Jack-O-Lanterns

The boys were super excited to carve their pumpkins this year.  Gavin especially was studying the little pumpkin carving book we bought for days!  He finally decided that he wanted a bat on his pumpkin... so his daddy helped him out.

Casey was staring and staring at his brothers... trying to figure out what they were doing and what he should be doing with the pumpkin.

Once he figured out what to do, he went for it!

Mommy and Daddy helped him a little bit.  :)

Jacob was pretty self-sufficient this year, scooping the entire pumpkin out by himself!

Did I get all of the seeds?!

The Daddy and Mommy jack-o-lanterns (who happen to be in love :)

Jacob's jack-o-lantern... he drew exactly what he wanted on a piece of paper and I helped him carve it out.   Here's the crazy part.  I was looking back on his jack-o-lantern from last year and it is EXACTLY the same.  Seriously.  Even the precise spots where the top and bottom tooth were to be carved.  That boy never ceases to amaze me.

Gavin's bat

Casey's lil' jack-o-lantern

We ended the night with caramel apples and Scared Shrekless upstairs.  Mmmmmmm.  

Casey's turn

Since Casey wasn't feeling well enough to trick-or-treat at the Wolf Lodge and he stayed with a friend during the harvest festival at Jacob's school... this week was finally his turn.  :)

Initially, Casey was going to be Toadstool alongside his big (Mario and Luigi) brothers.  The only problem was that Toadstool's entire outfit is the hat, which he REFUSES to wear.  It seriously stays on about 1/16th of a second before he hucks it across the room.  I finally gave up and bought him a little Thomas costume, since that is his true love.  ;)  It was a little bulky to play in at the YMCA, so he didn't wear it at first.

Then he realized that if he put his Thomas costume on (minus the hat ;) and held out his bucket, he would get candy.  So he decided that was a pretty good deal and became a instant fan of trick-or-treating.

 Casey with his buddy Ryan... they immediately both unwrapped their suckers first.

 CHEESE!

Then this morning, Casey got to dress up for his Little Gym class.  I decided to put him in the Tigger costume that Jakey wore when he was two, so it didn't get in the way of his climbing and playing.

 Time for hockey...

 and BUBBLES!

 Look mommy!  I caught one on my finger!

A blast from the past!  

Jacob at 2...

Gavin at 18 months...

Oh how these pictures tug at my heart!

Sick...

Today was a loooooong day.  Gone are the days when I only had one little guy to worry about.  The days when I could cuddle with Jacob for hours if he was sick.  The days when helping him feel better was the only care I had in the world.  Because when you have three kids, it's a totally different story...

It all started with Casey getting a stomach bug last weekend, then it was passed on to Jacob, Adam, and me.  I was so relieved little Gavin had seemed to slip through the cracks, but it hit him this morning.  HARD.  The rest of us only threw up once or twice, but this poor little guy was throwing up repeatedly the entire day.  I've never seen anything like it.  He was such a trooper though, running to the toilet to "spit" (as he calls it) and going right back to whatever he was doing before.  I thought it was pretty impressive that my four-year old made it to the toilet every. single. time.  I was very grateful for that.  :)  Slowly though... he became tired.  Tired of throwing up, tired of feeling yucky, tired of not being able to eat or drink anything.  He never complained, I just saw it in his eyes.  This exhausted, defeated look that makes a mother's heart sink.  

I would have given anything to cuddle with him all day.  With two other boys to care for and Adam out-of-town, it was really tough.  I didn't have my husband getting home at five o'clock to look forward to a glimpse of a break.  It was raining outside.  Casey was being his normal, high maintenance, two-year old self.  I just had all day long of fixing meals, cleaning up meals, running to the bathroom with Gavin, washing clothes, and trying to keep my healthy boys somewhat entertained... 

As I looked at Gavin, asleep on the couch in pure exhaustion, I couldn't help but be thankful though.  Thankful that he would only be sick for one or two days.  Thankful for his laid-back, "I can handle this mom" personality.  Thankful that I had the stomach flu while Adam was home to take care of the boys.  Thankful that Jacob was being the absolute sweetest, most helpful big brother.  

The only request Gavin had was that I came to watch him spit.  :)  As I was rubbing Gavin's back, Jacob asked, "Why do you always come to watch us throw up?  You're going to get sick too mommy." I smiled and said, "That what mommies do.  Our job is to take care of you.  We love you soooo much and we would never want you to be sick by yourself.  We always want to help you feel better."  Then Jacob prayed for Gavin to feel better because with faith like a child... prayers are always answered.

The Great Wolf Lodge

We took Jacob to the Great Wolf Lodge with my mom and sister's family when he turned six last December.  This year, his cousin Travis was turning six... so he was pretty sure we all needed to go back for his birthday day too!

My mom was sweet enough to stay with Casey while he napped, so the rest of us hit the water slide park!  Jacob was just past the 48" mark so he and Maddie could go on every slide together.  To say he was excited about that would be the understatement of the year. :)  Gavin and Travis were about the same height, so they held hands and were slide buddies too.  It couldn't have worked out any better!  Adam and I took Maddie and Jacob on the bigger slides and my sister and her husband took Gavin and Travis on the smaller slides.  Perfect.

They had a special trick-or-treat route for the kids since it was close to Halloween, so Jacob and Gavin got all dressed up.  Sadly, Casey wasn't feeling too well so he stayed in the room with Daddy while I took the older boys trick-or-treating.

Wait mom!  We need our moustaches!

Now we're ready to go!

Checking out the stash.

We even found another Toadstool!

Then we went back upstairs to celebrate Travis' birthday.  How fun that he was dressed head to toe according to his theme!

 Maddie was all ready too, my sister has some pretty amazing make-up skills.  :)

Blowing out the candles...

 and eating some cake!

After that, we went downstairs for some Disco dancing.  

 Jacob kept spinning like when he gets a propellor on Super Mario Brothers... it was hilarious.

We danced the night away... ;)

Halloween story time. 

At least I didn't have to worry about losing Jacob!

Gavin just wanted to snuggle with Daddy.

 We even got in some magic wand time before bed.

Casey was feeling better as we were putting the boys to bed, so we took him downstairs for a night cap.

He loved the disco music too and couldn't help shaking his little tush to the beat.

 Casey also loved the magic wands... even if he held it backwards most of the time!

 I don't have many swimming pictures (since I was in the water too), but we had a great time!

 Happy Birthday Travis!  We love you!

  Goodbye Great Wolf Lodge!  Hope to see you again soon.  :)