Lego City Advent Calendar 2014 Days 1-6

Keeping with tradition Tyler got another Lego City Advent Calendar this year.  He had to clear off some of the Minecraft paper blocks off of his dresser to make room.

 

Day 1: A boy holding a letter

Day 2: A mailbox with a little frog

Day 3: A snowman

Day 4: A table with a pie and some cups

Day 5: A Lego woman and a croissant

Day 6: A stand full of fruit and veggies

What I like about the calendar this year is that it's shaping up to be more of an outdoor market theme, rather than so much cops and robbers.

November Favorites

With the gloomy weather we've had this month and lack of good lighting and just generally staying indoors more I ended up taking a lot less pictures than usual, so this is the best of what I got:

 

Tyler got the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which he earned by maintaining a small streak of good behavior and he read it from cover to cover in less than an hour.

We went to Tyler's Veteran's Day musical earlier this month and it was great seeing every single kid in the spirit with red, white and blue.

There was a brief time period where we were able to enjoy the fall tradition of jumping in leaf piles before the polar vortex came and turned everything black, frozen and gross.

Kyle has been playing with Tyler's old Thomas the Train toys.

And sharing another one of Tyler's old toys: the Light Brite.

Max enjoyed a morning in the warm upstairs bedroom.

Coco Bear who hasn't been able to go outside as much also had to settle for a window seat.

And Carmelita helping me pad the holes in my Project Life with cute pet pictures.

Working out with Cathe as I always do on weekday mornings. I can't wait for her new Ripped with Hiit series to come out, or rather to be delivered to my door sometime next month.

Favorite outfits for November.

Tired? Who Me?

Kyle has long ago given up naps, or at least he says so if you ask him. He's a big boy and doesn't need them anymore. It's a ruse that he'd been able to keep up for the most part until Daylight Savings ended earlier this month. It's a change he hasn't been able to recover from and as a result it's been a month full of naps. Everywhere and Anywhere.

 

Zzzzzzzz.

Turkey Trot 2014

Yesterday was the annual Turkey Trot, a school sponsored fun run and food drive. It wasn't the city leftover turkey trot that usually happens the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but a small feud between two elementary schools. Each year Cottonwood Elementary and Mrs. Braun the P.E teacher compete against Nob Hill Elementary and their P.E teacher Mr. Braun. So it's not just a competition between schools, but also between husband and wife. Last year Cottonwood won the trophy and this year Nob Hill was looking to get it back.

 

The race was 11:00 on Saturday and it was only around 40 degrees outside and brrrr, it was cold waiting for the race to start. We got Tyler a new set of athletic clothes for the occasion and I thought he looked great! That kid was meant to wear bright colors! They just suit his personality so much!

The race was staggered with different age groups starting at different times and the teachers and parents went last. If I'd known I'd have to wait so long to run I would have brought a thicker coat.

But the extra time allowed for more pictures. Cheese!

Once the race started for Tyler I was able to get a few pictures of him before I had to head to the starting line for my group.

In the end he placed 8th in his age group. No turkey for him, but a ribbon was pretty nice.

I'm proud he did such a good job, especially since he's in the midst of a cold and had a pocket full of tissues.

October Favorites

Some of my favorite Project Life pictures for October:

 

This was another Wednesday Mileage Club day at Tyler's school and after Kyle and I walked several laps together, he was able to go play on the playground with his brother. That day we also brought lunches so after recess we ate in the cafeteria with Tyler and the rest of his class.

Earlier this month it was McTeacher's Night at McDonalds where the teachers go and work for the night with a portion of the proceeds going to the school. Monopoly was going on at the time so we went and made a dinner out of the items that had games pieces on them: chicken nuggets, fries, a premium wrap and a soda. The school made $723 that night. Wowzers!

Goofing around at the park on our visit last weekend.

At the Halloween Carnival there was a table with 10 different containers filled with various Halloween candy and the object was to guess how much candy was in each container and the winner(s) would get to take home the candy the following week after the guesses were tallied. Turns out Tyler guessed the closest for the 2nd container, which was actually 2 small mason jars decorated like Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein and filled with green Mint M&M's. He's currently home for the week on suspension, so thankfully our neighbor (one of his classmates) brought home his winnings.

It was still nice and warm for the first few weeks of October, but a quick stop at Johnson Orchards make it seem like fall. Apples and pumpkins everywhere!

Sleeping on Daddy at Costco....

No pumpkin patch this year. We got our pumpkins from the grocery store.

While waiting in line after school to sign Tyler out, Kyle provided the entertainment with a rousing game of: Where's my hands? (as he pulls his hands back and hides them in his sleeve), Here's my hands! (and he pops them out to show me they were there the whole time). Again and again, in and out with his hands.

Our candy haul from the 2-day sale at Rosauers, which Kyle was particularly pleased about. Looks like a lot, but we need more than double that to have enough for all the trick-or-treaters that come to our house.

At the park the boys had to feed the ducks from the top of a picnic table in order to get out of the reach of the two geese who are aggressive bread thieves.

My entry for the 2nd King Arthur/Joy the Baker baking boot camp challenge. Apple Pie Biscuits. They came out much flatter than they should have and so I put them in a pretty apple dish to distract from their appearance.

Kyle was helping me model after I finished sewing the Luigi hat and wanted to see what it looked like next to his Mario hat.

We went to the park last weekend and took some group photos. My favorite shot is now up on the blog top and this one comes in a close 2nd.



I try to include some of my outfits into Project Life and these are some of my favorites from this month. Now that the temperature has dropped, I'll be adding a lot more cardigans, scarfs and boots into the mix.

Happy Halloween!

Today I put the last finishing touches on the house to get it ready for the trick-or-treaters. Tyler was home from school so he and Kyle were able to help me with the mummy door. We wrapped it with several rolls of white crepe paper, which thankfully looked good enough on its own since I didn't get around to adding any eyes. You can imagine how much cuter it would have looked with a face.

 

I had the boys put on their costumes before dinner so I'd be able to get pictures of them before it got too dark. And it made it easier to get out the door anyway. After dinner all they had to do was put on their hats and gloves and they were ready to go.

We had a nice variety of candy to give out this year: Skittles, Twix, Twizzlers, M&M's, Snickers, Baby Ruth...all the good stuff.

 

And here's our pumpkins for this year. I carved the one on the left, Tyler's is in the middle and Rick carved the one on the right.

Halloween Carnival

Last night I took the boys to the Halloween carnival at Tyler's school. When I first heard they were doing a carnival this year instead of Trunk or Treat, I was a little disappointed just because parties aren't really my thing and as a parent it's more fun to decorate a car and pass out candy rather than hang out in the school gym. The boys had a great time though, so that's the important thing.

 

They debuted their Mario and Luigi costumes, which were a hit. They got all kinds of compliments! I decided to skip the mustache part of the costume because with Tyler and his sensory issues, it was just asking for trouble. Otherwise I'm happy with how the costumes turned out. I found a pair of overalls for Tyler at the thrift store for $6, which were kind of big so I hemmed them up a bit. I found a plain green tee at Walmart for $5, white gloves for $1 and I spent $3 on some fleece for a hat. Not a bad costume for $15. For Kyle, we already had the overalls and Mario hat, so I just spent $4 on a plain red tee and $1 for a pair of white gloves.

We spent most of the night in the gym playing games and then went down the haunted hallway collecting candy before it was time to go home. The boys had so much fun last night that I'm rethinking my position on Halloween parties...they're not so bad after all.