Catch up...

Wow. Where does time go? I can't believe that it is November and that Thanksgiving is next week. When did that happen? Anyway, here are some pictures of the goings-on in our family!

August:

Here are the boys enjoying the monsoons:

Mikey started second grade:

September:

 Introducing Alex Joshua Hunter

Big AL was born September 8 and was Nick and Jessika's 4th BOY!! He is absolutely adorable! 

Julia and I went to the Women's Expo in September and it was awesome! They had everything you could imagine! We even got to see Kirstie Allie up close and personal.  I have to say, she doesn't look nearly as big as the tv makes her out to be! I guess the camera really does add 10 lbs.  Keep that in mind when you look at pictures of me...   :)

Here is Julia trying out the Amika.  Amazing! It was such a fun day!

Here is Hunter at Hailey's birthday party.  He loved the splash pad! :) We also celebrated Kristi and Jacob's Birthdays in September! I can't find a single picture from it though! Happy Birthday to them both!!!  

 October:

My friend Tanya got married November 13th and I threw her shower October 2nd.  It was so fun to be able to decorate with girly themes and colors! 

We went to the farm again this year with my whole family to celebrate Caden, Jeff and Clayton's birthdays.  It was fun, as always!  Hunter was NOT cooperating for pictures, which is a total bummer but bound to happen with a two-year-old...

'

My mom got everyone adorable outfits to coordinate with fall.  I love her sponsorship! :)

All of the kids took a break with some snow cones and they looked so cute lined up!  

Carving Pumpkins:

Hunter was not a huge fan of the pumpkin guts. I remember when Mikey was about 3 he freaked out about the guts too.  I can totally understand though.  They are kinda freaky...

Trunk or Treat

We went to my parents trunk or treat this year and it was so fun to get to see Nana and Wardy as well as Maia and Kristi!

The boys had a blast!

Cutest scarecrow I've ever seen!

Mikey's silly face

Trick Or Treat!

 Dash from the Incredibles

Hunter was so much fun this year! He actually understood the idea of going up to the door and getting candy! He struggled a little with saying "trick or treat!" so instead, he would walk up to the door and say "I pease have some" with his hand out. I didn't realize until like door #5 that he was holding every single piece of candy for dear life in his little hands. I kept having to remind him to put it in the bucket. 

I made my shirt using freezer paper stenciling.  I have heard all about that method but this is my first attempt!  It works so well! I finally understand what all the hype is about! :)

Mike's sis and brother-in-law, Paul, played a little role reversal this Halloween. Julia, Jeff, Pauline and Tim were there too but I don't have any pictures of them! I'm sorry!

Dillon's had a Halloween party too so here I am with my friend Jessica.

November:

On November 6th my sister-in-law and mother-in-law threw me a gorgeous baby shower!! It was so fun and I was so glad to see everyone!  Thank you to everyone who came and for all of your generous gifts!

 Melissa, Pauline and Me!

Some old school friends. Brittany, Me, Tanya, Krysten, Hollie, Nicki and Eileen.

The adorable favors!

Thank you everyone!!!

Gone Fishing:

We went fishing with the boys the other day and it was so fun! They had such a blast and it was a gorgeous day.  We got KFC because that was a tradition with Mike's Grandpa.  

Click on the collage to see the pictures more closely. I should have done this the whole time! :) Sorry, I'm a rookie!!

Anyway, I will have pictures from the wedding last weekend coming soon! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Celebrity Look A-likes

After breakfast I discovered Hunter bore a striking resemblance to a certain movie character...  

It's really too bad that Halloween was just last week. 

Another Mikeyism

We were driving down the 303 and we passed an old, rusty farm house when out of the silence Mikey said: 

"thats why you don't have goats."

Me: ?  What?

Mikey: "goats aren't very good pets."

Me: "What made you think that?"

Mikey: "Well, that house back there had a bunch of goats in the yard and it was all smashed up.  The goats have really hard horns and they will smash your house up. That's why you don't have goats."

Me: "ya bud, I guess that makes sense."

Love that boy.

Hourglass

I was reading the Nie Nie dialogs today and she had a beautiful video of her family set to this song by Mindy Gledhill.  It seriously made me start to cry.  I had a really hard day at work and I have just felt so overwhelmed by all of the upcoming events I lost sight of what is important in life.  I gave Hunter a huge hug and just thought about how much I want him to be stuck forever this way.  I just can't imagine him getting bigger.  I think back on Mikey when he was Hunter's age and I remember thinking the same thing.  It just really blows my mind how time flies.  I love these boys so much. 

