October Came And Went

Well tomorrow is the first day of November which brings us that much closer to the official Thanksgiving/Christmas season!  I'm celebrating by listening to Christmas music as I write this:)  

*sidenote* This past weekend I went to a "favorite things" fall brunch.  We each bought three of our favorite fall things to exchange with the other girls at the brunch.  Whilst brainstorming of what I could bring I asked Danny what was a thing I love about fall.  He said "Christmas music?"  It's true!

Anyway.  October was kind of laid back and relaxing and kind of a blur.  Thank you, newborn baby!  Most of our days and evenings and weekends were spent just staying home, which was nice, but we're glad to be out and about again.

Almost every time it rains Summer asks to go outside and stand in the rain with an umbrella.  I say yes about 1% of the time.  This particular time Daddy was home and not only did she get to stand in the rain, they even took a walk!  It's really a good thing our kids have one adventurous parent.

Danny's mom has a fall party every year and the kids usually dress up.  Summer was more than happy to wear her princess garb and it was pinterest along with a last minute 97 cent stocking cap purchase to the rescue for Sawyer.  Tucker opted out of the dressing up this year.

Grandma's house has kitties.  And our little kitty lover takes full advantage of when she can.  One nice thing about living in town is that I don't feel bad saying no to getting a cat:)

One day my mom texted and asked for pictures.  She didn't clarify that she wanted pictures of the kids so this is what she got!

On a beautiful fall evening we found ourselves with just Tucker at home and wanted to take advantage of that.  So we climbed the fire tower!  I was a little hesitant because I am so badly out of shape but we took it slow and I did it and felt pretty accomplished!  And going down is far worse than going up if you ask me.

I guess it's just animals in general for Summer.  She could have brushed the goat all night long at the Global Missions event!  Really I think I'd rather have a goat than a cat.

I came home from Wal*Mart one night to find the kids playing church.  I love that they love church!

The same day that Tucker was born, I had a first cousin that passed away very unexpectedly.  She and her family have been living in Utah for 15 or so years, and there was no funeral.  They asked that people who knew her would just get together to have their own version of a memorial service in her honor.  So a couple weeks ago we decided to make the trip to IL when my family did just that.  It was kind of a question whether or not to even go with a newborn and all but I'm so glad we did!  It was a very simple evening with some aunts, uncles, and cousins, but a special one.  Oh, and also in that same 24 hour period another cousin got married.  It was quite the range of events and emotions in the family that weekend!

One reason I was excited to go was because I could go ride along during harvest after all!  And here I thought it wasn't going to happen this year.  But guess what.  We got there on Friday night and it turns out they finished up the last field that afternoon.  I missed harvest by about three hours!  Go figure.  However I did get to ride a little bit in the tractor while my dad planted wheat.  I only had a few minutes because Tucker got hungry, but Summer spent about three hours with him!  It's kind of a bad picture of both of them but she loves being with him.  And of course- the crown.

Also my grandma got to meet Tucker while we were there.  She just loooooooooves to sit and hold babies!

And speaking of the little Tuckerdoodle, he's just so sweet and snuggly!  And sleepy.  Until he's hungry.  Then he's really loud.  And he tends to have some fussy time in the evenings.  But the last couple weeks almost he's been doing about five hours at night so if that's what I get in exchange for the fussies, I'll take it.  We love him to pieces!

The three little boy cousins have all made their debuts now.  We are still waiting on their little girl cousin who is coming in about a month.  She is sure to be well protected and loved by these three! 

And we finished up our month by celebrating Sawyer's second birthday!

He has been singing "Happy Birthday" to himself for quite some time now.  And when he gets done he pretends to blow out candles and everything:)  But all that practice paid off cause he blew those things out with no problem at all!

This kid makes us laugh and go crazy every day of his existence!  He is happy go lucky and so stinkin' mischievous.  A 2 year old boy to the max!  He loves cars and trucks, candy, flushing toilets, chips, his sister, climbing on and in everything, and stealing my chapstick just to name a few.  Life is better with him in it!

Happy October, everyone!

When The Cat's Away The Mice Will Play

While Danny, Tucker, and I were basking in the quietness of one lone child at home, the other two were having a grand ole time in Illinois.  I was afraid they would be pretty bored and let down once they came back and realized the fun was over!  They kept busy all week and it was fun to see what they were up to while they were gone.

There were trips to McDonald's Playplace,

games to be played,

Play-doh to be molded (and probably eaten by Sawyer),

bubbles to be blown,

and much outside time to be had.

Not to mention a few forbidden fruits that they don't get as much when they're at home:)

Like yummy sugary cereal,

a little more screen time than usual,

and all the candy they could possibly want!  Okay not really on the candy.  That was just Sawyer being his usual destructive, exploratory self:)

They also got to farm a lot!  Mostly Summer cause rumor has it that Sawyer was a little scaredy cat and preferred staying away from the big and loud machinery.

Yeah, my jealous bone may have flared up a little bit over all the "farming" that Summer got to do!

Especially since she got to hang out with some of my favorite people while doing it!

They topped off their week with a birthday party trip to a local pumpkin patch with the family before heading home the next morning.

Thanks so much to my family for taking such good care of them!  Even if they did get to go farm and I didn't:)

Tucker Joseph Week One

Here we are beginning our adjustment phase!  It's been really easy so far cause we're so spoiled with new babies.  Danny is able to take off most of that first week, Summer and Sawyer went to Illinois with my parents, and my mom has brought them back home but she is staying for another few days.  So Spoiled!!

Since grandparents were doing the kid transfer at the hospital, we had both sets together there to visit.  That doesn't happen too terrible often so it was fun to get the group shot!

Of course we had our first family of five picture attempt:)

And this little girl is absolutely enthralled.  Just like I thought she would be.  Also just as I thought, she has aaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll the questions when it comes to feeding the baby!

We had lots of visitors, but perhaps the most surprising was Aaron and Cassie stopping by on the way home from their hospital stay.  We were so glad they came!

Isn't that just so fun??  Two days apart!

Then we said our farewells to our beloved hospital and headed home ourselves.

It didn't take long before Tucker was quickly introduced to the harsh world of daddy's face smashing.  Okay maybe mommy helped a little bit with that one:)

We had several glorious days of peace before the other two came home and jumped right into all the fun.  Those are not pacis by the way.  It's a kazoo whistle thing they got from their cousin's birthday party in IL.  They love blowing them and it's great because they're not super loud and obnoxious!

Summer takes her role as big sister very, very seriously.  It's somewhere along the lines of cute and sweet and a little annoying.  But I'm sure the novelty will wear off after awhile.  Right?  Though she can be a help so I guess it's alright:)

Other than that we're just learning all about our little Tucker and loving him to pieces!