Happy Halloween! ...(from the Island of Sodor)

Halloween Overload :)

Sodor, for any of my readers who might not have toddler boys is the island where Thomas and Percy are "very useful engines" :)
I tell Colton "Have Mercy! You're a cute little Percy!" then Cannon, ever fighting for attention, says "And Have Mercy I am a cute little Thomas!" I agreed but said "Oh Cannon, I Promise! You're the cutest little Thomas!" :) So those are kind of the lines of the week around our house.
After Isaac took the boys to the CAT dealership Saturday and I frantically worked on Costumes, we did make it to the Brandon Police Dept trunk or treat, last Saturday, it was fun.

One of the beasts of having giant box costumes is we live in a little apartment ~no garage or yard to work on them in,  and we don't have a truck so the dang things had to be collapsible and fit in the trunk. Oh goodness. It was a ton of work but really its fun for me, and it was fun for the boys--so it was totally worth it!!

 

I was joking with my mom about Cannon and why wouldn't he want a little brother? He gets to pick what he is for Halloween, he gets to pic what Santa Clause brings him, he picked Colton's name for crying out loud, AND its somebody to play with. But he's a pretty good big brother too--I mean Colt gets the hook ups. As much as I wanted to get another use out of it, Colt didn't get shoved in Cannon's old Big Bird Costume. He got to be his own little engine! He loved it just as much as Cannon too! It was seriously too cute, Cannon got in his box and Colton started jigging up and down wanting in his too. He loves to do whatever Cannon does. (The problem is when its visa verse and I have to deal with my 3 year old acting like a 1 year old--climbing on the table and such UGGG)  The next two pics are the truth about how ole Percy got around, but it worked.

 

 

Isaac is such a sport! We LOVE our Dad!!!
We of course took Sunday off from the costume chaos-Sundays are crazy in and of themselves sometimes, and then Monday it resumed and then I spent my time adding details to the costumes for the ward trunk or treat Wednesday night. (and Grama sent conductor hats!)

The details were fun for me but...maybe I should have left them alone...
The Coal Bin, which was pieces of lump charcoal glued to cardboard, weighed them down! (I should have rigged up some wheels for it to roll on or left it off) And Colt wasn't tall enough for his wheels to show...but oh well.

 

A little dry ice for my steamies

Here they are...I think they had fun.

I had to have a picture of both empty boxes...I don't know about all that work for them to only wear them for 10 minutes. Oh well. The undercarriages and the especially the coal bins really made them a lot heavier--I think Cann would have made it if I would have just took the coal bin off sooner. Oh well. (I did take the wagon but it was too wide the boxes didn't fit over it, and they were too high to be able to see my boys when I propped them on top, bummer...)
I had a hard time keeping there faces up right anyway and when Colt decided he'd had it he kicked Percy's out, then we really were sunk. 

 

When we were at the church helping Kim (aka Sister Thorpe) decorate Cannon told her "I hope we get milk when we're trick-or-treating" so of course she pulled through for him. The picture of her first handing it to him didn't turn out but here he is clutching his special milk. She's the best! (And she has a son that just loves and lives on milk too) It made his whole night!  In fact, in the middle of the following night when Colt woke him up he asked for milk, then clarified, "I want my special milk."

Now its all over but the shouting (and going to a few neighbors tonight--which Dan and Becky brought the boys a whole loot down last night because Dan has to work tonight. Seriously we are so spoiled with such good neighbors and we are very grateful.)

Anyway Halloween was pretty much the week but truth be told it really was an eventful week even without Halloween stuff. Isaac took his comprehensive exams!!!! And the boys and I made a point to stop and pray for him every single day~because that's really all we could do to help. So much work for him, but now we just have to wait it out~I'm sure he did well~ but once we get the nod that he passed them all (who knows when and still praying!) he can get going on his dissertation! Light at the end of the tunnel! Sweet!!

An in other big news Cannon gave a talk in church! It was darling. Really Isaac and I spoke and we had asked Cannon if he wanted to and he was not at all interested. But when I asked him to help me with mine and tell the story of the Good Samaritan (with the bribe of some tablet time) he was all about it. It was SO cute. He did awesome! I was so proud of him. 

Here's Mr. Big Stuff talking to Grama on the Bluetooth she sent me for my birthday. (She thought it would make it easier to talk cuz I'd have my hands free...you can see where it ends up. But it is nice, when I get to use it, I especially love it when I workout -not this week-)

And above are the boys watching Coach Allen's soccer team play in the state championship game. We turned it on just in time to see the other team score the games only goal :( bummer. But still proud of them, they made a great run at it!

Fun at the Children's Museum

We met the Gaspard's at the park last Friday and Colt thought Mary Lucille's baby doll was awesome! It was so cute, Stacey snapped some pics. Enjoy the doll buddy, even if a younger sibling is in the cards someday, it is not in the cards soon. Sorry Colt. But look at that grin, this pics had to make the blog!

 

I think that's about it.

