Happy Halloween

Our 1st Annual Cousin's Halloween Party was a success! The kids had a ball. Eli was so into the party, especially the decorations. We went to U.S. Toy and cleaned up! Everything had to be just right. We had spiders swimming in our bright green punch. There were rats on our cheese ball and little parts of Mr. Hal O. Ween that needed to be claimed.

Eli helped me put together a story about Mr. Hal O. Ween who disappeared and was never seen again. They did find a few of his remains which where at the party. The guests got to feel what was found...




Here the party goers are listening to the story of Mr. Hal O. Ween and how he disappeared. You can see the fear and shock in their eyes....





Eli was brave enough to feel Mr. Ween's brain. Mom got him good. Since he helped me plan the story he knew what all the parts were. I switched the brain on him and didn't let him know. He was expecting to feel noodles for the brain, but got scrambled eggs instead. You can kind of see the shock in his eyes and his wrinkled nose.





We also bobbed for donuts. The kids had to eat their donut without their hands. That was fun and messy. They were laughing and having so much fun.





Cousin's Grace and Sophia are sharing a donut.




Tatum decided to lick her donut, trying to bite it was too much work.





On Halloween night we went Trick or Treating with our friends Christie and Tyler. We did break out the Ranger again this year. That is the best way to get around after all. Why burn off the extra calories from the candy by walking when you can ride in style?






Tatum was a bumble bee.





Eli was Spiderman.







We can't forget about Evan Patrick. He was a little monster. He needs to work on his scary face just a little!

Tatum's Spa Day

Last week Mommy, Daddy and Eli went to get haircuts. Tatum didn't get to go because it was during her nap. She was so upset. While I was there I made an appointment for Tatum to have her own special spa day. She could hardly wait. She was going to get her haircut and have her finger and toenails done. She had the best time and even made a new friend.





This is a picture of Tatum before her day of pampering.




Tatum loves anything girly. This is interesting since she really doesn't have that many girly things, because of Eli. It's just something that is inborn I guess. She loves to put on her princess shoes and makeup. When she plays with the toy kitchen or with her babies she will dress up, put on her makeup, jewelry and grab her purse and head to the store. She makes a big deal about these things. I write about this because before her spa day she had to get her purse and put some things in it...of course.

The contents of her purse; phone, mirror, lipstick, notepad, pencil, a pony and a snack. These are all things she wanted.




Tatum got to pick which color she wanted her nails to be painted. She picked pink, "Pink is my favorite color."

She sat so still and did a great job. She really does love getting dolled up.




Getting her toenails done.




Close up of her toenails and fuzzy flip-flops.




When it was all done Tatum was beaming and so proud of her pink nails. Tatum is standing with her new friend, Tatiana. When we got home she was ready for a nap. She said, "Getting a day of beauty makes you tired."

Eli's New Toy

Last Saturday afternoon Daddy and Eli went on a man outing to the 4 wheeler store. At one point during their outing I called to ask Brian a question and got an ear full about how great the 4 wheelers are and how much Eli likes them. Brian has been talking about getting one for Eli, I thought we had just been talking until they came home.

Eli LOVES his new ride!



He wants to ride all the time. It doesn't matter that with the heat index it's over 100 degrees. He will ride around until his head is all sweaty and the sweat is stinging his eyes.



He's into posing silly in pictures right now. He's usually throwing up "toddler" signs or some sort of kung fu action pose. He's a riot!




So far he has done great with his 4 wheeler. We have had only one little accident. Daddy let him drive it around back to park it in the back garage and he didn't know how to stop and was stopped by the garage door. That left a good size dent in the garage door, but Eli wasn't hurt. Just scared him. After that Brian has been working on braking with him.




Daddy and Eli driving around.

To paraphrase a line from the movie Tommy Boy , "Fat guy on a little bike."
For those of you who don't know the movie, It's a joke. Brian and I reference it quite often.

It's Fishing Time

The kids finally got the chance to shake the dust off their fishing poles. We went down to Grandma Cindy's lake house to spend some time with the family (Grandma, Hoppy, Uncle Jason, Aunt Angela, cousins Grace and Sophia) and to fish.

Daddy is supervising and helping when ASKED.



Eli had been asking for a while to go fishing, so he was thrilled. He has a really good cast and is probably just a summer away from being able to go on fishing tournaments with Hoppy and Uncle Jason.




Concentration is key when fishing.




What is better after an afternoon of fishing than ice cream?







Tatum enjoyed the ice cream a little more than she enjoyed fishing.

Mom can I have a little drink?

