Halloween Parts 2 and 3

More of our week long Halloween celebration.....

This morning was our annual Party with our Mom's Group. Always a fun time- so many friends, and tons of adorable and creative costumes.

This evening was Trick or Treating at the Mall. It was crazy, and crowded, again this year- but still enjoyable. Brayden had a great time playing various games, and going through his first Haunted House.

Ugly Green Monster

Ahhhh, Boys will be Boys......

Brayden came inside from playing outside with a friend this afternoon, screaming "Mommy, come look- I made myself a Big, Ugly, Green Monster!!". Yep, he sure did. Seems he and his buddy thought it would be a great idea to cover themselves in green sidewalk chalk dust. Mommy was a little less than amused....

After cleaning him up enough to allow him in the house for a snack break, he and his friend went back outside to play, with the strict instructions of no more chalk dusting- or any other questionable forms of entertainment.

Well, he just came home (again), this time announcing to me that we have a new pet in his room---- A slug, that he has decided to name "Slash"!!

I don't know which is worse, having an ugly (and messy) green monster come home, or a slimy critter named after an 80's rock icon living under my roof.

BOYS!!

Dinner and A Show

We were honored enough to have another concert from Brayden tonight- complete with a "dinner spread" that he had "prepared" for us (seen in pictures below).

Not sure what was (eh, hem.....) "better"-- the show, or the plastic food we were served. You can be the judge:

No day would be complete at our house lately, without the baby thinking he is a big boy, and partaking in any and all activities that he sees his big brother (and Idol) doing.

Ladies and Gentleman, for your viewing enjoyment, I present to you Rhylan's rendition of Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Night":

Halloween Part I

Today we went to Meijer (for those of you that don't have Meijer in your area, it is like a Super WalMart, only better. Much better selection of groceries/produce/organics, similar prices, isn't trying to take over the entire world and life as we know it, and ummm, well, anyway, it is like WalMart, but not- but I digress) for a Halloween Trick or Treat party.

The boys had a great time, and we were able to entertain them while also accomplishing some grocery shopping- a win/win situation in my opinion.

There were lots of kids in costumes all over the massive store. Gotta admit, I was pretty proud of our little Monsters winning the costume contest (out of about 100 or so contestents). Who couldn't use $15 worth of free groceries/gas, right???

Ahhhhh, Halloween Part 1 is over, stay tuned for the continuing coverage of what has become a week long holiday in our house.....

Augie

Good bye to a wonderful, loving, and faithful member of our family.

Augie was given to me back in 1995. My parents were rather reluctant to let me bring him into their home- but that only lasted about 30 seconds once they met the beautiful lab puppy. It was love at first sight. When I left home a to go back to school, they very willingly kept him- He has actually been known to be referred to as "son" around their house. Augie has been nothing but a good dog through these past 13 years, and very much loved.

He has slowed down a bit in the past couple of years, but other than that, he was still healthy and full of life. I just was home, and was with him this past Friday, and he seemed fine. Apparently on Saturday, he wouldn't eat or drink anything, and was acting out of character. My parent's took him to the vet, where they discovered a large mass in his abdomen. The option of surgery was given, but because of his age, the chance of survival was slim. It was a very hard choice, but the decision to put him to sleep, and not let him suffer was made. Augie went very peacefully at 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

We love you and will miss you, Good Boy

Halloween Portrait

Our little "monsters" all ready for Halloween 2008

Fall Fun

Fall weather is finally here, and just in time to make our annual trip to the local orchard to pick our pumpkins for Halloween. I take the boys to the orchard fairly frequently to play, but this is always a special trip because Daddy comes with us, it's during the weekend- which means that there are lots of extra fun things to do like face painting, pony rides, and tractor rides. Brayden insists that there is no other place to even think about getting a pumpkin..... and I think Rhylan now agrees:

After picking our pumpkins, and spending an enjoyable afternoon at the orchard, we came home to decorate them. Rhylan did more licking of his pumpkin than decorating, but he enjoyed it- and that's all that mattered. (Right?) Brayden requested painting pumpkins again this year, rather than carving- and did a great job on his Space Pumpkin. (Are you surprised at the theme he chose?)

Family Time

Just a picture of the family last weekend before Jason brought the kids back home for me to stay and take care of stuff for the week.

Bringing Down the Walls

Progress!!

It may not look like much (especially since the magnitude of damage can't really be seen in pictures), but the work crews are really making head way on Grandma's house. These pictures were taken a week ago, and even more work has been done since they were taken. They have cleared out everything in the entire house- nothing left. The majority of belongings ended up being a complete loss :( , and there are a few things that at this point look like they can be salvaged. The carpeting (except on the basement stairs) has been entirely ripped out, and demolition has begun in the wing of the house most burned in the blaze. They have torn down walls, taken all of the insulation out of the entire building, brought down what was left of ceilings.