It seems like a really busy week and when I looked back through the pics--it has been! First thing I found on my camera was this that I'd missed from last week: 

They had to shine their shoes before church!
I need a knew blog header, if this wasn't a blurry phone pic I might go for it...well and if Cannon wasn't pulling Colt's shirt up. They were having a blast. 

Last Friday night we went back to the church for a baptism,

The boys and I didn't go Wednesday but that put Isaac there Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri and I figured we should go Sat just to keep the streak alive but we decided to take the boys Baseball game instead. Surprisingly Cannon wasn't interested, well, it was because it was right next to the Ag museum and he was beside himself with wanting to show his dad the crop dusters, and trains, and equipment, and then there was outside! Where we found all kinds of fun. Of course my boys had to check underneath the hood, drive the tractor, pet the animals, and play some checkers...and Colt picked some cotton-only when it was his idea.

Speaking of his idea he was on one the other day and Isaac said, "Man, he's getting to where he has an opinion isn't he? I'm not sure I like it."
Monday Cannnon went to the dentist for the first time ever, he was so nervous, but he did SOOO good. Trains in the waiting area and toys in the rooms sure helped. He thought it was awesome.  I was worried about his little bit discolored front tooth but they seemed to think it was fine. They had this cute thing out front.

Tuesday Isaac had meetings in Clinton but he's been giving the associate dean a ride in, so he was going to have to bring her clear back here then basically just turn around and go to to his meetings so we volunteered to go see him-so that way the boys would get to see dad, we took a pizza for dinner then we just had her ride home with us. (Ps he wouldn't let me take a picture of little green parked in the fancy Associate Dean parking spot)  Anyway we ate lunch on this little balcony thing they have then Cannon was looking out and he wanted to go down and play on the grass so bad so he just kept saying "You could take really cute pictures mom." The kid's got my number! The picture's too small but Colt was doing that rear end in the air thing and just looking back and smiling at us-it was hilarious and as soon as we laughed Cannon jumped right in.

Wednesday we got to tend Everett in the morning, they had a great time, Cannon was so sad he had to leave and is planning his own next play date (he's going to ask Sister Shields at church) That night we got to have the Gray's over for dinner. Elder and Sister Bentley came too and we talked a little family history Morris has a great or great great uncle or something that actually worked on the SL temple as a finish carpenter, pretty cool, we didn't nail it down who he was or anything but it was fun searching-and I of course snapped a picture (is that rude? I hope not, oh well)

 

Monday we had met Patricia and her Daughter and granddaughter at the park-the kids had a blast so Sophia came and played with us again on Thursday while her mom and Oma where busy. They really had a good time.

And now its Friday...blog day...and I really need to get my tail in gear if I'm going to get costumes done by the ward shin dig on Wednesday--but I drove by a sign on our way to play baseball at the park today that said there's a trunk or treat at the police station tomorrow. That's sounds fun but...It could be a long night!
I probably really need to just buy Halloween costumes next year! It would really save me time (and $$ too--I totally nickle and dime us on these things! Isaac saw the can of Rustoleum paint int he garbage and he said "Rustoleum, that's the (pause) good stuff" I smiled and said "You mean expensive stuff." He smiled back and said "Yeah" I assured him there was no cheap stuff in Thomas Blue or Percy Green and the trains needed to be the right color :) but I totally confess to spending way more than we should on stink'n Halloween costumes-a couple dollars at a time) but they're so dang cute in my mind I just try to get it out. My attempted at a paper mâché Thomas face-FAIL! So I went back to a needle and thread (a little hot glue too) and had my way with some felt! Thank you mom for giving me a sewing machine when I was 6, I'm NO seamstress ~she was~ but I learned my way around fabric enough I can sometimes find a little crafty success ;) Thomas and Percy are coming along...slowly--I'm running out of days!! Maybe we'll go to the police dept with partial costumes...

 

And I'll wrap up with some typical mischief!

 

I might have video from baseball today...but I haven't got that far yet!

Ok let's see what we've been up to...first a few more pics from the res last Friday.

These two really are the best! Its so hard sometimes, they fight, they antagonize, I run out of patience. Isaac thinks I yell, I was sure I was just using "sharp" tones. Oh brother, but they love each other and I love them and we're learning as we go. Colt slept in the other day and Cannon crawled up in my lap with his New Testament reader and we read and read and read. "Can we read another one?" He'd ask after every story. And I'll tell you what, we get into some pretty deep discussion, its a little bit of a gut check on how well I understand the gospel-whether I can explain it to a three year old or not. But I love that he wants to know so we just do our best to keep it coming for him.

 

Saturday we were off for a little bike ride. Here's Isaac pulling his "doubles" of the trailer and the trike.  We found a little park.

 

 

When we match up and play man to man defense I usually take Colt :) So he ends up the over photographed one--but its fun. He was loving the big boy swing! And somebody thinks he's a baseball player too. 

