Wednesday, October 31, 2012

An Outstanding October

Fall Landscaping
 Eric and Joshua enjoyed working in the yard, fertilizing the grass, and making sure our yard was free of ant hills. Jenni and I enjoyed planting fall flowers.

Road Trip to Iowa
 We traveled north to celebrate my cousin's wedding and visit our extended family.

Fall Pictures at OU
 We stopped by the University of Oklahoma on our way home from Iowa and took a few fall pictures on campus.

Visits to the Pumpkin Patch
 We look forward to the pumpkin patch each year.

We were especially excited about our newest babe joining our bunch this year.

Joshua...The Monster




Grandma Linda finds the neatest costumes for the littles to dress up in. When she found the monster costume I knew Joshua would love it. He loves to be "scary" and RAR! at us. It is rather cute. Eric was working outside when Joshua came downstairs with his monster costume, asked me to help him put it on, and then went outside with the intentions of scaring his daddy. I think he's a little more cute than scary. :)

Fall Party
 We had our second annual fall party!

Trick or Treating!
 Cinderella and a MONSTER!
 Sweet J
 Sweet Joshie trying so hard to be scary
Mean face :)
 Sad face :)
Monsters have all kinds of emotions. Just like two year olds. :)
 Jake and Joshua leading the way!
We loved stopping at houses with a bowl of candy at the front door because it meant other small children were out trick or treating! Eric and I filled a bowl with candy and did the same thing so neither of us missed the littles first trick or treating night.

We had such a great time trick or treating! We went up and down the streets of our neighborhood with our neighbors. Jenni wanted to be Cinderella again and Joshua wanted to be a scary monster. They loved getting candy at each stop and Joshua loved even more when he saw dogs at the front door.

Sweet Snapshots
Baby Bear is as precious as can be.
 Jenni loves climbing the rock wall at the park.
 Joshua enjoys swinging and marching on the walking path. He also likes wearing his fireman rain boots and pretending to help those in need. :)
 Cute little man watching Eric do the yard work

Three little monkeys sitting on the bed...
Brothers! (And I love coordinating pajamas!)





 Boomer!
 Jackson's interest level in the football game :)

 
 Sweet babe all snuggled in his carrier while we were at the pumpkin patch.

 Beautiful sunset!
  


 Joshua's remote control truck :)

 Brothers relaxing at the park
 Sleepy smiles
 Eric and J went on a date and brought me home some flowers!
 Angel baby
 Joshua staying current on foreign policy.
 Our candy corn cupcakes we made for the costume party!
Sweet Jackson is a smiley baby!
 Joshua has been showing Jackson his "fighting hands." Jackson is learning quickly. :)
 Jenni ready for a bike ride!

 Joshua driving his truck! He has gotten so good at steering! And it makes our walks that much easier :)



 Joshua loves the big swing!
 But he always ends up in the baby swing since he can go much higher. :)
 I love my sweet J's sparkling eyes and sweet smile.
 Jenni exclaiming that she wants to be a photographer when she grows up. :)
 I love all of Jackson's smiles. They are so frequent!
Snuggled into his swing  and sleeping like the babe he is :)
 Sweet face
Grumpy face
At times it can be really hard to be two. :)
 Joshie likes taking pictures, too.


 Jackson loves snuggling right up to Joshua.
 Babes watching the game.
 McQueen for church!
 Jessie the Cowgirl for church!



 Taking a Sunday stroll



 Little Love's sweet smile!

 We love taking pictures with our littlest babe!
J1 and J3 as precious as can be
 Jackson came along on our girls date. He enjoyed it for a bit and then went to sleep. The life of a babe.

 Snuggle bug
Cutie pie
Joshua Gabriel and his McQueen toilet seat and McQueen pull-ups! Disney sure knows how to market their products. :)
Our littlest babe as a tiny squishy baby pumpkin. We sure do love him.