Some of my favorite memories as a kid took place during the summer. I can remember working in the garden with my Mom and Grandma on different occasions and getting a nice cold drink of plastic flavored water from the hose. I can still remember how the water smelt and tasted. It was awesome! So, when we were playing outside one afternoon and Tatum asked for a drink I pulled out the hose. I think she must have liked it too, now when we are outside she wants to drink from the hose. That a girl!




I took these pictures the first time she got to drink from the hose.



It took her a little bit to get her technique down, but she figured it out.




Tatum said, " I like it mom, I do!" "That's great Tatum, can I have a drink too?" Her reply, "NO IT"S MINE MOMMY!"

Pictures

We went and had the kids pictures taken last week. Here are some of the better shots.

I'm going to take Evan back when he is 3 months and his personality is really starting to show. Everyday we see a little more. He is starting to smile at us and will talk a little too. I love the big toothless grins. It never gets old.

Introducing Evan Patrick

Evan Patrick joined our family on February 25th at 3:55 PM. He weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. We named him Evan after Brian's dad and Patrick after my uncle who passed away from cancer in his early thirties.

Labor and delivery went fine. We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 to be induced, around 8:00 I was hooked up and ready to start the process. At 3:50 it was time to push and 5 minutes and 5 pushes later Evan was born. I had a great delivery nurse and support system, Brian and my Mom.

It's hard to tell who he looks like. Everyone has a different opinion. He does look like Eli in some ways and Tatum in some ways too. I think he mostly looks like himself.




Eli and Tatum were excited to come and see Evan, after Eli got over his initial disappointment. When he found out he had a new baby BROTHER he cried because he wanted a baby SISTER.

I still can remember the looks on their faces when they first saw Evan, very sweet and adoring. They were in awe and climbed up on the bed to get a better look.




Eli has gotten over his disappointment and has grown to love little Evan. Eli has such a tender heart and is a good helper with the baby. Eli loves to sing and will sit down and sing to Evan when he is fussy. It works every time, Evan will stop crying and listen to him. That's what is going on in this picture. Eli's favorite song to sing is "Away in a Manger" or another song he makes up.





Eli, Mommy and Evan hanging out.

We are learning to adjust to having 3 kids. So much harder than I had expected. Wow! Eli and Tatum are acting up a little more, which is probably normal with the change. What's interesting is they know when to act up. I can pretty much count on them to start fighting or doing something they know they are not to do once I start to nurse Evan. It is getting better each day and we are having a good time.

It's My Party

We had a big family birthday party for Eli and Tatum on February 16th. I was wanting to get the party in before Evan was born and we made it with 9 days to spare. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins, they probably enjoyed playing more than getting gifts. I can't believe Eli is 4 and Tatum is 2. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. It reminds me of the Kenny Chesney song, Don't Blink. "Don't blink, you just might miss your babies growin' like mine did."



This is a good picture of Tatum because she doesn't have her eyes closed. When we take her picture she likes to say cheese and close her eyes real tight. She didn't say cheese here because her thumb was in her mouth. Go figure. At least we can see her big eyes.




Eli in his birthday chair opening presents.




Eli's birthday theme was Star Wars...of course what else could it have been. I had a fun time looking for his R2D2 cake pan. Wilton retired the pan and it has not been made since 1982. The best place to get them now is on Ebay. I found one and bought it for $62.00. Wow! It gets even better. When my Aunt Linda saw the cake she said I have an R2D2 cake pan. I never would have thought my Aunt with two daughters would have a Star Wars cake pan. Oh, well $62 well spent. The things we do for our kids.

PaPa is helping Eli blow out his candles.




Tatum's favorite cartoon is Little Bear so we had a bear party for her. She really enjoyed the party, especially blowing out the candles and everyone singing to her.

Pee Wee Hoops

We recently started PeeWee Hoops. I say we even though it is really Eli's age group, but Tatum not wanting to be left out joins in every week! Eli and Tatum both enjoy running around and learning the basics of the game. An added bonus is our friend and neighbor Christie is on the "team" too. Of course her little brother, baby Tyler comes along which makes Tatum happy.

They are learning the basics of basketball, such as stretching, passing, dribbling and shooting baskets.




Eli is getting warmed up for practice (brown shirt).




Tatum is getting ready too (purple shirt).




Here they are getting in line to run sprints. Eli LOVES this part because he wants to come in first. He comes in first just about every time. He is a good runner! Tatum will run the sprints too. She is not bad either. She doesn't finish first, but she doesn't finish last either. That is pretty good considering she is running with 3 and 4 year olds.



Eli is working on shooting baskets. This station usually entertains him for a while as long as he is able to make his first shot. If he misses a few he gets discouraged and doesn't want to do that anymore.

It's always fun for the kids to participate and fun for us to watch. Next Eli wants to take swim lessons, we were going to look into soccer again. Maybe we will do both, since he talks about swimming a lot. Stay tuned.