Our Busy October!

There are so many pictures of the different things we did this month that I hardly feel the need to write anything extra. The boys make me laugh a lot, cry a little, and dream of the days when I will be able to sleep as long as I want. I'm exhausted from the moment I wake until I go to sleep each and every day. Nevertheless, I continue to love hanging out with my little guys who always keep me guessing what will happen next!



After a bout of illness through each member of the family, we decided the best cure for a cold was fresh air. We packed the kids in the car and headed to a local pumpkin farm to enjoy some time outdoors. It was a beautiful day, and everyone felt much better afterward, so the goal was accomplished!



Evan says big boys don't smile for pictures.




Luke was a bit sick, but he stayed warm being carried in Mommy's coat!

I swear that isn't a cigarette in Joel's mouth; he was given a lollipop to enjoy!

Joel says watermelons are cool!

Mommy and Daddy said, "Don't run into the corn maze." In toddler terms, that means, "Run as fast as you can NOW!"

Last month, Todd won bowling passes, so we thought we'd bring the kids out and enjoy an afternoon at the bowling alley. Joel and Evan enjoyed themselves and were on fairly good behavior until the end. Luke was a little angel and sat quietly in his carrier the entire time. It was a fun family event!


The twins used a ramp to bowl. They loved pushing it all by themselves, which Daddy let them do. They also loved trying to lift the ball all by themselves, which Daddy did not let them do.

Yay, Daddy!

Bowling shoes are for the cool kids. I've half a mind to sneak out the door with these snazzy shoes. (Just kidding. Although my mom told me that when she was a teen she stole a pair of shoes from the bowling alley because she liked the look.)

Who can guess how we knew when the kids were ready to leave?

Luke has started solids this month! I tried holding off as long as I could, knowing full well that once you start, there's no turning back. However, he has been eyeing and grabbing for food whenever he sees anyone eating, so I figured it was time. We're using a method called "Baby Led Weaning," which basically means that rather than causing a bunch of work for myself making pureed food, I just give Luke a part of whatever the family is having that day. His first meal was canned pumpkin, which he fed himself with a spoon. He has since eaten steamed broccoli, canteloupe, avocado, banana, and potatoes. He loves being able to pick up the food on his own, and I love watching him take actual bites of food instead of having to feed him myself. For those with kids this age, I highly recommend looking into using BLW in your own family.

Here are a few shots of the first meal: Canned Pumpkin!

Think he enjoyed it?

Trying desperately to pick up banana:

Success!

Some of you heard about The Great Flour Caper that took place in my house recently. Here's photographic evidence of why leaving two-year-olds alone with flour for under two minutes is NOT a good idea. (Four cups, to be exact.)

(These are just close-ups of a small part of it. It was on the walls, the counters, the curtains; everywhere you could possibly imagine and many places you'd never expect. We are still coming across coatings of flour on areas that we missed!)

And just to prove that Mommy is sometimes incapable of learning a lesson the first time, here we have the sequel: The Great Dirt Disaster. You can guess how much fun it was to clean the carpet and every surface in the living room.

Has Mommy learned her lesson yet? I'll let you know in a year or so.

One of the best parts of fall is the occasional great weather for spending time outdoors. Here are some pictures of my boys enjoying time together.

Daddy had a lot of fun teaching the twins about the fun of playing in the leaves!

As if the month wasn't already busy enough, we decided to bring the boys to a pumpkin patch last weekend. (Yes, this is our second visit, but this was a BIG pumpkin patch.) There were a lot of fun things to do!

Evan's driving the bus and debating whether or not to open the door for Joel.

Look who we found! Our favorite characters, The Backyardigans!

This is a giant hill of hay that was just calling to the twins to climb!

There was a big fight as to who got to drive the pretend... train? bus? Regardless, Evan was the winner.

Luckily, the boys soon found tractors that allowed each of them to drive alone. Unfortunately, they were too short to actually reach the pedals, but that didn't stop them from throwing tantrums when it was time to go!

Perhaps a future farmer? I hear Baylis, IL has land available!

The men in my life. Aren't they gorgeous?

And finally, what would October be without Halloween? After careful deliberation, I decided this year's theme would be "Black and White". The end result? A penguin, a skunk, and a panda bear all enjoyed a chilly day learning that, "costumes plus saying trick-or-treat equals CANDY!!!" While the twins fought me all week long and refused to try on their costumes, after about two houses they suddenly had an epiphany that this could just about be the greatest day of the year. I highly doubt I'll have to put up the same fight to dress them next year!

Aunt Jessi spent the day with us. Here she is with Evan the Skunk, Luke the Panda, and Joel the Penguin. The boys love playing with their auntie!

Even though temps were in the 40's, Luke was wearing four layers of clothing, so he seemed pretty comfortable hanging out in the stroller.

Running to the neighbor's house to get the loot.

"Mom, look what they gave us!"

And finally, a picture of Mommy and her little Panda:

This post may have come at the last minute possible (okay, technically it's no longer October at this point), but as you can see, there hasn't been a whole lot of time to sit and write. Happy Fall; there'll be Thanksgiving pictures to share soon enough!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

Summer was busy in the White house! The boys turned two at the start of September, and boy, they are living up to the whole "terrible twos" reputation. It's not a matter of whether or not there will be a meltdown in our house, but rather just how many meltdowns will take place each day. Still, the boys (all of them) keep me laughing every day. Here are some recent pictures.

