Halloween Night

I love this picture because it's the only one where Jack is remotely looking at the camera and you can see the earring and eye-patch and scarf really well. He was all over the place Halloween night and it was extremely difficult to get any good pictures.























Niko, Aiden, Xavier and Jack (and Brendan the penguin in the back).

This is Cruela-Devil. And this is as close as Jack was going to get to her for a picture.

Jack and Niko checkin' out the loot. Niko really made sure that Jack was getting his candy at each house. Jack was a little slow getting up to the door at each house, taking his good ol' time.

Jack has started to strip out of his costume. Shoes are coming off here. This adorable elephant is Andrew, our newest boy in the court.

Happy Halloween

Watch out, this is scary!

Halloween Preview (and rainbows)

Aarrrrr...mates. This skally-wag is fierce and ready for trick-or-treating tonight! Last Friday, Belleville had a downtown trick-or-treating around the different businesses. It was really cold but tons of fun.

Before leaving for downtown, it was raining (had been raining most of the day) and the sun was out. The rainbow behind our house was gorgeous. I don't know if I've ever seen a rainbow that I could see the complete arch. I attempted to get both sides of it here. The right side is a double rainbow, but I don't know if you can tell from the picture (the second half is coming up from that tree between the houses).

"Let's build the Fort again, Daddy!"

That is what I hear every night as soon as Sam walks in the door. Ever since I had the idea of the fort, and Sam jumping at the idea, it's been a fixture in our evening every night. It's too dark and cold to play outside after dinner, so the fort is what we have instead. Here are some cute pictures from last night:

Reading books (a view from outside the fort).

Reading Jack's new library book.

This is the point of the night where they take turns running out of the fort and hiding from each other. Evidently, Jack thought he was hiding well under the pillows.

The last day for shorts

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago but I'm just getting them up. Jack had on shorts and no shoes or socks. Those days are gone, the heat is officially on in the house, it's been in the 30's on some mornings. Yikes.





































Handsome little man.

Pumpkin Carving with Mr. Independent

Jack has been wanting a pumpkin for the house ever since spotting them at the grocery stores. Finally we bought one and he helped clean it out, well actually, he insisted on doing most of the work. He wants to do everything, I mean everything, himself.




















The two-spoon method of removing seeds.


















How many seeds are in there?

The end result. He was so proud.

Will Jack have a Baby Sister or Brother?

Check out http://sickallday.blogspot.com/ to find out...

Talk about an all-time back fire!

Jack yelled out something while playing in the playroom (I was in the bathroom getting ready for church). I go to the playroom and ask, "what?" He says, "I'll tell you when I have to poo-poo, mommy". I know what this means. It means he has to poop right that moment and that is his way of telling me it's about to happen. So, I talk him into sitting on the potty. I suggest reading material (a tip from my mom - from my aunt) to get him to sit on the potty longer. It works well in getting him to stay there for a while. But, nothing happens. Make sure you read below for how this all turns out...




















Ahhh, sitting on the potty reading, "The House that Jack Built", how sweet...

The rest of the story goes like this: After reading the book, he's wanting to get down from the toilet. As I'm not wanting to push my agenda too much, I let him. But, I let him go bottomless back in the playroom, just his pajama top on, cammando below. I tell him that he has NOTHING on, he has to come tell mommy when the poopy is going to come. He agrees and we actually make two more false-alarm trips into the bathroom. Finally, I'm still getting ready in my room and he yells, "mooommmmyyyy, poopies on the floor!" Sure enough, he pooped in the floor. I thought there was NO WAY he'd poop without pants on. I was wrong. (At least he did it standing up and it was a clean drop). How's that for a poop story? I looked at Sam and said, "wow, that really back-fired on me." He said, "literally".

Fort Fun!

It was my bright idea to make a fort in the living room. Sam jumped at the idea, he was extremely excited about it, it was set up before I knew it. They were hilarious to watch. There was music playing and they were running around like crazy boys. Here are some pictures of the fun.




















