Elmo & Tigger

Grammy did some shopping and bought the cutest little costumes for our boys. Brody was Elmo and Colt was Tigger. We were able to wear the costumes for more than one day when we had a play date and when we were trying them on. And then of course we went trick-or-treating in our costumes. We were thankful it wasn't raining (even though it was raining pretty hard earlier in the day). It also wasn't very cold, so we set out to go trick or treating well before it started to get dark. We had never done this before and I wasn't sure how long it would take for Brody to make it to the 4 houses in our cul-de-sac. It was Brody as Elmo, Colt as Tigger, Mommy as Snow White, and daddy was the Tigger tamer carrying him in the Baby Bjorn. After our first 2 houses we realized we still had a lot of daylight left so we went for a little walk down the street and checked out 2 houses that had some fun Halloween decorations. We decided to send Brody trick-or-treating there. When we made it back to our cul-de-sac we saw that other kids had started to emerge from their house so we went back to hand out candy. Unfortunately, our neighborhood, though very family friendly, does not get very many trick-or-treaters....so now we have way too much candy left over.

Cousin Abi's Influence

Brody has a great time playing with Abi. It is especially fun when we go over to Abi's house because she has so many new and different toys. Brody also loves his Aunt Angie and Uncle Brian. He can't stop talking about them. Now part of having an older cousin who is a girl is being subjected to some of the "girl" stuff Abi has and at this point playing with these things. Today when we are at Abi's house Brody found Abi's tutu and put it on. I don't protest these things although Daddy would. I just think it's so darn cute. So I let Brody put the tutu on and he did not want to take it off. Instead he danced in it, twirled in it, and ran all around the house wearing it. Maybe some day these pictures will be used against them somehow...but for now I think they are so darn cute.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took a family outing to the Fall City Farms' pumpkin patch. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day (usually a rare thing in Seattle this time of year, but this year we have had 3 beautiful weekends). It was busy, as was expected, so we had the great idea of going over to the part of the farm where no one was so that we could find our perfect pumpkin. Colt was in the Bjorn and Brody was walking with daddy. Once we found a cart we were set to go and ventured down to "our secret pumpkin patch." After walking down there and looking around for about 10 minutes we realized why this place was so secret, or why no one was here.....there were no "perfect" pumpkins....or really there were no good pumpkins. They were all either green or had holes in them. So we decided to head back to the main section. As we were walking back Brody became very distracted by the sandbox with all the tractors, so this put a little delay in our searching. We finally made it down to the pumpkin patch and realized it was already 12:30, which meant Colt would be eating or should be eating and Brody was close to his nap time. We decided we would have to forgo the pumpkin searching ourselves and just pick a pumpking from the preselected pumpkins. We found one we liked and went to pay for our $13.00 pumpkin... I didn't know they could be so expensive.

We learned a few lessons from our pumpkin patch outing.
1) Go in the middle of the week, when it's not as crowded.
2) Be prepared for lunch or at least have a snack.
3) Only go to the section where others are looking.

Having fun without Mommy

Today Brody joined his cousin, Abi and our friend Gunnar Tegman for a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Colt had his 2 month checkup (more on that later) so we had to stay behind. I am pretty comfortable leaving Brody with just about anyone. It's not that I don't love my boy I just know he is pretty easy going and isn't hard to take care of. However, today I was a little sad that I wasn't going to be with him when he went to the pumpkin patch. I knew he was in good hands and was going to have a super fun time but I wanted to be with him to experience this again. I also came to the realization that now with 2 boys in our lives there are going to be moments and things that I miss out on in their lives. It's one of the hard things about being a mom, knowing that you won't be able to go with them to their senior prom. :) Brody did bring his pumpkin home and every time he picks it up he says "pumpkin patch." We are hoping to go to the pumpkin patch as a family this weekend.

A visit from Nanny

Yesterday Nanny and Grammy came over to see the boys. Nanny (Brad's grandma) has been up here in Seattle for a couple of weeks and really wanted to hang out with her great grandsons. Brody always loves some company and couldn't resist showing off his skills when they were here. He loves to dance, whistle, sing songs, and talk. Colt was super sweet and had lots of smiles for Nanny. He has even started cooing and had plenty to say. He needs to work on his talking if he is going to compete with his brother. We all had a wonderful time.

Papa Bob's Helper

Today Brad had to work most of the day, which is unusual for a Saturday. I had a baby shower to go to so I loaded the boys in the car and we drove down to Papa Bob & Grandma Shari's. We spent most of the day there, but I took Colt with me and my mom to the baby shower. This left Brody under the watchful eye of Papa Bob. As with most people, Brody LOVES Papa Bob. Today they had tons of fun and Brody was Papa Bob's helper. He was helping fix Uncle Jason's car by picking up the bolts and putting them in the drain pipe. (Reports indicate that all bolts have been found) After fixing the car Brody rode on Papa Bob's tractor. Since it looked as if they were going to be riding it for quite awhile they decided to mow the lawn. One day we hope all this "helping" translates into a nicely weeded yard at our house. :)

Nixie Knox

It is so fun to watch the way our boys are growing. Today I had a fun time reading books with Brody. He is especially fond of his Dr. Seuss books. He often asks for Hop on Pop or Fox in Socks. Today we were reading Dr. Seuss' ABC book. As I opened up the book to the X page, Brody pointed at the picture and said "Nixie Knox". If you are not familiar with Nixie "she" is one of the characters on this page. Now this is really interesting because we have not been "quizzing" Brody on this he just remembered it from the numerous times it has been read to him.