A Dragon and a Dinosaur

Where in the world did Sept/Oct go? How can it be November already? Not only does this mean Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it also means my little sister will be having the newest member of our family in less than three weeks! I can't wait to meet my sweet little niece/nephew -- mostly, though, I can't wait to journey through motherhood with one of my sisters! Now, if I can only talk her into setting up a little mommy blog!! :)

We have been so busy around here. (I feel like I say that every post ;) I am thoroughly enjoying my gym membership. Two hours of child care everyday means a workout and a shower complete with blow-dry. You better believe we're there most mornings! It's the BEST thing I've done for myself in a long time. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love love love it. I literally want to kiss the childcare workers every time I pick up my smiling children. I don't think they have a clue just how much I appreciate them ... even though I try to tell them often!

Jon has also been a busy bee. (Which makes me even more thankful for that 2 hour break each day!) He works so hard all day and then comes home (the nights he doesn't have school) and works on school all night. Thank goodness he just hung up his last hobby for the year ... hunting. That man has more hobbies ... I swear! On the positive side -- he graduates this coming March and we're taking the kiddos to DISNEY to celebrate! So. Excited.

Tanner is really enjoying preschool and Landon is really enjoying Tanner. :) However, I'm not sure the feeling is mutual anymore. I asked Tanner tonight who his best buddy was and his answer was "Brennan, Braxton, Buckeye, Colton, and Mrs. Blind." I asked him why Landon wasn't his best buddy anymore. He said it's because Landon hits him and pulls his hair. Fair enough.

Tanner spent the entire last month breaking into Halloween songs from his preschool. I would catch bits and pieces all day, but couldn't really put everything together. Good thing his teachers organized a Halloween sing-along and party at his school last week. It was so dang cute. Jon even skipped part of the workday to come. When Tanner first saw us, he was SO EMBARRASSED and covered his face and tried to hide under his little mat. This went on for 2-3 minutes and then he finally got really into the songs and by the end he was singing the LOUDEST. I was so proud, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I hope he wasn't embarrassed all over again by all the hugs and kisses I was showering him with afterwards ... I have to get them all in before Junior High when he'll act like he doesn't know me!




This last week was also Jon's birthday. And the 14-year anniversary of our first date. It's so hard to believe we've been together almost half our our lives! We went to visit his mom and dad for the weekend so that Jon could hunt and we could go out on a date. We had the BEST time together. One of our best dates ever, I'd say ... which says a lot considering how long ago our first date was!


The boys, of course, had a BLAST with two of their favorite people. They get SO excited every time we go and always have the hardest time falling asleep the first night we're there because they're just so glad to be there. Please notice that Landon is still very reliant on his pacifier. I just can't bear to take it from him, even though he's only saying like 2 words at 19 months. One of these days I'm literally going to have to pull the plug but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it yet. He just loves it so ... any suggestions?



We returned from Michigan on Sunday afternoon and immediately started preparing for trick-or-treating. Jon and the boys carved a pumpkin. (Yes, that's singular). I asked him why we weren't carving two pumpkins since we have two kids. He said they didn't have a long enough attention span. Again -- fair enough.




After carving, it was time to put our costumes on. This year, we had a triceratops and a dragon. Oh yeah ... and a Scooby. :)





Landon surprised us all by really getting into character. I was sure he'd only last 2 minutes in the headpiece, and 4 minutes in the rest of the costume. Heck no! He was roaring up a storm and be-bopping from house to house. Waving goodbye to everyone after getting his candy. He was hilarious.







Tanner insisted on riding his bike from house to house, which was kind of a production. But seriously, could he BE any more adorable?

Could THEY be any more adorable?

Holding hands on the way home ... SIGH.

Counting my blessings tonight ...