What to do

When Jeremy is out of town, the boys get antsy. I do too. I was cleaning out a draw in the kitchen and came across a bag full of Chuck E Cheese tokens. Idea! Take the boys (we have only been a few times when others have invited us). It could be fun.

So we went. A brought along one of Carter's friends.

The favorites where the little kids flight simulator type things, races and whatever could give them the most tickets.



















Luke has some fabulous skee ball form.

Halloween the Waterford way

Halloween in Waterford is a treat! We do not trick or treat in our neighborhoods...all the people of Waterford go down to the little historic village of Waterford. The Waterford elementary school collects candy to hand out to the homes of those who live the village, each grade decorates a house with a theme amongst all of the other houses and the kiddos come and have fun. It is like our own little Sleepy Hollow. There is nothing like trick or treating in Waterford.

The theme this year was books made into movies. The houses that are decorated are more like a movie set than anything else. It is magical.
K - Charlotte Web with a farmer, animals, farming truck all to decorate the house
1st - Where the Wild Things Are with Max, his bed, a real boat, larger than life wild things
2nd - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with giant candy all over the place, fun music and lights
3rd - Chronicles of Narnia with all the magic of Narnia
4th - Harry Potter with giant spider, spooky shadows, lots and lots of things that looked straight out of Hogwarts.
5th - Journey to the Center of the Earth with smoke and it scared Luke a bit.

Carter and Luke dressed up as Batman and Joker. Luke was the cutest Batman...every time we went up and said trick or treat, the person would put the candy in his bag and his eyes would light up, followed with a big thank you! It was such a thrill for him. Carter was more than excited to spray his hair green.

The pumpkins that we carved were dropped off at the elementary school and taken down to the village for decoration. Carter and Luke thought it was pretty cool to find their pumpkins!

Jack-o-what?

The boys and I decided to carve up some pumpkins. The enthusiasm was great until Luke decided the insides of a pumpkin felt yucky. So Carter became in charge of the cleaning, Luke picked out the designs, I carved and Brayden supervised.

We made a mess. My carving skills included random bits of pumpkin flying across the room. The pumpkin insides stuck to every one's clothes and we finished.

Fall Treats

While the pumpkin bread was baking.

We sat on the porch, enjoyed a beautiful fall day and nibbled on caramel apples.

Where the Wild Things Are

Let the wild rumpus start!

Well we did it. We took 18+ 1st graders to the movies for Carter's birthday. The historic Tally Ho theather hosted us with a party room, balcony and the movie Where the Wild Things Are. Carter had a blast. All the kiddos, pizza, lots of popcorn, candy, cake...a recipe for fun (or diaster). They all sat, for the most part and enjoyed the movie.

Corn Maze Time

Carter has been asking and asking about the corn maze.

A local farm has a large corn maze and other fall activities. The boys were so excited to go. The maze has 10 posts to direct you and make sure you are going the right direction. You are given a series of questions to read at each post to help you decide which direction to go.

We jumped and jumped on a massive jumping pillow.

Carter and Luke road a cow train.

Then shot corn with a corn blaster.

Went for a pony ride.

Brayden was there, tolerating it all (can't you see how thrilled he is to be there).

We had a great time and we had to top it all off with some hot chocolate and caramel apples. The boys tried out some tractors, checked out lots of farm animals and even a pig race.

Carter is 7

Carter is seven years old!

I cannot believe it.

Let me tell you a little something about my first born. He is sweet and compassionate. A perfectionist. A leader, in just about everything he does. Helpful and thoughtful. He loves school, animals, maps, sports, outdoors, math (counting $) and his brothers.

When he grows up he wants be a zoologist or a toy designer.

Happy Birthday to Carter!

Luke's Big Goal

Soccer season has been underway. Jeremy as the coach. Luke playing up with Carter's team. Carter has scored goals throughout the season and has been doing really well.

Luke only being 4 years old playing with 6-7 year olds, has been keeping up really well. In fact, other than his size, you would not know him to be that much younger. He has been right in the mix (pushing, kicking, running) to get the ball.

Well this weekend, it happened. Luke broke away from the group with the ball (picture below). He dribbled right up to the goal and SCORE! He was so excited, he did a little dancing, fist pumps and finger pointing (Saturday night fever style) to celebrate.

