First Part of October 2013

We started out the month with a visit from the class stuffed bear, Corduroy.  We were instructed to take Corduroy out with us and make a journal entry of everything Corduroy experienced.  Here's what we (Charlie and I) wrote from Charlie's perspective:

 

 

 On Saturday morning my dad took my brothers, Corduroy, and I to the doughnut shop.  Everybody got two doughnuts, the doughnut lady even tossed in a few small doughnuts for Corduroy.  The doughnuts were GOOD!

 After eating our doughnuts my dad took my brother Ben, Corduroy and I to the Air Show.  We met up with some friends, it was really fun.  I wore ear protection because we thought the planes were going to be loud.  This airplane was taking off.

 Corduroy liked watching the airplanes fly in the air.  He especially liked this airplane that was doing tricks.

 Here's Corduroy and I in front of an airplane's engine.  Don't worry it was turned off.

 We waited a long time in a line to get our turn in the cockpit, but Corduroy was very patient.  We pretended to fly the plane and we even played with the steering wheel.

 We all really liked this shark plane.

 On Sunday we took Corduroy to worship service and bible class with us.  Corduroy sat very quietly during bible class and worship service.  As we were leaving our house to go to the church building I let my mom know that I packed up a coloring book and markers for Corduroy so he wouldn't get restless.  My dad put a tie on him so he would match me.

Charlie actually did pack up stuff for Corduroy and said, "restless" and he did tell me Corduroy was very "patient" while waiting in line.  I'm glad to hear some of the words I tell my boys...good to know they're listening.

 These cute boys were holding hands on our walk to school this morning.  So sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This handsome, happy boy is 7 months old this month!!  How crazy is that?!?!  He's getting so big, I love it and hate it at the same time.

"O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma!"

 

He is such a sweet, joyful little guy - we absolutely LOVE our True!

 

 

 

 

Dave has done quite a bit of traveling these last few weeks.  Two weeks ago I had a cold...I was miserable, but after the normal 10 days it went away.  Well, between Truman teething and being stuffed up so he couldn't suck on his paci I was up with him too many times and had a hard time staying well.  So within two weeks I was hit with a whopper of a sinus infection.  It felt like someone poured cement up my nose and stuck me under water!  Of course Dave was gone again and Truman was still not sleeping well.  I finally gave in on a Friday and went in for meds.  It ended up True had an ear infection that week too.  We were a mess, but on the mend.  That  weekend we had Corduroy and Dave took Charlie and Ben out almost all day Saturday so I had a quiet, relaxing day with True. 

So what did I do?  Watched the BBC version of  Pride and Prejudice of course!

After Dave returned from the Air Show (Yep I was still watching), Charlie and Ben sat down with True on his play blanket and watched a little bit of it.  I call this "Gentlemen Training" :)  I was shocked they sat and watched it as long as they did. 

 

 

My goal is first to raise good, Christian men, my next goal is raise little Mr. Darcy's, Mr. Bingley's, and Mr. Knightly's.

 

 

Ben and True after they both just woke up from a nap. 

 

 

 

Oh this boy, just melts my heart...I know, I know I say that about all my boys!

It's True (pun intented)

 

 

Now this I call "Husband Training"  Dave is coaching Charlie on mowing the lawn.  He's not quite strong enough to do a whole row, but at least he's interested and trying :)

 

 

 

Grandmops and Grandpops came over for a visit.  Grandpops was catching up with Dave about his recent trip to Russia to preach and teach Christians God's Word.  Meanwhile, Grandmops was giving me a hand with the kiddos.  True was teething this day and was not interested in nursing, but he was hungry.  Grandmops had the magic touch and got him to drink the bottle I'd tried giving him 3 times.  Grandma's are the best!

 

 

Here's Grandmops multi-tasking and talking to Charlie about the Spanish he's learning in kindergarten.

 

 

After our visit we all headed out to eat with our cousins!  Here is Drew with blur Charlie and Ben.  He's such a good big cousin.  My kiddos are pretty lucky to have "Drewbles"

 

 

 

 

Mini True Photo Shoot:

Look at those eyes!  I love them!  He is such a handsome boy!

yep he's the sweetest, and he has the same "Flinstone feet" his brother's had/have.

LOVE THOSE DIMPLES!!!!

 

 

 

 

Columbus Day:

We took the kids for a little hike around the lake.  We all had a great time!  The weather was perfect!  Here we are having a little snack and water break.

Here they are chasing off the geese (you can see them flying away to the right)

 

 

Me and my baby!

Those dark circled, large bagged, tired eyes are worth it to have this precious, sweet, loving boy!

