A Warning from Grampy

My Children received this letter in my e-mail inbox today. . . I'm really thinking I need to edit it before I share it with them! :)

Dear Ethan, Aidan, and Chandler
Ethan, now that you can read, I am sending this to you so you can read it
to yourself as well as your two brothers. Warning, warning, warning ! ! !
You must beware of your mother tonight. I’m quite confident by the time
you awake tomorrow morning, the majority of the treasured loot you gather
tonight will have disappeared. Therefore I have a plan for the three of
you.

After returning from tonight’s wonderful sugar high, turn Chandler loose
somewhere in a bathroom and tell him to play gleefully in the toilet and
turn on all sorts of water. That will of course divert your mother’s
attention to taking care of him for a couple of minutes. During that
diversionary time, you and Aidan must quickly hide your most treasured and
delectable items from your mother’s sight.

Upon her return, resume your normal post trick-or-treat activities of
sorting, eating, and gloating about your massive haul of treats. Eat your
guts out. Then when they announce it’s time to go to bed, do so gleefully
– knowing that in the morning most of your good stuff will be waiting for
you in your secret stash. Don’t act surprised when your pumpkins appear a
bit light, as you will know there’s a whole lot more waiting for you than
meets the eye.

That’s it for today. Grammy and I look forward to seeing photos of all of
you in your costumes. And don’t forget, at this time of year both Grammy
and I fully support bad oral hygiene in young boys who still have their
baby teeth. Remember, this marvelous period of poor health will soon end
as those baby teeth are replaced by the real thing. But in the meantime,
suck on all the chocolate and sugar you can get.
Love, Grampy

Aidan's First Ride

On Saturday (I know I'm behind!) Gordon took Aidan to the park across the street without his training wheels. They came back after only an hour and announced that they needed me to come so I could see. This is what I found!


After this ride, he was REALLY tired from all the biking. But, he kept insisting that he needed to do it one more time. Eventually we dragged him home, and he threw such a stink he got put in time out, where he promptly fell asleep for the rest of the night! (poor little guy, it was only 5 o'clock! - but he needed it!) Good job buddy!!! A very nice ride!

Halloween Preview

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Carving Pumpkins

A few nights ago, we carved pumpkins! Such a fun activity to do with kids, but I'm so glad it only comes once a year! What a mess! Here are a few photos to enjoy. . .

Ethan and Aidan designed their own pumpkins. Ethan's has a spider on it "scaring" the pumpkin, and Aidan's is just so Aidan!

Chandler enjoyed most of the evening from here, a bath in the sink. He was being such a stinker and kept saying he wanted a bath and was trying to rip off his clothes, so I finally just threw him in the sink. It kept him contained and happy for 40 minutes. Happy day!

Chandler loves this one!

Daddy painstakingly carved this one, with a little help from Mommy. He always chooses crazy designs. . . But it makes a pretty nice greeting as the tricker treaters will approach!

And here is Chandler, all ready for the Ward's harvest Fest. He looked so cute!

New. . . again!

This weekend we did the toy switch-a-roo. One of the great things about having WAY too many toys, is we never have more than half of them out at a time. So this weekend while the boys were out with Daddy, I pulled open all the boxes and got out some new (old) toys, and put away tons of the others. The boys were so excited when they got home and have been happily playing ever since. Chandler seems especially smitten with the REALLY old toys. (they were mine when I was little) It's been a fun change up!

Hungry Monkeys

I have become so tired of being the waitress to Aidan, that I've taken a pretty hard line lately about snacking. After breakfast, we will have a snack around 10, but not before. The other morning I was running around cleaning the bathrooms upstairs, and he just kept complaining and complaining about how hungry he was. I tried to tell him, "at ten" about ten times, and then finally in my exasperation said "Just go get yourself a piece of bread or something if you're that hungry, but I'm not getting it for you!" and then went back to scrubbing and such. When I came out of the bathroom about five minutes later, this is what I found.

Aidan and Chandler on the couch, devouring a whole loaf of white bread. (a rare purchase around here!) I guess that will teach me to say "get it yourself!"

The Switch-a-Roo

So, feeling pretty secure in the "girl" diagnosis, after two ultrasounds now, I got the baby clothes down from the attic (thanks Gordon) and went through all the boxes, sorting out the things we'll be able to use, and putting back 95% of it, which screamed "BOY!" I did find a few things though that were "switch hitters" but needed a little girly boost. So, a few buttons, rosettes, and ribbons later, I have the beginnings of a feminine wardrobe. It's mostly white onesies and unisex PJ's at this point, but these few items "girled" up rather nicely! Such fun!