I am not sure what order things are going to move in, if they completely tear everything out, and then rebuild, or if they rebuild a section at a time, but the entire house is going to be gutted in the fashion that the rooms in the pictures below have been. The shell of the house is all that will remain (other than completely new roof, siding, and windows- those all need to be replaced) as it once was. They have to take the rest of the structure down to the studs and rebuild.

I am happy with the progress that has been made thus far, and hope that things continue to run so quickly. This is going to be a long, long process- I won't even go into what I have gone through in the last week just with trying to make inventory lists ("exhausting" doesn't come close). But, as the state of devastation and shock have started to fade for me, I am able to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have always said that "everything happens for a reason", and hopefully my mantra holds some weight in in this situation. There are a lot of positives that will hopefully come from this- a phoenix rising from the ashes (no pun intended).

(My aunt seeing the house for the first time after the fire- quite a bit different than how it looked when we last saw it a week and a half prior. This is in the master bedroom, looking through what was the master bath, and directly through the hallway and into guest room.)

(View from what would have been where closet used to be)

(The restoration/rebuilding company has already taken "dry sponges" over all surfaces in the home to remove much of the discoloring from smoke damage. This is done to help in the clean up effort, some of the smell, and helps make it safer to breath. Even though the walls/ceilings are all going to be coming down, they have to still do this. The above is a picture of the ceiling- which has already been sponged, where a light fixture was in the front hallway. This is how much smoke damage was left even after the initial sponging- and in a part of the house furthest away from the brunt of the damage!! Just gives a little bit of an idea of how things look in there.)

Make a Mess

We have started a new "field trip" playgroup with the Mom's Group I am in. Members offer to host, and coordinate a group trip to do something fun/different with the kids. Some of the past ones have included things like a pizza restaurant tour- complete with the kids getting to make their own pizza, a tour of a petting zoo, etc. I volunteered to put together the one for this month, to go an visit a new Kid's Fun Center in a near by city. It was so fun, the kids had a blast! There was so much to do, climbing, dress up, painting, slime ball throwing, inflatable rides, Karaoke, arcade games....... All for just the admission price, no extra tokens required.

The Mommy's had a great time too- especially since the place was wide open, clean, and safe, so we were able to let the kids pretty much run around, while we relaxed a bit. There is only one exit, which is gated and staffed, so there is no way that children can leave without their parent.

Rhylan and his friend "O" climbing in the baby/toddler area

Brayden jumping in the ball pit

My littlest playing/cheating a game of Skee Ball

And Brayden singing a tune at the Karaoke area.

Afterwards, a group of us went out for lunch at my old favorite hangout from college/graduate school. Didn't know if the food (especially the fried cheeseballs) would taste nearly as good as they did back then- but it was just as yummy as ever, even without the frosty beer to accompany the food. The kids thought so too, as we ended up having to order 4 baskets of the cheeseballs!! Brayden keeps saying that he wants to go back to the "restaurant where Daddy and Mommy got married" (I think he is a little confused; I had told him that is where we first met. I love the place and all, but not my idea of where to have my wedding!! Silly kid.)

Fudgesicle Fun

What Bubby sees, Bubby wants.....

Brayden requested a Fudgesicle for dessert tonight, and Rhylan squealed, squirmed, cried, and otherwise made his request known as well. I knew we were just asking for a big mess, but I also know he has been really fighting with teething, so I thought that it would feel good on his gums.

Yeah, he made a mess---- but in my own biased way, I thought he was too cute for me to even care about the clean up:

Batter Up

We had a beautiful Fall day here today- no way we were going to waste the day away sitting inside. After getting some work done outside, Brayden and Jason practiced a little baseball. Brayden has been excited all week long for his Daddy to come home- wanting to play ball with him (also read: wanting to make his Daddy proud, as he knows how much baseball means to Jason).

I have to say, Brayden is getting much better. There has been a huge improvement in his pitch and batting quite a bit.

Buddy Walk

The boys and I joined some friends for Buddy Walk- a fundraiser/family event to raise money and promote acceptance and inclusion for those with Down Syndrome. One of Brayden's friends has Down Syndrome, and we figured that this was the least we could do for him, his family, and other's living with it. (Please help out this worthwhile cause by sponsoring Brayden's friend, Hagen, by clicking HERE.)

The day was so fun, we will certainly be making this a tradition. There was, of course, a walk (hence being called Buddy Walk, maybe??), but there were lots of carnival games, inflatable rides, face painting, tumbling demonstrations, Child Protection registration, balloon animal artists, food, police car/ambulance, a magician, and much more.

(Brayden stayed, with a friend, to watch the magician while I took Rhylan to eat and walk around, and I missed it---- apparently the magician made Brayden float in mid air!!! I am so bummed that I missed it, and no one got a picture of it. At first I thought that Brayden was making it up, until I had other parent's in the crowd telling me about it.)

Here are some pictures from the day:

Rhylan with one of the participants of the walk.

Which end of the police car do you predict will be in his future???????

Having fun at the carnival

Sooooo tired from all of the excitement.

Baby in a Basket

Just some quiet time "reading" a book.