Super long hair

For Halloween I let the boys grown their hair out. They both insisted it would be part of their costume, and it did seem to work well. Tho after the costumes were all over, they still didn't want to get hair cuts and got Caleb to help them gang up on me so that they didn't have to for a while longer. I did get fed up and cut above their ears and at their necks, but they still looked like this most of the time.

Even Wyatt was extra hairy.

I finally took them to get haircuts the day before Thanksgiving. The best part was that it was the first time that Wyatt didn't cry or scream or flail around while getting his hair cut and then he kept saying, "Wyatt handsome." It was a nice change.

My Little Baby at 4 months

At 4 months Finn is definetely our smallest baby.

17lbs and 25 inches

inherited the Cardon head, and can rival his brothers for that one.

He is such a good baby and we love having him around, he is such a cute snuggler.

Eating rice cereal and loving it.

Hanging out in comfy jammies with Wyatt... one of them is enjoying it more than the other.

And even getting to be held by Claire. What could be better.

The first big snow of the season

In the last day and a half we have gotten about a foot of snow. Luckily, the boys had the day off from school on Friday. So we were able to just settle in and wait for the snow to slow down. It didn't until this afternoon. It was snowing hard all day yesterday, and at first the boys were mad at me for not letting them go play in it in the morning. They were plenty happy they had waited when they got to go out and enjoy the first 6 inches.

Here they are this morning on their way to go sledding, we were near about a foot at this time.

Gavin has out grown most of his snow gear over the year, so we will need to invest in more, but he stayed quite happy running around and just ended up a little wet at the end.

He wanted to build a snow dragon, patterned after and old photo he saw of a sand dragon built by Aunt Natalie in Oregon a couple of years ago. But we just aren't that patient with our snow creations so we ended up with a distorted snowman.

 Everyone had fun throwing snowballs at Caleb while he worked on shoveling.

 Wyatt on the quest of some "Snowman" to throw. Somehow he get the idea that all snow is actually called "Snowman," so he has gone around all weekend saying things like... "I walk in snowman." "I sit down on snowman." "I eat snowman." He just looks at us weird if anyone tries to correct him. And even though we don't have photos to prove it, he was apparently a sledding maniac today. 

 Henry spent all of his time laughing hysterically while he tried to sneak up on people and hit them with snowballs and then dive into the deep snow. He loves getting all dressed up in his gear so he can just surround himself with snow and not even feel it.

 The super tall snowman built by Wyatt and his Dadddy... or mostly his Daddy.

 It does help me to have a better attitude about all of the time it takes to get them bundled up and then all of the wet clothes and shoes after when they have such a super great time being crazy in all this white stuff.

We didn't take advantage of all this snow to give Finn his first snow experience. It just didn't seem like something to rush into. He enjoyed staying inside in the warm and cozy house.

And just because it is funny- Henry and Finn really love each other, and Henry loves to help take care of Finn. This is how he was burping him this morning. So cute.

The Final Days of Fall

One big disappointment for my boys when we bought our new house is that we have a big yard, but it has no trees. Really it is a strange thing, but aside from a few small trees in the distant parking strip, there is not a single tree in our yard. Lucky for us there are several very large trees in our neighbors yard that are right near our fence and provide us with a lot of shade... and as it turns out, A LOT of leaves. Gavin and Henry were beyond excited at the growing number of leaves and spent our last week of fabulous fall weather piling and then disrupting all of the leaves. They were even joined in the fun by Wyatt and Finn occasionally. Great times and lots of laughter.

The Trick or Treat Night

A little late, but just a couple of awesome shots from Halloween night. The Willardsen's came to join us for door-to-door candy in our new neighborhood. Everyone had a great time and looked great too.

Parker and Gavin... seriously awesome costumes

 All the boys showing off their awesomeness.

We didn't get a photo with Gabby and Wyatt since they weren't out playing in the back of the truck, but they were here too and I think they both had a great time. 

Halloween 2012

It seems like every year Halloween becomes much more of a season than just a day for us. And my boys officially love to dress up. Even scaredy-cat Wyatt was happy to get in his costume this year, though he wasn't as happy about his brothers being dressed up. Here are all of my creative kids in the fancy costumes. They do look pretty good. We got the preview the night of the neighborhood Trunk or Treat at the church.

Of course little Finn is happy to be dressed as a bag of bones.

 Wyatt as a Ninja... his latest obsession.

