Cute Pic Post -- October 2014

October is by far and away, our CRAZIEST month. Two birthday boys means four birthday events which doesn't even include a "party" in the typical sense! We celebrate just the four of us on their actual birthday with a cake and presents and then Nonnie & Gramps bring presents and cupcakes over another night. So each boy gets two days just for celebrating his life! :-) October also brings the typical fall things like pumpkin patches and football watching. It also brings The State Fair of Texas and Halloween. So, aside from their birthdays, it's a busy month. Add in their birthdays and Seth's trip to Canada, and our nights were b-o-o-k-e-d. I do not like having so many evening commitments per week, but it was unavoidable. The best part is that Seth took Halloween off, so we had a long weekend together as a family at the very end of the month. Even though the actual day included two Well Child Visits and two dentist appointments! ha. Not exactly "fun," but it's still nice because we're all together. Anyways, here are a few of the million miscellaneous pictures from the month.

Crazy Hair Bath Boys

They love Daddy's physical play!

Graham calls this scooter his motorcycle!

He often sits with his arms behind his head like this.

These four boys adore each other!
Love our babysitting co-op!!!

"sounds disgusting"

This came home from school and I about hyperventilated.
No lice at our house, though!

Our attic floor decided to give-way when Seth was in Canada (the first week of October), so we've been working on that project ever since. First he took everything down/out and now he's working on rebuilding the floor up there. We have lots of stuff that needs a place to be stored, and thus, we need a good solid floor that doesn't just give up when it gets tired! Thankfully, neither vehicle was damaged.

junk that's been up there for who knows how long...
that carpet remnant doesn't match anything currently in the house!

These used to be on the windows.
And they're never going back on, so we've been giving them away for craft projects

Here's our stuff that needs to be sorted/purged. Right after Seth managed to get the attic empty, Mother Nature decided to skip Fall and move right to Winter. So it's 30 degrees outside and I have zero desire to stand out there going through memories. Also, once we know if Final/Third Baby is a girl or a boy, I can figure out what to do with 1) the girl handmedowns we have from Spencer and Cheryl and 2) all my childhood toys the boys will never play with (like, I'll keep the legos and toss the Barbie stuff).

Graham kept making this expression at some show we were watching. ha!

Our McKinney friends had us over and gave the boys birthday presents. There was also some of the best cupcakes I've ever had in my life. Thanks van den Dool family!! We love getting to be a part of your lives. Thanks for loving on our boys so well. (Why did you have to move to McKinney!?)

His very own Ninja Turtle mask! (blue, OF COURSE)

Mr. Potato Head!

We go to their house so often, Graham calls this highchair "my chair."

Gramps got out some old train sets and it kept the boys entertained.
Until it was determined they were all broken beyond repair. lol.

A & E playing Rescue Bots outside for hours.

We're safe in this house with all these Ninja Turtles around!

Nonnie gave Austin this shirt.
He loves having a hood on his head and refuses to take it down.
This hood is a little small. lol!

Anyone want to buy some cute pumpkins?

Sweet Sleeping Baby.

That's his side-eye at the carwash machine whirring around the car.

Two years later, this doesn't quite fit. ha!

A few times a year, they have us bring the kids into BSF worship.
I got to sit next to these cute boys.

Miss Megan's costume was hilarious!

The Target toy catalog came and Graham has paged through it every day!

My cousin stopped by for dinner one night while he happened to be in town for work.

Halloween 2014

Halloween Decor/Traditions...
The boys, Austin especially, were totally excited about turning their pumpkins (they each chose one from all the ones in the bin at Aldi) into a Jack-o-lantern. I'm guessing he got his information from school because I certainly didn't cover it very much. But the week of Halloween, we finally got around to cutting them open, pulling the "gross" insides out, and cutting some faces into them. Austin asked Seth to do a "scary face" and I carved Graham's. Austin nearly refused to pull any of the innards out because it was gross looking and feeling. I had completely forgotten how gross the insides feel and was barely able to help. The smell and the texture about did this prego lady in!

I accidentally cut off a tooth!

School Halloween...

