Trick or Treat.

This year was our first time trick or treating as a family. Braden is finally old enough to grasp the concept (i mean, who doesn't want to dress up and get free candy??) and so we were off..Earlier the day was beautiful and by the time we were ready to get our candy the rain started coming on down, go figure. Either way we had so much fun. Went to my sister's for a little get together and so the cousins could go treating together.

It was a great first experience, Braden was a pro. Knocked on the door said "Trick or Treat" "thank you" and was cracking us up because he found something to compliment everyone on at almost every house we went to. He told one lady he liked her cat and then told an older gentlemen that he liked his mask to which all of us adults were like "omg" only to find out that he was pointing out a picture of a mask that the man had inside his house...good times.

Ate lots of good food and one too many cupcakes=perfect evening.
Oh! And I can't forget my littlest man who not only was the cutest little monkey but never even cried once in that hot, hot costume. What a trooper!

Happy Halloween!

Fall.

i love the fall. i love the clothes. i love that it means its time for apple picking. i love feeling the cool, crisp air. i love that its cold enough to wear cozy sweaters. i love feeling cold but hopping into bed with warm sheets. i love sipping hot coffee on a cool morning. i love how beautiful the trees look. this year, i especially love the fall because it gives me hope. seeing the leaves change colors and fall from the trees reminds me that its only for a season. that even in the midst of all of the change- that even though the trees will soon be bare- in the proper season, they become beautiful again.

7months

My boy is 7 months already! And yes, I think his food tastes better this way ;)

Dedication.

Carter. Today we dedicated him at church. He looked so handsome. 7 months yesterday (my 'infamous' index card picture soon to follow).

He hasn't been around very long but he sure has been a blessing so far. He was born during a time where there were many changes happening in our family and he brought me such peace. He is very calm and content, has a great smile, gives these very intense/analytical stares, has started to protest when his brother takes away a toy, prefers to suck on a quesadilla, a piece of bread, anything, but isn't a huge fan of baby food, doesn't sleep very much-mommy isn't a huge fan of this- and does this hilarious army crawl/worm dance to get around all over the floor.

As we dedicated him to God today my prayer was that God will give Rob and I the wisdom and strength to raise him so that he will grow up to be a confidant, God fearing and honoring man, whom is loving, empathetic and compassionate, giving, merciful, and will chase after the dreams that God places in his heart.

Leaves.

Rob was home today. The world is a better place when daddy is home. I swear that the boys sleep in later, they nap longer, and have all together better days. Braden was thrilled to find out that daddy would be home "Daddy, you no workin?". So we hung out, laid low, played soccer, and jumped in the leaves.

(I can't figure out why the heck my layouts on my posts are coming out so retarded, i'll figure it out eventually).

My meatball.

I could just eat him. Something about those dimples, the smile, and the way he stares at you- it melts my heart. He's my little meatball. I took him out in the front yard to get these shots of him and my mom considered it borderline abusive- it was pretty brisk out. Reminds me that we're not in Virginia anymore..
I'll keep this short- my bundle of cuteness is still not sleeping through the night, sigh.

I don't like you.

Braden's vocabulary has really expanded. Every day he catches me by surprise with some whitty comment or phrase that he says. Usually, it's something that he's heard or something that I have recently said to him that he repeats and adds to his everyday usage. Every so often when I'm in the middle of disciplining him for something he'll bust out with something and I have to stop and look away for a moment so that I don't laugh hysterically.
His popular phrases or comments these days are:
"I don't want to"
"In a couple of minutes mom"
"I'm not ready"
The one I hear most often lately is "I don't like you"- I thought that he wasn't supposed to start saying that until he was a teenager??
If he doesn't like something I've told him to do, usually in response to misbehavior/discipline he says "mommy, that's not nice. you be nice to me."
It all usually makes me chuckle- even if it's not in the precise moment- but it makes me sad to realize how big he's getting. I guess in the end alot of his new phrases are part of him becoming independent and feeling like he has some control in making decisions- i'm sure that's what my Parents magazine would say! I'm just trying to enjoy him and cherish all of these funny and quirky moments.

This is in my sister's backyard. He's obsessed with trying to shovel this little pile of dirt. I thought the foot on the shovel ordeal was pretty funny. He must have seen someone do this at some point.

The backyard is full of these sticky pinecones!

My new goal is to try and take some photos everyday..we'll see how it goes!

Halloween Cookies.

On Friday we headed out to my sister's inlaws~Grandma Arlene's~ to bake halloween cookies. We had alot of fun. Braden is really into helping bake things (or as he refers to it "mixing eggs") lately so we've been doing some experimenting in the kitchen. Anyway, cookie making is right up his alley. He's ready to roll.
Joce's little hands practicing her rolling.

I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me that he should wear something lighter colored or even better an apron of some sort but it was part of the experience. He just looked like the pillsbury dough boy until we got home.



Tada! One of our first batches of decorated cookies. Some of them were pretty scary looking thanks to lots and lots of frosting and sprinkles but they were yummy.


And did I mention that they live out on a farm? It's awesome out there so after we made cookies we roamed outside for a bit.

Check out my dough boy and the giant pumpkin!

And I couldn't post without adding a picture of my littlest man. He's getting so big, almost 7 months! Closer every day to crawling and once he has that down he'll be giving his big brother a run for his money.

I can't believe that the weekend is already over! On to a new week.