Painting Fun

War Paint or Finger Paint...You Decide.


While Alex was painting, Wyatt was rearranging the kitchen cupboards.

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!


Alex had a wonderful Halloween - complete with pumpkin carving and some stops in our neighborhood to show off his costume and collect some treats.



He dressed as Max from "Where the Wild Things Are". This became a favorite book of his months ago, when Chad brought it home for him, and he decided on this costume. I made his costume again this year. Wyatt was dressed as one of the Wild Things; however, he was not very cooperative and kept pulling his hat off. Luckily he kept it on just long enough for Chad to snap a couple of pictures.


Alex really enjoyed going up to the doors and ringing the doorbell all by himself. We practiced what he was supposed to do and he had a great time. My favorite quotes from the evening:

• Alex was starting to walk up some stairs to a door and little lit pumpkins were on each step. He says to Chad and I "Oh mom and dad, wait here, I'll go alone, I don't want you to get burned by the pumpkins".

• "Mom and Dad, I'll go alone, wait here, you're too old"

Can you tell he's starting to assert his independence more and more?

I love this time of year - Alex makes holidays so much fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, we went to a local pumpkin patch. It was lots of fun.

There were hay structures to climb and play on...


There was a petting zoo with lots of animals to feed and Alex called them his "animal friends"...



He even picked out his very own pumpkin...

Wyatt even enjoyed himself...

However, the highlight of the day involved the pigs. There were pig races and Alex picked out a pig named Baconette to win and win she did - little Baconette won all but one race. Alex's drive to win got the best of him and he cheered his little pig on with all his heart.

Then there was the pig scramble, which involved a bunch of pigs and kids in an enclosure. The first kid to grab a pig (the little ones didn't have to pick it up, just grab its back leg) wins. Alex had a great time and won - he actually caught 5 pigs and got covered in mud in the process.

And Wyatt just enjoyed observing...

Alex Loves Preschool

Alex started pre-school on September 1st. Luckily we were able to find a slot at a great school. He had been opposed to leaving home to go to school, but in August he started to become really interested and begged us to let him go. He is loving it!

He attends 3 mornings a week and has really enjoyed making new friends. His teacher has told us that he is very well behaved, a great listener in class, and she wishes she had a class full of Alexes. He is growing up so fast and is such a good kid! We feel lucky to be his parents.

Some fun facts about Alex:

• He has a great imagination and loves to pretend


• He is still obsessed with spelling and is learning how to spell simple words by sounding them out


• One morning, I walked out into the garage to grab something out of the car and when I walked back in Alex said "Mom, that was really irresponsible of you to go outside and leave me all alone in the house"


• When he grows up he wants to be a builder and a daddy


• Extremely competitive - everything is a race that he has to win


• Loves Wyatt and will often try to comfort him when he is upset


• He is very sensitive and gets teary eyed when talking about missing grandparents or friends who have moved away


• Loves to help - if given a job to do, he will do it to the best of his ability


• He is trying to express his independence more, which means he is not always just accepting what we say


• Starting to problem solve - now he is coming up with logical solutions to solve problems


• Alex loves to sing songs that he learns in nursery and school


• He says the sweetest prayers - I always learn about the highlight of his day/week when he expresses gratitude for it in prayer


• If he could spend all day in his underwear, he would

Wyatt is 9 Months

On October 9th Wyatt turned 9 months!

His stats are:

Height - 29 3/4 inches - 90%tile

Weight - 20 lbs 9 oz - 50%tile

4 top teeth & 2 bottom teeth

It is really amazing how different two brothers can be. Everyone said not to expect Alex and Wyatt to be the same, but I couldn't imagine that. Wyatt is really a determined little guy who is trying to keep up with his big brother and it is so fun to see his personality evolve.

Some fun facts about Wyatt:

• At about 8 months Wyatt started pulling up on things


• At 8 1/2 months he started crawling


• At 9 months he started walking along furniture, cabinets, the fireplace, really anything that he can hold onto or lean against for some support.


• He tries to climb on things.


• He is very much attached to momma, but not really anything else - no pacifier, no thumb, no blanket, no lovey - just me.


• He loves to ride around in the Baby Bjorn and a baby sling. He will go anywhere happily as long as I'm holding him or carrying him. At nearly 21 lbs this is probably nearing it's end.


• He is so affectionate and loves to hug mom, dad, and Alex


• Although, he will really eat anything he can feed himself, Wyatt's favorite foods are avacados, strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, and green beans - oh - and anything that he finds on the floor...scraps of paper, crumbs, fuzz (I'm constantly pulling things out of his mouth)


• He tries to "dance" whenever he hears music


• His favorite toy is his alphabet train and anything that Alex is playing with - he is especially good at pulling apart train tracks


• He has just started saying momma

Sweet little Wyatt is such a blessing to our family. His strong attachment to momma has made things a little challenging at times (i.e. I never leave him unless he is sleeping), but this time will be short, so I'm enjoying this sweet baby and all his hugs.

