More Halloween

Happy belated Halloween! May the force be with you!

We had a fun filled Halloween weekend. First, we went camping at Cory's race. About 100 campers in the middle of the desert. Everyone brought decorations and a huge trailer of pumkins was delivered! So we pot lucked, carved pumkins, watched fireworks, and trick or treated from camper to camper...and lots of other desert fun!

Then we did trick or treating in our neighborhood - first stop Mama and Pa's (Oh sure sweeties, take as much candy as you want is about how it goes there :)) The boys, Yoda and Bobba Fett, were totally into it. Although Brock was only interested in going to houses that were decorated...the candy was just a bonus. Brock request that I dress up like Princess Leia, and Cory (who was not dressed up) just harrassed princess Leia and threatened to capture her later on - naughty!

And yes, Sonny, came trick or treating with us too!

Potty! Trained!

There is just nothing cuter than a tiny boy in big boy underwear! The potty training story goes like this:
- About three weeks ago we were home on a weekend and Theo was running around the yard naked(this is pretty standard at our house, don't judge me). Theo thought peeing in the yard was pretty fun and then announced he had to poo.
- Brock announces he has to poo too and I told Brock he should go show his Brother how. So off they go to the bathroom and Brock coaches Theo through his first BM. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and went something like this...
'Theo just push, you're doing good'
'Mom, mom he's doing it!!!!'
'Yeahhhhh, Theo...I'm so proud of you...good job'
- We all made a huge deal out of this success and I praised Brock to no end for teaching him. Brock is Theo's number one cheerleader and I'm sure that is why Theo never went back to diapers!
- So big boy unders full time now for about three weeks - only 1 or 2 accidents the first week!
- Go THEO....thank you for living up to your easy-going reputation yet again! And thank you Brock for potty training Theo!

Apple Hill

We have had the most amazing Fall weather - which means we have been enjoying every bit of pumpkin patching, apple hilling, decorating, candy munching fall fun. We had some special friends,the Cropper's, fly in for a visit and we (the moms and boys, our friend Sarah with boy in the oven and her sister Rachel with brand new baby) headed to Apple Hill. Apple Hill is a network of about 50 beautiful farms with apples, pumpkin patches, ponds, animals, etc. - it is THE place to go for fall festivities. We enjoyed it all!

The hay maze!


One of many pumpkin patches.

All the boys loved the newest little boy - Gabe! We have another boy joining the fun around the New Year.

My sweet boys! Glad I snapped two of this shot - notice the location of Brock's hand...not really Christmas card material there.




Feeding the animals - Brocked loved it, Theo not so sure!



Maybe next year Brock will fit better :)


Here is the super cute house we rented! If you haven't used vrbo.com yet, you are missing out!

Our favorite pumpkin was this cute little grey one - love it!


Downtown Placerville.

My First Triathlon!

My good friend Kelly told me she was going to do a Triathlon to get back in shape...good idea...me too...I'm in! So for the past 3 months we have done lots of training. I went from huffing and puffing through 1 mile to swimming a 1/2 mile, biking 11, and then running a 5k - and don't forget prancing across the finish line with a great big smile! We did the Napa Valley Tri, Girl, Tri and finished! This was such a fun experience and I can't wait to sign up for the next one. I finished in 1:32:00 and ranked 48th out of over 300 - not bad for an old lady! My friend Kelly gets the medal of honor for having to put her chain back on, not once, but twice during the bike ride and finishing in her goal time - woot woot, we rock! The boys were fantastic - I would be focused and then hear a cute little voice yelling - 'hi mommy, go mommy'...they followed me through all the events cheering - so awesome! Cory would say encouraging things like 'what are you waiting for' - oh how I love him, always making me laugh!

The rest of the time we relaxed at the house we rented at Lake Baryessa. It was a great weekend with friends.

Setting up and getting ready - did I mention I was so nervous!





The swim:


While we swam, the boys found mud...

The ride:


The run:

FINISHED!!!!Brenda, me, Kelly



Some fun pics from the house too:

Adler and Theo were too cute!

His Royal Two-ness

Just a little update on His Royal Two-ness. Theo is every bit of two years old these days. He is reading the New York Times, and his less challenging baby books alike. He is counting 1-10, but not really counting :) And he reads a couple of his baby books by memorization while laughing hysterically between each page - he is quite amused by his 'reading' ability. He loves letters and numbers! The other day he wanted to read the news paper with mama and was studying it (sideways of course) for some time. He is as charming and hilarious as ever. Yesterday, Theo saw a man walking his dog down the street and he said, 'Look at that doggy mommy, he's walking his friend'. Just love it!

He is also very advanced in the 'terrible' two department - perhaps younger siblings are like this. Phrases we hear quite a bit, 'Mine', 'No', 'I don't want to'. You fight us on just about everything, my favorite (or more like most annoying), is when you play happily in the bath and then begin screaming when I actually wash you. You scream, 'don't get soap in my eye' over and over again even when I'm washing your toes. Ahhhh...the joys of parenthood.

Now that I told you how bright he is, here is the other side. Somehow he let Brock talk him into caking his head with mud in the back yard. Brock was quite proud and came running in to show me his accomplishment. Maybe I should have Brock wash his hair in the bath...hmmm, now there's an idea.