Happy Halloween & Happy Birthday

This year I let Brodie pick what he wanted to be for Halloween and after saying he wanted to be his daddy for two days, he changed his mind and wanted to be a Blue Train.  So we got to work and created our masterpiece!

While I labored on the costume, Brodie had fun getting into the Halloween spirit:

And once the train was done he had lots of fun practicing for the big day.

The first house of the night

I was supposed to make a cute little Eddie Cap for him to complete his outfit, but we got sick with the flu the night before, so Brodie and I spent most of our Halloween just trying to recover enough to go out for the night.

Super Happy!  He got candy!

Ryker was a Railroad Crossing sign.  He did great looking cute and tagging along.  His costume was also a lot easier to make!

The boys had a lot of fun passing out candy

And scaring all the kids...

And Ryker has turned into a little dare devil.  He'll even go a step further and stand up with no hands.

And I guess I should mention somewhere on here that Bo turned 30!!  I had envisioned throwing him a big party, but instead he wanted to go out in the middle of nowhere with his dog and hunt.  Whatever.  This is the only picture I have of him on his 30th birthday.

He had fun though and that's what matters.  Bo's dog is on the left and the other dog is Autumn's puppy that his friend owns.  It will be fun seeing one of Autumn's puppies grow up.

We tried taking a family picture the day after his birthday, but of course the boys were uncooperative when it came to smiling.  Boo.

Even without the smiles, aren't these just the cutest kids you've ever seen?

Dishes.

I don't think I've ever come across someone who actually likes to do dishes and I am no exception.  Dishes are the worst chore ever and it is a constant chore.  It's not like cleaning the bathroom where you just have to do that once a week.  It's a multiple times a day chore.  Well I have not had a dishwasher in 4 years!  In this day and age how is it possible that there are still homes that don't have dishwashers in them?!  Apparently a lot, because the last 3 houses we've been in haven't had one.  When we decided to move from Hat Creek into town I told Bo that a dishwasher was a must.  Of course the house we picked didn't have one.  I asked the landlord if she cared if I put one in and she said that she didn't, but I wasn't about to buy a new dishwasher.

Then came the call one fine morning.  My friend called me and told me that her friend had a dishwasher that they were willing to give to me for FREE!  They thought that their old dishwasher was leaking so they bought a new one.  Come to find out their pipes were backing up and it wasn't their dishwasher afterall.  The kids and I rushed over and snatched that thing up quick!  I called a plumber to have him give me an estimate on how much it would cost to install.  He came over and said it would be at least $170!!!!  Ack!  I told him I would get back to him, but knew I never would, that's too much money.  Bo told me he thought we could do it ourselves and it shouldn't be too hard so I you tubed a few videos online and did a lot research and felt confident enough to try it.

So while my husband was at work, I busted out a cabinet.

And plumbed a drain and water supply. (Plumber Bob - Grandpa would be proud)  And did the electrical.  And installed our new dishwasher!

I am happy to report it works!  And there are no leaks and it only cost me a little over $20 for the parts and everything is running wonderfully and I HAVE A DISHWASHER!!!!!  It is so exciting!  It almost makes me like doing the dishes.  Almost.

Anyways the point of this post, other then to brag a little, is if you really want something done then just try it!  You might be surprised at what you can do.  And if at first you don't succeed, then hire someone to do it for you..... but at least try first!

Also, Bo would like me to throw a little disclaimer out there to say that he would have done it for me if I wasn't so impatient.

Silly Boys

My boys can be so goofy sometimes!

This morning was another one of those too quiet moments.  I was in the computer/craft room finishing up a project and things just weren't noisy enough.  I went out to the livingroom to find this:

Brodie asked me if he could have some and I said yes, but it wasn't open and I didn't think he'd be able to open it on his own.  Anyways, the chex turtle mix was dumped all over the floor, Ryker's face was covered in chocolate, and for some reason Brodie was naked.  He must've had to go potty so he took off his jammies.  They were pretty proud of themselves.

This afternoon I caught them swinging together on the swing.  This isn't really goofy... just cute.