Here is a shot of a hole and Sam's nose sticking through.


Sam then decided to put Jack's dirty socks on his ears...

...and then Jack had to have the dirty socks on his ears.

Sam really thinks he's spiderman. Here is a nice shot of his spiderman boxers that my mom actually bought for him.

And here is a video of them "dancing".

Our Kentucky Trip

Our trip to Lexington was quite exhausting and I didn't get too many pictures. Here are some of the boys watching, "Toy Story". It's clear by the pictures that they were completely enthralled.

Our Last Day and Keenland:

Our last day was a morning full of lectures for Sam and then off to the races at Keenland for the two of us. It was exhausting. We were fortunate to have clubhouse tickets and a restaurant to sit in overlooking the track. This was great for our exhaustion, however, I didn't get to see ONE horse, always my favorite part of Keenland. I was too interested in eating. . . go figure.

I'm so bow-legged.

Jack relaxing on the Lightning McQueen bed with Sam.

Sam and I were almost sick we were so tired.

Nicholas and Nathaniel came by to say good-bye to us.

The boys attacking She-sha with hugs. She's so lucky!

So many Stories . . . which ones do I tell?

There's just no descriptive way to tell this story and give it the justice it deserves:

I'm getting Jack dressed this morning. I always kiss his little bare belly. It's right in my face while I'm sitting and he's standing (and it's hard to resist). After I kiss his belly, he wants to kiss mine. He has a hard time contorting himself and says, "you're gonna have to stand up". So I stand and lift my shirt to expose my stomach and he kisses it and says, "I like your baby, mommy." He walks over to his bed and picks up his bear and says, "this is my baby". I'm enjoying this conversation and the sensitivity he shows. I turn to pick up dirty laundry off the floor and turn back and the bear has been stuffed up in his shirt. He proudly announces, "Now we both have babies in our bellies!"

His 3-year-old little voice and sweet face were just too much and I had to share.

Cutie Pie!

For many reasons, Jack was just killing me yesterday. I couldn't keep the camera out of his face. Sam and I have been raving on and on about how sweet and good he's been lately. And of course we ate it - (last night he was quite disobedient and wild). But overall, he's a well-behaved three-year-old with a good heart. These are my favorite shots of the day.

This one would be great blown up and in black and white. (am I a mom?)

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Looking extra handsome.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Jack changed his routine a while back, wanting to go up for bath early so he can come back downstairs for a wind-down video. He runs naked from the bathroom to his room. There is nothing cuter than a clean and fresh toddler in PJs.

under his towel



















wearing his hard-hat watching "Thomas".



















Sorry for the nakedness, but I'm hoping you can see the proud look on his face.

This Morning . . .

After I got Jack up and was in the process of getting him dressed, we had this conversation:

Me: Oh, Jack. You've got a big bruise on your leg. (He inspects)
Jack: Oh, mommy, I see it.
Me: Those can get sore.
Jack: We'll wash it off in the bathtub.

Ice-cream Cones and Buzz Lightyear

Jack really likes ice-cream cones now. He's your typical 3-year-old when it comes to the messy factor. Here are some shots of his enjoyment. It's really good chocolate ice-cream...not that I'm eating it :)

Open wide!

Maybe tilting my head back will make it run in my mouth.

Nice.

When Sam got home from work the other day, it was so sweet how Jack was just chomping at the bit to play Buzz and Woody with him. They looked so cute sitting here I had to get the camera.

More Apple Pickin'

Jack and I took our own little field trip with Jessica and Makenzie to the Eckert's in Millstadt. Jessica had free passes and generously shared them. We saved alot of money going the extra 20 minutes away. The kids had fun but it was pretty hot that day. This was over a week ago and I'm just now posting the pictures.


Jack and Makenzie

















This is as close as they were wanting to get to the tractor.

Jessica, Mak, Jack and me - heading out to the orchard on the wagon.

I think Jack is trying to pick off the stem.

Jack is an expert now at apple-pickin'.