Thanksgiving Treats

Today I sent little treats to school with the boys for their friends.

For Cooper's class I did little cornucopias. I got the idea from Pinterest here. Unfortunately they weren't as easy as Pinterest made it look.  Shocking right!?! The cones were hard to curl, the saran wrap wouldn't stay put (Have I told you about my huge dislike for saran wrap?...I pretty much hate it!), and the ribbon kept sliding down and then due to the hated saran wrap I couldn't just slide it back up.

If you notice them in the box.  Half of them ended up curled and the other half (on the left) stayed straight because I didn't feel like messing with them anymore.

I made the cute leaf tags thanks to my mom's cricut and a sheet of card stock!

For Casen's class I bought puffs and just added a tag.  I LOVE the turkey tags!

I love making my own tags for the gifts and I love how easy it is.  I am the only one who uses my mom's cricut and if I had room to store it I would just keep it at my house.

I am already looking forward to finding cute Christmas tags to make!

5 on Friday

1. Cooper is at such a fun age right now.  I really love every age, but this one he has so much personality.  He has a huge vocabulary and constantly makes us laugh with the things he says.  He is really into taking pictures lately and then being able to see them on my phone.  So we had a fun little photo shoot.

2. I have a vision for my Christmas card and I really need to get it all figured out so that I can see if Jen is available to take them.  She has done them the past couple of years and always does a great job.  I need to show Kyle some of my ideas for the boys and see if he approves.  There is a fine line when dressing the boys up and them not looking 'nerdy' or 'preppy'.  I don't want to offend anyone so I will stop there : )

3. Thrush has decided to visit us again.  I saw the first sign Wednesday evening when I saw Casen after day-care so I went ahead and started treating myself.  Sure enough it was obvious yesterday evening.  I sent some coconut oil to day-care for them to use on Casen after each feeding.  I am going to give this natural method a shot since it is Friday and I will see if he needs to go to the doctor on Monday.   

4. I am crazy and I am looking forward to Black Friday shopping.  I don't actually have anything specific on my list like in the past.  Over the past 5 years we have gotten two tvs and my camera with Black Friday deals.  This year I just need things for the boys.  I plan to just look at the ads and see what good deals there are and go from there.  I have a feeling this could be a bad and expensive way to approach Black Friday!

5. My little boy has decided he wants to be a thumb sucker! Though it is actually pretty cute, I REALLY don't want a thumb sucker.  #1 it is germy. #2 it is a very hard habit to break.  With the pacifier you can just take it away.  You can't just take a thumb away when they are too old to be sucking it and I hear cutting your child's thumb off is frowned upon. (Kidding! I wouldn't do that! Ever!)

We have actually been trying to deter it when we see it and it is going pretty well.  Right after I took this picture he pulled it out and smiled at me.  Little stinker!

(I just noticed Kyle in the background of this pic.  I am not sure why but he likes to watch tv sitting on the armrest of the couch)

I guess that is all for today. I have a three day weekend because I took Monday off to shop with my mom and sister! Yay!

Happy Friday!

Halloween Night

I am kicking butt and taking names with this blogging thing! I am finally getting caught up. 

Family- can you think of anything I haven't blogged about besides one REALLY big thing?...I don't want to forget anything. 

The big thing is that I still haven't blogged about Cooper's 2nd birthday party.  I actually sat down and started going through the pictures again last night.  My friend took over 200 pics and I narrowed it down to 100.  Now I need to narrow it down even more.  Plus Kyle's uncle took pictures and I haven't even messed with those yet! Eek!  See why I have been putting it off?

The thing is that I along with others worked really hard for that party so I definitely want to share all of the details.  And I promise I will.  Hopefully next week.

Back to the point of this post.

Halloween night everyone came over to our house to trick or treat in our neighborhood.  We had a blast!

These first pics are from my camera.  There would be more, but after we finished taking a ton of pictures of the kids sitting together on the couch I realized that my memory card wasn't in my camera and apparently it doesn't have internal memory! I was sooo mad at myself for not remembering.

My grandmother made all of the costumes except Dorothy's.  Not because she couldn't or wouldn't, but simply because Annelise's grandmother on the other side of the family has a tradition of buying their Halloween costumes. That started before mine and Melisa's kiddos came along.

When Cooper was born I had seen some cute ideas but was worried about him getting hot and I was cheap so I asked my granny to make his costume.  Luckily she has continued the tradition of making his costume each year and made Casen's this year too.

We got started around 6:45 and it was still light outside.  But there were already others trick or treating and it was nice because people could see their costumes better.

I love the Dorothy was holding the Tin Man's hand!