Austin didn't have a Halloween shirt to wear this year. I find it very strange that we missed the 4t Halloween shirt space and funny that once I realized this, I couldn't find one anywhere! So, orange Mater worked in a pinch for his school Halloween party day. I love these sweet boys!

The kids were told to wear orange and black.

His father's son. Hamming it up!

One Mother spent a lot of time on the fruit side she brought.
I brought the plates and the napkins.

His Father's Son. The End.
(I'm shaking my head...)

Actual Day of Halloween...
We started the day by going to IHOP for free pancakes. The boys ate free and Seth and I shared a meal. Did you know that IHOP has really good hot cocoa?? Seth says it tastes like Swiss Miss, but since that's my favorite brand of hot chocolate, that's not an insult to me. They even give you this GIANT To Go cup of it if you ask. Mmmmmm... After breakfast, we headed off to Dr. appts. And after Dr. appts., it was time for dentist appts. And then it was lunch and nap time. Again, Seth took the day off, so it was a fun day just being all together all day.

I'm kinda obsessed with profile shots. This is him pointing at a light up billboard.

Graham's Scary Face pancake. He'd already eaten the other eye.

Clean Plate Club!

Actual Trick-or-Treating...
This is our first year actually going around Trick-or-Treating. Graham had just been born when Austin was two, so we stayed home and handed out candy. Last year, we were in Atlanta, and handed out candy at Anne Marie and Mike's house (Lilly Grace was just a few weeks old.). The boys had a blast and did a good job of sharing the one pumpkin I bought. Graham went to every door, right alongside his brother, but didn't once say "trick-or-treat." He said "Thank You" every time, but couldn't get the other words out. All the candy went into the one pumpkin and then once home, we went through it to pull stuff we didn't think they should/could eat (Skittles for Graham, as an example). After we sorted safe/unsafe, the boys pillaged through and ate as much as they wanted. We only did the houses on our street, so we had a very reasonable amount of candy and spent the next hour handing candy out to people who came to the door. The boys had a blast doing that too! I love that they love giving AND receiving. Austin was Spiderman (I bought his costume the day after Halloween last year in Atlanta) and Graham was Superman (I have no idea where this costume came from. It's been in the toy chest with all the other dress up stuff for as long as I can remember. Seriously. No memory.)

It looks like broad daylight here. I'm not sure why.

Love the twins next door!

I love this candied face...

Austin Turns 4!!!!

As I said in Graham's birthday post, each kid gets stuff waiting for them at their special spot, including a balloon. Austin is obviously into Cars and asked specifically for a TMNT balloon when he realized (on Graham's birthday) that he'd be getting a balloon soon. This was also the kind of cake he asked for, which required a special purchase from a lady who makes cakes. $25 for a 6-inch round and that included delivery. He had been asking for a TMNT cake for like 3 months!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, sensitive, loving son!

This Birthday Boy always has crazy hair!

He asked for pizza and pancakes for his birthday dinner. We decided to just go with pizza and gave him plenty of orange pop to go with it. He's his Momma's son, wanting orange pop with pizza every single time. Mmmmm... so good, the combination. (You need to try it if you haven't!)

And this boy was SO pleased with his cake! The candles are a special kind which are supposed to have a colored flame to match the color of the wax. That was a letdown, but an inexpensive one. And he loved his cake just as well. I think it's fair to say it lived up to the dreams.

To watch a video of him blowing out the candles, go here.

He wanted to eat his name AND the number 4.

I hated spending that kind of money on a cake for the 4 of us, but it was darn good cake.
Cute and delicious!

Then it was time to move onto presents and cards. He's a better poser than his brother!

Some year they might grow out of being excited over toothpaste, but not yet!

I love flying tissue paper!

This is a read along storybook of Frozen.
I had several of those (with records!) as a kid and
I freaked out when I saw they were bringing them back!

Now we have all the RescueBots!

Again, love the mess!

Nonnie & Gramps' cupcake and presents...

Nonnie takes each Grandkid to Build a Bear when they turn 4. Austin built the Leonardo you see him sitting with.

Ninja Turtle Grandpa jammies!

His first scooter!!

Nixon-esque "4" answer to "How old are you?" lol

His. Father's. Son.