A Monster and A Superhero

Feast your eyes on this scrumptious little monster...

Adam is saying "Cheeeeeeeeeese" in this picture.

I know I'm his mom so I automatically think he's pretty much the cutest thing, but there's something about this age.  It's the best age for Trick-or-Treating because you can put them in cute squishy costumes and watching them waddle all around is priceless. 

 

You may notice some chocolate on Adam's lips.  I may have had to bribe him with M & Ms to get him to put his costume on :)

At first I thought his costume was an insect, but a neighbor commented on his cute "monster" costume and I realized it definitely looks more like a monster than an insect.  Plus, a monster fits him MUCH more than an insect.

 Let's not forget this cutie. 

Owen went as Captain America.  Somehow we have misplaced his shield.  Thankfully he wore his costume about 100 times before the actual Trick-or-Treating night so we got some pictures.  He wanted nothing to do with pictures tonight.  He was on a candy mission and couldn't be bothered!  I'm glad I took those pictures of Adam (above).  Today the kids wore their costumes to daycare and Adam had a little accident in the green pants that go with his costume.  So he wore his jammies under his costume tonight.

I had to include this picture to show how much snow we got!

The kind lady that lives here called Adam a "she" about 5 different times.  Poor guy. 

Happy Halloween!

Weekend Rewind

 Phew.  Blogging has definitely taken a backseat lately and I don't like it one bit, but there's just no other way.  By the time I get home from work, spend time with the boys, make dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner, get boys ready for bed, shower, do some school work, I am pooped and can't muster up the energy to blog.  Plus, our weeks have been kinda boring with nothing too blogworthy.

Last week was not-so-wonderful.  Mike worked until after 6 every single night.  By Thursday night I was in meltdown mode.  I don't know how single mommies do it.

Despite all four of us being sick with coughs/colds, this weekend was great.  Friday night we hung out at home waiting for the "snowstorm" that was to arrive on Saturday.

Saturday morning it was just raining so we took the boys to the Kidmazium and gymnastics.

They had a blast.  They had enormous smiles on their faces the entire time and it was so nice to be able to spend quality time with them and just play.

On our way home the rain changed over to snow.

Sadly, it wasn't only the snow that fell on Saturday.

Our very pretty tree that provided us so much shade on our deck... that I was in love with... that I wrote about in this post recently, didn't make it.

Mike was just about to walk out the door when we heard the snap, crackle, pop and down came a huge limb.  It fell onto our roof and deck, however thankfully it didn't damage our house or deck.

A few hours later, another big limb came down.  It was a mess, but our kind family, friends, and neighbors all pitched in to help remove the tree.

There's still a lot of clean up to be done, but we'll get there.  Mike is so exhausted he can barely walk tonight.

We already know exactly what tree we are going to get to replace it, however I will always miss that tree.  Our yard looks like it got a very bad haircut.

Unfortunately, the boys didn't get to spend much time playing out in the snow because it wasn't safe to be under any trees or powerlines.  Our power was out from Saturday around noon to sometime Sunday morning.  Even though we have a generator, I didn't really feel like cooking so the four of us went out to dinner and had a nice time.  After dinner we headed over to Uncle Boo and Aunt Judy's house to carve pumpkins!

Uncle Boo had the perfect pumpkin carving area set up.

We were in his toasty warm garage and he had his generator hooked up so we had lights.  It was lots of fun!

Adam enjoyed eating pumpkin.

Saturday night Owen woke up in major pain.  His cheek and ear hurt very badly.  I knew it had to be an ear infection.  After some medicine he was able to fall back asleep, but he slept in bed with me and daddy slept in his bed.  Poor guy.  He woke up feeling fine, but I still wanted to have it checked.  I took him to the new Med Express clinic.  It is open 9-9 everyday.  Very convenient, especially for working parents!  Everyone there was super nice.  I was very impressed.  Turns out Owen does have a very bad ear infection.  The nice doctor even let me look in Owen's ear.  It was red and nasty.  Thank goodness we got that taken care of!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes.  We had Adam try his on tonight.  It was a hand-me-down from a friend and thankfully, it fits perfectly!  He looks so stinkin' cute I can barely stand it.  I learned early on to always take pictures of the boys in their costumes before the actual trick-or-treat day.  I will post them tomorrow!

A Hiking We Will Go...

Last Sunday we were planning on going for a hike up to Governor Dick.  We took the boys last year and Owen climbed the tower all my himself.  He remembers it and kept asking to go again.

Unfortunately, I came down with the stomach bug so we had to postpone our hike until this weekend.

