Stir crazy

some singing while housebound during the storm....

Pumpkin Patch

Ok, so this post is out of order...this is our visit to Taylor Farms and their pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. It turned out to be a really fun day with the boys.

This is the only picture of the 4 of us, so I am posting it, even though I look WRETCHED in it.

My cute boys...

At the "pumpkin patch".

Hudson started the game of rolling all the pumpkins into one big pile of pumpkins....

So Gunner joined in...we then had to convince them that Taylor Farms didn't want all the pumpkins in one big pile and that they had to roll them back where they found them...for some reason THAT wasn't nearly as much fun.

Hudson with the pumpkin he picked out...he wanted to carry that thing everywhere once we got it home!

Posing with the tractor....

Playing in the big wooden boat slide / play set. The grin is priceless.

He did not want off of this thing...lots of places on it to climb and explore.

Gunner driving the train.

"Oh no Hudson, the train is stuck in the muddy mud, we have to get it OUT"...."OH Dunner..MUD. Train stuck in mud MOM"...I love listening to the conversations and games they play. It will be interesting once Hudson decides he is old enough to take the lead on their pretend play...I think Gunner likes to be the one in charge.

Opening and closing windows, the best part of any playhouse!

Hudson was not sure about petting the goats...this is as close as he would get initially.

Gunner liked the baby goat...a little less intimidating I guess!

Hudson finally got brave and bent over to give one goat a quick pat before running for the gate!

Gunner gets his pony ride...he is always really excited and then he gets on the pony and looks so serious!

Gunner gives Hudson a ride on the Crusher....

Hudson decides he wants to get in the drivers seat!

This was just a perfect day, the weather was gorgeous and the farm was not very crowded at all (we are always the early risers, so we tend to be leaving as the crowds start arriving). Both boys had fun, and we had fun watching them and doing the hay ride.

Halloween

Halloween weekend was a busy one, Gunner started his fun weekend by going to "Trunk-or-treat" at his preschool ...unfortunately Hudson and I had to miss the festivities because it was the same day as Len's Change of Command ceremony; where I had to bring Hudson, because all of my friends had Halloween activities planned with their kids, and my parents were attending (so no one to use for babysitting duty).

The change of command is another story, which I have no pictures of because I spent the whole ceremony grabbing Hudson off the stage because he wanted to "go get Daddy"...I had to take him out 3 times so people could concentrate on the speeches. I essentially missed my husbands entire change of command..so much for him being the "well-behaved" child. On the upside, at least he wasn't crying and throwing a tantrum, he actually found it hysterically funny to take off, full speed, toward the stage so that I had to run after him.

Here is Gunner, as a pirate, before school. He was very excited to have a different costume for every day of the weekend; he apparently told a classmate, and then SHE wanted to have 3 different costumes, which didn't make her Mom very happy.



On Halloween day, we had a small party at our house before going out trick-or-treating. Gunner was an astronaut for this part of the weekend. This was his new costume, the rest we just salvaged from our costume chest. It was really cute, but the helmet was so cumbersome he had to hold it with both hands the whole time he wore it.

Without his helmet...

This was the only adult costume at the party, our friend's Brian and Chris dressed up as a neighbor on their street who has been giving everyone a hard time. Apparently he goes out running every day in some variation of the outfits they were wearing...it was hilarious, but I don't think they had the guts to trick-or-treat at his house!

Our astronaut and power ranger...love how Gunner is holding his helmet on.

Gunner, Ian and Michael in their "tree house"....

Hudson's friend, Carson, as a dinosaur....before he got so hot that it had to come off! It was 72 degrees on Halloween, which made costumes a little hot to play around in!

The best party accessory, the bouncy house, with some Halloween inflatables to hit around.

Sweaty and spun up from the bouncy house....note to self, do not get my kids so spun up right before taking them trick-or-treating...Gunner actually flipped out because Hudson wouldn't wear his costume and we had to calm him down before we could continue the evening!

