HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We hope everyone has a very happy Halloween. Hope the kids get lots of candy all the while staying warm. It is a beautiful day which means it should be very chilly tonight! We will be attempting to get Braeden into his costume for at least 1 picture and then possibly to take him to a couple of our friends houses to trick or treat! We will see how that works out...our plan B is none of the above and stay at home and hand out candy :-) We are very flexible!! You have to be with 2 babies!! We hope everyone has a great night!

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS SITTING ON A GATE

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,The first one said,"Oh my, it's getting late." The second one said,"But we don't care."The third one said,"I see witches in the air."The fourth one said,"Let's run, and run, and run."The fifth one said,"Get ready for some fun."Then whoosh went the wind,and out went the lights,And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

As always I post the history of the holiday we are celebrating: http://www.history.com/minisites/halloween/viewPage?pageId=713

Fast Facts about this spooky day!! http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=51880&display_order=9&mini_id=1076

Just in case you are interested! Have a great one all!!

Flight Delays!

Just an update on Darren's ETA home....So Darren and his moms flight out of Pennsylvania was supposed to leave at 5:45pm(ish) EST however he called me around 6:30pm to let me know they had actually been sitting on the plain for almost an entire hour. The quick version is that the flight actually ended up being delayed by almost 2 hours, they arrived in Chicago where they were each to have a layover for about an hour originally very late therefore missing their connection flights home. Marcia was able to get on a flight tonight that I believe left at about 10:00pm EST tonight. Darren, on the contrary won't be able to get a flight until tomorrow morning- there just aren't very many flights out from Chicago to Portland! :-( He for now is anitcipating having to sleep in the airport, the hotel across the street was somewhere around $300 a night and the airlines only are will to pay 60% (which is absolutely ridiculous)! We are looking forward to him coming home to us very soon and I am sure he is looking forward to sleeping on the plane and in a bed :-) Will keep you posted if anything changes!!

The Perfect Pumpkin!

Here is Braeden picking out the perfect pumpkin. He picked one for himself and one for Brooklynd :-) He wouldn't let anyone else hold his pumpkin!! The only pictures I got of the actual pumpkin picking are from my phone as the camera we were using batteries died just beforehand and Darren had ours. But you can get the jist of it! He carried (and dropped) his pumpkin the entire way to the car, he fell asleep after we left Fir Point Farms still holding it with him in his carseat!!

These perfect pumpkins were seized at www.firpointfarms.com another good one in the local area (from a friends reference is) www.baumanfarms.com Happy Pumpkin hunting!!

Happy EARLY Halloween!!

Yesterday we headed out to the pumpkin patch in the late morning we decided on Fir Point Farms just outside of Canby as it's closer to home. There was SO much fun stuff going on, the boys had a blast. Braeden got to pet the billygoats & rabbit and feed them as well. He went down a hay slide with Kody and got a little hurt, he started crying....At first we thought it just scared him, but I think he jammed his leg a bit! Luckily he walked it off and was good as new within a short while. Kody got to play on the blow up castle and all of the others. We all (except my dad and Brooklynd) went through a little haunted house. Lastly, after visiting the gift store we headed out to the pumpkin patch where Kody picked a HUGE pumpkin and Braeden picked a little on for him and an even litter one for Brooklynd. We got several pictures of them before my dads cameras battery died, I had to take the pumpkin patch ones with my phone! I will post them asap. On the way home from the pumpkin patch the boys crashed out...they were exhausted neither having gotten their naps. After napping they both got their baths and we headed out for the evening. We first went to my mom and dads to grab some last minute additions to my costume then we headed off to the costume party. My costume didn't turn out as well as anticipated but it served its purpose! Braeden absolutely would not wear his costume he had it on for under 1 minute. I had decided not to put them in their costumes until we got to the party because they were warm costumes and a bit uncomfortable (especially I am sure in a carseat) plus I wanted them (namely Braeden) to be excited about it! It didn't work as planned as soon as Braeden's costume was zipped up, he walked out to the living room of Lori & Tim's house and took the hood off and started to unzip the entire costume. We tried everything to get him to keep it on even for just 1 picture, but it was no luck. Brooklynd kept his on for quite sometime, then he was getting too warm so I decided it was time to take it off. We got a couple of pictures on other peoples cameras of Brookynd and I as Darren has ours and our video cameras battery wasn't charged and the charger wasn't working. I will share these pics as well as soon as I get them....It was very hard for me not having a camera....anyone that knows me knows it's attached to me at all times!! My parents took the boys home with them and put them to bed and I went out to meet a couple of friends for a short while. Then off to meet up with some other people and that was great fun! Hope you all had a great weekend. We are missing Darren very much and excited for his return tomrrow. Wish us luck at the kids party...should be great fun for the kids and the moms as well!

Cute countdown...

