Halloween

We gathered together with a lot of our church friends to go trick-or-treating, and have a driveway bonfire.  The kids all looked adorable.  The boy's homemade Lego costumes turned out pretty cute, but AJ and Ty didn't like that they couldn't run as fast as they wanted to in them.  The neighborhood was packed, but there were lots of houses participating.  The boys got so much candy!  Mark was in the back of the pack most of the night; each time he went to a house, he wanted to eat his candy immediately, which slowed him down even more.  Jackson and AJ were at the front and we were constantly telling them to slow down.  We hit a lot of houses before heading back for some treats and hot chocolate.  It was so much fun and we all agreed that their neighborhood was a great one to go to!

Pumpkin Patch with cousins

We decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch in Athens.  It was a beautiful day and there were lots of different activities for the kids at the farm.  It was huge!  They loved the jumping pillow; they also had play grounds, bikes that they could ride on a paved path, a hay ride and sand to play in.  On our way out we picked a few pumpkins to take home.

5k in Athens

Kylie and my brother ran a 5k last year and I promised Payton that I would run it with him this year.  Jeff, AJ, and Wyatt jumped in to run as well.  Jeff and I were training for our half marathon, so it was a good opportunity.  I was concerned about AJ running by himself so my brother agreed to run with him.  It was a small race (about 50 people) and the weather was beautiful.  We took off and Kylie lead the pack and never lost her lead.  Jeff and I ran together most of the way and we passed AJ at one point without his uncle.  He said he was okay running on his own.  We tried to catch Kylie, but she was too fast- I was so impressed with her and when she finished, she wasn't even tired.  She took first place over all with a time of 26 minutes Jeff and I came in shortly after at 27 minutes (Jeff- 27.20, and Me-27.45) both Personal Bests for us.  As soon as I finished I turned around to look for AJ and he wasn't too far behind.  I was so proud when I saw him turning the corner towards the finish line.  Jeff went back to finish the race with him.  He finished in 31.22 minutes.  Both of us were blown away.  He never walked and finished faster than we anticipated.  Wyatt, Payton and Uncle Marcus all finished shortly after.

These are the top 3 boys and top 3 girls in order.  AJ took second place and was probably the youngest kid who ran.  The other boys (1st and 3rd place) were 10 and 11 years old.  

Boots

This silly boy LOVES his boots and will randomly go put them on and prance around the house.

Climbing trees (again)

Its almost like Where's Waldo?  I heard them calling me to come and see and I honestly cound't find them for a minute.  They both got really high.

Mark's Birthday

Our little Mark turned 2 years old today!  AJ and Ty were so excited to make him a birthday cake.  They were so sweet.  Jeff and Mark went to go run an errand so we could surprise Mark.  I asked the boys what we should put on the cake and they suggested Mark's motorcycles that he loves, so we did along with 2 candles.  The boys wanted to hide behind the furniture and have a "surprise party" for Mark when he got home.  I explained that it wasn't a surprise because they live in our house, but that didn't stop them.  Mark's reaction wasn't anything exciting and he didn't understand why his toys were in the cake.  Jeff and I laughed at the situation and then we had cake and ice cream.  It was a fun day for all the boys!  

Mark 2 years old

My little baby boy is two years old today!  He is such a joy and our family wouldn't be complete without him.

Mark . . .

normally has a serious look on his face especially around strangers.

loves cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains; pretty much anything with wheels.

talks all the time and know numerous words, more than either of his brothers at this age.

is so big!  Many people think he is 3 and he towers over other kids his age.  He is getting very heavy for me to hold!

takes a nap every day whenever the schedule allows.  He's pretty flexible about the timing.

loves to be outside and recently figured out how to open the front door and will often "escape".  I usually have to bribe him with food to get him to come back in.

loves to close doors.  If he sees one open, he'll quickly go close it.

loves to show off his belly by lifting up his shirt.  I'll ask him if I can have some belly, and he'll come up to me so I can kiss it.  Then he'll go up to his brother's with his shirt lifted up and say, "Ty Ty, have some belly"

loves to dance in the car and will tell his brother's to dance too.

wears size 3T shirts, 3T pants and size 9 shoe.

Lost a Tooth

AJ finally lost his first tooth.  It seemed like last year in Kindergarten someone from his class was loosing a tooth every week.  It's been loose for a while now and we knew it would happen soon.  AJ had been anticipating what the tooth fairy would bring him; he even thought she might bring him an iPad- we explained that the tooth fairy had a lot of children to give to and that would probably not happen.  We had some friends over (Emmy, Mario & Mia) and the kids were taking a break from playing and asked for a snack.  I suggested apples and half was through, AJ's tooth stuck in the apple.  He was so excited and so was his friend Emmy who had lost a tooth about a month ago while we were playing at her house.  What a coincidence!  They were both excited.  AJ put his tooth under his pillow and got $5 from the tooth fairy and a note.  He said, "She knows that sometimes we don't floss" and now wants to floss every night. :-) 

Painting Pumpkins

I had promised the boys we could paint pumpkins over fall break and they were looking forward to it for a while.  We went to Lowe's, picked up supplies to make a scarecrow, and I let them pick out their own pumpkins.  At first they went for the biggest ones and once they realized they couldn't pick them up, they settled for a smaller size.  The older boys painted while Mark took his nap.  I had planned to let Mark paint when he woke up, but he was fine just holding his pumpkin, so I avoided the mess he would have made.  We also made a scarecrow out of Mark's old clothes; he was a kid scarecrow, the boys loved it!