This was the only moment that we could get Hudson to put on the jacket for his costume, then he promptly ripped it off. He did let us put the hat on him before he went to each door, but he refused to wear anything else...you can tell by the look on his face how he felt about putting it on at all.

The day after Halloween was much damper and chillier, Gunner and I decided to check out the Zoo Boo at the Norfolk Zoo....today he wanted to wear his favorite...although threadbare, costume..... Spiderman of course!

He really needs a new "cheese" face...love how his Spidey muscles fill out his jacket! This was at the beginning of the "trick-or-treating"...businesses had tables set up all around the zoo with candy for the kids.

Adding a "Spidey" sign to the children's mural in the activities tent.

He insisted on sitting in his own seat for the haunted train ride, and made me sit behind him. The zoo had several people dressed up as animals and fairy tale characters along the train ride, but it was hard to get a good picture. They also had a haunted hay ride, but Gunner said he wanted to go see the farm animals instead.

They turned the giant floating globe at the entrance /exit into a giant spider.

This is him chasing bubbles from the bubble machine with the toy he picked out in the gift shop hanging around his neck!

All in all, it was a really fun Halloween weekend...especially for Gunner. I think any holiday that requires him to dress up multiple times might just be his favorite!

Wearing many hats...literally

We all know how much Gunner likes costumes...particularly his Spiderman costume, which is currently pretty threadbare. Well, he has passed along his love of the dramatic to his little brother, particularly the love of hats...any hat.

It started back in April when he discovered the fire hat...he was a "fih-man" for a week straight.

Then he picked out a CARS baseball hat at the party store. I was excited because he won't wear the sunhat I bought him for the beach (of course, the only hat he will NOT wear), so I thought this would at least shade his face...except this is the one and only day he would wear it facing forward.

He turned it around so he could watch his b-4 bed show more easily (I thought he was going to have to sleep with it that night) and then he refused to wear it any other way.

He looks like a little biker w/ his converse on...at least his neck is shaded I guess!

He occasionally puts on an entire costume...usually because Gunner tells him to, but he plays right along. I am assuming "puppy" is his fire dog in this pic.

ANY hat is a source of pure happiness....

Their favorite thing during the summer was to get dressed up for an "adventure" whenever we had to go to the store...but hey, after Spiderman, Super Why and the long haired pirate, I don't notice the wierd looks from people anymore.

I particularly love how the "explorers" as Gunner calls them, have to bring the backpack of sea animals or a lunchbox of cars on the adventure...thankfully I can usually convince them to leave them in the car. Here they are outfitted for the grocery store in one picture and the Exchange in the other. We travel fancy in this family....

Gunner in his favorite hat...apparently he is a "dragon baseball player" in this hat....the glasses are definitely a statement.

In these pics they decided they wanted to put on Daddy's "costume" (that is what Gunner calls Lenny's uniforms, no matter how many times we tell him otherwise...he must think Daddy has a pretty fun job).

The current headwear to be worn on outings are the racing helments. Both of them wear them non-stop since Hudson's party.

For every pic I have there are 10 more I missed...aren't you glad, then you would have to look at 10 more pictures of my kids in costume! A picture of Gunner running around with his underwear on his head would have been a keeper though, still upset I missed that one. At the very least it would have been something to pull out and show his prom date. Watch out boys, I have the evidence and I will use it!

My baby is 2!

The weekend after Hudson's actual b-day we had a party at the house for him and a bunch of his friends. Like his brother...probably to BE like his brother, he loves CARS, so the theme was a no brainer. He knows all the characters, he plays with his die cast CARS cars more than any other toys, and we have to listen to the soundtrack daily.

I learned a few things at this party, 1st was that Gunner and the older boys are definitely BOYS and I better get used to the energy and tendancy towards mass destruction. Second, you just have to let the kids have fun, even if it isn't how you planned it. This is a big step for me, because I am a plan ahead kind of girl. However, most of what I planned wasn't actually played with as intended...no matter, it was a good party. Kids had fun, and the parents all hung out on the deck w/ cold beverages and watched the carnage. What is better than that?

As you can see, Hudson was pretty excited to see "Ligh-ning Ma-queen" at his party.

