Happy Halloween!

Thanks again to their extremely talented Grancy, our kids got to be exactly what they wanted for Halloween....Dora and Diego!

They loved their costumes!!

M loved her Dora hair so much that we had to buy two wigs because she had the first all messed up by Halloween!

Diego's hair was a little crazy, but luckily N didn't care and loved it anyway! I was not meant to cut hair, let alone wigs!

All ready to go!

I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the MAP!

Rescue Pack!

Backpack, Backpack!

So much detail! This was N's Animal Rescue badge on his vest

M just kept on standing in front of the mirrors and admiring herself. It was too funny!

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating. Daddy went as Elmo.  heehee

Grancy made us Jack-o-lantern quesadillas for dinner!

An October Wedding reception...and a visit from G & G!!

A childhood friend of S got married in Arizona this year and they had a reception here this October. S and his brothers and family were pretty close with them, growing up, so G & G flew in for the weekend! Coincidentally, Grandma B turned 80 in October, so we had a birthday party for her too! Here are some pics from our great weekend!

LOVE this little face

Someone had a REALLY good time at the wedding reception, tearing up the dance floor. She loved her new dress that Grandma got her and even wore her "dancing shoes" with it.

Dancin' the night away

Happy 80th Birthday to Grandma B!

She had a great time at her party

Miss M and little Mr. M, chatting with Great-Grandma B

After the party, we came back home to have a bonfire.....we burned a whole dresser that night!

Such a fun night! Yes...Grandma is wearing M's owl hat. :)

M and her Grandpa

She's Grandpa's girl alright!

Grandma and S

N and J playing under the table

Two cheesy little ladies

And two little butt butts!

My kids love to play with their cousins. Such fun!

We always have a great time when G & G come to visit!

Carving Pumpkins

M, playing with her pumpkins "guts....she just digs right in there!

She chose to have a "scary" on this year

N, working on his with Daddy

Miss M's

N's pumpkin

My pumpkin

This is the one S made!

Halloween prep

I tried to convince M to wear a costume that my mom had made for my cousin T and that N also wore by telling her that it was Baby Jaguar, Diego's friend. So, she tried it on...

Mreow, mreow!

So cute, but someone's heart was set on being Dora...

Happy Birthday to Me!

I usually just tend to focus on N's birthday, since it is only six days before mine, but I did at least take a picture in the birthday hat(Mom-in-law's rules).

:)

Welcome 32! Here's to a year as good at 31!

My most favorite birthday present! Few things make my heart happier than my kids reading and getting along on top of it really makes my day!

Admiring her purple toenails :)

My sweet boy

Starting just before he turned five, N started really digging into learning to read. He reads so well now! I am amazed every time he reads to me! The other night when I offered to read to him before bed, he brought me his early reader books because he wanted to read to me instead. My heart just about burst!

Little Reader #2!

And this little sweetie is so fun to read to. She is beyond entertaining! I will read her a book and then she takes it from me and "reads" it to me. She is so animated and usually gets most of the story in too! I just giggle the whole time because she is so funny.

It's a good life!

My favorite tree

Every year I mean to take pictures of this tree in the Fall. It is in the front yard, acroos from our house. It is hands down, the most beautiful tree. I caught it a little after it's peak this year and the pictures do not hardly do it justice, but I had to try!

I thought this little one was kind of fun too

A Handful

Yep....N is now officially a handful....of fingers that is. Today, my baby boy turned FIVE! He's so excited, but I can't help but to be a little sad. Don't get me wrong, he is more fun every day, but even though I try to relish every moment of my kid's childhoods, it goes just too dang fast! Last week, he and I were sitting on the couch and I asked him, "can you believe that you are almost five?". His response was "yep! And then I'll be five, going on six!" I told him "no....I think that I will just keep you five forever. I want to keep you little." He sat there for a minute looking at me and then said "you are just kidding, right?! You can't do that!" I led him on a bit with a "sure I can. I think we'll just keep you five." He started to get a little worried and said "Mom! I have to go to school!" Kid cracks me up.

So, I held him like a little baby and told him that I was kidding and that he would just have to let me do that sometimes and get some snuggling time in when I wanted it. Seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital, wondering if this child would ever come out, as we rapidly approached midnight. I had begun to be induced the night prior and had been having contractions since then. Finally, at 11:49pm, he decided he was ready to enter this crazy world. What a great day, to say the least. We are beyond blessed to have such a sweet and smart little boy!

N gets more grown up by the day. He can now read quite a bit, is a professional on his two-wheeler, loves his little sister to pieces, asks more questions than any other human on the planet! :) As much as I miss his "babyness", it is so much fun to watch him grow and learn more every day. N, you are a wonderful, sweet little(yep still going with little) boy and we are having so much fun watching you grow! Love you buddy!

Brand spankin' new! First time he sucked his thumb...and still does. :)

 (We're working on it!)

So dang cute

And a little impish!

We stayed at a cabin on the St. Croix for part of N's birthday weekend. He started out his birthday morning on an acorn hunt.

The view from the cabin was fantastic. The Fall colors made it even better!

Relishing us singing to him

Yep, we even traveled with the birthday hat and muffins! It's tradition and N had already mentioned the week prior that he couldn't wait for his birthday muffin. It actually worked out kind of nice. We let our friends we were visiting sleep in and just our family of four had muffins and sang to N. It was kind of nice to start the day that way. Plus we were enjoying starting the day outside, on a gorgeous Fall morning with that amazing view. Life is good.

Later in the day, N had his birthday party at Adventure Peak. He also had his 3rd birthday party here. It's such a great place for the kids to play and we don't have to worry about the weather or cramming all those kids into our house! This year was a little more of  a challenge than previous years. I did not realize that he was getting to the age where parent's would drop off and leave. It is a large place, and I was a little stressed trying to keep track of 10 little kids! Luckily, a few parents did stay or I might have lost my mind!

Fake smile!

He looks distressed in the picture, but I think he was just yelling to us out the window.

Little J(N's friend TJ's little bro)

Another rendition of Happy Birthday!

Next to N, is his BFF TJ. He and his family came up from Mankato to help us celebrate. I love to watch these two play together. They just love each other. When N used to go to T's house for daycare, I always said they would great each other in the morning like they hadn't seen each other for months. Today, I invited T's family to our house for dinner, after the party. T excitedly told N "hey, I am going where you're going after this!" I told N, "I invited T and his family to our house for dinner." N got really excited and said "Good job, T! Let's hug on that!" So, those two cute little boys stood in the middle of Adventure Peak, hugging it out. Too dang cute.

Diego(one of his new loves in life) cake....it was even "chocklick", his favorite! 

N got a new robe for his bday from Grancy, so he and M modeled their robes together tonight....and then they played soccer in them in the living room.

One last shot with the birthday hat!

And as I finish this post, I see it is only moments prior to midnight. Almost five years to the minute! Love you kid! You make me so happy!

Love,

Mom