"Practice" Halloween

Here is a little preview of the Halloween costumes this year...

Jacob's friend Kailey is going to be a princess for Halloween, so it was pretty much a given that Jacob wanted to be her prince. ;)

Gavin ended up being excited about wearing Jacob's pirate costume when I showed him the cool glow-in-the-dark sword that goes with it. I have to admit, the outfit does go well with his missing teeth. ;)
And Casey... well his outfit fits his little personality perfectly.

We went to the YMCA again this year for "practice" trick-or-treating, as Jacob calls it. He was already off to save the day as soon as we got there.


Casey is at the absolute cutest age to trick-or-treat and I was soaking up every second of it. First of all, he was barely able to toddle in his pudgy little monkey costume. He also wasn't understanding the purpose of holding his bucket... but he figured it out fast. So he was toddling around as fast as he could, swinging his basket, not looking back for a second. He didn't really know where to go to get the candy, but he was going. Finally, the people passing out the candy starting chasing him down. It was adorable.



Here is a picture of the friends we went trick-or-treating with. Jacob and Katie are six days apart, Gavin and Olivia are one day apart, and Casey and Avery are three weeks apart. What are the chances of that? It definitely makes for fun playdates!

Trick-or-treat!

Jacob, Gavin, and Casey-isms

One of the main reasons I have a blog is so I can always remember the things my boys did and said when they were little. So here are some great examples. :)

Jacob...
We had the best cuddles and conversation before bed the other night.
M: I love you so so much.
J: I love YOU so so much mommy.
M: Will you love me even when you're 35?
J: Even when I'm 99. All the time. I'll always love you.
M: That makes me sooo happy. Good night buddy.
J: You have a good good night too!

*I have been trying to figure out forever why Jacob's nails never grow. I've never seen him bite them, but somehow they always stay short. I even asked his pediatrician about it because I thought it was so strange. Finally, today I noticed that they had grown a little bit. I exclaimed, "Jakey! Your fingernails are growing!" He said, "Ohhh... I forgot to pick them off" and proceeded to show me how he picks his fingernails off. Yes, I think he doesn't like me to cut them that much.

*Jacob goes to school every other Wednesday so today he asked, "Is Kindergarten open this Wednesday mommy?"

*He brought me a new pencil and said, "Twist it into a pencil please." Which, I guess, is basically what you are doing with a pencil sharpener.

*When he and Gavin were having lunch, Jacob profoundly said, "I am having peanut butter and jelly. Gavin is just having peanut butter and." Because without the jelly, it's just peanut butter and. ;)


Gavin...
*I bought a berry smoothie at Costco to share with Gavin. When I handed it to him, he said, "You share to Gavin. Good girl mommy!"

*The other day, Gavin grabbed my hand, led me to the couch, and said, "Let's go for a sit."

*After gazing at our pumpkins on the porch, he said, "Mommy, I want to eat the pumpkin patch."

*I asked Gavin if he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween and he said, "No. The pirates will get me in the water. (I'm pretty sure he was referring to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland. ;) I just go to Daddy's boat."

*I have to admit, I use the word 'super' a lot and it seems to be rubbing off on Gavin. For example, he will say, "Mommy, I super need a drink of apple juice."

*I was cuddling with Gavin on the couch when he looked up at me with his big, toothless grin. I said, "Buddy, I'm so sorry you lost your teeth. To which he responded, "It OK mommy. You didn't knock out my teeth. I did it all by myself."


Casey...
*Within a few weeks, Casey has gone from taking his first steps to walking all over our house. I love his cute, stubby little steps... I could watch him toddle all day. The funniest part is that he actually pivots (like you would in basketball) when he wants to turn. It cracks me up!

*My mom was feeding Casey oatmeal the other day, blowing each bite for him so it wasn't too hot. After observing her carefully, he began to pant along with her before every bite. Huuuh, huuuh, huuuh. It was so adorable.

*We can already tell that Casey is going to be a little on the sensitive side. Whenever we say NO in a firm voice, his little lip sticks out, his face melts, and tears stream from his eyes. This should make discipline easy, right? ;)

*Casey watches his brothers on our steps putting their shoes on each morning. So he toddles to the steps and sticks out his foot for me to put shoes on him too. He already wants to be such a big boy!

*At almost fourteen months, he can say: mama, dada, gama(grammy), Ja-cuh(Jacob), ah-in(Gavin), uv oo(love you), uh-oh, na na(banana or food), coo-kie, ple(please), du-doo(thank you), chee(when he sees the camera)

Some pumpkin pics

It was a beautiful day at the pumpkin patch. Actually, I think it was the warmest pumpkin patch day Washington has ever seen! My good friend in California always talks about how weird it is to go to the pumpkin patch on a hot day... now I know what she is talking about! It ended up being perfect though because Casey has just recently been taking his first steps. So he was able to toddle all around the pumpkin patch without tumbling into a mud puddle! Another great thing was that it was a weekday... so we had the entire pumpkin patch and corn maze to ourselves.
Casey loved toddling around the pumpkin patch, although he was just as happy playing in the dirt. ;)

Gavin's favorite part was trying to stand on all of the pumpkins


Jacob was doing great, until he accidentally fell on a sharp pumpkin stem. He immediately pulled down his pants to see if it was bleeding! Thankfully, we were the only ones around. ;)




The boys took turns playing follow the leader in the corn maze and peeking into the scary caves...

What child doesn't love to make a racket banging on things?!The boys were excited to have a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins and some warm caramel corn to bring home... ;)

Our last first haircut

I decided to get Casey's first haircut on the same day that Adam had a vasectomy scheduled. I guess I figured I would get two emotional things out of the way on the same day. ;) After three boys, Adam was more than ready to be done making babies. I was shedding some tears about it at first, because I have loved going through all of those exciting milestones that come with a baby. That's when I came to the conclusion that it wasn't that I wanted four kids... it was just a little sad watching these milestones with Casey for the last time.

There are several things that helped give me peace about the situation. One is the fact that my husband is a pilot. So there will be times when I have to take all three boys grocery shopping or to the emergency room. There will be several consecutive days when I am taking care of them by myself from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. There will be times when they will all get sick. There are seasons when we will want to travel without losing our minds. Most importantly, we want to be able to give each of our boys enough love and individual attention. I came to the realization that at some point we all have to say goodbye to that "baby" stage of our life... as precious as it is.

I am really glad we decided to have three kids though. I have come to love the fact that they are all boys and dream about them being the best of buddies as they go through life together. I love watching them interact, I love experiencing the joys of childhood with them, and I love being their mommy. I just need to soak in the cute stages they are currently in and focus on the most important goal... raising them to be Godly men.

On that note, here are some pictures of Casey's haircut.

Before...


He was such a good boy and was more than happy to hold still while he played with the fun toys.
Here is an "after" picture from later on that day.