The BIG "3" for our Mitchy

Mitch turned 3 this last Wednesday, the 12th, and well we just had a blast celebrating with him! He totally got that it was his birthday, and was most excited for cake, and then for presents.

But what kind of fun cake do you make for a kid who specifically requests, "chocuate, mom, I want chocuate mom, wif chocuate frousting."?????

A football cake of course! And even better, the kid sat and helped me make the cake, pretty much from start to finish. He does love to cook, and we had fun doing it together.

Powertools, flashlights and jerseys were the name of the game this year! Thank you everyone for the great gifts!

Using his new jigsaw to cut his cake (well at least pretending too).

And lastly, every year, on the night before their bithday, while they are sleeping, I take a picture of my kiddos. For some reason I just have to capture that last moment before they are officially a year older. I can't believe how much they change. The pictures aren't always great, but I love the memory of doing it. Chris thought it was corny at first (which it is), but now he reminds me and brings me the camera.

"Almost 3"

"Almost 2"

"Almost 1"

And best of all....the things we love about Mitch at age 3.

You are wild and crazy! You keep us hopping, always into something and yet so smart and inquisitive. Just when I think you are not listening, you have absorbed way more than I even thought possible. You love to wrestle, jump, and tackle. You pick on your sister and brother and they both give it right back. You love to play with tools...whether out of dads tool box or out of moms kitchen.

You love to be outside, the fresh air calms your little spirit and yet gives you a new energy at the same time. Your cheeks are always flushed from either the heat or the cold, and with that I know you have had a good time. The love of being outside is something I hope you never loose....whether playing ball or raking leaves, you are there!

You are the PERFECT middle child and God certainly knew what he was doing by giving you to us when he did.

You love the book "Where the Wild Things Are", so as the book says

"...let the wild rumpus start"!

We can't wait for all the fun to come!

Halloween & Its Damage

Oh what fun we had dressing up and trick or treating last night! Chili with the Johnsons and the Morrisons and then out for a round of candy collection.

Drew....after Mom lets him have a lollipop while we were out. He was making such a rukus watching the other kids get candy that I let him have his own lollipop. Needless to say, he quit fussing.

Ahhhh....Motherhood....

I NEVER would have let Amelia have a lollipop at this age.

Short one #3 has it easier already.

Amelia, Abby and Mitch all wired up after plenty of sweets.

A great smile from the cutest butterfly on the block.

And now for today's BIG DAMAGE! I let Mitch take his candy bucket to rest time with him. Yes, my brain had left the building. He was quietly watching a movie and I thought he fell asleep (he was exhausted from last night). But about an hour and half later he pokes his head downstairs and I notice chocolate on his face. I proceed to my bedroom and find the below scattered across the bed.

And when asked "Mitch, how much candy did you eat?", he sweetly responds, "Way too much." However, later in the evening, coming off his sugar high was not a very pleasant experience, tired, cranky and lots of sugar don't go well together! ;)

Pumpkins!

So, today I realized I hadn't loaded our pumkin carving pics from last week....I am so good to take pictures and then I have such a hard time remembering to download them. That is probably why my camera has pictures on it from early June still!!!!

Anyway, back to pumkins. So, sadly, this is our first year carving pumpkins with the kids. Previous years Chris was either out of town, or I was big and pregnant, or we were swamped with a new business....but this year, it was perfect! Chris was here, I am NOT pregnant (and won't be anymore) and we are all just havin' a bit more spare time to be together. And the kids are actually old enough to know what is going on. Unfortunately, little Drew missed all the action, cause he was so sleepy, he was already in bed asleep when we started carving.

So, first...our cute little pumpkins, from the local pumkin patch. Which of course I forgot the card in my camera at so we really didn't get any of our own pictures. Thank goodness Sarah had her camera and we did get a couple of shots of the family.

Then to the backyard for the opening of pumkins......

Continuing to work on pumpkins! Mitch was very impressed that we let him use a little pumpkin carving knife.

The finished product! The pumkins are a bit scary, but I think the scariest part of this picture is that Mitch is holding the box of matches! Eeeeck! How did that happen!

We moved the pumkins to the front step, and lit them up. This is a picture of one of them as we sat on the steps, with the pumpkins turned facing us (pumkins facing the house), and we ate popcorn. Turning the pumkins to look at us was Amelia's idea. She insisted that if we were going to eat our popcorn on the step, that we had to look at the pumkins at the same time. It was actually quite fun hanging out in the dark with 3 glowing faces looking at us. Maybe it is our new family tradition!

Happy Halloween!

Snow! And a few cute kids....

So we had our first big snow storm this last weekend. The kids thought it was GREAT! Mitch is such a little penguin that I could hardly keep a coat on him, much less gloves...so don't think we are bad parents! I am hoping we get enough snow this winter to replace the kiddie pool!

Mitch....having a blast!

Drew didn't play in the snow...but he did do a little pose for us wearing a hat. Isn't he just the cutest thing? We think so.....

And since I am posting photos, I had to throw in a few cute shots of the boys. For some reason we caught a few good ones recently....now we just have to try to get a few good ones of Amelia.

The love of a kiddie pool

This summer, I do not know how we would have survived without the beloved kiddie pool. Or I guess I should say, how would Mitch have survived? The boy just loves the thing, rain or shine, hot or cool, his favorite activity was to go crazy with the pool and the water hose. And his favorite water is the icy cold stuff straight from the faucet. So today, as summer is starting to feel a little more fallish, I realized we did not have any video of my favorite stunt of his in the kiddie pool, so I decided not only to record, but to share. These kids change so fast and we all know that by next spring Mitch will be on to different antics and the move will be lost forever. Now, I wonder what we are going to replace the kiddie pool with this winter????

Preschool already?

So Amelia started preschool last week.

She was so cute and all ready to go to school. It is so scary how fast these little ones grow up!

Montanta, oh how we love you!

Okay, really we just really love the PARTAINS!

What a fun time we had spending the Labor Day weekend with Tammy, Seth, Isaac and Silas!

Amelia teaching Isaac a few desirable stunts!

Uncle Seth teaching Isaac and Amelia the benefits of electronic gadgets (ipods no less).

Can Drew's legs really be that much longer? I know this isn't the greatest picture, but the point is to show the difference in these two little boys. I mean Drew is 4 weeks YOUNGER than Silas and yet I think his legs are 4 inches longer!

BEST OF ALL MY BIRTHDAY!

And one of the best parts of my weekend....my birthday! And even better was getting to celebrate with the gang! It was 9 years ago that I think I last got to spend my birthday with Tammy & Seth!

The kids are really lovin' all 34 candles on that delicious cake! Talk about a fire hazard!