Halloween

We have quite an eclectic group this year.   First, our sweet little angel baby.

Carson, as usual, surprised me with his costume preference.  I was scrolling through costume ideas on the Internet one day and jokingly asked if he would like to be a banana.  He said, "Sure!"  I thought he was kidding.  It didn't cost much, so here you have it.  The evil jester is his friend.

Spencer has reached the age of no more candy collecting, so he and his friend just dressed up and went out to enjoy the atmosphere.  

Parker refused to be a prisoner or a monkey to coordinate with his brothers, so I conceded and he went as a football player.  He loves to go outside and play football with "his" friends, who are actually Spencer's neighborhood buddies.  They're all very kind to Parker, though, and make him feel like one of the big kids.

It pays to be small and cute!  Parker came home with several regular-size candy bars!

Emotional Progression of Emily

I wanted a picture of my cute little princess in her pretty dress.  She wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot, but I kept taking pictures, trying to get a happier look.  What I acheived is a gradual progression from sad to happy.  

Getting Old

I found my first grey hair today, so I am documenting the moment.  I haven't even turned 38 yet!  Boo!!

Fire Station

Parker's preschool class went to visit the fire station yesterday.  It was soooo exciting!  

He's not even as tall as the tires!  

Parker is second from the left.  

Then we went to the donut shop and watched them make the donuts.  Hooray for free samples!

In other news, I am trying to exercise and lose some weight.  I love my kids, but they have wreaked havoc on my body!  So part of my routine includes running up and down the stairs.  The boys all think it's fun to exercise with me, so they run up and down too.  It gets pretty crowded, and then the dog joins the fun, which makes it impossible.  Nothing is ever simple here!

Silliness

Parker just came upstairs with these funny glasses on and quietly stood next to 

Spencer.  I don't think he intended to freak out his big brother, but he was very effective!

Emily tried on her new owl jammies last night.  The matching beanie hat was a bit tight and she didn't enjoy modeling it.  She is the proud owner of two cute little teeth on the bottom.

Starting Over

Since it's been over a year since my last post, what do you say we just cut our losses and try again??  

Here's a cute little video of Emily with the hiccups:

http://youtu.be/hTcx212iZzo

Spencer is enjoying cooking lately.  It all started with a school project last spring.  He did a report on Louisiana and we made beignets for his class.  Now he is helping me cook all sorts of things, like French toast!  

Out of School!

We actually had a somewhat normal summer this year.  The kids were out the first week of June, like just about everyone else.  So we've tried to do some fun things close to home.

Parker is getting an early start on yard care.  He always wants to push the shopping cart too, but as you can guess, he's not a great driver.

Our first excursion was to the dinosaur park.  Yes, we went to Dinosaurland recently, but this is a little different.  This is Carson's favorite, the Utahraptor.

Spencer likes Allosaurus.  It's amazing to me how much these boys already know about different types of dinosaurs.  Carson gets library books about dinosaurs and pores over them for hours.  In fact, he prefers nonfiction.  He likes to read about all kinds of wildlife, especially sharks, bugs, and other unusual creatures.  I've learned a lot by reading to him!

Parker has a dinosaur named for him, Euparkeria!  Its prints are even the same size as his little hands.  His brothers thought that was amazing!

 

 He wasn't in the mood for having his picture taken with his namesake.

Another day we went to the nature park to watch the ducks.  Carson enjoyed seeing bat houses scattered throughout the park.

We counted 21 baby ducks.  They were adorable!  Parker still can't get enough of baby ducks.  I taught the boys how to skip rocks that day.  Parker tried too, but he chose really big, clunky rocks that made loud splashes in the water and scared all the birds.

No summer is complete without some time on the back porch with a popsicle.  I've been making my own with Jello and Koolaid.  They're pretty tasty! Parker loves them.  It's one way to keep him quiet and out of trouble for at least 30 minutes!