November Happenings!

As we close out the month of November, I wanted to highlight some of our favorite moments!

These two are getting so much fun... and so loud! They really are playing together and it's super sweet to watch! Very silly too!

We had some interesting days.... Brock got hurt playing at the gym childcare one evening and ended up dislocating his elbow! Ouch! Doctor reset the elbow and he had to wear a sling for a few days, but he was such a trooper about it (after the doctor's appointment!).

One evening we headed up to Kirkland to hang out with Ara and family!

Super fun backyard with BIG leaves and Andrew & Brock playing a modified game of soccer!

Too hard to get all three of them to stop long enough for a picture!

Oh the mind of a three year old - he wanted to know where was the tree's blood since they are dying (aka losing their leaves).

Somewhere in this mix, Kade got sick for about two weeks - poor guy had such a bad cold - runny nose and coughing! And then Oscar got sick! Who knew dogs can get bronchitis!?? Well, Oscar had it and poor guy had this really horrible cough too!

 But we still smiled through it all!

My MOPS group coordinated a fire truck visit on a non-typical MOPS day, therefore Brock was able to come too! OMG, look sun!!!

 See, my camera didn't know what to do with the sun in November! ;)

Yes, and that's the new look now - we layer with the gym shorts on the OUTSIDE of the pants. 

 Super fun group of ladies and their children!

I have to include this picture even though you don't get the full extent of watching the 3 second movie with the "live picture..." Harmonious screaming/crying - apparently, it's what you do when you have a sibling and you're in time out together. Brock was in timeout for something minor, and Kade wasn't having his way and decided to throw one of his play phones HARD against the wall. Brent told him no and plopped him in time out. My sensitive Brock did not like little brother getting in trouble so started to cry too! Oh boy!

But they have good moments too! Check out this cute video of big brother Brock reading to little brother Kade.

They got their haircuts too! Boy did they both desperately need them! After haircuts, we had a nice dinner in Bellevue with Brent at Red Robin before heading home after rush hour traffic!

We definitely mellowed down Thanksgiving dinner - Brent did his typical deep-frying of the turkey - which turned out great with the new cottonseed oil - no peanut oil in this house anymore! I made a few sides, but we kept it low-key. No extra guests and half of the diners present were lacking good table-manners - it was great just the way it was!

Can't believe it, but Thanksgiving has come and gone now and we are in full Christmas decoration mode! Brock is super excited for everything pertaining to Christmas and telling Kade all about it! This should be fun! :)

Halloween Festivities 2016

 

We had a great Halloween week! Everyone got some treats! ;)

While Brock was at school, Kade and I had fun at the annual Trunk (Chair) or Treat at MOPS. Kade was super cute as Cookie Monster (same outfit Brock wore at 9 months old!). He did not like the hat, but once I got it on and distracted him with what he could stuff in his pumpkin, he was content.

Brock and I made Halloween sugar cookies (yes, from scratch) one afternoon while Kade napped! This was a super special time because this was the first time I honestly let Brock do everything (except break the egg). I took a deep breath and told myself it would only mean a temporary dirty kitchen and we went with it. :) It was actually super fun! He measured and poured the flour, sugar, vanilla - everything! He was super cute and wore one of my Grandmother's aprons too! Alas, no pictures until the finished product - I was enjoying the moment and I'm really glad I did. :)

Super Proud Brock

We met Brent in Bellevue for dinner, but stopped at the Kids' Cove to let off some steam beforehand! Wow, there were lots of kids that day!!

Maybe instead of waiting in line for Santa, we'll just come to Pottery Barn and take our Christmas pictures? ;)

How fun! We got to sit in a booth with Kade this time! They have a cool booster/high chair just for their booths! He was like a little person sitting with us AND using big person utensils!!

It's mac & cheese with a little red sauce drizzled on top - he likes his pasta sauce!!

My sweet boy at Church!

 Finally it was officially Halloween day! Brock was getting Kade prepped by playing a "find the Halloween mice/bats and put it in your pumpkin" game!

Kade found his sock

Super excited for Halloween!!

We met some neighbors and were supposed to do a Halloween parade through the neighborhood.... but then it just became a big mass of kids going trick-or-treating together. Kade is my free bird and does not do the hand-holding thing or staying with us. He just wants to walk... and boy, does he walk fast!! Alas, not too many pictures of Halloween night!

Brock was Batman! (And Diesel was a pumpkin, but it kept falling off of him because he's our husky Husky)

This picture doesn't capture what's going on so well. All the "big kids" (Brock included) literally stopped at the step of the house and were watching the lights and looking at the lit-up pumpkin they displayed at the door. Here comes Kade, bobbing and weaving between them all, fearlessly climbing up the steps to ring the doorbell!

It started drizzling a bit and Kade, Diesel, and I returned home to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters at our home. Brent and Brock stayed out for a few more houses and then came home to show off his bounty. What a fun night!!

Our October Nashville Visitors!

What a treat for Brock and Kade - we had visitors from Nashville!! We wish they would have brought their warm weather with them too! Alas, the weekend they were here it was forecasted as the "worst windstorm to the Puget Sound area in the last ten years!" It was wet and windy, but nothing like they predicted. Unfortunately, it was windy enough to keep us from our ferry ride to Bainbridge Island! Boo!!

Still, we had a wonderful visit and were so excited about the late addition of Cousin Blaine to come too! Kade cozied right up to him and Brock could barely let Blaine have some space - always watching and imitating whatever he was doing! So cute!

Grammy and Grandpa enjoyed watching the younger set of grandchildren too! Poor Grammy looks so cold in this picture! ;)

A little rain wasn't going to keep Brock from soccer practice - not when you live in the Pacific Northwest! He was a trooper and did everything the coach asked him to - with his rain jacket on!

(He's in the blue jacket and red shorts)

 After a yummy birthday dinner at McCormick & Schmidt's (Not our first choice - what restaurant in downtown Bellevue doesn't offer highchairs?!?!?!), we headed upstairs for a little games-place action!

I must include this picture of Brock and Blaine two years ago (circa July 2014) - Brock was 18 months old. They BOTH have grown so much!

Kade can't wait to get in on the action too!

On Sunday, the boys were all decked out in their Seahawks wear to bring in the WIN against the Falcons. Good thing Kade was wearing his Sherman jersey to bring a little luck, so Sherman wouldn't get called for a penalty on that last play. ;)

I'm a very bad daughter-in-law this time around and did not take any pictures of Grammy & Grandpa with their grandchildren. It baffles me how I can say "we didn't actually do anything or go anywhere, yet we were sooo busy!!" How does that happen? Oh yeah, kids! ;)

We spent lots of quality time with everyone and really enjoyed the company. We heard some new stories about Brent as a child and Brent & Blaine were able to spend some much-needed Uncle/Nephew time together. Grammy got some one-on-one time with just Kade as the rest of us trekked off in the rain to Brock's soccer practice and Grandpa gave us a new electronic toy (Amazon Fire Stick) that has Brent & Brock super excited to watch movies! Even Oscar warmed up to the company and let Grandpa pet him on Day 3 (Grammy was on Day 2)!