two fireman and a black cat

along with birthday parties, dd is easy to please in the costume department as well. she opted to be a black cat, another costume she had from last year. she originally wanted to be lucy from narnia but, well, that is one of those costumes that you sort of have to look like the charachter, to pull it off! the boys were fireman and adorable ones at that! i thought the costumes would be way too big but they fit perfectly.....and perfect for the cool colorado halloweens we have. we got spoiled on halloween in las vegas! the boys only managed to make it around our street which was more than enough for them....and for me and grandma! b made the rounds on a few more streets with her good friend up the street. again we ended up with more candy that we bought to give out than we hoped for. halloween is just different now than when i grew up. we always used to run out and have to turn the lights out. there would be hundreds of kids out trick or treating.....nowadays you see just a handful. why is that?

daddy dolls

what a wonderful invention. a military mom started this company, www.daddydolls.com she is truly a saint. you can opt to buy a voice recorder to put inside with a message from daddy. they mean so much to the boys and b, they love these dolls daddy gave them. now daddy was not so sure about a stuffed pillow of himself but i think he is getting used to it! he left a sweet message for each one of them, he got them each, their own doll. i think it is such a blessing that they will still be able to see daddy every night before they go to sleep....of course it will not be the same as having the real one but we will take anything at this point. would it be strange if i got one for myself?? lol!

we wil miss you

i can't tell you how sad it was to watch the packing begin. we are thankful he will be in the states before he actually deploys over seas, so we will still get to see him some. it seems so surreal still, i never in my lifetime thought i would be a military wife, much less see my husband deploy. we will be praying for him every day, for his safety, well being and for him to know how very much he is loved and missed......and how PROUD we are for what he is doing for our country!

it has come too soon for me. reality has set in! i decided to suprise mark with a pre-deployment party the weekend before he left for California. I contacted a bunch of friends from high school and college. not all could come but it was still exciting to have some of them make it! i planned to have it at my inlaws as they have much more square footage and a bar, which is not always the easiest to recreate with the number of people coming.

i told mark that we were having dinner at his parents house. it was his birthday that weekend as well, so it worked out perfectly. he was hanging the rest of our crown molding until minutes before we had to leave. i had to force him to stop and put on a decent shirt but other than that, he had no idea. ( he did tell me later he suspected something when i made such a big deal about his shirt and wanting to be on time for dinner). when we pulled up to his parents house, with all the cars outside, he truly knew something was up and it was so nice to see the look on his face when we walked inside. he got to reunite with old friends, that was long overdue anyhow. we had a great time, it was a wonderful way to spend his last weekend home.

happy birthday! we love you and we will miss you!

it rained on my parade....well, ok, hayride.

dd's school has a huge haunted house and hayride, hosted by several families at the school every year. this is our first year at the school, so our first halloween party. we had been planning on going and it must have rained the entire day. oh, well we made our appearance and b got to go on the hayride.....actual clydesdales pulling a huge "cart" that seated about 20 people, around the resedential neighborhood. only daddy and christopher were brave enough to enter the haunted house, so after just missing chili by one bowl, seeing NOBODY we knew, we left, wet, cold and starving!

B the trooper

i really can't tell you how thankful i am for the age difference between b and the boys. honestly, there was a reason we were not able to have any more children for longer than originally intended. if b wasn't able to entertain herself, get a drink or snack on her own, not to mention help me with the boys, life would be miserable. if i had 3 having a meltdown at the pumpkin patch, i think i would have just had to join in. she is such a little mommy and i am so thankful for her. she loves the boys and has never once showed an ounce of jealousy. she is truly my second pair of hands when i need them. but my goodness, how the child holds the boys who are 3/4 of her weight, i will never understand!

C was not as worried about finding a pumpkin. He decided as soon as the wagon arrived, that is where he wanted to be. The meltdowns started when we took he and A of the wagon to put the pumpkins in!

the perfect pumpkin

A was determined to find and carry his own pumpkin. After we took the hayride from the entrance of the patch to the actual area where pumpkins were, we realized we really needed our wagon. We left it "parked" at the entrance. So while daddy went back to go retrieve it, we got a nice little pile of pumpkins started!

pumpkins, meltdowns and more, oh my!

the boys first trip to the pumpkin patch! b loved the hayride and helping the boys pick out a pumpkin. luckily we brought the boys wagon because it was not long before the wagon was overflowing with about 10 pumpkins. a few broken stems and a few meltdowns later, we managed to narrow it down to 4!