Halloween on Sunday ain't bad

I must say it was nice having a quiet, cozy Halloween this year. Since it was Sunday we just stayed inside drinking hot chocolate, eating treats, carving pumpkins, baking seeds, and Cole (with Clay's guidance) made a delicious pumpkin pie! Of course, Luke made sure our Halloween wasn't too dull.

Who do you want to be?

Perhaps no other day forces us to ask ourselves the question, "Who do I want to be?" more than Halloween. The costume options are endless, it's just a matter of finding something that inspires you.

Cole didn't have any trouble deciding to be "Woody" this year. And I think this costume suits him well. We recently saw "Toy Story 3" at the $3.00 theater and in my opinion, it is the best animated film of all time. It so beautifully captured the magic of imaginative childhood play; play that has helped create Cole's very being, his soul, his world! We've been playing a story recently that never ends. Anytime Cole and I have a chance to play he wants to pick up where our story left off. We're only on chapter five, which shows how often we're able to sit down on the bedroom floor with toys, just me and him. It's good that we're pacing oursleves though, as the "chapters" are held to a higher standard than stories Cole and I used to play, say when he was 3. Cole provides a lot of the plot, and amazes me at his ability to incorporate unexpected twists, betrayals, suspense, humor, sentimentality, etc. into the story. Cole is better at adding these components than I am and it takes all my brain power to keep up.



Luke did not really ever have a final decision on what to be for Halloween. Every time we asked him, he would answer something different. To Cole's Halloween parade at school, he dressed in his superman costume. (This is Luke with Cole's buddy, Seth)


I like this picture--"Howdy, little lady!"



Then that night at the Trunk-or-Treat Luke was a lion. But this is just Luke's personality. He is wildly unpredictable and rarely just himself. Throughout the day, I'll mistakenly address him as "Luke", and he'll quickly correct me, no--I'm Buzz, or I'm Superman, or I'm a puppy, or I'm a kitty (said super fast as though it's all one word).


Trunk-or-treatin'


Clay sort of cheated on the dress up thing. For work, he stuck a bloody sword through a couple cereal boxes and carried it around. But I don't think this really reveals anything about his soul.

I didn't dress up. I couldn't think of any good ideas until it was too late...at Cole's Halloween parade I saw the costume, worn by one of the teachers, that made me think to myself, "Ohhhhhh, oh what I would give to wear such a costume as that on this very Halloween. That is who I want to be!" It was Mary Poppins, in all her glory. She even had the umbrella with the bird head handle. Where did she get that I would like to know. The thing is, I wouldn't just love dressing up as Mary Poppins, I would love to be Mary Poppins; beautiful, sweet, practically perfect in every way.

Brothers together...

Luke's been getting a little scared at night. He told me he wanted me to sleep with him because he was scared. I asked, "What are you scared of?". Luke answered, "I'm scared of anything". Poor sweet little baby. I reminded him that he has big brother Cole right next to him. Then Luke snuggled up so close to Cole that he was practically on top of him.

A while later, I came in to check on them. They were both asleep and snuggled together so sweetly I had to take a picture. (You can also see Luke's favorite stuffed animal that he's been sleeping with every night, "Krystal Fox", and hidden under Cole is his beloved "Teddy".)


I asked Clay if him and his brothers used to cuddle like this :)

Cole made up a little saying that he and Luke both say to each other now:
"Brothers together--be friends forever!"

Mostly swinging on the beach

A few weekends ago we went to Clay's parent's house to watch general conference with them. It was delightful as always. And of course we had to take some walks on the beach while we were there.

We certainly weren't expecting to run into this massive thing on the beach. We were all very excited about getting to see it take off into the ocean.

Clay was able to snap some pictures of it going out to sea.


The boys spent a long time on the swings

Messes I love

I love when cousins come over and have a picnic lunch on the front room floor and then help make dessert by dipping strawberries and raspberries in chocolate (thanks Breanne for the tip) and end up wearing a lot of it



and get little tiny orange and yellow punch-out foamie circles all over the carpet from making candy corn people


and leave behind hand-made costumes from their perfomance and taping of "The Three Little Pigs"




and print off picture after picture of coloring pages that they color so carefully and then write across the top, "To Amy, Love" followed by their name.

We were fortunate enough to have Cole's cousins and my sister over last week to spend the day with us, along with my mom and grandma. We had so much fun with them! After we were done making our messes, we all went to In n out by the airport to welcome my cousin and her husband who had just flown in from Texas. It was great to get to see them, even for just a short time.

And I sure hope these little guys will come visit us again soon. I was seriously so sad to put away the sweet messes from our fun day together.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Wow, time just keeps on ticking, and life just keeps on moving and changing. Here's a couple of recent changes in my family:

My sister, Emily, is expecting! This amazing woman will be the mommy of 6 children!


And, this baby sister, Katie, is getting married in January (in this dress)! This was only the second dress she tried on and she fell in love with it!

Darn it--I had to delete the picture. Katie doesn't want her guy to accidently see her dress before the big day. (Although I'm sure he doesn't spend his time catching up on my blog).

This Speaketh to my Soul!

I'm a bit behind the times. My sister Stephy had recommended this video a long time ago, and I have just recently become obsessed with it (especially love from 3:15 on). This is Jon Schmidt, best pianist/composer on the planet!

The Fantastic Four

Brayden


Brodee


Cole


Luke


These four boys have spent soooo much time together over the last two years! They have had COUNTLESS play dates! We have loved all the fun outings to the park, the beach, the movies, and even California Adventure. And we have loved their sweet mom, Jaime, who has been the most wonderful friend to me!!!!








So how sad for us...a few weeks ago Brayden and Brodee moved away...far away...to the other side of the country! And they took their parents with them too.

We miss them so much! Have fun on your new adventure guys!

Unashamed

I knew Cole had been taking a framed photo of me and him to school everyday. I had assumed that he was keeping it in his backpack, just to peek on every now and then. But a couple weeks ago when I had to go into his classroom and sign him out in the middle of the school day, there it was sitting atop his desk, angled towards him, for the whole class to see. I then realized that this picture had been lovingly displayed there EVERYDAY! He is not ashamed of his love for his mother. Bless his sweet little heart!

Just for Kicks

Cole started his first season of soccer a few weeks ago. His team name is the Green Swords but he was pushing for the name the Green Craniums. Oh well. On opening day there was a banner parade where all the teams walked down the track with their banner. It was super early in the morning and TONS of people were there, although not a very good showing from Cole's team. Cole loved the parade and LOVED learning all the funny names for the other teams like Super Sonic Killer Bees, and Grass Stains and Toxic Waste.


This is Cole at his first game, taking an orange slice break. He's really happy to be trying out soccer this year. His only struggle is losing focus on the game! He very easily starts daydreaming. I was telling him today to only think about the ball: Cole, you want the ball, you want to destroy it, you want to KILL IT WITH YOUR FOOT! Poor kid, he just doesn't have one competitive bone in his body. He seems to be having a good time though, so that's all that I care about.

Luke is enduring soccer season as best he can. We always bring Luke's ball so he can practice soccer too, but he usually prefers wandering around or picking some random spot of gound to lie on.

Who's IN first?

Here's Cole on his first day of first grade. Today went so well! He loves his teacher! She is 100% sweetness! I could care less if she teaches well or challenges him or inspires him, just as long as she's NICE! He's done his time with a strict teacher, so we're all happy for this change of pace.