N's first Chocolate bar.

It was pretty funny watching N consume one of those tiny Hershey chocolate bars from the Halloween stash.
















I think it was love at first taste.















Yes, he is wearing a white shirt.

But boy was it yummy.

And then it was bath time.

Our little Tiger Cub

So M has joined cub scouts this year and is classified as a Tiger Cub. He is pretty thrilled to wear a uniform...just like daddy! So here are some pictures from his last den meeting, it was about heroes. Luckily the den leader has connections and they were lucky enough to hear from a CHP...think Erik Estrada..who rides a motorcycle, a DEA Agent, and a K9 unit. The boys also talked about other heroes in the community and then put together a care package for troops and DEA agents in Afghanistan.

Some Halloween Pictures!

So N is a natural and knew exactly what to do with the candy pail! He did not get to walk around that night, but got some practice putting stuff into his bucket anyway.















My little Star Wars guys in front of our house...and yes they are shoeless. It was 80 on the 31st and I think M wore his flip flops and J wore crocs.











Another quick photo in front of our house. N was pretty excited about hanging onto the pumpkin. N was yoda, J was Obi Wan Kenobi and M was a Storm Trooper.













Little Yoda got to cruise in the stroller all night. The stroller also served as a candy drop for when the boys' buckets got full. I think we are going to be in a candy coma for a long time around here!

M and J with their good little buddy.

Our good friends invited us to their church for Trunk or Treating...a really cool concept where you decorate the back of your vehicle and the kids can walk from each station trick or treating.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a great Halloween. We will be nice a warm here in CA with temps in the mid 70's. This is a far cry from MN, I remember the great Halloween storm when it snowed and we were without power for three days.


So earlier this week I got to go with M, J and N to a cub scouts activity at a pumpkin patch. Unfortunately it was after school at night and I forgot my camera so no pictures. However, J and I got to go to the same place the next day for his field trip. J enjoyed the wagon ride through the pumpkins.







He also had to sit on the straw pony.















A quick shot of his K class and teacher. There are a lot of girls in his class! He is in the second row on the end with the hoodie up.















A quick photo with a scarecrow farmer.

He was a little freaked out by this one. The scarecrow would move and talk when you stood next to the growth chart.

N's First Pumpkins

So while the older boys were walking the corn maze I took the time to do a photo shoot with N. He LOVED getting out and seeing all the pumpkins and the activities going on around him.

Checking out the stem of the pumpkin. I absolutely love the way he looks at things for the first time. He is such a happy little boy that has no fear and is very inquisitive about everything. I think I am going to have my hands full for the next couple of years with him.

He loved all the little gourds they had that he could pick up and feel all the little bumps, seams and look closer at all the colors.

Who can resist this little boy with pumpkins as big as he is.

I love how all the colors pop in all these photos.

Fall Fun...and some pictures!

So before J left on his "trip" we went to the Cool Patch Pumpkin Farm, which has the "World's Largest Corn Maze" (it is in the Guinness World Records) with his office. The older two and him led the way through the 40 acre maze and made it out in one hour and 5 minutes. While they were in there N and I walked around the pumpkin patch and some of the other attractions.






The boys were even good sports about taking some fall pictures.

J really liked this scarecrow.

The boys rode around in a wagon for a little bit.

They had Tee Pees and little cabins and other neat things to go and see too.

Moving Fun....and even some pictures!

The boys had a blast helping us unpack and claiming the boxes as their own. Really who needs all the books, crafts and toys that were in those boxes when all they wanted the boxes themselves. Boy we could have saved ourselves a ton of heavy lifting, money and time if we would have known how much fun they could have in a box. The boys had fun pretending that their boxes were castles, ships, airplanes, spaceships....and on and on.

So these are almost two months old, but better late then never. As you can tell N enjoyed the whole moving in process; boxes and paper oh my!



















N also found the pan drawer and thought it would be fun to sit in it. If anyone has a better idea then putting a chair in front of the oven to keep him from unloading pans, or opening up the oven door and climbing in let me know...for now the chair seems to be doing the job.

J sporting his big boy kindergarten bookbag. CA allows kids to start Kindergarten as long as they are 5 by December...J is truly the baby in the class just getting in with a couple days to spare. He had a hard time with writing at first, but his teacher is impressed with how fast he has caught up. He also started about a month after the rest of the kids did, so he had extra ground to make up. He is really enjoying it now ans looks forward to going everyday.

Changes!