 And of course being silly for a pose with Jaren. These two really are so hilarious together.

 Henry is a very creepy vampire... Blah Blah Blah.

And his was a very easy costume to put together, so I have been grateful for that.

 Gavin insisted on being a werewolf this year after he spent a month debating all of his choices. He is by far the most imaginative about costumes. We came up with some great ideas for this and then I just had to find the time to put it all together. It seems to have met expectations, though only after he spent about a week nagging me to hurry up and get it done before Halloween.

 Wyatt was super freaked when Gavin was finally ready to go and kept saying, "Gavin werewolf, Scare me."

 The whole crew of cousins ready to Trunk or Treat.

 And having some treats after walking around the parking lot. This is probably not my favorite kind of Halloween party, but it was quick and little effort, and fun to see everyone's costumes.

 We also had to get in our pumpkin carving before the big day arrived. Henry tried to do a lot of his own knife work this year and had a blast doing it.

 Gavin enlisted me to try and make his fanged pumpkin. They love this part of the holiday, and it really is fun once we get going.

 There was also a neighborhood costume parade put on by the school this morning that was a great time to watch. The kids loved walking a few blocks around the school and waving to everyone. Then that was followed by lots of fun partying that seems like it would take up most of the school day. And we are looking forward to trick-or-treating in our own new neighborhood tonight with some great friends. I think by tomorrow we will be ready for all of this haunting to be over. I hope we survive it all.

Gavin's First Book Report

This is the moment that Gavin has been waiting for since he learned to read... His first book report. The assignment came home last week and he set to work with vigor. He had to read a book that he likes and then just write a few things about the character and do a small project. Of course, he decided that he wanted to do every option for the project instead of one. Somehow, we finally reigned him in on two things and the character chart. He even had it ready to turn in a week early.

The book is called "Dinomummy," and the boys have always loved it. Gavin made a replica of the dig that took place in Hell Creek, ND out of clay, as well as a small poster of what it is assumed that the dinosaur looked like. Caleb just wants to thank the grandparent that got our kids the "Dinomummy" book, since our second grader took an assignment to school with "Hell Creek" printed on it in big letters. I just hope that he gets this excited about all of his homework in the future.

A few moments

Aww, Even when everyone is looking in a different direction, these guys are cute.

 I can't believe how old and handsome these two have become. This is them before the primary program last week. Not many kids had talks in the program, but Gavin did have one and Henry joined in the chorus to sign out stronger than he probably ever has before.

 It has been getting quite cold in our house lately so we spent some time cuddled up in blankets. The boys were instructing me on what games I really need to download onto my phone.

 We have gotten out the walker for Finn to use as his chair and Wyatt was apparently feeling some jealousy on the first day. I came out of the kitchen to find him in this position. He finally realized that he couldn't fit all the way in and that he also couldn't get himself out. You can see how happy he is to have gotten so big at this moment when he realized that all of the baby toys are no longer for him.

Finn, on the other hand, does fit perfectly in this little seat and loves to have yet another way to sit up and watch the world around him.

Fall Break- The Jazz game

Lucky for us the Jazz pre-season games are not the highest in ticket sales, so our awesome friends the Haws hooked us up with tickets for a game to finish off our fun break. The original plan had been to have a date night swap that night, but we all love to socialize, so we cancelled in honor of tickets to our own private suite for the game. Finn was pretty excited to get to watch his first Jazz game in such luxurious accommodations.

 See, as long as his eyes are open he looks like he is loving it, right? He was very grateful to Caryn for cuddling him up for a nap in the first half.

 Wyatt was of course totally hyped up to see his friends and to have so much room to move around and eat popcorn and play. He is a bit shy about some of the dad's that joined our group of friends, but he does like them all a fair bit. He did have one serious panic attack where he kept saying, "That guy, Scary." and freaking out a bit. Finally I got him to talk about who he thought was so scary and it ended up being a man in the suite next to us who was standing next to the glass while Wyatt wanted to go down the stairs. It was really quite hilarious, when he finally realized there was a solid glass wall separating him from this supposedly scary guy. Not my toughest 2 year old, for sure.

 Gavin, Parker and Noah, looking super cool.

 Henry and Josh loved their seats and they ended up being the only ones that egged each other on enough to throw popcorn on the unsuspecting fans below us. Luckily it was just a couple of pieces and not a glass of ice water or anything.

Thanks again to the Haws for providing us with such a super fun family night.