Here are the lyrics to that song, it's beautiful:

Little boy, when you speak
I can’t help but kiss your cheeks
I love the way you grab my hands
And tell me all about your plans

Rocket high, comets fly
You and I could take a ride
And fly away to Neverland
And give our best to Peter Pan

When you reach for the stars
Don’t forget who you are
And please don’t turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life’s an hourglass
Life’s an hourglass

Story’s read, prayer is said
Close your eyes sleepyhead
While angels linger in your dreams
And hold you in their feathered wings
Just like you, I was small
Not that long ago at all
I wish you all the happiness
That God gives freely if you ask

The verdict is in.

The streak has yet to be broken.

Come on Jessika, you have to have a girl.  

All kidding aside, we are truly ecstatic for another boy!

Mikey and Mario

I can not believe Mikey is seven.  WTH? When did that happen? It blows my mind that Hunter is approaching the age Mikey was when Mike and I met.  Where does the time go? 

That being said, Mikey chose to have a Super Mario birthday party this year.  We gave him a choice between having his party at a park or at peter piper pizza with the condition that he would have less budget left over for presents. He chose Peter Piper.  I was pretty overwhelmed with Hunter's Party, My SIL's baby shower and a huge family reunion we were in charge of, that I was really hoping Mikey's party wouldn't seem last minute. 

I got these invitations on ebay. The seller sent me the proof and it said "MICKEY is turning 7"...as in the mouse.  Thankfully it didn't take very long to get that fixed!

The spread. I got a bunch of ideas from this blog. 

I found lanyards that were custom made to look like pit-passes for each kid.  They were really cute, I wish I had a close-up.  You can see them on the right in the picture below.

The Hats were Walmart purchases for $1.50 a piece. I bought white felt and used acrylic paint I already had to paint the letters.  

The mustaches I ordered in bulk from a party supplier online. I also ordered gum coins (scattered on the table) from them.  

The Mushrooms were a last minute find that I was so excited for! I can't take any credit for the idea, I was so happy that I found them before the party!  Here is a tutorial on how to make them. The top of the mushroom opens up and the base is a pouch.  I had 10 tokens in each one for the kids.  That way they could keep track of their own tokens and tickets! Again, it was super inexpensive because felt is like $.37 at Walmart!

The silverware was leftover from Hunter's party.  I just removed the shark napkin ring and replaced it with pictures of mario characters. (princess peach, yoshi, the star, etc). I seem to always forget pictures of the tiny details...

The Birthday Boy

Mike drew the ghost face with a sharpie and we found out that sharpie's are not very permanent on latex. Whoops-y. We tried to make them look like Boo! (the ghosts that chase you)   

These balloons were supposed to look like the 'chain-chomps'.  I even had them attached to a paper chain! I just couldn't resist!

We love our Jake!

Preston and Tanya representing! 

The Thomas siblings (minus Paul)

These boys loved playing "b-ball" but what was even more hilarious than watching them was watching Nick and Julia "help" them make baskets.  (If you know Nick or Julia, you know that it turned into a competition between the two of them, and the toddlers were forgotten about)

Ski Ball Love

You know you miss it...

I had to get a picture of all of the men gathered around the shooting game.  Glued.to.the.screen.

CAKE!  (Don't those candles look like Yo-Gabba-Gabba?)

Waiting to eat cake! 

Apparently some people can't wait any longer and just dive in with the serving utensil...

Emery and Pauline.  Emery would absolutely not wear a mustache unless another girl wore one. So my mother in law finally convinced her to put one on for a picture. She is such a girly-girl!

Presents!

Mikey's uncle got him this semi-auto nerf gun.  You should have seen my house after the party.  There were three grown men and a 7 year old having a full fledged shoot-out with various nerf guns and the bow and arrow Nick and Jess got Mikey.  It felt like it was raining Nerf bullets for awhile.  I am still finding them to this day.

Hunter trying to be like his older brother.  He takes Mikey's nerf gun and will say "Freeze".

Jake and Ju playing with Boo.

Jax showing off his ticket purchases. Better watch out for Jacob! (Hardy-har-har.)

So all-in-all, it was a great party! I was so glad I could make Mikey feel special for his birthday!  Happy birthday my big seven year old!