So it has been several months since I have last posted...but we have been super busy and have gone through a lot of change. We no longer live in NJ, and now reside in CA. The boys have started school, M in 1st and J in K (which CA's cutoff is 5 by Dec 1st, so it is like J skipped a grade). J has started at his new job and also has already left for a "trip"...which Amazing Race featured the area he is in. M is also a Tiger Cub this year, which until J returns means that I will be quite busy! Little N is a quite active little boy and will soon be walking, and has taken a few little steps on his own but still prefers to speed crawl all over.
We did have some adventures driving from the east coast to the west, but unfortunately we packed the cameras into a tote and couldn't locate them for the trip and relied on a disposable. We have taken a ton of photos since in CA, but my card reader isn't working correctly. I know excuses, excuses! I hope to remedy this problem after the 22nd...as the new windows comes out and I am due for a new laptop that isn't so quirky ;)

Up, Up and Away!

So when we went back to MN J was able to schedule a treat for the the boys and himself. He called up his original flight instructor took the boys on a thirty minute plane ride. The J's sat in the back and M sat in front and actually flew a little bit.
Towards the end lil' J I guess was feeling sick to his stomach, but M had a blast and has been talking about being like daddy when he grew up and has a long list of Airplanes that he wants to fly!

Look...No Training Wheels!

So one of goals this summer was to get M to ride on just on two wheels...CHECK! He was very nervous at first, but with a little extra gear...notice the knee pads, elbow pads, gloves and helmet...he was all set.
















We had to take him down to the end of the street where it was flat and no cars would be bothering us...he was able to get it right away.














So now M and J can go out for short bike rides together, as long as there aren't too big of hills in the way anyway!

More Recent Happenings

M and J are playing T-Ball this year. M is on the Athletics team and it comes pretty natural to him. We have had a lot of rain this summer so they aren't getting as many games in as scheduled, but they are having fun none-the-less.











The little low crawling guy, pre-haircut and as always with a HUGE smile!











Look ma, no hands! I am a big sitting up boy! He has grown up so much in a weeks time. He sits by himself, low crawls, got a haircut, says da-da-da, and now has a bump were his first tooth is coming in.









Nothing is safe with this little guy either. He can low crawl all over the house and we will be putting up the baby gates up this weekend to keep him off those steps. I am teaching the boys to keep their toys upstairs and to remember to close all the doors on the lower level. I suppose I need to invest in some plug covers and cupboard locks pretty soon too. He is a devious guy and likes to be were the action happens.





J is such a clown and makes N laugh all the time. Take a look at Evidence A.

April Trip back to MN part 2

So the second part of the trip we went up to the Detloff farm and spent some time getting to know our new little niece Jillian and having fun with cousin Makarian as well. Jillian is 3 months older then N, but N out weighed her.










The boys got to ride around in the arena on a one eyed horse named Charlie.














M was much more comfortable up there this time compared to the other chances he had when he was younger.










M being silly climbing up on a huge rock.












The three amigos up on that rock. They had a great time riding around on the six wheeler, 3 wheeler, riding "pony", and flying the huge kite in the pasture.

April Trip back to MN part 1

So back in April we ended up going back to MN to see family and to have lil' N baptized. We were also able to celebrate a belated Birthday for M. Gma Ellen was creative and got M Spiderman cupcakes that were a big hit with the kiddos.












Blue frosting isn't a good idea though it kind of stains your skin and just doesn't wash off like it should.










The "Godfathers" my nephews Mike and Derek with lil' N. Too bad neither one of them have seen the "Godfather" movies...guess I know that they need for Christmas this year!














Pastor Meg with the special little man. N was too big to wear the baptismal gown that the other boys wore and I wore as a baby so we just went with a nice little Easter outfit I had picked up.

















Another shot of the "Godfathers" with N. They got lots of practice holding a baby that night and got more comfortable as the night went on. Good thing N is a good sport about it and isn't a fussy baby at all.

So yes we have moved....

We have moved to your new diggs....however, we will be moving in August once again. This time we won't be just moving across town, but to California...talk about a LOOOONG drive! We are unpacking and packing at the same time if that makes sense. With the news of moving we decided to purchase a trailer to move some of our own stuff across country. So we have been filling it up with unneccesary items that can be boxed up and stored in the trailer. It is amazing at how much stuff you accumulate through the years.

In other news...the older 2 boys are keeping busy and we hope they enjoy the T-ball they are signed up for. We have had a lot of rain lately so hopefully they will get to enjoy some more of the great outdoors. N is growing up fast and is such a good little boy! He sleeps good through the night and loving rice cereal. I think in a couple of weeks we may even have a crawling little boy.

Hate to post and run, but it seems like my time is up!