first trick-or-treating experience 

 

Is uncle jamie having baby fever? he held harper all night long and even gave her a bottle 

 

harper makes a cute minnie mouse

 

 





Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse! It's Collier's Clubhouse

Collier loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so it only made sense for us to have a Mickey Mouse Bash for his 2nd birthday!  We invited his cousins, buddies from church as well as a couple other friends for a Mickey themed lunch of Hot Diggity Dogs, Minnies Munchies (chips), Clarabelle's Chicken Salad and Toodles Noodles (pasta salad) and of course an awesome Mickey CAKE!  Despite the sudden frigid drop in temperatures, the kids had a great time jumping, bouncing and playing on the inflatable bouncy house and slide that we rented.  Collier got lots of fun toys and had a great time with his friends and family!  This was my first time to really go all out with decorations and I had such a fun time planning/making it all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October in a flash

October has been a whirlwind of a month for us.  We listed our house at the end of September and have been showing it like crazy!  Amazingly, we signed a contract yesterday, just 1 month after having it listed! We are thrilled and can't wait to begin building our new house, however closing isn't until January so we have a few months until all of that begins.  It will be nice to be able to stay in our current house for the holidays and worry with moving afterwards.

Mid-October, Noah's class had a field trip to McGee Farms and Noah's teacher asked me to tag along as a helper.  Coincidentally, Collier's daycare class had scheduled to visit the pumpkin farm the exact same day, so Jamie and I both attended so we could enjoy the day with the boys.  The kids had a great time, enjoying a hayride into the pumpkin patch where they each got to pick out their own pumpkin, feeding chickens and goats, playing in huge haystacks and picking their very own cotton. 

 



 



 

Then on the following Monday, October 22, our sweet baby turned TWO!  I can't believe it's been 2 years already since we welcomed our precious 2nd born into our family.  We love our hilarious, so smart, adorable, always busy, very independent and lovable little blonde-haired, brown-eyed boy. Time flies when you are having fun and life has been a blast with Collier in it!  Some things he's done lately: the morning of his birthday, he said over and over all morning long, "I 2, I 2, I 2!" He was so excited!  He FINALLY said his first real sentence (other than 3/4 word phrases).  While speaking to Jamie he said, "I want a hug!"  What a sweet first sentence to put in his baby book (i.e. a note in my iPhone).  The other day at lunch, he was using his fork to eat and I said something about him using a fork.  My sweet, innocent little boy began repeating me and attempting to say "fork" however he pronounced it without the -r and it sounded very much like a very dirty 4 letter word!  We laughed out of surprise, which of course, prompted him to say it again. And again.  Oops!

 

Collier is still a little guy weighing around 24lbs (based on our scales at home) which puts him in the 7th% (I found a website that give percentiles based on age/sex) and he's 33 3/4" tall, which is the 37th %... he's only gained 2 lbs and grown 3/4" since his 18 month checkup.  I'm eager for his 2 year checkup so that we can discuss this with his doctors.  Height-wise there's nothing I can do, but I will probably put him on some pedisure since I have a hard time getting him to eat 3 meals/day! I have the hardest time finding clothes to fit him. 18 month pants are way too big for his waist, however 12 month is too short. My best luck is to find the kind with adjustable elastic, in which I have to tighten it all the way and they still hang on him (from the Gap, 12 - 18 months).  The good thing is that because he's so small, he's able to wear some of Noah's clothes that he wore when he was 12 - 18 months.  His vocabulary has taken off and he speaks in 3/4 word phrases, knows all of his close family/friends' names, can count to 7 with some help and is learning the letters of the alphabet.  He has learned the 'round and round' motion to the song "The Wheels on the Bus"... it's SO cute to see him do his arms in a round and round circular motion when we sing the song.  We are beginning to experience some 'terrible 2's' as he gets so frustrated when things don't go his way.  For instance, he always creates trains with different toys and will hook them up together so when he pulls/rides on one, the other is being pulled behind.  He'll place Brownie, his puppy, on the back of one but when Brownie continues to fall off, he will get SO frustrated and sometimes throw a little tantrum and stomp his feet.  I know this is all normal 2 year old behavior as his little self is trying to sort through all his different emotions and feelings that he's now having.  He's very animated and has a quite a little imagination for such a young age... he is always making different sounds while he's playing, such as car sounds, etc and he feeds and takes care of Brownie like he's a real puppy. Speaking of pets, Collier fell in LOVE with our neighbors kitten the other day as it ran into our yard.  He held it, kissed and hugged it and even cried when we made him come inside.  I can't wait to build our house and get the boys an outside dog (and maybe even a kitten)!

 

 Good Morning, Birthday Boy!

 

That evening, we took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Collier's actual birthday. The boys had a blast! Collier loved riding all of the rides...I feel certain we put at least $10 worth of tokens into the off road truck! 

 

  

Also, this month we attended our church's fall festival.  Unfortunately, Noah came down with the croup the previous day and was at home with a very high fever.  Jamie stayed with him that night so that I could go with Collier to church.  Collier wore his dalmation puppy costume and had so much fun playing with his best buddy from church, Charlie.  Charlie loves Collier and has been known to give him a few kisses... I believe she has a crush on our little guy.  But who could blame her?! Collier wasn't as interested in playing the fall festival games and instead would just sneak up to the candy buckets and grab a few pieces.  We sure hated that Noah couldn't be there but we still had a great time.

 

 





 

Don't I look good with a girl? :)

Lily, Charlie, Collier and Cooper

 

  Our Sunday School Class, The S.W.A.G Class (Saved With Amazing Grace)