Leo's Birthday

We celebrated Leo's birthday this weekend.  I can't believe that our boy is four.  For the party, I hung up a bunch of pictures from throughout his life.  I hardly recognize his sweet little two year old face and the newborns, well, it just seems like a lifetime ago.  When did he become not that little boy anymore?  When did he start telling me stories?  When did it all change from toddlerhood to this boy?

I said that I wasn't going to throw a party this year.  We'd thrown a big one last year and the year before and with it so close to Thanksgiving, it wears me out.  About two months ago, Leo started talking about what his party was going to be like, that there would be a blue cake.  How could I not throw a party?

He has been really excited about the movie Planes lately and asked for a Planes party.  It was actually pretty fun to sit with him and have him look through pinterest with me and to point out what he'd like for his party.

For the first time in my life, I bought a cake.  I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to buy one but usually I throw together some cupcakes and call it good.  When Leo started asking for a Dusty Crophopper cake that was blue (and the fact that we've been hosting company all week and had a horrible cold), I knew it was time to call in reinforcements.  So, we ordered a blue cake. 

We continued on with our new tradition of birthday boxes.  I ran onto this idea on a blog and thought it was so fun.  In a box, you put some little presents and special treats.  Leo's had fruit loop cereal, a carton of little goldfish, a couple cars and of course a small Dusty airplane.  It's been a fun tradition to think about and he loved the box even more than the big birthday presents.  I think we'll keep doing this.

On the birthday day, we invited some friends for a playdate.

In four years, so much has happened.  Leo is our joyful, excited guy.  He is so happy to be alive and takes such joy in the simple things like driving his cars.  We were lucky to have his Grandparents in town to join us for the celebrations too.

Halloween

There is something wonderful about this time of year with all the leaves ablaze.  I always look forward to the season changes, but especially Fall and Spring. October was filled with some happy memories, oh, and lots of sickness too.  This year, Leo and Amy really got into celebrating Halloween.  It was fun to watch them eat the candy, and participate in all the holiday activities.

Leo was Captain America.  This has got to be my favorite picture of the year of Leo.  We bought the costume way back in the summer, because when you find the right thing at the right price, you buy it!  He gets a swagger when he wears it.

This may be my all time favorite picture of Leo

Amy was a cat.   When we went to the fabric store for supplies, I drew a little picture of a cat and she carried all around and said, "cat."  She was not a huge fan of the costume however and didn't always want to wear it.  She never did wear the darling tutu we made to go with it.  Oh toddlers.

Leo's preschool class goes to the Belvedere Plantation for pumpkin picking and all sorts of harvest fun.  It happened to be on a day that Dad and Granny Lori could join.  Our favorite was the huge slide.  Leo insisted on riding himself and by the time I'd get to the bottom, he was already half way up the hill again.

 

 

We tried out the Air and Space Museum Halloween activity with some friends.  It was wild.  People everywhere.  I'm not sure we'll go back but Leo liked the planes.

What Amy did pretty much the whole time.  The toddler angst, I tell ya. 

We attended the ward party and all dressed up.  I'm not usually one to dress up but I didn't want to be the only party pooper so I threw a costume together.  The cake walk was the favorite activity.

The Swedish Chef, Cat, Captain America and Rosie the Riveter

We attend a little class on Fridays called toddler time with Jesus.  It's at a small Lutheran Church and they put on fun crafts, scensory activities, and talk about the Bible.  We had a little Halloween celebration there.  I tried to get Amy to wear her costume but she wasn't having it so I grabbed one out of the costume bin and put it on her.  Leo decided that he wanted to be a monkey and threw it on.  It's somewhat comical to me because when Leo was two, he was supposed to be a monkey for Halloween and would not wear it.  Oh the twos.  We all went over to the library Halloween parade afterward together. 

One of the mom's in our mom's group threw a Halloween party.  They have been hosting this party for several years and it's so cute to look back and see how much the kids have grown up together. 

  

My mom came into town for just over a week and it was a welcome change to see her. We so looked forward to her visit.  The kids warmed right up to her, which is a big deal for Amy.

My most favorite part of all was the night before Halloween.  I was feeling a little blue because all of my extended family was celebrating at a party together in Utah and then attending a baptism of my nephew.  I long to attend family events.  So, I decided that I'd throw a little party for our family.  Usually, I think that things need to be big and elaborate with a big group of people to make it feel like a holiday (I blame that on growing up with a large extended family) but I decided to keep it simple.  We made mummy hotdogs for dinner.  I looked everywhere for dry ice for Root Beer but didn't have any luck so instead we had A and W root beer floats.  We wrapped the kids up as mummies which turned into everybody running around and throwing toilet paper.  This was one of the most fun nights we've had together in a long time.  We laughed and played together and just genuinely enjoyed being together.  We carved up our pumpkins and lit them up on the porch.  Amy, who has been talking a lot more lately, went through and named them all.  I am going to treasure that memory as one of the happiest from this last year. 

 

We did a bit of trick or treating on Halloween with some friends.  This is the first year that Leo has really gotten into trick or treating. 

 

So there you have it.  One HUGE October post.  Forgive me, I'm too tired to break them down.   

Take Me To the Ocean

A few weeks ago, we got back from our first trip away without the kids.  It was a much needed getaway because it's like the kids forgot how to sleep this fall.   We went to Outer Banks.  We thought about all sorts of other places but I honestly couldn't get myself excited about going anywhere else (I just didn't get enough in May).  I also needed a trip that only required that I book a house and that's it.  I didn't even grocery shop before I left.  We needed this trip folks.

There was one afternoon where we took our lawn chairs and just sat on the beach.  We have often talked about doing this when we had the kids running around.  So, on our quiet trip, we just sat and watched the water and sky change from day to evening.  There is nothing in the world so calming as the ocean.

We went to movies, ate out, shopped, visited a lighthouse.  It was quiet and calm and we all need that in our life occasionally.

We discovered a Parade of Homes and decided to see some of the houses.  I've never seen a home with the kitchen on the top floor but that's how they all were.  We walked inside three million dollar beach houses.  It was beautiful, although I don't know that I'll ever understand really bold wallpaper.  While we were out driving, we saw one of the beach houses that we have rented in years past.  It was right in the line of the recent hurricane and the road in front of it was caved right in.  So crazy!

 Well, ten years is a pretty big deal.