Thankful EVERY Day

I can not believe November is already almost over! Man, time is flying!

We just finished up soccer for Eli this last week.  I was pretty skeptical given his history with playing soccer, but this time, something clicked and he looooved it.  Every week he would ask me when soccer was.  I think what was key for him was that it was in a very familiar place, and it was pretty low-key.  The soccer field was right by the park so we had a standing date at the park for a good hour before soccer on Tuesdays.

I am so proud of him for getting out there and doing his best! He was so confident and just went out there and had so much fun.

I had a really, really hard time keeping Cash off the field.  He would kick the ball back and forth the entire time and run onto the field like he was an over-enthusiastic fan streaking across the field.

He is actually quite impressive with the soccer ball and seems be the one with the most coordination so far.
God bless this third child of mine! I totally forgot to schedule a 15 month appointment for him.  But what a complete joy this child is!  He is now 16 months old. I guess we will just wait until he is 18 months, poor 3rd child.
Cash's latest obsession, aside from soccer balls, is balloons.  He has recently hijacked birthday balloons from the last few birthday parties we have attended.

Even brought a few home and held on to them for days...slept with them next to his bed, and ate breakfast with them.

His last balloon-capade lasted two days long where he carried this darn balloon around, no joke, the entire day.

 The balloon got cut off in this picture, but he even brought it with us to our happy hour playdate!

He gets the biggest kick out of being able to interact with Eli and Owen while they are playing now. Eli does a really good job of playing with him.  The other day Eli was playing with him and when he was done playing Cash just stood behind Eli poking him trying to get him to get back up to play.  When Eli did not oblige, Cash was so upset.  You can just see on his face how completely thrilled he is that he is able to participate in the craziness.

Right in there with the big boys

He climbed up on the bed and nuzzled himself in-between Eli and Owen

I heard something on the monitor and found Eli and Owen in Cash's room after he woke up from his nap

First ice cream truck experience.
I got Cash a push-up pop thinking it would make the least mess, and he kept thinking he should use the stick, that looks like a straw to suck it and couldn't get anything out...he was quite frustrated!

Just one of the boys

I can not believe he is already 16 months old.  He is still a picky eater but loves strawberries, blueberries, loves Frosted Mini Wheats with milk, and his absolute faves are pomegranates and peas.  He makes a huge mess with every meal, which leaves me sweeping and wiping up the floor three times a day.  He loves his bath, has learned how to steal toys from his brother when they aren't looking, and quickly run the other way before they notice, he loves putting on Blaine's shoes, will occasionally sit and look at a book, he likes to point out different body parts, give high-fives and wave to everyone, will give kisses, and loves hide and seek.
Unless he is sick, he is always happy.  He can be sleep deprived and starving and will still be happy. I just cant get enough of this little dude.

In other news, we have been having trouble with drop-off at school with Eli.  I have had no idea what the heck was going on, but it got to the point that I was literally peeling him off my leg, tossing him in the room, and running out as fast as I could before he could catch me.  It was miserable.  He always has great days at school and is always, always happy at the end of the day, so we could not for the life of us figure out what was going on.  His teacher and I had talked and e-mailed multiple times to come up with different ways to deal with this.  We started with a sticker on his treasure box chart each morning he came in without tears, and eventually stopped doing that because he was doing better.  But shortly after, he went back to his old ways.
Last weekend I sat down with him and asked him what I could do differently that would help him be happy in the mornings.  Want to know his response?!?!?  A cookie in his lunch!

Me: "Eli, you are telling me that if I put a cookie in your lunch you wont cry at school?!?!?"
Eli: "Yes!"
Me: Well, what kind of cookie do you want?
Eli: "One of the Halloween cookies we made"

I tell you, I would have let him eat a whole lunch box of cookies if that it was it was going to take.  I was not expecting such an easy fix.  Monday came along, and I pulled out some Halloween cookies we had made from the freezer, stuck it in his lunch, and voila....no crying.
Wednesday came along...same thing.  We were out of Halloween cookies, so I spent all morning Wednesday while they were in school baking cookies and getting them ready for Eli to help me decorate them.

The funny thing is that he doesnt even eat the cookie at school!?!?!?  I dont know what it is about having a cookie in his lunch but it does the trick.  I love that he is old enough to actually tell me what I can do for him because never in a million years would I have tried putting a darn cookie in his lunch. I made a good 4 dozen, so we should be good for a while.

We make a point to talk about how thankful we are in the month of November but my parents always made sure to tell us how much they appreciate us and tell his how much they loves us every day, to not leave things unsaid, or let someone know how you feel.  If you know my dad, you know he never, ever misses on opportunity to give us a hug, or squeeze or tell us he loves us.  These last few weeks have been a huge reminder just how lucky we are.  I have been surrounded with reminders of how fragile life is with people close to me struggling with their health and some who have lost their battle with their health.  I have found myself hugging my kids a little tighter and a little longer, kissing them too much, and starring at them marveling in my luck to have three wonderful, sweet, healthy children.

We made a Thankful tree this year and would write what we are thankful for on leaves every day and hang them on our tree.  This picture could not have come out worse, but it was actually pretty cute in real life!

It was fun to see how their understanding of being thankful has grown since last year.  More often then not they would say thing like God, each other, Mom, Dad, Lolli, trees....only a few times did they say toys or material things.
We went to their Thanksgiving Feast at their school on Monday.  Each class sang a really cute song on stage and then we all ate a lunch that they helped prepare together.

They made Thanksgiving place mats in their class and they each wrote that they were thankful for each other on them. It makes me so happy!

So, while we will all express our thanks this coming Thursday, I am thankful every single day for the blessings and wonderful people in my life.  I feel beyond blessed for all the blessings in my life.

Trick or Treat!

We were counting down the days until Halloween at our house!  As expected, Eli and Owen made a game time decision on what costume was Trick or Treat worthy.  They went back and forth a bit before they settled on Iron Man and Spider Man. They were able to dress up as three different things leading up to Halloween!
Last weekend while cleaning out boxes at my parents, we came across a little cowboy outfit that was Ethan's when he was little that my grandmother made. It fit Cash perfectly, so cowboy it was.  He would only wear a fireman hat, refused to wear the cowboy hat, so we left all hats at home so I did not end up holding it.

Halloween afternoon, a few good friends came over with their kids for an early dinner and a chance to play with their friends in costume before we hit the streets. The boys are at such a fun age for Halloween and they were so excited.

They could not get out the door fast enough to Trick or Treat, so Blaine kicked it off by letting all the kids pick something out from our candy bowl and then we all headed out!  This was the first time Blaine has been off on Halloween since Eli was 1, so it was especially fun and special to have him him with us and at home in our new neighborhood!!!

 This kid did not hold back.  He loved every single minute of it.  I think he mostly enjoyed the freedom of walking around the neighborhood but he hung with the big kids the whole night, walking from door to door.

Eventually Cash's pumpkin got a little heavy and he found a nice driveway to sit down in and take a little candy inventory.

Our neighborhood was nuts!!!! People went all out with costumes and decorations.   After we all decided we had Trick or Treated enough, we all headed back to our house to sort through candy and pass some out.  I think the boys had just as much fun answering the door when the door bell rang.  Every time we opened the door it was 5 or 10 kids each time and the streets were crawling with kids. I don't think we anticipated so many kids!  After about 45 minutes, we ran out of candy and had to turn out our lights!