Tickle, tickle

This is what Dave does for fun.

Tattered jeans

These are the jeans Michael wore to school today. He wears them quite a bit actually, but I think the holes are a little larger every time I see them. He says he likes these jeans.

Cuteness

I took this picture of Bethany's baby, Joshua, on Saturday. I think it's so adorable how he put his little hand over his face just before I took the picture.

Another Birthday

Today I turned 39. Where on earth has time gone? This is me just a few years ago. When I got home from work Dave was making the frosting for a cake he had baked me, and he had invited our parents, my aunt, and his sister over. I feel very blessed to have the years God has given me so far, and that I have such an awesome family!

The stares

Every night this is what Jake does to us, he stares and stares. If we take him out, as soon as he comes in he follows us into the family room and stares some more. If we don't look at him, he makes a little noise to try and get our attention. I don't know what to do for him. The other night I just opened up the sliding door and let him out. About a half hour later I looked out and he was lying in the grass. He seemed happy so I just left him there. However, tonight I couldn't do that because of the trick-or-treaters, so he has basically driven me crazy tonight. It's a really good thing he's cute!

The Baby!

Today Dave, Michael and I went to the hospital to see Bethany and baby Joshua. Steven had Art Club after school and I just couldn't wait any longer, so he didn't come. The baby is beautiful! Michael was forced to hold Joshua even though he said no, but I think he liked it (holding him).

Refrigerator Mishaps

Tonight before Michael went to bed he went to the refrigerator to get a drink of milk. He got more than he bargained for...when he opened the refrigerator door, a container full of chicken soup fell at his feet. For the most part the cover stayed on, but a little bit leaked out, which Jake was quick to take care of. Why is it that I stack things in the strangest ways in there? I just can't seem to keep it organized. Dave is quite the organizer, he had to take over because I was getting so frustrated trying to find spots for everything. This is a before picture (aside from some things being cleared from the lower shelf. This is a source of stress for me. I think I'll clean it on my day off on Tuesday. Ugh!

Pumpkin Carving

Michael begged and begged this morning for me to let them carve their pumpkins today rather than this evening. They ended up carving them this afternoon. Michael decided that he would practice on Kristina's blog pumpkin 1st, while Steven drew his on a napkin and then went to it. These are their finished pumpkins!.... notice their (the kid's) little toesies!

Pumpkins!

Yesterday I took the boys to get their pumpkins. They will carve them this weekend. Steven doesn't look too excited in the picture, but he was happy to get a pumpkin...maybe it was all the dirt on it that he didn't like.

Jake

Yesterday we found out that Jake's heart condition is worsening. His abdomen is now filling with fluid (this is why I took him to the vet yesterday). His water furosemide pill has once again been increased to try to help him get rid of the extra fluid his body is retaining due to his poor heart. We know he won't be with us too much longer now. We have had him since the boys were 2 and 3 years old (10 yrs), Michael says he can't remember not having him. It will be difficult to say goodbye.

Outdoor photo's and weather what if's

Today Dave and I went to the park to try to find a good background for our family photo which is scheduled to be taken tomorrow morning. When we left it was nice and sunny, and when we got to the park the raindrops started. It's supposed to rain for the rest of today and into the morning tomorrow. The last time we had this kind of forcast (last Saturday) we canceled on Friday and then the weather turned out perfect, sigh...

Dinner Conversation

So this is the conversation that took place at our dinner table last night:

Steven- Sits down at the table and proceeds to take off his shirt (he has just been rough housing with Michael).

Dave- "No way, put your shirt back on.

Steven- "Aw dad, I'm hot!"

Dave- "We eat at the dinner table with our shirts on, that's good manners. The only one that's allowed to come to the table with no shirt is mom!"

Lol, men!

Oooh, look at all the colors!

We just got back from a four day trip to Pennsylvania to visit Dave's brother and his wife and kids. This is some of the scenery on our drive...taken out the car window and windshield. The colors were absolutely beautiful in some areas in the hills, but then still very green in other parts. It was a nice, relaxing 4 days!

To those of you who were a little confused by that last post, it was written by my wonderful husband while I slept. I think he was feeling neglected...don't you?

I Love Sleeping

My honey is home today, so I think I'll sleep because he's very boring and I don't love him very much. Is that a run-on sentence? I'm confused.

Fluffernutter

This is my "little boy" honey. He made himself a fluffernutter sandwich for lunch today. He was trying to put away the fluff really fast before I got a picture of the evidence.

Why are boys so gross?

This is the boys as they were waiting for their breakfast this morning before school. They had straws and were putting them under their armpits and blowing to make disgusting noises. Where they learned this, I don't know, but it sounded pretty gross!

Mismatch day

These are the socks Michael wore to school today for mismatch day. He also wore a neon green shirt with camoflage shorts. Remember those Middle School days?

End of swimming season

Blurry picture, but it was getting dark when I took it. Tonight we finally covered our pool for the season. We haven't swam in it since the first week of September. The nights are especially cool which means the heater just can't get it warm enough to swim in during the day, and the leaves are another story. Even though the leaves in our yard haven't changed yet, they're starting to fall and it's not fun fishing them out of the pool every day. Oh well... we had an AWESOME summer and the pool got lots of use!

Back to normal

This is the mansion at Three Springs, where Steven and Michael went on their retreat. I think Steven slept here, while Michael slept in a cabin. There is quite a bit of land here where they ride horses and go mountain biking. We got our boys back at 3:00pm on Sunday. They had a great time, beautiful weather, and had many stories to tell. Michael said they had about 7 Bible studies while they were there, which he didn't seem to mind. I think they're already looking forward to the winter retreat, but they both say they're still not ready to be gone to camp for a whole week in the summer. It's been nice having them back. The house has been filled with lots of activity and noise again.
It looks like this year we get a longer summer which is kinda nice. Yesterday's high was 92 degrees. That's very unusual for the end of September here. In the middle of the night we had quite the loud thunderstorm. Poor Dave was awake for 2 hours afterward...just couldn't get back to sleep. Today he had to travel to Ithaca. I hope he has a good day!