Halloween Post #1 of 3

I realize I'm way behind on the Halloween post train, so here's my attempt to catch up.  I was going to do just one big post, but then noticed that I had way too many pictures.  So I'm breaking our 2011 Halloween experience up into three posts.  Things were not that crazy exciting or anything... I just took a lot of pictures!

First off, a few weeks back we did our annual family day trick-or-treating at the base.  The big boys wanted to be pirates this year... more specifically, they wanted to be Jake from the Disney show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates."  I had bought J a cool pirate costume from Costco a while back, but then when he kept saying he wanted to be Jake I examined the costume and realized that it really looked nothing like what Jake wears.  So then I started searching the internet and found these costumes for $7 on Amazon that look more similar (with the bandana instead of a hat) to Jake.  Plus, they slip on really easily over clothes and I thought the boys might like to dress up in them on days other than Halloween (which they do).  And they were so cheap!  But then I went and blew what I saved on the big boys' costumes on a parrot outfit for Reid.  Totally worth it, though.  :)

I think their favorite part of the costume was their "gold doubloons" necklaces.  I like saying "gold doubloons."

Reid's headpiece was a little snug... here he was chewing on the part by his mouth.  I took a pic and then we un-velcroed it.

We had two grumpy little pirates that day because they were both getting over being sick for a week.  Then Mommy got sick the next day.  We all three had the same thing and it was awful.  I think it's gone now, thankfully.

They picked the two smallest pumpkins in the patch!

Here's Emmett showing off his "Boo!" stamp... 

We didn't stay too long this year since the boys were grumpy.  We left and went to lunch at Subway.

 

Reid loves all kinds of crinkly paper....

Then Jackson got to ride home with Daddy in the Jeep!  He was so excited!  Phil recently painted his Jeep himself.  It looks awesome and I am really proud of him!  It used to be a really faded and splotchy red and now it's this gorgeous dark orange.  He researched a ton about how to do it properly and really took his time and did it perfectly.  We are all about DIY around here lately. 

Then when we got home the boys spent some time checking out their loot.  And then they went down for naps and Mommy stole all of the good chocolate stuff out of their buckets.  I will do that until they're old enough to notice and I won't feel bad about it!  :)

 

I love Emmett's face here... "What the heck is this?!?  This isn't candy!" 

 

DOTS... yucko.  You can keep that one, E!  :)

Big Boys

Here are just a few random pictures of the big boys from a few weeks ago.  First, eating outside together on a Subway dinner night when Daddy was TDY...

Here Emmett is saying "cheese"...

I peeked outside to check on them one evening and saw this happening...

Then Phil gave it the green light so I just let it go and took pictures.  :)  I can't believe these pictures were taken just a few weeks ago.  It is really chilly already.  Ugh. 

We were laughing at Emmett's apple-eating technique at dinner the other night...

Some mid-dinner brotherly love...

And these slippers.  J and E are obsessed with them.  My sister gave them to the boys last Christmas and Emmett liked them okay, but Jackson pretty much wanted nothing to do with them.  This year they can't get enough.  And it was icing on the cake when Daddy pulled out his fun slippers, too.  Phil has had those longer than we've known each other.  :)

 

I just love these next three pictures!

 

Emmett calls them his "brown bear slippers" and Phil and I love how he says those words.  Here's a little video of us talking about them...

And then another of the boys saying their ABCs together and beating on the couch :) ...

Love them so much!!

Reid-y Reiderson

Reid is eight months old now and busy as a bee.  He is all over the place all of the time... pulling up on everything and cruising along the furniture.  He loves the dishwasher and the pantry.

He loves sitting at the table like a big boy.

Jackson loves Reid all of the time, but Emmett is not such a fan of Reid's mobility.  He gets very frustrated when Reid touches any of his trains or other toys.  We're working on it!

Reid loves to eat.  He still nurses about five times a day and eats at least one jar of solid food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We just had his six-month checkup (I'm a little behind), and I was a little surprised that he's not bigger than he is.  He's in the 10th percentile for height and the 25-50th for weight and head size.  He's still spitting up quite a bit, but the doctor said it's normal as long as he's gaining weight and happy. She said hopefully when he starts eating less liquidy foods around one year that will help.

I love his little feet sticking out of the bottom of the high chair.

He is such a happy baby, as long as he's not tired or hungry.  :)  He laughs a lot at the things his brothers do.  He goes to bed around 6:30 or 7:00 and has been sleeping through the night since about six months old.  He wakes every day around 6:15, though... ready for his milk!  He's a pretty good napper and was much easier to get on a nap schedule than his brothers.  Maybe because I was more relaxed about it this time.  He takes two naps a day and lately they've both been around 1-1/2 to 2 hours long.  It's very nice.  Jackson and Emmett still take regular naps, too, which is wonderful.  1:30-3:00 in the afternoon is a happy time of day for me! 

He loves these bar stools.  He climbs underneath them and pulls up on them and gets so proud of himself! Luckily, they're very sturdy.  I just realized that in these next pics he only has one sock on.  I cannot keep socks on his feet.  I set him down and five minutes later at least one is gone and the other is hanging on by a thread.  And I know his outfits are mismatched, but at home we just dress for comfort.  I promise that when we go out in public he always looks presentable.  :)

This totally cracked me up!

Let's see it again, up close...

Hahahahaha!!!  He is so cute!

Wanting to join his bros for lunch...

Uh-oh.  He's also discovered how to climb up on the hearth.  So far he's only done it this one time, though, because about two seconds after I took this picture he did a nose dive off the edge onto the floor.  I guess that's pretty self-critiquing.  He was fine, though... not even a lump on the head. 

Do you see that fat little hand and that chubby big toe sticking out of this pants?  Ohhhh... baby hands and feet are so yummy.  Actually all of Reid is yummy!  He's my precious little baby boy.

Soccer, Secret Hideouts, and Sayings

Jackson started soccer last week.  We weren't really sure how it was going to go over, but he was SO excited at his first practice.  He had a little trouble focusing and controlling the ball because of this excitement, but I think he had a lot of fun.  Hopefully he continues to enjoy it.   I can't wait to see him in his little jersey!

The little boy in the white and blue is one of J's buddies from school and J was really excited to see that they were on the same team.

My friend Michelle's daughter is also on J's team.  I thought she looked so cute with her pigtails and shin guards on...

Stay tuned for pics from their first game this weekend!  Should be interesting!  :)

A few weeks ago I changed the position of our couch in the living room.  I was tired of it the way it was and I feel like it opens up the room a lot more this way.  Anyway, the couch is pulled away from the wall a few feet and the space back there makes the perfect secret hideout for J and E.  Phil sometimes puts a sheet over the back of the couch to make a little fort for them, but they love going back there even without the sheet.  They are really into Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney Jr. right now and they like to pretend that space is their very own pirate hideout.

Jackson memorized his first Bible verse!

I've really been trying to take more videos lately.  I just love looking back at old videos and hearing how J used to talk and I feel like I don't have enough of those!  So I've been trying to take more of the boys talking and just doing normal everyday things.  In this video I was trying to think of things that E says now that we think are really cute.  I should have written down what I wanted him to say!  I'm really glad that I remembered to get "milk" (which sounds like "moat"), "I love you so much, Mom," and "blankie" ("ginkie") on there.  :)

It's funny to me how when I'm taking the video I sometimes have no idea what he's saying to me, and then when I watch it back it makes perfect sense and I can't believe I didn't understand him!