Darren's Trip & Our Weekend

This weekend will be a new adventure for all of us. Darren is heading out on Friday morning to San Francisco, where he will get to see his sister and mom, before him and his mom head out to Pennsylvania. They are travelling to see their family for a cousins wedding. Darren is very excited to see his grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. He hasn't seen most of them for somewhere around 17 years! It will be weird to be apart from eachother for 4 days. Luckily, the boys and I have a fairly busy weekend. Most of the weekend we will stay at my parents house. Saturday we (my mom & dad, Trista & Jason and I) plan to take the boys (Braeden, Brooklynd and Kody) to the pumpkin patch. We are undecided as to which one, either Fir Point Farms, or Bauman Farms. Both have lots of stuff going on. On Saturday evening we are all going to Tim & Loris (my bosses) Halloween Party as well, so this will be the first time the kids will get to wear their costumes and the first time Brooklynd will dress up ever! Braeden is going to be a Tiger and Brooklynd is going to be a Lion..their costumes are adorable and furry! I am going to be a safari guide. After the party, I am going to meet up with my 2 best friends to go out for a few drinks. All of our boyfriends are out of town, so I am looking forward to some fun, friend bonding time. Sunday I am having a costume party for some of our friends children and after that if it's done in time I will be headed over to my cousins 18th birthday party. Then after the weekend Darren comes home to us on Monday. We hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend and lots of fun activities planned for the holiday weekend.

Brooklynds Big Week...

So my littlest baby boy is getting huge! He will be 9 months old tomorrow...I feel like I am always saying how old he is going to be and then that month goes by in what feels like a day. It seems like the time is flying by faster and faster, day by day...minute by minute. Yesterday was Brooklynds first day in his new big boy carseat, he looks so little in it and if that wasn't enough firsts for one day...Freya called me to tell me that Brooklynd got his very 1st tooth...I almost started crying. I know that sounds silly, I just was sad I wasn't there for such an important event....but nevertheless I did get to see it just a few hours later and it's perfect and by today it is even more apparent. He is chewing on everything and has been doing so a lot lately. I think the 2nd one isn't far behind. The first chance I get once the tooth is really showing I will take a picture (of course) and share it with you all! Today I took Brooklynd in for his 9 month check-up everything seems to be great. He weighs about 22.5 lbs and is just just under 30 inches tall..it's amazing! He should be getting more mobile over the next few months. Due to his size (he's a big boy!!) the doctor wasn't surprised he wasn't standing yet or crawling for that matter. In fact he indicated that he may never crawl, as it's not vital to development and some babies just don't ever do it! We'll see. He has been getting up on all fours and scooches everywhere, but I have yet to see him crawl. He is very content when he is just sitting, but I can tell that is going to change and he has started to let that last much less than he used to before he wants to be on his belly to scooch around! The doctor said he is very healthy and right on target as to where he should be and that he isn't over weight by any means just a big, solid baby :-)

The baby boys pics!

So we went in a couple of weeks ago and got the boys pics taken and let me tell you, Darren and I were both exhausted and we got about 4 total where they were even in the same frame. Not to point any fingers at the cause of this, but remember only one can run...and run away! Therefore we scheduled another appointment for the weekend after and I forgot about it completely. So, this weekend we were taking them in for the last time and the morning of the pics decided that since we had one good shot last time and we have so many photo appointments coming up for the holidays that we would go ahead and order one from the very first session! So here are the only 2 decent ones from that session several weeks back! The first one I cropped because that is the best of them both, but in cropping it, it comes out a little fuzzy on here...Hope you are all doing well.

Following in his daddy's footsteps...

Just some funny pics of Braeden from the other night he found Darren's hat & shoes and he started calling me and when I found him, this is what he looked like...

Where'd everybody go?!

He wants to be just like daddy!
Uh-oh...it got dark, I can't see anything!

You can tell just how big these shoes are from this one!!

The babies...

Kim and I FINALLY after much talking about it got the boys together this week. Here are a few pictures!

Brooklynd (8.5 months) & Grant (6.5 months)

All 3 boys play nice together!
No smiling here...at least not for this picture :-)

3 Big Boys...

Whenever Jennifer, Jaime and I get the 3 boys together we try to get a picture...this is getting to be much harder as you can tell. They is only a couple of weeks difference in age. Braeden was 2 on September 22nd, Josiah turned 2 (which is the occasion we were together for in these pics) approximately 2 weeks later & Cody will be 2 in November. This was the ONLY picture where all 3 were seated as well as mostly facing forward....From left to Right, Josiah, Braeden & Cody.

They decided to touch tongues...almost!
Moms & boys...I am cut off in this picture, but it was the only one where all of us ladies eyes were open and we were facing forward instead of towards the boys....this was almost harder to get than the pic of the 3 boys together!!

Rainboots...

Braeden has just recently discovered his rainboots that we bought him in May. They are still too big for him, and have been hanging on his bedroom door since we returned from camping shortly after we purchased them. Two times in the last few days Braeden has basically begged to put them on and it always happens between his bath and bedtime. It has worked out great though as he has mastered putting things to bed. We say nigh-nigh to many things for instance the bath, the rainboots, Darren, Brooklynd and most of his toys as well. Thought you all might enjoy a picture of him in them. Hope everyone is well.