Thomas the Train

The first weekend in October we took Alex on a suprise trip to Oklahoma City for Thomas Days. He loves Thomas the Train (although he really likes Emily and Rosie better than Thomas) and we knew that giving him the opportunity to take a ride on a train that looked like Thomas would absolutely make his day. On Friday while he was at pre-school, I packed up for an overnight trip to Oklahoma City and we headed out shortly after lunch.

The drive wasn't too bad, although Wyatt is not a huge fan of being in his carseat and he's not opposed to screaming for an extended period of time to get that point across. We made it to our hotel on Friday night and Alex was so excited to sleep in a hotel. He stripped down to nothing and ran around in our room saying "I'm running naked in the hotel". Once he ran off some energy it was off to bed for both boys - Saturday was sure to be an exciting day.

Sweet Wyatt is sure a cuddly one.

On Saturday morning we headed out to the OKC railway museum to Thomas Days. Sir Toppham Hatt was even there.

We took a 20 minute train ride.

Wyatt even had a great time (sorry for the terrible picture of me - can't believe I'm putting it up here, but Wyatt looks so cute).

We saw everything there was to see, had lunch, then started our 5 hour drive back home.

World's Worst Blogger

What can I say...I'm the world's worst blogger. I haven't had a whole lot of free time lately; although, surely I can learn to squeeze in a few minutes here and there to document the life of my two wonderful boys. Anyways, all is well in our house.

Alex's Third Birthday!

Alex turned three on March 23! The birthday festivities started out with opening presents and eating cake with mom, dad, and baby Wyatt on his birthday. He requested a diplodocus dinosaur cake, so I just did my best to make a cake in the shape of a long-necked dionsaur - luckily he was satisfied with this very simple cake and he even helped by adding gumdrop spots to it.

As usual, he was totally spoiled this year with gifts. I'm constantly cleaning out his closet and trying to sneak toys out (unfortunately with his memory, it is really hard to get away with it). Some of the things he got...a Thomas the Tank Engine tent, T-ball set (he can really hit the ball - better than his mom), soccer goal, books, etc.

The Friday following his birthday, we had a party with his friends at JumpZone. There was playing, pizza, and a Thomas the Train cake. Thank you everyone for coming and making his day so special!

Since, I use my blog to document all those things I forget to write down...here's what Alex has been up to:

** Knows his ABCs - recognizes and identifies all letters of the alphabet

** Can spell his name and is obsessed with spelling (asks us how to spell everything)

** Also obsessed with knowing what time it is (Possibly because they do tornado siren tests out here almost every Wednesday at noon and there is a siren very close to our house...it is so loud and it scares him. He wants to know when he has to be prepared to shut himself in mom and dad's closet since that is the furthest spot from the siren)

** Counts to 20 and is really close to making it up to 30

** Sings several songs - his favorites right now: The ABC Song, Pants on the Ground (yep, American Idol Fans, you know the one), Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus

** Favorite Food: Crispy Honey Shrimp from Pei Wei or PF Changs (he even uses the chopsticks with the little training chopstick attachment)

** LOVES Thomas the Train, Matchbox Cars, Cars from the movie Cars, running (he's been known to run almost a mile with Chad)

** Loves electronics, can totally operate the TV and DVD player, my iPhone, and his computer (he goes to pbskids.org to play games - when it isn't working, he says "Mom, is the internet down?")

** He remembers EVERYTHING and I really mean everything - even things that happened many months ago

** "Reads" a few of his favorite books - he calls it reading, but he has memorized a few of his favorite books: Where the Wild Things Are, a construction book, Pat the Bunny, and some Eric Carle books and loves to recites them perfectly to mom, dad, and Wyatt.

And, some of our favorite quotes:

• "Hey old man, Barack Obama is terrible" - he was talking to his grandfather...not sure where he picked this up
• He found a book of New Testament scripture stories and said "Mommy there's a bad guy in this book" he then found a certain page and pointed at a picture of Satan and said "Here he is, this is the bad guy". Neither Chad nor I know how he came up with this
• "Mommy, why does that lady have such a big tummy? I don't have a big tummy." - that could have been really embarassing, just glad he didn't ask in front of her.
• He loves to negotiate - "These are my choices, how about...., is that a good deal?"
• "Mom, I only like girls...I don't like boys" - he already loves the ladies!
• "Mommy, thank you for making this yummy dinner" - needs to give mommy a boost sometimes
• "Daddy, that was a good throw" - boosts daddy's self confidence too

Alex, we love you and can't believe how grown up you are!

Turtle Jammies

I couldn't resist these adorable matching turtle pajamas for my boys. Here they are after a bath and ready for bed.

Wyatt is Growing Up

Wyatt has grown up so much. He's nearly 2 months old and has almost doubled his birth weight! Needless to say, he loves to eat. Now that we have discovered that he has a dairy allergy (just like big brother) and we are treating his acid reflux, he's a much happier boy.

And just because I can't resist a sleeping baby....