Halloween Parade

On the firetruck at the parade

New Paint in the bonus room

Fun colors!

Neighborhood picture

Lots of kids!

Checking out the firetruck

Luke

Liam needs some juice to get ready for all this

We had our annual neighborhood Halloween Parade last weekend and the boys had a great time. Liam was happy as long as he could chase the two girls that were wearing ballons. Liam loves ballons and there were two girls dressed up like grapes with a costume made from ballons. Pretty creative, Liam loved it. Luke was good as long as he could be with Daddy. As is typical of Luke, he was not too into walking or doing anything other than sitting with Dad; whereas, Liam was all over the place chasing the firetruck, neighborhood dogs and checking out the costumes. Luke did show some interest when the candy was passed out, of course! The boys are both lions this year for Halloween. They like the costumes actually, but were not too keen on the face painting. We hope to do a little trick or treating this weekend as well as a Halloween party for the boys with their twins group.

I am also posting a picture or two of the new paint in the bonus room. It looks fabulous! Yes, the colors are very bright and wild, but we were hoping for something fun. The pictures don't do it justice, but the top part of the walls are light blue, the bottom half is a darker bright blue and there are two red accent walls. There is also some yellow inside the window inset area. The new baby's room is still a work in progress, but it is coming around and we should have a few pictures soon.

Enjoy!

Busy Week and Busy Boys

We love Play Dough!

Fun with Play dough!

See, this is how you open and close the door.

Luke was so proud of himself for climbing into the dryer

Here I am, Mom!

We are in the midst of painting and doing a few home improvement projects this week so we have had a very busy week. Thanks to the help of our neighbor, the boys have been able to nap during the afternoons in a quiet place, but I think we are ready to have things back to normal. Our next step will be putting the rooms back together and organizing the new baby's room. I will post a few pictures of our improvements once things are completed. I am posting a few pictures of our play time with playdough at the neighbor's house with their daughter Savannah who is just a few months younger than the boys.

On another note, the boys continue to stay busy and manage to get into just about anything whenever my back is turned. The other morning I was working on a few things in the kitchen and the boys were in the laundry room right off the kitchen. They frequently go in there and rearrange the shoes or play with toys so that is not too unusual. They like to close the door to the laundry room, but I can still hear them talking and laughing at each other. After a few minutes, I went to check on them and could not find Luke anywhere. I was certain that he was in the laundry room with his brother because he had been laughing and talking a few minutes earlier. Luke found a new hiding place that he was quite proud of....the dryer. Liam thought it was great that he could open and close the door to Luke's new hiding place! I am posting a couple pictures, it was quite funny at the time.

Highlights from our Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers

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Our Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers

Well, fall was short-lived around here. I think we had about 48 hours of fall before winter arrived. We have already had a few inches of snow believe it or not. Our earliest measurable snowfall in 24 years occurred last weekend while Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers were visiting. It does not generally snow here in October until this year! We have quickly purchased some snow pants, boots, coats, hats, and gloves for the boys this week so that we will be ready for the next snowfall. The boys were quite interested in snow so we will give it a try this year.

We had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers. We visited a local park (despite the cold temps), went to the apple and pumpkin orchard, and enjoyed the Iowa football game on Saturday night. Each of the boys got a little haircut. Luke was in need of a little trim because his hair is not quite as curly now that the weather is so cold and dry. Liam had a few little hairs to cut, but mostly he was dying to sit in the chair after he saw his brother get his hair cut. The boys enjoyed the visit and were quick to show Grandma and Grandpa why mom and dad are so exhausted by the end of the day. I am posting a few highlights from our visit. Enjoy!

BQ

John and the boys shortly after the finish of the Twin Cities Marathon. The boys are more than ready to be out of the stroller by this point in time.
At the Finish

Post Race

You cannot see John, but this is right when he finished.

This is one of the boys favorite things to do...play in the car. They are fighting about who gets to drive in this picture.

Luke won. Notice he is wearing his seatbelt.

Another one of our favorites...the vacuum

And riding on the vacuum

What does BQ stand for you might be asking?? Well, John had a great race over the weekend and he is officially a "BQer" or "Boston Qualifier". For anyone who knows anything about running, the Boston Marathon is the premier marathon of all marathons and the only one that requires a person to qualify based on his/her age group. John's goal for the Twin Cities was to qualify for Boston and while it seemed like an impossible feat a year ago, he achieved it on Sunday when he completed the race in 3:12 (he needed a 3:15:59 to qualify). The weather was thankfully ideal this year after the deluge of rain last year. However, Sunday was the only day of no rain that we have had in probably close to five days now so we were fortunate. The boys and I made it to the finish and the boys endured a pretty extended time in the stroller while watching for daddy and eating suckers. It is pretty difficult to keep two toddlers in the stroller when you are not moving. It does not matter that there is a band playing, people cheering, crowds of spectators, animals, etc...they just want to get out of the stroller. Congratulations John! We are very proud!