Trick or Treat

Our sugar filled day has come to an end. The boys had a blast of a day! By far, the most fun Halloween we have had in 5 years! It's so much fun when they begin to understand the concept. Konnor had his party at school today and seemed to enjoy himself. Hunter and Quinn got to jump in on the fun too. We then went trick or treating with our friends and their kids - we had 11 kids under the age of 5 trick or treating together but it went great! Sooooo cute! Konnor made his debut as Batman, Hunter as the "blue power ranger" and Quinn started out as a skunk, but ended up being a "naked baby!" Oh, and let's not forget Sanjog - who debuted as Homer Simpson. The kids had fun with that one. Aunt Stephanie was able to join us too. Thank goodness - b/c it's so hard to keep track of the little ones when it is so dark outside.

I'd imagine the boys are peacefully sleeping right now - Konnor said he was going to "pass out!" Hunter couldn't say goodnight on the phone b/c he was "too tired" - and Quinn, well, Quinn just shouts out whatever comes out of his mouth on the phone, but he was exhausted as well.

What a fun day! Whoever made up Halloween was a brilliant individual. The boys also got to go trick or treating with Sanjog's parents afterwards and Konnor said "we are so lucky Mom, we get to fill up our buckets twice!" A smart little man that kid is....lucky for me, all the buckets of candy went home with them to Dad's house!!!

Is there anything cuter than......

kids in their PAJAMAS?!!! I just love it! I adore the long sleeve ones Quinn has on but Konnor and Hunter insist on wearing shorts at the end of October - not like it's still 95 degrees here or anything!! Ha ha. Poor Quinn probably sweats.

Hunter had his 1st Preschool Halloween party today! He couldn't wait to show off his "blue Power Ranger!" He had a blast - as did Quinn, Sanjog and I. It's always fun to see little kids playing games, trick-or-treating - playing with friends, and thinking "life doesn't get any better than this!" When in reality, they are playing games ordered from Oriental Trading and others whipped up from someone's imagination the night before! God's Garden did a wonderful job this year - probably the best Halloween Parade/Party of the 3 we've been to so far.

Konnor claims he had a great day at school - when asked what he learned, he told me he knows everything already. Of course he does, just like his Daddy, right?! We got to have Konnor's friend Michael over for awhile after school - we went to the Pecos Park - played in the sand, Konnor taught Michael how to jump off the swing (every Mom's nightmare! His Mom wasn't too thrilled:) ) and then we hit up the gym and they shot some hoops. Konnor always counts the number of hoops he makes - he shoots on a full height hoop with a full sized ball - and made 32 today! He's quite the little go-getter. He and Michael had a blast together. Hunter couldn't quite keep up today but some nice, maybe 13 year old gentleman, came over to our hoop and showed him some tricks so he was completely content. Quinn just went back and forth from the water fountain for 45 minutes saying "gink? gink?" The kid loves drinking fountains.

We then hit up yet another park afterwards with some other friends of ours and played baseball, soccer, and dug some more holes in the sand. Nothing like preparing 3 boys for a nice night's rest, huh? Let's hope the attempt works!

While lying with the boys tonight, Konnor already asleep at 7:50 - I was trying to get Quinn to settle down - and Hunter likes to try to keep talking so he doesn't fall asleep (much like his Aunt Stephanie!) - so I eventually just end up not answering him. Quinn was slowing down, eyes getting heavy and I hear Hunter say "Mommy, I gotta tell you something...." I ignored him. "Mommy, I just have to tell you ONE more thing!" I ignored him. Once again, only this time with a little growl to his "Mommy, I just need to tell you ONE MORE THING!" So, I so nicely said "yes, Hunter?" To which he responded...."you have a pretty head!" Awww...how sweet. I turned and looked at him, those huge dimples flashing away - and said "Thank you, Hunter!" How sweet of him. Not sure really what a pretty HEAD is, but I'll take it any day!

This Mommy is tired today.....need to get geared up for another fun sugar filled day tomorrow! Konnor has his Halloween party at school and then we will prepare and set out for a fun night of trick or treating! Konnor told me in the car after school that he is excited to get "reese's penises" tomorow....I sure hope he doesn't mention that to his teacher:) I have told him several times that it's "pieces" but for some reason, it always comes out a tad different.

Tattoos, the zoo and grilled cheese with tomato soup

Considering my day started out bright and early at 5:30 am, not even half awake or even slightly motivated to run 3 miles - not to mention the beast of a dog that came after me with NO collar on or any owner in sight - it turned out to be a pretty fantastic day! (Yes, I really had not just one, but TWO dogs chase me up the sidewalk by my house, one I think was a Mastiff and the other a Doberman maybe? No collars, and the Doberman really came after me, I about peed my pants. Started running super fast and I hear "Toby, Toby?" Apparently the cool thing to do here in Privada is let two totally wild, obnoxious super beasts outside at 5:30 in the morning to scare the living crap out of those who peel themselves out of bed to RUN.) It did, however, get my adrenaline pumping!

Konnor had a half day today so we spent a fun afternoon at the zoo. Hunter wanted to have a pic-i-nic - so we whipped up some sandwiches, cheese sticks, grapes, popcorn and juice boxes and off we went! It was a perfect day for the zoo - hardly anyone was there - and the weather was perfect! So perfect they were still able to run around and play in the new splash pad the zoo has - with caves, tunnels, slides and all! We don't even see the animals at the zoo half of the time - we just play at all the fun parks they have. We spent a good four hours there!