Decorating his gift bag and painting a race car suncatcher while the guests started arriving.

Michael and Marley playing with one of the CARS toys I set up on the deck...

Gunner is suited up for the big race with Mater (a.k.a. Lena). In addition to the costumes, they each got a white shirt w/ the racing # of their choice and their name.

Marley gets a CARS tatoo at "Ramones Body Shop".

The kids racing around the cones I set up...this was one of the few races...because....

The little kids, led by Hudson, found it more fun to carry the cones around and try to stack them up. I had already told myself that I was going to set everything up and then let the kids do what they wanted; there is nothing worse than going to a kids b-day party and having to spend the entire time telling your 2 year old not to touch everything. It was Hudson's party, and he could destroy it if he wanted to!

Luigi's "Casa Della Tire" (as painted on the tire). We had a wagon of balls for the kids to toss into the tires.

Hudson and Carson were the only two that really liked playing the game...the older kids decided they wanted to play a different game....

Roll the tire! I actually think this would be a fun game if I did a CARS party for Gunner, they could race...but they were a little big for Hudson and his friends. At least the kids had fun with the tires I guess!

This blow up Mater was supposed to be a party game where you threw some plush "tools" into his mouth...it was impossible to actually do, even for an adult, so instead they all just pretended to use the tools to "fix" Mater at Doc's body shop. I also had some car "poppers" set up as favors and they were able to shoot them into Mater's mouth...so it worked out just fine!

Reds "car wash" w/ some race car bubbles for their gift bags....

Popping the bubbles was lots of fun for Hudson.

First the kids fueled up at "Flo's Cafe" on Hudson's favorite foods, baked chicken nuggets and peas and corn. Then it was CAKE TIME! I ordered this cake in a rush from the Commissary cake dept., because I hate baking and I didn't want to keep taking advantage of my baking friends. I thought it was supposed to have an icing road on it, and that the colors were more "boy". It tasted good, but as the fathers pointed out, the rocks next to Mater look like something else (I am being polite), trust the big kids to provide comic relief.

As soon as we put the cake down, Hudson leaned forward and stuck his hands in it....luckily the damage was minor, LOL.

My favorite part of the party was watching Hudson while everyone sang him Happy Birthday. I think he is so used to having to share all the attention, he was loving being the center of it for a change...he looked so happy.

Hudson proceeded to punish both a piece of cake and a cookie w/ icing (which I got because they are the favorite of my sweet-toothed son). Gunner, naturally, took two bites and said he was done.

Some of his party guests, all ready for cake. Marley, Mclayne, Carson, Lena and big brother (who would not take off that helmet all day).

Me and my baby...yes, I remembered to get one picture of me!!

Michael and Ian getting some refreshments after some hard play!

Here is the elusive Carter, Hudson other friend who is actually his age. Carter is hysterical, he just doesn't sit or stand in one spot for more than a minute, so this was the only time I was able to get a pic of him! He is posing under what is left of the streamers I hung. The kids were pulling them down and tieing them all over their bodies as "wings" "jetstreams" and lord knows what else. I was not kidding when I said the kids didn't play with anything as it was meant to be played with...but they sure seemed to have fun!

Hudson playing with his little friend Carson, Carter was playing with them too, but by the time the camera went off, he was gone! I love that Hudson has a couple boys that are almost the exact same age to play with, who will be going to school with him when the time comes.

Face covered in icing....you know it was a good party!

Mclayne with one of the aforementioned streamers tied around her head, pushing Gunner on the swing. He wouldn't lift the visor on his helmet, he just kept tilting his head up and peering out from under it.

Lightning McQueen rides takes a ride down the slide....

Hudson was completely wiped out by the end of the party, he just laid down on the deck and zoomed cars until everyone left...

Opening presents after everyone left, and actually sharing Luigi's tire shop....I am surprised Gunner didn't sleep in that helment.

So, all in all, it was a success....and when I asked Hudson if he liked his party he said "YES, MY party....I like it!" . That is what it is all about!