Rainy Day

Friday was a rainy day so in the morning we went to the library and got Dane is 1st library card. Our library has story time with a theme every week followed by some craft and they send home a picture to color. Fun and Dane gets to learn about borrowing books from the library and interacting with other toddlers too. Here's some of the inside things we did when we got home, in addition to cuddling in front of our fireplace:

We decorated with the leaves we picked from our walk on Wednesday. We ironed the leaves with wax paper to preserve their color (a trick I was reminded of Monday, thanks Jennifer):


We colored and this was Drake's 1st time being interested in coloring and NOT eating the crayons:



We rested:


We carved a pumpkin:


And we bathed:


Happy Halloween everyone. I'll try to get the halloween pictures out quickly. BOO!

Visiting Friends

"D" boys and I headed back to our old neighborhood to visit some friends last Monday. Jennifer and I have been trying to hook up on Monday's so our 4 kiddos can play and her and I could talk "grown-up" style. The older girl standing between the strollers is Elli and Ralphie's cousin, Laney, she hung out with us until she went to afternoon kindergarden. I even brought T-Bone so he could visit Max. Ever since Zeke died I feel like he's lonely...or maybe he's hiding from Dane and Drake's abundance of love. *smile* Either way, it was a chilly day and we bundled up and walked to a park about a mile away and walked home in time to have lunch and beat the rain clouds. Another great day.

Painting....again?

Go ahead and ask me what I did this past weekend...and then ask me why the heck I would paint the boys' rooms again when I just painted our whole house in March before we moved in. Well, since you asked...*smirk*...because the rooms look spectacular! Dane's room is the blue one with the sports theme and Drake's is the green one with the tree to complete his jungle theme. As soon as Andy hangs the curtain rods I'll have the curtains up. It's on his "list" of things to do. It's probably #3 of a couple hundred, so I'm betting once our closet is done and he's finished the mantel for the fireplace the boys will get curtains. Dane's curtains are denim with suspender hooks for loops and different balls to use as tie-backs and Drake's are green with jungle leaves and two monkey's for tie-backs.

Picking out our Pumpkins

Last weekend after church we went to the local pumpkin farm. It's an ordeal. Rombach's Pumpkin Farm has become such a popular place that there are parking attendants directing traffic, tractor rides and pony rides (which are rediculous and I refuse to pay for...remember, I was raised on a farm), little concession stands and of course huge fields for you to walk around and pick out your favorite pumpkin for $6, $9 or $12 and then you can carry or haul it to the entrance to pay! I sound cynical, but really I was excited to take Dane and Drake and "experience" the whole thing with them. And of course I had my camera!

Tricycle built for 2

Andy and I go to our good friend's home (Kirke and Lisha's) everyother weekend for a bonfire and they come to ours everyother weekend for a bbq and bonfire. It's loads of fun and very relaxing. Kirke and Lisha have grandkids and had this "old thing" laying around. They brought it out for Dane and Drake and it was a huge hit. Dane gave Drake a ride, followed by his Bear and Bear's bear and their one year old grandson, Tyler, (who is only 2 weeks younger than Drake) and in the end when the littler boys (I say "littler" boys since they are both 1 and Dane is a big 3 year old!) were alseep Dane gave Daddy a ride....here's a video of Dane and Drake as well as some still shots of Dane working his rounds.

Hands of Change

This was an idea I came up with and did before I thought to check it out with Andy. Oh, well, since I painted the house, I could paint over it if it didn't work out. Turns out, he thought it was a great idea and after dinner he and I did our hands too. Dane picked out the colors and placement of everyone's hand prints. Dane is a lefty and Drake is a righty, so that's the hands I painted for them. Andy and I followed suit.

My plan is to do the boys hands every fall and watch them grow and change. I have to admit, Drake's smeared alot and I had to restrain myself from fixing the print...I wonder where they'll want to put their hands next year?

And here's a few mix-match of photos I've taken lately:

Zombies in TV Land

Here's my main reason for only allowing 1 (maybe 2 on a good day) Barney or Thomas the Train show a day. As Andy says, "It's like heroin when we turn it on." Everything else around them becomes unimportant and they stop all movement and watch the TV. Notice Dane dropped his bear and it's laying in front of him at his feet...and that's his "baby". It doesn't matter if Dane and Drake are standing or sitting, they'll hold that position the whole show. I'm only attaching 2 pictures, but I was able to walk all around them and take different angled pictures without them noticing on two separate occasions. Amazing!

Rockin and a Rollin

Sometimes in all the chaos of trying to play referee between Dane and Drake I stop and take a breath and see an adorable moment of brotherly love. Here's one I captured a few days ago on the deck off of our bedroom. I had moved their rocking chairs outside since it was a beautiful morning and I let them play (or not kill each other atleast) while I took 45 seconds and applied some make-up, blow-dried my hair and got dressed...not necessarily in that order. I was in our bathroom, 6 feet from the deck door, and Dane said, "Look mommy, Dwakie is on the chair with me." Since I keep the camera handy, I caught the picture. Good thing I captured that moment when I did because they usually sit separately and I haven't seen them sitting together since. It was a brief brotherly moment...now Dane is back to protecting his trains, cars, bears, books, juice, etc from brother Drake and Drake is just as persistent to get to those trains, cars, bears, books and juice!

Loving every minute of it. *smile*

A day at the park

Today Dane, Drake and I met up with our neighbors from our previous home; Jennifer, Elli and Ralph. Elli and Dane share birthdays and Ralph and Drake shared due dates, but Drake came a few weeks earlier...perfect playmates for all of us. Here's a couple pictures of the the little ones playing and a group picture at the beginning of our picnic before everyone got bored with the food and started wandering off. I took several dozen and I'm pretty sure not one single picture had everyone looking at the same time...such is life with 4 toddlers!

Oh, and just in case anyone is wondering...T-Bone STILL stinks, but he's back in the house. He was only in the garagae one night and I gave in. We've all grown accustomed to the stinch.