Scurvy!

A week or two ago, we took the boys down to the river. They had replicas of Christopher Columbus' ships, the Nina and the Pinta. Since the boats look kinda like pirate ships, we thought the boys would get a kick out of seeing them. Once we got there, we saw that the boats were pretty small, and taking Shep on them made me nervous. I stayed behind with him so he could run around...away from the water! The boats are parked side by side, aren't they little????

Anyway, on the way back to the car, William's bottom tooth fell out! We teased him and said he must have gotten scurvy while he was onboard. (Quite honestly, I had forgotten what kind of disease scurvy is, but it's a vitamin c deficiency that makes teeth fall out....evidently common when Columbus sailed the ocean blue)! :) I got a picture of the tooth this time....

William was so excited, of course!

I've said it once...

and I'll say it a million more times....we love Mt. Ida! We made our first trip of the fall a few weekends ago, and had a ball as always. I love this picture because it is so us. William not paying attention, Charlie cutting up. And Shep, well, we just never know what to expect with his age, but he sure looks happy in this picture!

Charlie is obsessed with the four wheeler, and that's about all he wanted to do....and "go too fast."

Sweet Baby (who seems to be losing a touch of his "sweet" these days) just wanted to be outside. There are lots of hills and whatnot, and he gets on his tummy and backs down them as if he's climbing down stairs. In fact, one time he ended up on top of a snake....on top of an ant hill! I'm happy to say this incident was not on my watch, because I do not do snakes. At all. He walked away with several ant bites, but it didn't slow him down at bit!

William loved playing on the hill next to an old chicken coop. I think he was knocking down a tree in this picture. :)

Trucks and rocks. Trucks and rocks. Trucks and rocks. Love 'em.

I wish I had software to take the glare off this picture, cause I love it.

Pointing at birds....for 16 months, Shep has a pretty good eye for them!

Walking sticks were EVERYWHERE. Seriously I've never seen so many in my life. Crickets, too. Every time I stepped, I would make at least one cricket jump, maybe 3-4. Bugs galore! There's a great big oak tree outside the house, and I think we counted 10 different bugs on it at the same time.

These boys in their carhartt overalls just make me happy. They are so precious!

Sweetness.

One of the few pictures I ever make it in, and this is exactly why...the bags never go away. I always look like I haven't slept in days! :)

So Far Behind....

Wow. I am so far behind, I'm not sure I can remember where to start! Slowly but surely, I am doing the things I swore I'd never do.....like fail to write down important milestones in my children's lives. William lost his first tooth.....a while ago. Like the end of September. I think. I must say that this event followed an unexpected surgery for yours truly and 5 day hospital stay. Too soon thereafter, we were visited by a violent stomach bug that hit everyone in this house. I lived in a fog for, let's see, oh....since my last post. So, anyway, William lost a tooth. I have a video on my phone that I'm not smart enough to get on here. We tied a string to his tooth, the other end of the string to a door (you know the rest). And out popped his tooth!! I should also mention that he was gung-ho about the string and the door idea, by NO means did we force him or even suggest it seriously for that matter. But it worked, and he was SO excited! He now proclaims that every time he has a loose tooth, we will use the same method. :) We'll see how long that lasts. Since I was so focused on the video footage, I don't have any pictures. The picture below is of him chewing on an ear of corn that was left on the husks I used to decorate our door. It was hard as a rock, and he tried biting into it to make that tooth come out.

Here is sweet baby, in serious need of a hair cut. But who can really notice when it's on top of this seriously cute face?!?!

William's kindergarten class also took a field trip to the pumpkin patch. I thought it would be a good idea to tag along and take little brothers too. Scratch that. I knew it wouldn't be a good idea because I knew I'd be a crazy lady by the time we left, but I also knew it might be the only time I'd be brave enough to take all 3 of them. They had a ball. Here are William and Charlie riding in the moo cows, which were being pulled by a tractor.