Lucky for me, the boys fell asleep on the way home at 4:30 - (ha ha) and so waking them up when we got home was fun. They weren't too happy to see me in their faces. It took them awhile to get up and running but as soon as they did, Konnor did some homework that involved calling people to see if they liked spiders - they were doing a graphing project! We then scarfed down some grilled cheese sandwiches and dipped them in tomato soup. Don't you remember that meal in grade school - or even high school?! One of my favorites. They enjoyed it.

We then spent about a half hour putting tattoos on - in addition to the 6 tattoos they already have on! These were glow in the dark Halloween ones that I couldn't pass up:) So now I have 3 little Tommy Lee's!

Bath time went pretty smoothly and much to my surprise they all fell asleep by 8:30!

On a side note, Quinn is just the cutest thing. He refuses to ever be let out of the group around here - he does everything Konnor and Hunter do. One night a few weeks ago we were lying in Konnor and Hunter's room - each of them say their prayers separately (not Quinn yet at the time) and Hunter finished, I said "Goodnight, Mommy loves you guys" and all of a sudden, Quinn starts slapping me in the face and saying "Amen." So I simply said "awww..Amen" back to him! Well, he continued to slap me in the face - so Konnor chimes in and says "he wants to say his prayers!" Sooooo....I said, "Lay down, we'll say your prayer!" He couldn't get on the pillow fast enough, he CLOSED his eyes, and repeated "Now I lay me" after me. And he just loves to say "Amen!" It's sooo precious. I always let him fall asleep in K and H's room and then I put him in his crib - tonight was just one of those nights I couldn't get up and put him in his bed. He is so sweet - you know, when a baby is sleeping and they are basically dead to the world, limbs flailing everywhere when you pick them up? Awww...he was so limp and peacefully sleeping when I picked him up - his head bobbed backwards - I got to look the sleeping baby in the face and say "Mommy loves you baby!" I just love those moments......just as much as I love in the morning when I say to him "HI Baby!" and he repeats "Hi baby" back! If we could just freeze them at this age. It's too incredibly cute.

I clearly need to go to bed......for now, the pictures I've posted are of our day at the park with Garret and Owen on Sunday.

Election day is less than a week away

So, I may be starting this blog with a few "haters" from the start but I wanted to share with you Meghan McCain's Blog she's been keeping over the past year as she campaigns for her father. Her post today was to me, very interesting, and true. Check it out at www.mccainblogette.com. If you're bored - check out all of her posts! She does a wonderful job on the campaign trail - and is strikingly adorable and stylish :)

The joys of boys.......

So, after about a week of trying to get my computer to upload pictures to this thing (b/c you all know, I could never have a blog without the showcasing of the kids!) I think I may have finally gotten it under control.

We had a fun weekend. Konnor had his Pumpkin Walk at school on Friday evening - it's like a mini carnival where the kids can eat, run around and play games, and this year they were also able to wear their costumes! YAY!!!

Saturday we visited the pumpkin patch, picked out pumpkins, watched the tractor load huge cases of pumpkins onto a truck - in awe - as if they have never seen a tractor OR a truck (thank goodness we are off to Grandpa and Grandma's in a week!), and then we carved the pumpkins, painted them, and had a movie and popcorn night.

Sunday we attempted church, although as the boys were sitting all nice and perfectly for 35 minutes, some lady behind us decided to hand us TWO, yes, only TWO pictures and 3 crayons. Well, if any of you know Quinn, he was NOT going to accept not having one...so he went in to fight the other two, who were already fighting over who got the witch picture and who got the completely BOYISH pirate, skeleton one. As I leaned over to grab them away, Hunter decided to backhand Konnor in the face, Quinn was screaming "want some" and Konnor began to cry. Needless to say, we were as far from the door as possible so I had to grab the diaper bag, carry Quinn, tug along Hunter who is crying over the picture issue, and Konnor who is also still somewhat crying b/c Hunter smacked him good, all the way through the church - I was embarrassed to say the least - and have not the slightest clue how what seemed to be a wonderful message from Pastor Linn, ended!

Fortunate for the boys, Garret and Owen are in town with their Mom - so we had already had plans to meet them at the train park, so of course, they were plans that I couldn't take away from them for the wonderful behavior they modeled in church. They made up for it by running around the park for nearly FOUR hours - playing with Garret and Owen as if they were best friends forever! It was so much fun to watch them play - at one point, Garret and Konnor got ahold of their Mommy's cameras and they spent a good 20 minutes being kid photographers taking pictures of everything from the play structure, to their brothers, to the "butts" of the whales and dolphins on the splash pad! I will post those when I get them uploaded for sure!

For now, here is Quinn, who we all believe to be so "innocent" being NOT so innocent! What is it with 1 year old boys and toilets? Or for that matter, 3 and 5 year old boys and BUTTS! My title for the day says it all....The Joys of BOYS!!!!

Let's see how long I can keep this thing goin'!

Well, after much thought and contemplation, I've finally decided to dive in and join the world of blogging! Not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up - but I'll do my best! I spent the weekend childless - so the house was quiet and lonely, but I was able to stay busy and scratch many many things off of my to-do list. I did everything from dusting ceiling fans and cleaning toilets to the all dreadful organization of kid's closets bringing out all the fall stuff and trying to make room for it. It's still in the mid-90's here so I've gotta keep all the summer stuff in there too. Most of you know my OCD issues - so you can about imagine how fun it was to try to organize and re-arrange for me!! Needless to say, 2 days later, I'm finally satisfied.

I'll start with posting a few random pictures from the past couple of weeks until I am able to take daily ones when I get the monkeys back tomorrow!

Enjoy!