Look at those cheeks...I kiss them ALL the time! 

 

 

 

My favorite quotes from our hike:

 

Charlie walking with a large staff/walking stick:  "Be alert, if you see a snake let me know and I'll smash it with my staff"        Our hero :)

 

Ben about 10 minutes from the car: "Me tired, me go home, me wash my hands, take my shoes off, watch tv"     It's ok buddy, I can only take so much nature too :)

September 2013

 

 

 We took the boys to Gold Rush Days in downtown Sacramento.  It was raining on and off in Folsom, but we hit the road anyway.  We managed to not get rained on for the 3 hours we were there.  There was a blacksmith, a demonstration of an old cannon that actually fired (that was really cool, Ben did not like it one bit - too loud), a band (like the one behind us), good food - we had pizza, not very gold rush-ey of us but it was good.  We didn't stay for very long, but it was good to get out of the house and the boys loved seeing all the dirt on the roads, the wagons riding past us, policemen on horses, old fire trucks,...I love it here!  Maybe next year we'll try panning for gold.

 

 

 True is really enjoying his exersaucer.  He gets so excited, and Charlie and Ben were equally entertained with it for the first couple of days :)

 

 

 

 Look at this cute boy's kindergarten school picture!  It is perfect!  I might be partial, but he is one handsome little boy.  He was really excited because he has a "secret shirt" and it's his superman shirt.

 

 

 This little turkey likes sleeping on his side, which is adorable, but when he flips on his belly he can't flip himself back over to his back.  Now when he's awake he will usually figure it out eventually, but when it's in the middle of the night he just lays there and cries.  So I've been going in there and flipping him over (twice a night).  UPDATE:  It's now the middle of October and True is still doing this!  He can flip over just fine from belly back when playing, but at night it's like he can't remember.  I've tried putting stuff (towel/blanket rolled up) under his sheet to prevent him from going on his belly, but he always finds a way.  I've also let him cry for 10+ minutes to get him just used to sleeping on his belly, but he does not like it.  I'm about at my wits end.  Here's to hoping this stage ends soon, I'm one tired momma.

 

 

 

 He's getting so big!  6 months old and such a sweet boy!  At his checkup he weighed in at 18 pounds and 26 inches long.  50th percentile for both weight and height.

 

 

 Look at that face!  Dave and I think he has a very old fashioned, almost cherub like face...and that cleft chin just kills me.  I love this little boy!!!

 

 

 He is sitting up so well now!  He loves playing with those two toys too.  He's got the spinning figured out. 

 Love those rolls!

 

 

 

 I took this picture with my phone.  I texted it to my mom and Dave with the caption, "3 men in the tub)  Later on Dave said my caption should have been, "Aren't you glad it's not 4 men in the tub"  HA!  That certainly would have been memorable.

 

 

 

Cool Patch Pumpkins: 

 

Through Dave'swork there are raffles for different events from concerts, to family outings, dinners,... Well, Dave won tickets to Cool Patch Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze in Dixon.  It was actually pretty neat. 

 This was a mountain of hay the kids could climb on.

 About two minutes before this picture was taken Ben fell through a hole in the hay bales and it scared him half to death.  He didn't fall far, but it took him by surprise.

 

 

 

 

 

 Next, they had a Corn Box instead of a sand box.  This was a box of dried corn kernels.  It was so much fun.  The boys LOVED it.  It was about a foot deep and you sink right to the bottom.  It would be awful to fall into a silo of corn kernels.  We played in here for a long time.  The boys loved jumping in,

 swimming in it,

 more jumping, (can you see cute True's face in the stroller)

 

 burying,

 

 running,  it was so much fun we did it at the beginning and at the end of our trip.  I was finding corn kernels in the wash for two weeks after our visit.  It was worth it!

 

 

 

 Waiting in line for our yummy Mexican food!

 

 

 

 

 So, the maze is actually the largest corn maze in the world.  Yep, that's right 53 acres, they've held the record since 2007.

 So there are four bridges/check points and you get a map.  The average for doing the whole maze is 2.5 hours.  We weren't about to tackle that, but we made it to the first bridge (30 minutes) and turned around and came back to the beginning.  The boys loved it, and Benny's hat is adorable!

 

 

 Here we are at the first bridge!

 

 

 

 The boys took a shot at leading us through the maze.  Ben is saying, "Dis way guys", Charlie is saying, "Now, I think we need to go this way...look at the tracks."

 

 

 

Lastly, after we made it out of the maze they saw these silly scarecrows and wanted their picture taken.  They liked how some of them looked like the minions from Despicable Me.

 

We had a great visit, and September was a good month.  I can't believe how fast it's flown by.