Unless I include the following picture... then it turns back into goofy

Today Bo wanted to go deer hunting by himself because he wanted to do some hiking.  Brodie was pretty upset about this so I told him we would do something fun if he stayed with me.  I was thinking finger paints, but didn't really want to deal with making and cleaning up the paints.  I remembered one time in I think elementary school where my teacher let us play with shaving cream on our desks, so we played with some on our coffee table.  The kids had so much fun.... until Ryker rubbed his eye with a shaving cream covered hand...

And Bo got his buck!

Just kidding.  This is the neighbor's trophy from last year.

And we'll end with a picture of Brodie listening to some music on the ipod for the first time.

A Father's Worst Nightmare

This afternoon while Ryker was napping and I was doing the dishes, Brodie was being very quiet - RED ALERT!  RED ALERT!

And this is what I found:

Someone found Mommy's makeup and decided to apply a little to his face...

And I'm posting this one because he looks super girly - he'll just love it when he's older.

He was so proud of himself.  He really did think that he looked pretty and he kept looking at himself in the mirror.

Moving onto more manly events....

Brodie went duck hunting for the very first time with Bo!

They woke up at 5:00 AM and headed out to the fields.  Brodie was so happy!  And they came home with two ducks!

Happy Birthday Ryker! You're 1!

I just can't believe it.  Ryker is 1!

Ryker, you are just the sweetest baby.  I look at you throughout the day and am just in awe of the little things you do.  You are such a happy kid and you make our lives that much fuller.  Last night you decided to sleep through the whole night!  That is a big deal around here, because let's face it, you're not a great sleeper.  Last night was the 3rd time in 1 year that you slept through the night.  You love to explore and nothing stops you.  You're already climbing on boxes, furniture, toys - anything that gets in your way.  You are great a getting dirty or wet.  We have to change your clothes at least 3 times a day.  You also love baths and appreciate lots of bubbles.  You are such a smarty pants!  If you see your brother, dad, or I doing something - you want to do it too.  You go about your day finding objects and somehow know exactly what they are and what you should do with them.  Today you found a hammer and took it over to the tool table and started hammering away.  Then you found some "wood" and started sawing it.  I even caught you trying to put together your brother's puzzle.  You started walking a few weeks ago.  Just small baby steps, but now you'll stand up in the middle of the room all by yourself and take off!  You have the cutest little voice and you love to use it.  My favorite is when you make monster noises.  I love how you seem to just go with the flow.  If I'm out shopping or going to yard sales, you just happily tag along and don't complain.  Not to mention that you are great at schmoozing everyone you come in contact with, although you will make them work hard to get you to smile.  It has been really nice for mommy though, that you never entered the "stranger danger" phase.  We are so lucky to have you in our family and we love you so much!  I am so lucky to watch you grow every day.

Blowing out the candle on his chocolate cupcakes!

Yummy!  This is when he just started eating his cupcake... you should have seen him afterwards!

A clothes change later --- opening his present!

Dinosaur Ball Popper!

Standing up and walking!

Playing with his balloons

What a cute baby!... err Big Boy!



It's a bird! It's a plane! IT'S A DUCK!

Today was opening day of duck season up here and Bo had a great time.  He got his limit of 7 ducks and was home by 9:30.  Now that's what I like to see!

When Brodie woke up and asked where his daddy was I told him that he went duck hunting.  Usually when Bo goes deer hunting he takes Brodie with him, so when I told him this information he just stared at me like he had been betrayed.  As soon as Bo came home instead of running to Bo and giving him a big hug and squealing, which is what usually happens, he just shouted at Bo, "I want to go duck hunting!"  Poor kid.  Once daddy showed him that there were ducks in the back of his truck though, he was nothing but thrilled.

You can't tell, but here he is jumping up and down with excitement.

The boys plucked feathers and roasted the ducks on the BBQ. 

And Bo actually found someone other then him who likes to eat ducks!  Go figure it would be his mini-me.  We tried equipping Brodie with a fork to eat his duck... but then we noticed these candid moments when Brodie thought no one was looking...

Yuck, that is disgusting.  Whatever gets the job done though!

Ryker actually really like it too, but we didn't get a very good picture of it.  Sorry Ryker.

Then we did the really fun stuff!  There was an Estate Sale on the road parallel to us, so we went and dug up some treasures!  I got quite a few things, and Bo even tagged along and got himself a few vintage western shirts.

Check out those Eagles!

That's one good lookin' cowboy if you ask me!

I'm thinking we might have some cowboy trick or treaters in our household this year...