Pumpkin Carving and Costumes

We survived Halloween. I even managed to stay pregnant and not miss trick or treating with the boys. Here they are in their costumes. The youngest 2 boys were ninjas and Tony was a swamp monster. Jake of course had more important plans that night, like hanging out with his buddy playing video games and watching scary movies.

We had fun carving our pumpkins. All the boys did really good. Brodie and Drew drew the faces on their pumpkins and Will and I helped cut them out. They got to do all the cleaning of the inards. It was pretty funny watching their faces as they pulled out all the slimy guts of the pumpkins.

Brodie has 2 pumpkins. The one above is from when we went to the pumpkin patch the one below is when he went to the pumpkin patch with his preschool. He wanted to carve both.Drew's giant eyes pumpkin. And of course mom and dads.Everyone oooed and ahhhhed when we put the candles in and lit them up that night.

First Outfits

We are 10 days away from our due date. I think I am finally prepared (almost) to have this baby. I still need to get the bassinet and swing from my step brothers basement which can be done anytime. The babies room is empty but not decorated or complete by any means. I am kinda waiting to see if we have a boy or girl to fix it up. It will be more fun that way.

Will and I set out last night to find the babies first outfit. What we did with the boys since we didn't find out what the gender was we picked out both a pink and blue outfit to take with us to the hospital. We did the same thing with this babe.

The only difference was we had all 4 boys with us helping us pick out that "special outfit". It was fun watching them come up to us with different suggestions. Jake picked out this outfit if we have a boy.

Will picked out this outfit if we have a girl. He thought she would need tights to go along with it since it is kinda chilly outside. I love it.

We are Done!

We got Jake and Tony moved into their new rooms last week. They are loving them. We set up the TV room downstairs too. They kids have already watched a couple movies in there.

We are finally finished with the little boys room. We got the painting done and everything moved. We let the boys pick what colors they wanted. Brodie's favorite color is blue and Drew's favorite color is yellow. So it worked out pretty good because they looked great together. This is my new favorite room! Here are the before pictures.

And here are the after pictures.
Amazing how much it changed the room.

We purchased bunk beds and new mattresses for them as well. We just got those put up last night.

Now I just need to get the baby's room ready. It is cleaned out for the most part. I am going to try and sell Brodie's car bed. I am a little sad about getting rid of that, but we just don't have room to store it for the next child (assuming it is a boy). I thought the room needed painted (and I still do) but Will thinks it will be ok after a good scrubbing. We will see. :o)

Youth Hunting Weekend

Will and the older two boys went with our friend Jason on a youth hunting trip this past weekend. They spent the morning with licensed adults who are members of Pheasants Forever and learned how to hunt for pheasants. They also got to take a few shots at clay pigeons. No one got a bird but Jake was 4/6 on the clay pigeons.

Will and the boys want to take the Hunter's Safety Course. We just need to find the time to get it done. Tony was pretty excited and pretty much wore his hunter orange hat and vest the rest of the weekend. He really wanted to wear it to school this morning but I had to put my foot down.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Last Sunday we headed to the pumpkin patch. It is truly one thing all the boys look forward to each Fall. I must admit I really love it too. Fall weather, changing of the leaves and searching for that perfect pumpkin. My pumpkin preference is one that is not too large and it must have a nice long stem. Here is a picture of Will and I that Jake took. My face was pretty swollen that day. 9 months pregnant will do that to ya.Of course here are my pride and joys.
Here was my pumpkin I found. The sad thing is my belly is bigger than the pumpkin I picked out.
The boys helping Daddy pick his pumpkin.
Brodie was pretty proud of the pumpkin he found.
Drew found the biggest pumpkin he could find. He had to recruit his big brother to carry it for him. His pumpkin was the biggest of everyones.The corn pool is always a big hit. It really is pretty fun to just take your shoes off and play for a bit.
The kids and myself always enjoy the animals.

The witch and her son.




We had a great time. We came home with a whooping 98 lbs of pumpkin.

Update on the Basement Remodel

We are done! Whoo Hoo. We finished up officially last night when Will layed down the metal strips over the carpet between rooms. Now it is time to move the kids in! We are hoping to get that started as soon as possible.

If you remember I left you with the rooms looking like this. Here they are once all the painting was completed. Tony wanted to have a red room. We settled for one red wall. The gray that is on the other 3 walls matches the gray in the TV room.
Tonys room.

Jake's room. Jake wanted black walls. We settled on 2 dark gray walls and then two light gray walls. I really like the way his room turned out. For the TV room we did the light gray. I love it too.
Tony's closet.
TV room.

Here is Tonys room complete with carpet!

A look at his closet. This gave us some trouble because it fell under a beam. We had to order different doors and have them cut to fit.

Here is Jakes room.

A look at his closet and door.

Here is the main TV room. The door is leading into Jake's room.

This is looking from the main room towards the bottom of the stairs.

Happy Birthday to Me

Sunday was one of the best days. Not just because it was my birthday. I spent it with all my favorite guys. I woke up that morning to a wonderful breakfast of waffles, bacon and cinnamon rolls. Tony sang me the happy birthday song. After breakfast I got to open my gift. I was completely shocked when I opened up a new laptop computer. I had told Will I really wanted one. For many reasons really, but I never thought I would get one, at least not so soon. I am so excited! In fact I am using it right now. All the guys are watching a movie but I am sitting here in the same room with them typing. So cool!

After breakfast Will finished up some work in our basement. Then we headed to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day. All the boys were able to find a pumpkin to take home.

We relaxed in the afternoon and then headed out to dinner. I was completely shocked again when we arrived at Jade Garden only to be greeted by all the parents and grandparents. Will somehow pulled off a surprise birthday dinner without me know. It was awesome.

After dinner we headed back to the house for cake and ice cream. Like I said it was one of the best days and I am so very lucky.

Brodie's 5th Birthday

Brodie celebrated his 5th birthday on September 30. It is hard to believe he is 5! For his cake he requested a teddy bear with a blue shirt and chocolate chip eyes and nose. He was pretty happy with how it turned out. He kept trying to sneak in the dining room while I was decorating it to catch a glimpse. Here he is birthday morning. He picked french toast for breakfast.
His birthday fell on a Thursday so we did brownies that night and saved the cake for his party which was held on Sunday. Of course he received lots of cool gifts including some new Legos and Dot to Dots from mom, dad and brothers.Jake made his own special card for Brodie. He made it in computer class at school. I thought that was a sweet brotherly thing to do.