Halloween

This year's Halloween was pretty busy because the kids had lots of cousins to share it with, and lots of chances to go trick-or-treating. There was school, church, Grandpa's work, and regular trick-or-treating. The church held their "Trunk-or-Treat" the week before Halloween, which was fine by us because it meant cousins from CA would still be in town. However, it started right after Kaleb's birthday party ended, and we were so pooped from the party, that we almost decided to skip the Trunk-or-Treat. That, and the fact that it was raining. But being the amazing parents that we all are, we sucked it up, dressed the kiddos and headed out anyway.

The kids played games in the gym...



Then because of the rain, the trunk-or treating was moved indoors. It was pretty fun. Short and sweet when you get there as late as we did! Haha!


The following weekend was the real Halloween. My dad invited us to his work to go trick-or-treating, and man do they give good candy! Here's the superheros... Batman (Bradley), Robin (Nathan), and Grandma. :)


Here's Dad at his station. Lol. Doesn't he look awesome? He put his costume together all by himself and was so proud. Too bad you can't see his studded boots or his leather jacket. He was most excited about his "tats." You rock, Dad! :)


And here's Alli, surprising Dad with one of her own creative costumes. Can you tell who she is?


An hour and a half later, after attacking only about 1/6 of the building, it was time to call it quits. Nathan was asleep, my feet were killing me, and Bradley just wanted to eat all of his suckers. But Jaden and Kaleb could have kept on goin'!


On Halloween night, it was also raining. I really didn't want to take the kids out in it, (not to mention they were extremely ornery) but I didn't want to be a lame mom, so I got the kids dressed and ready to go.



Once we started to walk out the door, the boys decided they didn't want to go out, and so they set up their own trick-or-treating around the house. They got bowls, and pots filled them up with the candy my mom was handing out, and put them at doors all around the house. Then for over an hour, they took their buckets around the house, "Trick or Treat! Thank you!" When their buckets became too full, they dumped them back out and went again. Alli was fun and decided to hide with her pot of candy and make the kids find her if they wanted some. How this activity was so fun, for as long it was, is beyond me. But between this and handing out candy, they had a blast.

A Tale of a Bully

A few weeks ago, Jaden came and said he needed to talk. This is how it went:

Mom, I forgot to tell you something that happened at school a couple days ago.
Okay, what happened?
I got in trouble at recess.
For what?
It's cuz there was this bully. The bully wouldn't leave us alone. They kept chasing me and my friends all around the playground and we didn't like it.
So what did you do?
I did this. (He demonstrates that he twisted the kid's arm behind his back)

I have to admit, I'm actually feeling a little proud of him at this point for standing up for himself and for his friends. Not to mention that Hapkido lessons are finally paying off!

So is that what you got ion trouble for?
Yes.
What happened?
The bully told on me and the teacher said if I did it again I would have to sit on the curb for the rest of recess.
So, tell me what the bully looks like.
(He gestures a measurement to his shoulders) She's about this tall.

She?! Oh my gosh, I was trying so hard not to laugh. So then we had to have a little talk with him about how to treat girls... especially ones who are a foot shorter than him!

Kaleb Turns 4

Kaleb finally turned 4. I say finally, because just like when he turned 3, he had been counting down for like... 364 days. Even now, he can't wait to turn 6. He is just trying so hard to catch up with Jaden. Good luck with that, buddy! :)

The first of the birthday festivities was a family party. Since we have 4 birthdays in one week's time, we had a big ole bash! Kare and Curtis came to town, and they both have a birthday on the 21st.


Poor Alli has a birthday on the 19th, but we won't see very many happy shots of her because she had JUST had her wisdom teeth pulled... ouch.


Here's Nathan getting his turn with the Happy Birthday glasses.


When Kaleb opened his presents, he surprised us all by being THE MOST grateful kid ever! I was so proud of him. He was genuinely excited and expressed his gratitude to everyone, for everything.


Kare and Curtis gave him a card with 4 one-dollar bills inside. He jumped around yelling, "I'M RICH! I'M RICH!!" and danced his pants off... literally. Then Kare asked him, "Kaleb, do you know why you got FOUR dollars?" He just responded matter-of-factly with, "Yes. Cuz I'm broke!" We all got a good teary laugh out of that one.


Here he is opening his gift from Alli. He was hugging it and rubbing his face on it before he even knew how cool it really was.


Alli made Kaleb a quilt of all his favorite things: Mario Brothers, pirates, Indiana Jones, Wall-E, Batman and Spiderman. Very nice, Al, very nice. :)


Kaleb was so much fun to watch. Usually I'm worried about my boys being ungrateful, and fighting, and just being selfish. But Kaleb kept telling his brothers that he would share with them, he kept telling everyone how much he loved them and a couple times he called out to everyone, "I Hyte you guys!" (Hyte is one of Kaleb's made-up words that means, "hug.")

(I have a video of this, but will have to upload it later when my computer stops having issues.)

He was SO excited. In fact, I think he was a little overwhelmed with excitement because a few times, he just didn't know how to react. He would open a present, look at it, and then kind of grab his head and make kind of a frustrated sound. It was the funniest thing. We all knew he was happy... maybe the happiest any of us had ever seen.

