Halloween fun!

So is it just me, or does it seem like Halloween is more of an "event" than an actual holiday? The kids all were able to wear their costumes multiple times during the week of Halloween. Claire was able to wear her costume to gymnastics practice on Tuesday, dance on Wednesday, Clive trick or treat on Wednesday and Waukee trick or treat on Thursday! Not to shabby for a throw together Tinkerbell! 

 Case participated in the Monster Walk at daycare on Thursday and trick or treat on Beggars night and on Halloween! He did a pretty good job for his first official trick or treat outing. He wouldn't say trick or treat but did say " tank to" when someone gave him a treat. After about 4 houses he sat his bucket down on the sidewalk and tried to take off his costume! 

Carter had a "fall" party at school on Friday that I was able to help with. He wore the traditional Husker football get up again, as his "real" costume involved swords and bow and arrows which weren't allowed in school!

So funny but these last few pictures were actually taken after Halloween. It was a crazy couple of days with schedules so I wasn't able to get them all together on Halloween to get a picture. Since we live in Clive now, the kids trick or treated on Wednesday night, but Carter was at wrestling practice, so I just took Claire and Case out. We also visited our old neighborhood in Waukee to trick or treat as the moved their night to Halloween to accommodate the high school football game. Carter had gymnastics that night, so was late getting out so it was dark by the time we all set out. Anyway, better late than never! Now what to do with the pounds and pounds of candy we have...besides putting in my mouth? 

Bye bye baby!

Now that Case is 2, I feel like my baby is gone. Sure he still sleeps in a crib, wears diapers, and occasionally will snuggle with me, but for the most part, he is a fiercely independent little man! I have found myself mumbling under my breath " I love 2" when he is throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, unbuckling the stroller while I am trying to race around the mall for something, or his constant "No's or mine" that are his favorite words. It's in these "terrible two" moments, I have to remind myself, that I do love 2! He is learning so much right now! His vocabulary has exploded, his interests are starting to be more defined and he is a little smarty pants with a teasing sense of humor. I could just eat him up! Although when I give him kisses he wipes them off and laughs at me! God I love him! 

Now that he has turned 2, he had to move up to the next room in daycare, "moonbeams" We have both grown to love his teacher Marilyn and will miss her and his friends in his old room. When I ask him who he played with at school this week he still names his old friends! We'll have to work on some new names!

They tell me he has transitioned well and is very interested when someone else goes potty but wants nothing to do with sitting on it yet! Maybe it is because he doesn't have his pink princess gloves on at school!

He had his 2 year well child checkup last week weighing in at 28.8 lbs (59%) and is 35 inches tall (97%). Dr Steve was pleased to hear the paci is gone (went cold turkey!) and all looks good! 

Here are some fun facts about our Stinky Casearooni! 

1. He LOVES tools! He has been hammering away at our new house and trying to take apart any toys with batteries!

2. He can throw a football better than some professional (or at least college) quarterbacks.

3. He LOVES to play in Claire's jewelry and dress up clothes (hence the princess gloves on the potty)

4. He has a wicked single leg take down already! 

5. He loves to watch football and yells at the top of his lungs GO GO GO when someone is running the football and will say "Oh man" when they get tackled.

6. He loves technology and can figure out how to run the iPod, cell phones, and grandma's iPad. 

7. There isn't a food he won't eat! 

8. He is still a great napper and sleeper..now if only the middle one would take note of this! 

9. He is starting to put 3-4 words understandable words together! 

10. He is freakishly resembles his older brother!

No matter how old he gets, he will still be my sweet baby boy! 

Birthday boy!

Our sweet baby boy turned 2 on 10-10. He partied all week and reaped the benefits of a sugar high for days!

  Darcie and Jill weren't able to come to the party, so they spoiled him on his actual birthday with this cool Lego set! 

 How do you open this papa? 

He is totally into fixing things these days, so Claire's toolbox gift took the prize! 

 So, now that my awesome old neighbor no longer does cakes, I am left to fend for myself when providing treats for parties! I have resorted to cupcakes from our favorite cupcake shop as I have no cake making talent whatsoever! As I was driving to the cupcake shop that Sunday morning before his party, I see a big CLOSED sign on the door! Oh no! Now this totally qualifies me as mother slacker, no cake, waiting to the 11th hour to get the dessert! So, luckily our new Hyvee makes these fancy little treats we gobbled up. Sugar is sugar right? 

Thanks for everyone who helped him celebrate,  sent gifts, texts, or cards! 

Pumpkins Galore!

Each year, the kids plant a pumpkin patch on Grandpa and Grandma Berry's farm. As the kids have gotten older and busier, seems like the time from planting to harvesting goes so quickly we haven't gotten to experience the in between part! Thankfully I think mom and dad love doing this as much as the kids love it! Although we don't get back very often, they are always giving the kids updates on how the pumpkin patch is doing. They took very good care of it this year as they have pumpkins coming out of their ears! It is super fun to watch the kids search the patch for the perfect pumpkins! 

