Happy Halloween!

I had a great vision of all 3 of the kiddos dressed up like pirates. I had Emily and Noah's costumes all planned out in my head and was planning on taking Kason to the store to pick out his pirate costume and sword. My plan, unfortunately, backfired. I took Kason to the store, but he decided a pirate he did not want to be. So, Buzz Lightyear it is. I thought I could still make them match and make Emily, Jesse and Noah, Rex or Ham or something. But, that's just too much work. So, here they are...the cutest Buzz Lightyear, Ladybug, and Monkey you've ever seen (I guess Noah has to tie with Kason for cutest monkey being it is Kason's costume from his first Halloween).






No more pictures, Mommy!








To infinity and beyond! (Thanks, Summer, for taking this pic!)

Kason and Emily had a blast and Noah slept in the Ergo the whole time (he has an ear infection). I was a little surprised to see just how into trick-or-treating Emily was, but she loved every minute of it. She went to each door, saying, "Tick. Teat. Tank you.". Adorable! And, of course, they both loved getting to indulge in a few pieces of candy before bed.

Our street decided to trick or treat together, but as you can see from the pics, there was quite a wide variety of ages, so it didn't work out so well. We ended up separating into a few small groups and meeting back up towards the end.


The neighborhood


Kason and his best friend, Bella

Kason tells me about school

Finally! I've been waiting for the day that Kason really tells me about school. Not just about who he played with that day and that he loves chapel the most. Usually, I ask him about his day and he says, "Shhh...it's a secret" in a hushed voice. After a little coaxing, he will tell me he played with Abe, Nathan, Carter, Chase, Marcella, Mallory, etc., etc., but that's usually the extent of it.

But, finally, he told me all about school and doesn't want to stop. He loves to have a job at school and it seems there are LOTS of jobs (i.e., weather helper, line leader, door holder, snack helper,...), so he gets to do one often. He learns about Jesus, science and Spanish, sings the days of the week, and tells me all about the behavior chart. Blue = a super exciting day, Green = an exciting day, Yellow = "Whoa! Slow down! You're making bad choices!" (that is in his exact words), and Red = a trip to the office. We even made a behavior chart at home because he loves it so much. He tells me who has to move to yellow each day (he's never been on yellow or red) and says nobody ever gets to be on blue. They start on green and most stay there each day. He said, "Mommy, I really want to be on blue.". So, on Tuesday, he says he's going to ask his teacher what he can do to be able to move his card to blue. So cute!

I love my little guy and am so happy he loves school! I see him growing into a big boy more and more each day and it's exciting and sad all in the same breath.

Emily has a bully

That's right, this sweet little girl has a bully. No joke.

I hate to refer to an almost 2 year old as a bully, but the definition, according to dictionary.com (a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people ), certainly fits.

As I've talked about before on here, we live on a great street for kids. It is a culdesac and has LOTS of kids. The kids often play in each others' driveways and at the end of the culdesac while the parents socialize. Unfortunately for Emily, though, the only other kid her age is a little boy a month older than her and for some reason, she is his target. Don't get me wrong, he goes after other kids occasionally, too, but they are all bigger than him, so it doesn't get him very far. One day last week, he was attempting to take a toy away from Kason. I saw this and knew M was going to get hurt when Kason walked away, so I went over to pull him off. Kicking and screaming, along with some attempted biting, ensued.

While I do realize some of this is normal toddler behavior, most of it is plain mean and unacceptable. If Emily touches a toy (doesn't matter who it belongs to), he immediately runs at her screaming, "NO!". She learned quickly what happens if she doesn't drop the toy. He snatches it from her hands and pushes her down. So, she now drops any toy she is touching if he is anywhere near, but does that stop him? Nope. He still walks right over to her and shoves her to the ground. It has gotten so bad that the other night, as soon as Emily saw them walk out of their house, she ran straight to Kyle and hugged on tight to his leg.