The Three Amigos (Joel, Luke, Evan)




Your eyes do not decieve you. Those are pacifiers in the twins' mouths. Again. We had rid them of the habit, but as Luke increased his use of it, suddenly the twins' interest was again renewed. They are now more attached than ever. Originally, I was able to take them away just by snipping the tips; the boys' got annoyed with the "broken" pacis and threw them away themselves (clever, right?) But now, I've tried snipping a few again, and they have decided that throwing them away was the wrong move last time. We are now having to deal with new ways of ridding them of the darn things.

Can you say PRECIOUS?!!

We went to our local fall festival this weekend. It was so much fun; the twins had their first pony rides (Joel was scared at first, but then relaxed and enjoyed himself. Evan loved it a little too much, and had a major tantrum once he realized the ride was over and the pony wasn't coming home with us.)

Here are the boys riding in their stroller. It was a bit chilly out, but the wind cover provided nice protection, especially for Luke. I tried to get them to look at the camera, but cool things were happening that were much more interesting than Mommy.

I love this picture of Evan! He was just relaxing by himself on a rock wall when I took it.

Daddy and the twins visited the fire truck. Notice Joel's excitement? He's jumping up and down!

The boys learned the hard way that if you try and steal the fire truck, you will be arrested. (Kidding.)

Evan says hi.

Luke says hi, too.

The twins enjoyed storytime with Daddy,

and then were given their very own pumpkins.

Time for pumpkin bowling!

It was a great time!

On another note, I recently had surgery on my gallbladder (technically, two surgeries, since it seems I always like to do things the hard way,) and my mom and stepmom spent a lot of time up here helping out around the house. (By helping out, I mean doing virtually everything, since I was confined to the recliner for two weeks.) They were incredible and a total blessing to us.

Here's Grammy (my mom) and the boys.

As tiring as it was for them, it was a great bonding experience for everyone. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to avoid any more surgeries for a long while!

In case you are wondering, the adorable pumpkin hats were made by a great work-at-home mom (she and I went to middle and high school together.) The boys LOVE them, and I highly recommend her products! You can find the pumpkin and other hats at her etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6235246 Danyel, you are awesome. Thanks again!

August According to Todd

The month of August was a quiet one. Most of the month was filled with Sarah fullfilling her daycare duties with Conlan and very little else. The twins are growing up fast, but their limited language skills are preventing them from resolving issues with words. This has lead to regular biting incidents. Yes, the normally super sweet twins have resigned to biting each other when they get really mad. Even worse, they often get mad at Conlan and bite him as well. We are working through it with time outs and doing what we can, yet all of the boys are friends and are giggling and laughing shortly after it happens. We did find the time to take a trip to Alton to visit Todd's family and did a weekend trip to visit Sarah's family before her brothers left for college (Alex and Scott.) Both trips were a great success with the trio of boys riding well and no tears or screaming! Yay!

We took the boys to a new park that just opened up. Evan has just finished his slide while Joel is preparing to launch.

Joel is working on getting a better view of the action.

Joel thinks that climbing through the tunnels is fun even though mommy needs to reach and help him along.


A clever Ice Cream Truck rolled around just in time for our playing to be over. Sticky fun followed.

The boys found a bay window at Nonnie and Poppi's house to be very fun. They were able to see Daddy helping their Uncle Alex load up for college.

The trip to Alton was very fun for the White boy trio. Lukas was held almost every minute of the weekend; Great-Grandma Juanita is seen here doing her part.

Pround Grandpa Adrian followed his mother's lead and took his turn at holding Luke.

While we were in Alton we stayed at a hotel, which worked out perfectly for napping. Just after naptime Joel or Evan ( this is really bad that I can't tell which child this is. I think it is actually Joel, but with the sunglasses I just can't be sure. What I do know is that when he is ready to head out, cell phone, keys, and sunglasses are an important part of looking like an adult!)

(Sarah's edit: This is Joel!)

Grandma Linda made up for lost time quickly and established a great bond with little Luke.

Meanwhile, Joel and Evan had a great time just sitting in the chair. I believe we asked them where their ears are. Joel got it right, while Evan thinks his flew across the room and is showing us where they landed.

One big picture of the White Family.

Our friend Drew did a photo shoot of the trio and sent us a couple of proofs. This is baby Luke showing off that great smile of his.

Joel and Evan look very suave in their outfits from the Gap!

Birthday Wish List

For those who are asking, here are some ideas of what the boys are into nowadays:

Dinosaurs: They love them, though they don't have any dino toys.
Trains: They'd like Thomas Take-along stuff

Music: They love musical instruments, currently all we have is stuff that we have made. They'd also like their own music players (like toy cd players.)

Clothing: Size 2T for cool weather clothing; 3T for next year

Art: Art supplies are always a hit with the kids (not so much with the dad)

Imaginative Play: Puppets and costumes

Outdoor Toys: We play outside all the time, and plan to bring toys into the basement when the weather cools down. If it can't be used this year, there is always next summer!


Hopefully that is a good variety of ideas!