 Carter of course picked the biggest one he could find! We weighed it when we got home....54 lbs! 

So this year I wised up and decided we were going to paint the pumpkins instead of carve them. This way I don't spend an entire afternoon carving them! Claire and I went to Micheals for some paint and embellishments and what we saved in not purchasing pumpkins Claire probably spent on crafty things! The kids had a blast and it just so happened we planned to do them the day mom and great grandma made a surprise visit! They had fun helping the kids too! 

Claire and her kitty cat pumpkin!

 Case was so proud to show his off! 

Carter sporting his favorite teams, the Huskers and Waukee Warriors! I think they turned out great and much less stressful for mom!! YEAH!

Center Grove Orchard 2013

Aww..my FAVORITE time of year and one of my FAVORITE places! Thank God for early out Wednesday's (I don't say that about every early out Wednesday) but we had both an early out AND a BEAUTIFUL fall day to spend at Center Grove Orchard! Lucky duck Claire had been there the day before with preschool so she made sure to show us all the hot spots! The only bummer is we didn't give ourselves enough time (we had to get back for wrestling practice) so we didn't even get to see our favorite billy goats or play in the 3 little pigs houses. We did come home with some yummy apples and the BEST apple cinnamon sugary donut creations! 

Umm..pretty sure jumping in the corn pit head first was against the rules! 

 I absolutely love these pictures of Case, pure bliss!

 Grandma and Case waiting their turn on the tractor course!

 Weeeeee!!!

Tooth for one!

Claire lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago but was not to be outdone by her uber competitive big brother, who pulled, wiggled and twisted until he lost a tooth the same day right before bed! I of course, being the slacker tooth fairy, had only $1 on me so again found myself on a night run to the local Kum and Go to put something stupid on my debit card to get cash back and then ask the burly man behind the counter to break my $20! I so had great intentions for Claire's first tooth fairy visit, a glitter covered dollar bill, a cute pink tooth fairy pillow for her first tooth to rest on. Nope..a crumpled dirty dollar bill is all the tooth fairy could muster up. Probably for the best, her expectations are low now! ha ha! At least her preschool teacher had a cool sticker for her! 

8 is great!!

8? Really? 8? So hard to believe it was 8 years ago that this bouncy baby boy made me a mom. I remember it like it was yesterday! His birthday was on a school day and he had gymnastics that night so we had to push off most of the celebrating to the weekend. He is getting really hard to buy for so after school I took him to the toy store and let him pick something out. He also had money burning a hole in his pocket to spend, so he came away with this giant monkey, a new board game, some headphones, and a dress up archer costume. Not sure what it is with stuffed animals and my kids ( I despise them) but they LOVE them! I even threw 4 garbage bags full of them away before we moved! Anyway, I guess there are worse things out there to love right? 

After gymnastics we did eat out at one of his favorite restaurants, "The Chicken Coop" It really doesn't matter where we eat, he always orders the same thing, chicken strips! 

Friday night he took his best buddies from our old neighborhood, Duke and Hunter to SkyZone. This is an indoor trampoline place and dodge ball court. They had a blast and were soaked in sweat afterwards! Luckily Jeremy was their taxi driver while I drove the other 2 kiddos around! 

After Skyzone, we headed to pizza ranch to stuff our faces, then back home for some Scratch Cupcakery. If you have never had these amazing little packages of sugar, they are to die for! 

Saturday morning, Darcie, Jill, Carter and I went horseback riding at Jester Park. Carter has been wanting to do this for a long time! Darcie checked into it and you had to be 8 or older to ride, so perfect! It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a trail ride around Saylorville Lake and Carter did great on his horse, Chief. Chief was actually the naughtiest horse of the bunch, but Carter did his best to get him to behave! 

So I haven't ridden a horse in like, 15 years and my golly my hips, butt and back hurt so bad after that hour long ride, I wasn't so sure I would ever walk straight again! 

Carter's Favorites: Year 8
1. Favorite food: walking tacos or chicken nuggets
2. Favorite color: Yellow
3. Favorite sport: Baseball
4. Favorite team: Huskers
5. Favorite movie: Expendables 2
6. Favorite thing about school: " Well it certainly isn't lunch"..recess I guess
7. What do you want to be when you grow up? : Baseball player
8. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go? Disney world ( yes I know, maybe next year!)
9. What is your favorite thing to do? Play outside with friends.
10. Why are you special? Because I am me! 

As I am typing this, I think about how much Carter has grown and changed and how it makes me so happy, yet so sad. He and I really don't get to spend that much time together as Jeremy tends to taxi him to all his events while I manage the other two. They obviously share more interests than he and I do, and he and I often butt heads on many things as we are more alike than we know I think. At times, I feel like he has moved on from needing his mom, doesn't want me around all the time, but then I am reminded how much hasn't changed, he still wants tucked in at night, often wants me to sleep with him, asks me how my day was, still sleeps with his baby blanket, and often asks me to do things with him like play catch, go to a movie, or ride bikes. I guess change is good, we can't control it, but it doesn't have to control us! Happy birthday buddy!