Today, they were almost playing nicely together, although there was a lot of refereeing by Kyle. By refereeing, I mean Kyle picking this little boy up off of Emily. She was playing with her push car and he ran over screaming to play. One of the biggest pluses about having our kids so close together is that they share very well for their ages. So, Emily was very nice. She let him in the car and pushed him around. After he got out, she got in and Kason pushed her around. But, when this little boy decided he was ready to ride again, he ran right over and attempted to sit on/push her out of the car. So, Kyle picked him up kicking and screaming. The little boy's dad went over to get him and brought him back where we were standing away from the situation. But, M went right back over. At this point, his dad brought him back and I tried to distract him by talking about the soccer ball on his jacket. He didn't quite get it, though, and thought there was a real soccer ball.

So, his mom went to grab a ball for him to play with. Emily saw the ball and got very excited wanting to play with M. She said, "Go get it, M". And, he did. And, do you know what he did with this ball that my daughter was so excited to play with? Threw it directly at her head. She got the hint and turned around to walk away. So, what did he do? Ran after her and full body tackled her in the middle of the street. I knew it was about to happen, but was holding Noah, and couldn't do much to stop it. I was so afraid that her whole face was going to be busted up and bleeding when she stood up, but she managed to escape with just some very minor scrapes on her cheeks and a lot of tears.

I have to tell you, I am livid and I really hate feeling this way. We like our neighbors, but we feel like they aren't doing anything to prevent this behavior. There is never any punishment or removal from the situation - they simply say, "No, M. Gentle touches." or exclaim that he is just acting out because he is tired. And, we are afraid that Emily is really going to end up hurt. It makes me so sad to see her so scared of another little kid.

Aside from not allowing him at our house and standing at her side every second M is outside, I'm not really sure what we can do. We don't want to tell our kids they can't go play with their friends just because he's outside, but we also don't want Emily to get hurt. So, what do we do about an almost 2 year old bully? What would you do?

Photoshoot for Daddy

This was my attempt at getting a nice shot of all 3 kids to frame for Kyle's birthday.


Emily wanted nothing to do with that little jacket.


Then, she refused to take her hands out of her mouth.


So, of course, Kason thought he should put his hands in his mouth, too.


Edited Emily right out of this one, even though Kason STILL has his hand in his mouth. Ugh!

As you can see, Noah was the only cooperative one. Have I mentioned just how much of a delight he is to have around? :)

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

We love you sooo much!

Kids say the Darndest Things

Yesterday, Kason was complaining of his teeth hurting. Not really sure what that was about...sensitive, maybe? Anyhow, our conversation went something like this:

K: "Mommy, my teeth hurt"
Me: "I'm sorry, buddy. Mommy can't really do anything about hurt teeth."
K: "But, can't you just go to the store and buy me some new teeth?"
Me: "Uhhh....no, not quite that easy, buddy. Sorry."

3 Months Old

Yesterday, our little guy turned 3 months old. Can you believe it? I certainly can't. The last few months have just whizzed by and we have enjoyed every minute of it.

Noah continues to be a happy and content little man. He is about 15 lbs now and sooo long. He enjoys cuddles from Mommy and Daddy, but is also happy to be sitting in the bouncy, playing on his play mat, going for stroller ride, or snoozing in his swing. He nurses often during the day and sleeps well at night, swaddled up tight like a little burrito. Just like his big brother did as a baby, he is developing quite the love for Ollie the Octopus from his play mat. He is also starting to really enjoy tummy time and can hold his head up well (no rolling yet, though).

He is starting to pay more attention to Kason and Emily and they certainly continue to pay attention to him. They have, though, gotten better about being more gentle and not quite so in-your-face. They both think it is the greatest thing in the world when he smiles at them. Emily continues to lovingly refer to him as baby NoNo, which the whole family has picked up on. She has also started calling him, "baby brudda" (and Kason, "big brudda"). Adorable!

**A few pics from his 3-month-aversary**

3 Months old today - October 4, 2011


What's up, Teddy?


Do we look alike?


Happy little guy


Are you sure this is a good idea, Mommy?

Kason's 3 yr Photoshoot

I took these a while ago, but just got around to editing and ordering them. I think they are great, but it's easy when you have such a handsome model!




















And, just for grins, one of Emily and one of Noah.