World's cutest Tin Man!

Because I previously mentioned the missing memory card in my camera, we tried to retake some pictures after trick or treating. Well it was way past the Scarecrow's bedtime and he was DONE!

Almost asleep

He looked like this in less than two minutes!  He was so sleepy!

I love Glenda's cheesy smile!

This marks the pictures from various iphones and I think it is pretty obvious!
So from left to right- Catelyn as the Lion, Annelise as Dorothy, MacKenzie as Glenda the Good Witch, Tinsley as the Wicked Witch of the West, Cooper as the Tin man, and Casen as the Scarecrow

The Tin Man got it figured out by the end and had no problem walking up to houses.  It was so cute, but also a little sad to see my boy acting so grown up.

Cooper really enjoyed trick or treating this year and we have a great neighborhood for it.  It was extra special to have all of the cousins together and getting to hangout.  We may never get to do that again, but it was a lot of fun.

5 months

Casen you are 5 months old! (for two weeks now!)

I weighed you at home and you were 15lbs even (21%)

I don't have any other stats since you don't have a 5 month check up.

You are in-

Size 2 diapers

6 month clothes or 6-9 months.

You are still exclusively breastfed and have maintained the same feeding schedule as last month.

You did try a couple of puffs for the first time right before you turned 5 months old.  You made the funniest face like you were not impressed.  I guess nothing is as good as momma milk.

Right before you turned 5 months old you started to get back on track with your sleep.  You were still waking up in the night but only needed a pacifier instead of needing (demanding) to nurse.

Still have the hemangioma, but not growth and I think it continues to be less raised.  (I know I update on this and it doesn't seem to change, but I want to remember it so that I pay attention to the change)

You are a drooling machine!  You slobber all of the time and like to put everything in your mouth.  Your gums feel a little swollen but I think it will still be a while before you get any teeth.  Just a momma hunch.

You love to hold (pull) my hair.  Most evenings I just want to put it in a ponytail right away to avoid the pain.  Plus I don't like when you have loose pieces in your hand.

You finally started rolling over. Once you figured it out you did it all of the time.  Of course you don't like being on your tummy much so then you get mad.  You have learned to like your tummy now and enjoy it longer. You still haven't rolled from tummy to back when I watch but you have done it in your crib a couple of times.

Right after your turned 4 months day-care started putting you in your crib to sleep and you have done great.  I think it is because you started rolling over and realized you like to sleep on your tummy.

This month you found your feet and like to hold on to them.  You don't quite but them in your mouth but you do try.

You also started sitting in the exersaucer this month and really like it.  Cooper like to play with it also.

This month I started putting you in the high chair while I cook or do dishes.  You like to be up and able to watch me.  It is nice that you have tried new things this month because it gives us other ways to keep you entertained while trying to get things done.

We also took your for your first stroller ride sitting up instead of in the carrier.  You really seemed to enjoy it.  Unfortunately between the weather and the time change making it dark earlier we only did a handful of those.

You still really enjoy bath time, but I am anxious for you to be able to sit up and play in the tub.  I am also anxious for you and your brother to take baths together. 

You still think your brother hung the moon and I hope you always feel that way (I know it won't happen, but I can hope, can't I?)  You love to watch everything he does and love when he plays with you.  Cooper is still such a sweet big brother and is often concerned with what you are doing.

Casen, you are such an amazing little guy.  I love you so much and love watching you grow. You have such a sweet little personality and I can't wait to see how you are compared to your brother.  I suspect you will be quieter than him, but I could be wrong.

I love you so much Casen Andrew!

Love, Mommy

Compare to 4 month post

Compare to Cooper at 5 months

Pumpkin Patch 2013

In October we had our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with Kyle's family.  It was after my niece Tinsley's baptism so they had short naps and Cooper was a little tired.  But the weather was perfect and we had a nice time.

Kyle's uncle got some great shots.

The pumpkin patch was very busy and it was hard not to have people in your pictures.  I cropped some of these.  I also found out I have a free 90 day trial of photoshop on my computer.  I tried to play with it but got so frustrated.  I am going to see if Jen can give me a quick lesson.  If it is worth it I might has for it for my birthday.

I painted the fake Casen pumpkin just like I did for Cooper his first year. Twice people asked me about our pumpkins or touched them and realized they were fake.

I had high hopes for this pose but it just didn't turn out.  I think it needed to be in sunlight instead of shade.

Now we are a family of four on the tractor.

He was very serious about his tractor driving.

And this little guy was just over it and ready to eat!

Click here to see 2011 at the pumpkin patch
And 2012 at the pumpkin patch Part 1 and Part 2