Birthday Party

The boys' cousin Kaden celebrated his 3rd birthday at a local park.

Everyone had a blast. Luke on the teeter totter with his Uncle Matt launching him into the air. I think Luke was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Carter just having fun with everything and Brayden just loves being outside with people.

OH Canada

Jeremy (with his father) has returned from a hunting trip to Alberta, Canada.

It was a successful trip lots of geese and ducks.

Luke's Last First Day of Preschool

Luke is entering his 3rd year of preschool. He was excited this morning to see all of his preschool friends again (and cousin Austin, in picture).

Apparently snack, singing and the playground were the highlights from his day.

To celebrate his first day of school, we headed to McDonald's for a pumpkin milkshake. Yum!

Friday Night Lights

Carter started his first football season. His first game was Friday night under the lights at Fireman's Field. He was so filled with excitement about playing football where there were bleachers, lights and people cheering, that he was not nervous about playing. He is one of the younger kids on the field but would not know it by his height.

Then their second game was Monday night.

Both games Carter's team won...by a lot. Luke loves to go to the games because of the concession stand and hanging out with the "big boys".

1st soccer game of the season

Carter and Luke are playing on the same soccer team in Waterford. Jeremy is coaching. Luke is Pre-K, thinking that he is just like the 1st graders that he is playing with. Carter and Luke were thrilled to have their first soccer game of the season.

They won (even though they do not technically keep score yet).

Carter 1st day of 1st Grade

Carter headed to 1st grade today, acting like everything was cool. He has been excited to go to school all day and be with his friends in the class.

He headed to school looking good. Meet up with all the boys at the bus stop (Luke wanting to be one of the big boys heading off to school).

Came home, both shoes untied, collar up on one side and a hole in the new jeans. He said he had a great day and could not wait to show me all the things in his backpack.

Camp Out at the Neighbors

We live in the best neighborhood!

The dads and children were invited for a camp out, moms came for awhile too. The house hosting the camp out has a pond with a big field perfect for time outdoors. Several families, lots of children, some fishing, lots of smores, lots of laughter and fun. It was a blast. Jeremy, Carter and Luke stayed for the camp out. Brayden and I stayed until it was Brayden's bedtime. Speaking of bedtime...guess what time Carter and Luke went to bed that night? Luke - 12:30 a.m. Carter - 2:30 a.m. The latest they have ever stayed up but they had so much fun (not so much fun the following day but they caught up on their sleep quickly). Thanks to the Olivers for hosting such a crew!

The Park

We made it to Clemjontri Park in Mclean and the boys had a blast.

Toothless

Carter lost a front tooth.

-

All of us tried to help him pull it out over the past several days. Carter even gave Luke a chance. Luke pulled and pulled. Carter checked to see about the work that Luke had done and the tooth fell out!

He looks different without that tooth.

Of course, he wanted to get it ready for the tooth fairy; found a bag and wrote a note to the tooth fairy "toothfairy I will give my tooth to you".

The Fair in Lucketts

We visited a town close by for the annual Lucketts fair. We could not pass up the pony rides, animals, treats and more. Carter was brave and tried the rock climbing wall while Luke was on the moon bounce. They both tried the dunk tank and got extremely close.

Yet another camp

Carter and Luke went to another football camp. Actually Carter signed up and then the coaches invited Luke to join in the fun. The camp was for 5-10 year olds and Luke wasn't quite old enough but they let him come. Carter and Luke were some youngest kids there but it did not seem to bother them too much.

The last day game, Carter ran for one touch down and caught one for another touchdown.

He was so excited that when I arrived for pick-up he shouted from across the field!

Luke was right in there with the big guys, seemingly unaware that he was the little guy. He loved every minute of it. He wanted to run the ball every time.

Flag Camp

Carter had yet another sports camp this week.

He loves every second of it. This week it was flag football. He was one of the youngest at the camp and did not seem intimidated by it and kept up with the big boys.

















The last day the coaches let Luke come in and play to even out the teams. He was so excited he could barely stand it. He was not happy Carter had football camp because he has been wanting to play so the chance to get in at Carter's camp...well he has not stopped grinning. He was right in there with all the elementary school boys; High fiving them, telling them to pass it to him and more.