(I have a video of this too.)

He got lots of cool stuff. Grandma Ashton and Alli said they had a little too much fun in the toy aisles, and that they were pretty sure I would kill them. :)




The next day was his Friend Party. He decided to have an all-boy Pirate-themed party.


There were 11 little boys, and one scalawag girl at his party, (his cousin, Katee-Jo). Kaleb really lucked out having so much family from out of town here on his special day... 3 cousins from CA and 1 from AZ.


Such a good Daddy...


Such a good uncle...


Such a good Grandpa... :)


There was pizza...






Pin the Tail on the Donkey...



Presents...





Cake...


Ice Cream...


And a pinate...




Here he is sharing his Joker's Playhouse that he got in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Socci.


I'm pretty sure Kaleb loved his birthday. :) He was a joy to celebrate.

Kaleb at 4:
-Looks up to Jaden and wants to be just like him, but is also very original.
-Comes up with the funniest and most random comments.
-Becoming a very loving and nurturing big brother to Bradley.
-Extremely shy in church and at school, but has just started talking at school. :)
-Loves his new school, Sunshine Square.
-Makes up his own words and their meanings: "Hyte: hug, Foey: a straight yellow line, Alien Squant: jumping on the bed, tuh-day: Jaden..."
-Favorite toys are: Batman, pirates, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, legos, swords, guns, knives, bow and arrows, light sabers...
-Has a bear (who he named, Skinny) and 2 blankets that he has had since he was born and sleeps with them every night.
-Is still extreme, but mellowing out. (Extremely sweet, extremely volatile, extremely grateful, extremely stubborn, extremely cute, extremely funny)
-Made up a secret handshake with his 2 year old brother.
-Is hilarious. He keeps everyone laughing... (when he's in the mood.)
-Has so many funny facial expressions.
-Loves to pray.
-Favorite book is "Naughty Little Monkeys."
-Loves to play "tougher," "I can do it, Oi-yah!" and have weapon battles with Daddy.
-Prefers the wiggle cars to learning to ride a bike. Ruins his shoes at record-breaking speed by dragging them on the cement while riding a wiggle car.
-Is timid. It takes him a while to try something new like go down a slide, ride a bike, or swim.
-Is so little. He's so skinny and seems so fragile.
-Most tantrums and timeouts revolve around dessert.

The upside to morning sickness...

IF there is an upside to morning sickness, I think I have found it. Having to surrender any thoughts of being productive, working out, doing a project, finishing a book, and even my normal day-to-day list so that I can lay on a couch and feel like a worthless bump on a log has totally sucked... Not to mention the CONSTANT feeling of upchuck rising. But I believe there was a blessing in disguise.

I seem to be a person who always has to be working on something. When one project is finished there are 20 more in line. I have to feel (and even see) a sense of accomplishment daily, in order to stay happy. And a lot of times, the kids can get in the way. Well, these last couple of months have been a major reality check for me.

While being forced to lay on the couch and do nothing but pay attention to my kids, I have realized something. They are pretty freaking awesome. Not that I didn't ever pay attention to them before, but just not to the same degree.

They are SO sweet and caring. One night, after telling them I was too sick to take them to the park, I went upstairs to lay down for a bit. When I came back down, Kaleb was entertaining Bradley, and Jaden had cleaned the entire downstairs for me.

Almost daily, Kaleb will give me his special blankets and bear to lay with on the couch. A few nights he even gave them to me to sleep with. That may not sound like much, but if you know Kaleb, you know it's the most heartfelt thing he can do.

Bradley can be really good at playing independently when I need to rest. It's so sweet to watch him playing on his own.

Kaleb has moments where he is the most affectionate in the family. He tells me how much he loves me, he makes sure I sit next to him at the table, he likes to have a group hug and even a group kiss.

Jaden takes care of his brothers. He helps them get their shoes on, and their seat belts too. He takes them in the backyard and plays with them for hours. He pushes them on the swing, helps them climb a ladder or a rockwall, hugs and kisses anyone who gets hurt, gets them a drink of water, builds guns out of blocks for each of them, ties a rope around their waists to hold their swords, and always cleans up.

Kaleb is so funny. He's so original--(When he's not repeating every word Jaden says, just to annoy him.) Bradley loves to copy Kaleb, it's the cutest thing.

Bradley now likes to pester. I think if I wasn't "appreciating" my kids like I have been recently, I would just be annoyed by it. But I seem to have more patience.

These last few months, there has rarely been a night where I didn't go to bed thinking, "I love those boys. They are the best kids."

I've always known my kids were awesome, but I guess I never fully appreciated them till now. I think that what this has taught me is that I need to not focus so much on my to-do lists, and focus more on them. It helps me to understand them better, have more patience, and just love them more. They are growing up quickly and I want to enjoy them as much as I can.

I'm not sure how I ended up with a shot like this.
They don't even realize how funny it is.

I told them to pretend to be thinking... haha!

These kids are the best friends, and I love them to death. :)