Overheard
On our neighborhood walks...
Joshua: "North. South. East. West."
Little man has gone from knowing east and west to successfully knowing all four.

I love Jenni's adventurous heart...
Jenni: "Daddy, will you still jump out of a helicopter into an ocean with me?"
Eric: "Yes!"
Jenni has wanted to do this with E for about a year now. I couldn't even talk her out of it. Maybe one day in the distant distant future they'll do it together. :)

Eric ran into the store as we were leaving town for our trip. He asked the littles to think of a snack they would each like for the drive...
Eric: "Joshie, did you think of a snack idea?"
Joshua: "A mean snack!"
Eric came back to the car with shark fruit snacks. Success! I love boys!

Sweet Joshua Gabriel...
Joshua: "I love you and Jenni a lot."
Turns to Jackson.
Joshua: "I love you a lot, Jackson."

We have heard this sentence many many times recently...
Joshua: "I'll be nice now." :)

While driving home from Iowa we saw countless trucks on the road which led to the same conversation about Joshua wanting a truck when he's older...
Me: "Joshua, you can have a truck, buddy."
Joshua: "OK!... An ice cream truck?!" :)

Joshua being the little boy he is...
Jenni: "Joshie, you want a motorcycle?"
Joshua: "Yes."
Jenni: "They're dangerous."
Joshua: "Yes."
Me: "Joshua, you are not driving a motorcycle."
Joshua: "Ok. I drive my truck fast!"
Me: "No, Joshie!"
Joshua: "I be safe, Mommy! I drive fast! I behave!"

Walking around OU's campus...
Jenni: Why is there a party there? Can we go check it out?" :)

Sweet, sweet J...
Jenni: "Do you love Jackson the most?"
Me: "No. I love you all the same."
Jenni: "Ok. So you love me the most."
Me: "I love you all the same."
Jenni: "Well I love you one hundred and nine and I love Joshua like thirty one."
I do love all my babes and I love how my sweet J turns how much she loves someone into numbers, especially when those numbers make no sense - like loving Jackson 10-19-300, for example.

Me: "Jackson, you just have so many smiles today!"
Jenni: "I think he is just full of happiness!"

At each meal time...
Joshua: "This nice food, Mommy!"

An Update on Jenni
Jenni has been wanting to recycle for so long. We promised her that once we were in our house we would happily start recycling. It's her favorite. She is also loving our sweet neighbors. She enjoys all her play dates, walks in the neighborhood, and creating and receiving art work from our 5 year old neighbor. When we go on neighborhood walks as a fam, Jenni uses the time to tell Jackson about God and Jesus. It is extremely sweet hearing her little voice teaching her baby brother about Jesus and forgiveness. Jenni and I started going on nightly walks or nightly jogs - my favorite part of the day with J.

An Update on Joshua
Our little goober bear who would never sleep in bed with us (even when he was a babe) has changed his tune. He loved having sleep parties with Eric while we were in Iowa. Once we returned from our trip, he let me know that he wanted his bedroom next to ours. He's becoming a little snuggle bear, too - but only with Eric. Joshua has started telling us stories. He'll pretend these things actually happened to him and then at the end of his very long story he'll let us know it's a joke. One common story is about a mean snake dropping on him from a tree. :) In other Joshie news, when we go on walks or rides through the neighborhood, he keeps his eye out for frogs. Love. And as a side note, I'd like to keep Joshua two years old forever.

An Update on Jackson
Jackson continues to be the precious gift that he is! He is such a snuggle bug. One night after feeding him, he fell asleep in my arms and looked way too precious to move, so the two of us rested on the sofa for the next four hours while the rest of the fam was sleeping. Nothing sweeter! We all adore our sweet babe. He enjoys time with each of us. He loves listening to Jenni talk to him and tries to find her whenever he hears her voice in the room. He loves snuggling with Joshua. He enjoys falling asleep in Eric's arms and I like to think he enjoys all the time he gets to have with me. :)