Fall Favorites

Allright, below is a little bit of a repeat from an earlier email I sent, but there are some additions, so if you have the time, read on.

I am so loving this fall season. Just as much as the leaves are changing, so are our boys.

S.Jessen seems to be getting more mature every day! He is continuing to love preschool and is growing up before our eyes. He has really enjoyed the leaves changing this fall and is very observant. He told me the other day that red and white make pink and that our friend Mark was a good guy. Is he 3 or 30? He is also way too fascinated with "tooting." :)

Tate is starting to be a really big boy, but still enjoys singing "Sunshine" at bedtime. He talks in his sleep nearly every night and his newest word is "whar" as in "whar is my nigh-nigh, my food, my jean-jean (drink)?" It pretty much works for everything! He says the cutest "where's the baby" you've ever heard. His I love you sounds like "how aw you," but when you know what it says, your heart melts. He does throw a good fit though and can go from laid back to intensely angry in a very short period of time.

Both of or boys seem to be growing up too quickly all of a sudden. Tate is trying to dress himself and S.Jessen does everything, but make his own food. We are so blessed that they both still really love to snuggle. They certainly keep us very busy. I miss them so much when I am at work, but know they are having adventures together and that makes me feel better.

I tried getting the boys pics 21 month and 3 1/2 year pics taken together, but the Sears lady was a psycho and so was Tater. I know I've added a lot of pages today, so here are my last favorite fall pics!
S.Jessen made this picture on his light bright for me while I was out and about. He's so proud!
Tate actually stopped for a pose!

Pumpkin Carving

We went and bought pumpkins on Friday and carved one this weekend. Not sure if we'll get the other one carved, but the boys loved the experience of feeling the slimy seeds and goo on the inside. At one point when I told Tate to stick his hand in, he yelled No! S.Jessen got pretty into it and when Tater was napping, he and Daddy carved a pretty cool football!


All done and ready for bed!

Costume time

As our dress up day is quickly approaching, I thought we'd better decide what the boys will be wearing. S.Jessen's school is having a competition for costumes and as much as I wanted him to be "Sully" from Monsters, Inc, he would be a monster and not so appropriate for a Christian School. We decided to go with "Woody" off of Toy Story, once I found a cowboy hat at the party store this past weekend! Tate loved buzzing around as a bee and then being also "Sully" while S.Jessen was "Spidey". These boys are so much fun!

Playing in the Leaves

We had a beautiful Saturday two weekends ago. After I went and got the boys hair cuts we ventured out into the land of leaves! Roger got a new bagger for his rider and it made collecting the leaves a zillion times faster than last year! He raked a few piles for the boys to enjoy though and here are some of those pics! I am also attaching a song S.Jessen learned in preschool about leaves. It's totally appropriate for the season and perfectly wonderful!

This is the song S.Jessen learned at Preschool. It only took 10 tries to video it, but he really did get into performing. Big shock there :)

A visit to the Apple Orchard

Since I've started working full time, I've joined a Bunco group. Over the summer, several of the Bunco Mommies have met for play dates and we've tried to continue it a few times this fall. This week, a lot of kids got to come. The apple orchard is fun because it has goats to watch and pet, a sandbox, an apple speedway (with trikes), pumkin patch, and all the fresh apples you can buy! We tried to get all the kids pics in the flower garden, some turned out good. Of course my kids could not look in the same direction at the same time. It was a really nice day.

Pierce, Jillian, J.T., Tate, S.Jessen, and Brett in the flower garden
Pierce filling up Tate's "tractor" with gas
S.Jessen enjoying a "tractor" ride
Happy Tater running around
S.Jessen and Brett's baby sister, Clare

J.T., Tate, S.Jessen, and Brett posing nicely in the flowers

Tater and S.Jessen looking in the same direction, almost

Isabella and J.T. go to the same daycare. Isabella just moved to town in August and her Mommy knows my friend Jayme from home.

Hawkeyes visit the Huskers

This has been such a busy month for us! In early October, we were able to go visit our Husker friends in Nebraska. We have not seen Dan and KayCee's son Thomas since right after he turned one (He's 3 1/2 now) and they had new baby Sammie Jo over the summer so it was time to make the trip! It is always fun to see them as there is someone for everyone, especially now that Sammie was born. Roger has Dan, I have KayCee, S.Jessen has Thomas, Tate now has Sammie, and they even have a Shih tsu Farley for Dixon to play with!

S.Jessen and Thomas sliding together :)

Tate rolling on the floor with Sammie

Thomas, Tater, and S.Jessen playing on the play set outside

Tate, S.Jessen, and Thomas watching Skooby before bed

We did have some priceless quotes that I have to share. Thomas, as well as most of us, have a very hard time understanding our sweetie Tate's stories. At one point Thomas screamed from the top of the steps, "What aw you saying?!" He was so serious. As Dan is apologizing, and I am laughing Thomas then says, "Tate speaks many spanish words!" Poor guy. He was so excited for his new friends to come play. S.Jessen was very infatuated with baby Sammie and Tate couldn't speak a lick of English :) All in all it was a terrific time and probably the easiest travelling experience we've had since Tate's been born. It's easier visiting friends who know what it's like to have two kids.


The Huskers and Hawkeyes both lost miserably, but Dan and Roger did rally pretty good :)

S.Jessen and Tate wondering what it would be like to have a baby sister (Mommy, too)

Too Funny Mom Song

If you have not seen this, you need go there right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anSpBUxsgAU

Backtracking a little

Every couple needs a little time away from the kids and Roger and I took our moment and went to the Iowa/Syracuse night game. We had a super time tailgating and got to catch up with a lot of friends. We didn't get to see everyone, but had a great time together and felt refreshed after a night off from being Mommy and Daddy. Thanks for the break Granny and Pops AND thanks for the tickets Grandma and Grandpa Brecht! We did miss the kids though :)