 

We actually finally went and watched the kid in our ward play little league. We parked in the wrong spot and walked in the wrong gate but...that saved us $10. Can you believe that? $10 to watch 9 year olds play little league, I wasn't impressed and I doubt that we'll go back. But we did find some fields closer to our house for Cannon to play on so that was good.
Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed stake conference, Elder Marcus B Nash was here and we had good meetings. I especially enjoyed the Saturday evening session (as Isaac had both boys in the nursery by himself) Elder Nash kept asking us: What did you learn? What will you do? So know we've got to get to the doing part :)
We hit the church sometimes in the evenings so the boys can get some energy out. Cannon was playing baseball but he was swinging too early...so I just threw it harder--it worked, I was zipping it in there but he just kept hitting it. We have a good time! Colt got some rim time (Cannon got a lot more when he was little cuz I was still coaching basketball) everything was good until we tried to get him to let go of the net--not a chance, death grip. I had to grab a chair and pry his fingers open!

 

And we found this in Arianna's journal that she'd left at the church. So cute. Then Cannon told Colt "Sorry Colt Buddy, Anna's my best friend, I'll still be your big brother though." And thankfully Colt is still to young to get caught up in Cannon's friend trading on him :)

We had our neighbors over for dinner last night and the missionaries. (See neighbors and missionaries--that's us working on the do part.) It was fun to get to visit with them and get to know them a little better. Then we went to clean the church, then played basketball--fun for us, rough on our kids as it gets late and bedtime though.

We're staying busy though that's for sure! I feel like we have a busy few weeks coming up too!

I've been on the computer for over an hour while the boys nap, I just closed it and was going to try and get in on the tail end of the nap myself when I realized its Friday-its blog day-so the nap will wait. 

Friday night we had dinner with Lizzy and Lauren, two gals investigating the church. Its been months since we went to a meeting with Elder Zwick and he asked "Who are the missionaries teaching in your home?" We've tried a few times but its the first time someone has actually come. It was awesome. They admitted at the end that they hadn't been so sure about the idea but seemed to have a good time. It made my long day of dinner preparations totally worth it. Then, Wednesday night while Isaac was at the church with the youth Lauren asked him to baptize her. Chills. It made Friday even neater! (is that a word?)

Saturday morning Cannon came prancing into our room singing: "Its conference time!" over and over. It was darling. Too bad he was really only excited about getting to open "Fun Bags" ya-they didn't work this time-AT ALL and I'll be revamping my conference creativity for the next go around in about 6 months. I did get one cute picture but this was very very early on Saturday.

Conference...well I mentioned the "fun bags" didn't work--I'm sure it was great but I'm also sure I'm going to have to do some re-listening to find out just how great it was. Its just always good to hear the brethren though. The bits and pieces I caught were good.
Saturday before conference was Home Depot day-fire safety- we had a good time, and for our free toy Cannon built and painted we only got paint on and ruined his shirt, pants, and Isaac's shorts. I can't get it out-but oh well.

Colts super into dunking right now. (Or baseball if Cannon's playing baseball.) I can't get a decent video of Colt dunking because Cannon is too jealous! But here's a few pics.

 

Sunday morning Isaac had to open the church up for he and the boys went a little early and found some geese to feed then went and checked out the horses. (Pics all off of Isaac's phone--wasn't that great of him?)

 

The boys also got to help dad work on his bike this week. (Ps look at the top of Isaac's head...he told me the other day he's not balding its just thin...lol ok honey but at some point completely thinned out is bald.)

If I turn by head for 10 seconds this is what I get:

The stool in the middle of the floor is not so bad but if I remember to tuck all of the chairs in so he can't get up on the table I find this. Having a climber is exhausting! Having his older brother copy everything he does that gets him attention even when its negative attention makes it worse!

Monday the school kids didn't have school here so several of the families from our ward met at the agricultural museum we had a great time. And...our "pet" frog Hoppy rode with us in the front seat of the car on the stroller. As you can imagine I screamed and jumped pretty good when I saw him. Thankfully it was after we were there--that could have been bad if I was driving.

So glad I got a picture of Cannon with Aurianna on the tractor. He loves her ever since they got to run around and play together after her baptism he calls here Anna ("on-a") and they have a good time. She's really cute with him too.
And some brotherly love...one jug of water at a time. They are so quick to help rinse each others hair out they way dad does.

 

 

I don't have a picture or a movie but my favorite memory of the week is singing "If your happy and you know it" With the boys at the dinner table Wednesday night. They were being crazy and we were all laughing and having a great time. I wanted to video it-but I couldn't talk myself into stepping out of the moment, I was afraid it wouldn't come back! It was so fun. 

Visiting teaching here is a beast, still the Lord's watch care system-still must be done but after 4 hours....we were all done! (and we even got stood up on the last appointment~thankfully~can I say that? Cuz its true)

Tonight I got back from the fitness center, well really I only made it to the porch and Cannon said "We're going to the beach!!!! And dad said we could take some equipment." So I finished walking in the-a little confused- door and Isaac confirmed :)  We took the boys up to the reservoir, and a good time was had by all!