Enjoying the view.........

.......................of Elmo,


.................of more Elmo,



............of the garbage trucks coming down the street,

...............of the big truck picking up the trash, the tractor scooping up the leaves, and the other big truck that carries the leaves away,

..........of the trucks and tractors driving away:(,

............of a sad Kyle wanting to see more "big trucks!!",

............of a mad Kyle when I tell him that they're "all gone",

..................and of a little more Elmo, in case you didn't know that we like Elmo (and Sesame Street, otherwise known around here as "Elmo").

Two very cute cowboys!!

Here are some scenes from our Halloween adventures. I think that the boys thought that we had lost our minds somewhere in the move, as they seemed confused about why they had to wear these hats and carry around their cows which normally stay in their cribs:). You can see the confusion by the looks on their faces. Sorry to torture you with so many shots of the same scene, but their little faces cracked me up, and I couldn't pick just one:). Aunt Kara had bought them cowboy boots to finish off the outfits, but they got stuck in Denver when a foot and a half of snow delayed her trip home by a week:(. Oh well, cowboys are cute with tennis shoes, too!

"Okay, enough with this silly picture thing!! You keep talking about candy and saying "Trick or Treat", so let's get on with it!!"

"Ahhhhhh, this is what they were talking about!! I think I may like this Halloween thing." (note - Kyle got into his bucket, choose, and unwrapped this sucker all by himself. We turned around to find this when we heard paper crinkling in the back of the van.)

Brock didn't dive into his bucket on his own - he was too engrossed watching the Elmo video in between stops:).

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves!!!!

Ahhh, leaves. They are so beautiful when on the trees, give us great shade, are fun to play in when they fall, but they are no fun to rake!! We are excited that there are many mature trees in our new yard, but are learning the with the benefits come the work:). Brock and Kyle are enjoying the fruits of Mom and Dad's labor and have enjoyed jumping and playing in the leaf piles on several different days since we've moved in.

Kyle wasn't too sure about the whole situation in the beginning.

As usual, Brock jumped right in:).

Getting warmed up. "I guess I can sit in these things, but I'm still not going to touch them!!" Kyle doesn't seem to be real adventurous when it comes to getting his hands dirty. During dinner, he routinely wants us to wipe his hands off if they get dirty while he's eating (especially if it's something sticky:). He usually doesn't like to touch grass, and leaves didn't seem to be much better in the beginning.

For some reason, they always seemed to be facing the wrong direction when I took pictures:).

Rolling in the leaves.

"Okay. So maybe I can touch them just a little."

Running through the piles. "You didn't want them to stay all together in that big pile, did you??"

Jumping in the leaves.

More running through the leaves.

"Okay, so if they look this cool when I throw them up in the air, maybe it's worth getting my hands dirty!!!"

And here's a little video clip of the boys in action. The best part of this video was watching the boys' reaction when we watched it on the computer. They just giggled with delight when watching themselves and asked us to play it over and over.

We're getting settled:)

Hi all - that is if there's anyone still out there:). We've got most of the boxes unpacked, and are settling in and loving our new home!! It's been a long process that I do not wish to repeat ANY time soon, but it is worth every ounce of energy spent. I will hopefully do some catch-up blogging in the next week to catch you up on all of our fun fall activities ( yes, we did manage to work in a little fun with our work:). Until then, here are some pics of the boys' breakfast with Elmo this past week. They are saying and doing funny things almost every waking minute, and this was no different. When I called them for breakfast with our traditional "Breakfast Song", they each showed up with an Elmo in tow. I tried to convince them to let the Elmos sit on the table to watch them eat, but they would have nothing to do with it. Elmo was going to be right next to them, eating breakfast, too!! What a bunch of Elmo fanatics we are around here!!

2 boys with Elmos, ready to eat.

"Are you thirsty, Elmo?? Have some of my milk."

"What a good idea!! I'll share, too!!"

Packing our boxes:)

As we prepare for our big move the boys have been especially helpful (hahahaha!!!)..............

Here they are, loading and unloading their book shelves into a box. Never mind the fact that we aren't quite ready to pack up the books that they read everyday:).

Here's an item that we're definitely going to take with us - but probably not in a box - unless he has a say in the matter:).

Tired of packing already!! Moving on to play mailbox. This has been an awesome garage sale find - keeping 2 little boys occupied for several minutes at a stretch:).

Busy postmen.

"Can you still see me with my eyes closed??"

2 boys in cute new fall jammies!!

Here we are sporting our new fall jammies. Thanks, Grandma Leman!!!

Remember when they used to sit so nicely in this chair for pictures?? Not any more!! It's a trial to keep them in one place for any amount of time:).

Especially when you can flip the cushions back, rock really hard and touch the sound machine - by yourself!!

I think he's saying "No no!!", because this is usually what they hear when they do this!!

Funny story from this morning: I awoke to hear Kyle playing with the window blinds (as he often does), and Brock yelling "Mommy!!! Daddy!! NO NO!!" to tattle on his brother. What a riot!!

Labor Day Parade

Brock and Kyle got to watch their first parade on Labor Day. It was a long parade (almost 2 hrs), and they were enticed by the whole thing. From the bands to the tractors, and then on to the horses - they didn't miss a thing!! I was impressed with their attention span, but it definitely wore them out!!!

Daddy and Kyle at the start of the parade - "I think I'll just stay back here with you, Dad. This seems kind of loud."

Brock with Aunt Ruthie and Grammy Martin at the beginning of the parade- "I think I'll stay here, too - safe and sound!! Who knows what will come after these fire trucks and police cars!!"

"Okay - so maybe this isn't so scary after all. Let's get a little closer to the action. And, if we're going to get any of that candy that they keep throwing, we need to be close!!"

"Can someone open some of that sweet stuff for me to eat?!?!"

"Whew!! This parade watching stuff is hard work. We need to take a break with Dad, but we don't want to be too far away from the action!!"

Our parade watching friends. Thanks for inviting us A & M!!

Post parade - time for a water break and a little Elmo on the ride home:).

Kyle had the water break, but couldn't make it through Elmo - he could barely make it out of the parking lot awake:). (Sorry - I'm not sure why this pic didn't turn:).