So today, after Adam napped, we got the boys ready, packed lots of snacks to bribe Owen along the way, and off we went.  The hike up to the tower was about 40ish minutes.

Adam being a cheese ball.

We could have taken a faster route, but daddy thought we'd enjoy the scenic route.  :)

 

By the end of the hike up to the tower, Owen's legs were so tired.  Daddy had his hands full!

Room for one more?!

We couldn't believe our eyes when we finally reached the tower.  It was jam packed!  Usually, we are the only family there.  I've never been there before when there were more than a handful of people going up the tower.  Not today!  I think everyone in our county decided it was the perfect day for a hike.

Many different people were visiting Gov. Dick today!

Mike and Owen had to wait in a line to even enter the tower, but Owen was determined to climb.  I did my best to entertain Adam while they waited.  Last year, Adam was small enough that I could carry him in the front pack and climb with him attached to me.  Not this year.  He's definitely too big! 

Once they got inside and started to climb the ladders, they realized it was super crowded inside the tower too.  They had to keep waiting for other people to come down.  Mike gets very claustrophobic and he started to panic a little bit since it is so tight and there are only a few tiny windows.  So, out they came.  Owen was so upset.  He really wanted to climb to the top.  His poor little legs walked all the way up to the tower and he didn't even get to fully enjoy it.

We felt so badly for him, but it just wasn't worth it.  It as already dinner time and Adam was chilly and hungry.  So, back down the mountain we went.  Thankfully, Mike took us on a much shorter route back.  Hopefully Mike will be able to take Owen back during the week sometime when it isn't so full.

I never realized it was such a tourist attraction!

Soccer Picture

Here is Owen's soccer picture :)

I really really really wanted to put his team picture on here.  It is so stinkin' cute!!!  There are seven kids and all are girls except Owen and his buddy Aiden.  I hate keeping all the cuteness from you, but I feel really strange posting a picture of other people's kids without their permission.  I guess it's the teacher in me. 

Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

Tree Hugger

I'm a bit of a tree hugger.  I remember when I was little, my dad would go out to cut a tree down and I hated it.  Even though we lived in the woods with hundreds of trees and the one he was cutting down was most likely dead, I didn't like it.

 

Mike has been talking about how we will need to cut down a tree by our deck in the near future.  I told him he's not allowed to talk to me about that anymore because it is too upsetting.  The tree is very old and rotted in the trunk and he's afraid it will fall on our deck.  However, the amount of shade it provides our house and deck during the hot summer months is completely worth the risk (in my opinion).

A few weeks ago our next door neighbor's tree was struck by lightening.  It has a big crack all the way down the trunk.  Unfortunately, once we get ice and it freezes, it would probably cause the tree to crack even more and fall.

While we were in Hilton Head we noticed that they use pine needles rather than mulch.  We liked the idea and since we have a lot of pine trees in our yard, we decided to use pine needles to cover the ground around our play set.  Owen loves it (obviously).  He enjoys jumping and rolling in it.  Now I have pine needles all over my house.

So, they are having the beautiful tree cut down.  I think it's so sad.  I understand they have to do it, but I hate it.  So this afternoon, I took some last pictures of the pretty pine tree.  I will definitely miss it.

A Fun Fall Day

Whew.  What a week.  I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 8pm last night.  It felt great to get 10 hours of sleep!  This morning, Owen and I made a special trip to Sheetz for donouts.  We rarely get them, so when we do, it's a real treat.  Then, Adam and I ran errands while Mike and Owen did yard work.

It was such a cool, crisp, sunny day.  Perfect for a hayride and pumpkin pickin.  So after Adam's nap, the four of us and Lala headed to a nearby farm to do just that.

Owen giving me a disgusted look for taking his picture.

While we were waiting for the hayride, the boys played on these green basket things and Adam met some new friends.

He cracks me up with that face.

There is not a shy bone in his body.  He has no problem going up to random people and saying "hi" or giving them a high five.  He is such a people person. 

Adam had the cutest smile on his face during the hayride.  He loved it.  Owen loved it too, but he does not like me to take his picture.

Lately, Adam has been making this face when he's excited about something.

 

There's a little airport right by the farm.  This plane was practicing landing over and over again.  We couldn't believe he was flying with all the wind!

 

We were a little surprised when the hayride stopped at the pumpkin patch.  There were barely any pumpkins.  Last year, there were hundreds.

This year, they clearly loaded up a wagon full of pumpkins and dropped them in a field.  The farmer said their pumpkin crop was horrible this year.  Oh well.  The boys didn't know any different.  They had fun trying to find the perfect little pumpkin.

Lucky me, I get to look at these two little pumpkins every day :)