Down to the pumpkin patch they went...

I don't even know why I attempted this picture.

Chillin'. Waitin' for the ladies to come. And they did. About 5 from William's class. they. would. not. leave. him. alone. It was so cute.

Flexing my muscles with this big ole pumpkin. :)

William's class. He's on the back row, far right, next to his buddies, Grant and Gray.

A week or two ago, there was a tractor down the street. Charlie marveled at them, and the men were nice enough to drive down to our house to let Charlie ride it!

They even let him move the arm all by himself. They were so sweet to him!

Again, the haircut. Ugh. Promise he's had one since this picture. :)

Pumpkin carving day. Honest to goodness, we almost totally forgot to carve our pumpkin. We managed to squeeze it in the afternoon before Halloween. Shep was too little to participate too much. Charlie was totally disinterested....you know, he's funny about gross things (unless it's bathroom humor), and getting his hands dirty. William was all about it. Arm all the way in it, digging out the pumpkin "throw up."

Side note: for the first time since I've known William, he is growing a beard!! I've always hated beards, plus a beard and a suit (which he wears every day) just don't seem to mix. But he caved and decided to finally do it. I was all about it, so he would finally quit talking about it. Get this....two weeks into it, he doesn't like it, and I do! Go figure. I love the next two pictures.

Halloween. William was a grave ghoul, who could have been mistaken for a boy in a black dress. The mask was too hot, so he only wore it for about 5 seconds. :) Charlie was Thomas the Tank Engine, and Shep was a pumpkin. Glutton-fest.

For being just 15 months old, Shep was all about some trick or treating. He wanted to be on foot with the big boys, and he hung in there pretty well!

Our neighbor was dressed in this costume. When the boys walked up to trick or treat, we thought she was a decoration. (She's a tiny little thing, I hope I look as good as she does when I'm in my 60s). So, as the boys passed, she moved and scared the living daylights out of them. It was hilarious. William is still talking about how he wants to do that next year at our house. :) Here he is on the left with Mrs. Dona on the right.

So much more to say, but this Momma is T.I.R.E.D. and going to bed. I promise to not wait so long til next time. :)

William's first crush

For as long as William has been able to kind of "get" the concept of marriage, he was going to marry me. Mom. Live with me forever. Take care of me all the days of my life. He sounded like me when I was little. (Dad got me on tape saying that I was going to live with him and mom forever, building a house in their back yard). I realize this is totally normal for a 5 year old, and I have loved every second of it. Unfortunately, it didn't last as long as I had hoped. I am sad to report that I have been replaced. By Kate. Kate Middleton. A real live princess. The Duchess of Cambridge. And who can blame him?? I would have a crush on her, too, if I were a boy. :) I might secretly be a little obsessed with her myself as is, but anyway... William spent every second of indoor play this weekend drawing pictures of her. We have an entire album of his drawings, and I just had to share a few of my favorites. :) And, by the way, he is totally embarrassed about all these pictures....no one outside of our house is allowed to see these. ;) I should also note these pictures were taken with my phone and are not as clear as I would like.

This is the stack....

Doesn't she have pretty teeth? Clothes would be appropriate, but the bow is so thoughtful. :)

I think Kate had too much coffee this day, but she's still beautiful.

And a sunburned Kate.

Kate and William living in their "happily ever after" house.

She might have experimented with some drugs before this picture. But the beauty still prevails.

And most thoughtfully....he even wrote a book about their deer hunt together. It was action packed with a bear getting on their tent and they each shot a deer. We taped him reading it to me. I am not making this up, and he was totally NOT encouraged to do ANY of this. These ideas are 100% from that little boy's mind!

Last but definitely not least, William says this is his favorite picture. It will absolutely hang on our playroom wall. It is William and Kate driving home after their wedding. Love. It. Now, if we can get him to have this same fabulous taste many years down the road when he is making this decision for real. We'll be in good shape!