Pancakes!!!

I'm a copy cat.  We so totally copied Sharon and her girls, but boy was it fun!!

I put food coloring in pancake batter and put it in squirt bottles and  let the boys loose.  They had a blast!!!

Ev with his first pumpkin creation.

 Blake got pretty creative.  He made a really cool bat and black cat.

 Beau watched and ate a TON of pancakes.  The boys kept making "special" pancakes for Beau and putting them on his tray.  I'll bet he ended up eating 4 pancakes!!!

 More creativity!!

 They wouldn't even let me help.  I finally got to make 1 for myself.  Here I am posing with my BOO pancake!

As you can see, we made a whole lot of pancakes!!

 Beau getting ready to tear into his "ghost" pancake!

We really had so much fun doing this.  I totally recommend it!  I bought the squirt bottles at Wal-Mart for $0.97 each and a new box of food coloring for $2.97.  Totally worth it for LOTS more pancake making fun!!

Pumpkin Carvin'

Last night we had our annual pumpkin carving!  The boys were so excited.  They both drew a "design" of what they thought it should look like. 

 Little brother sat in his high chair and watched.  He got out to post for a picture:)

 They let Travis combine their designs to come up with the perfect pumpkin.

 The final project!  And yes, the mustache is above the nose.  A minor detail overlooked by our personal architect:)  Ha!!!

 Here he is all lit up!  Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

I love to watch my boys with their dad.  He doesn't realize just how much they look up to him.  According to them, NO ONE can design or carve a pumpkin like their dad!!

Beautiful Walgreens Day:)

It's been a while since I had a really good day at Walgreens that was worth talking about.  Today though, was a good one!!!  I got a ton of stuff that I really needed for very little!  Spot Shot....I LOVE it and was totally out!  Diapers, of course I need them.  Turkey and peanut butter...staples.  Chicken broth, for a new potato soup recipe I am trying.  Oats...mud cookies:)  Gum I always want!  Splenda for $0.99, just can't pass it up.  I am down to 1 bottle of shampoo.  I know, GASP, but it's true!  The only thing I bought that I really didn't need was the Contac.  But it was FREE after the Register Reward and I had a $2 coupon which meant I made $2 buying it!

So, for $18.47 I got a lot of stuff that I really needed!  I also have $1 Register Reward to use later.  Probably the best deal if you need diapers are the Huggies this week.  They are on sale for $7.99 and you get a $1 Register Reward.  There are $2.50 printable coupons at http://www.coupons.com/ which makes a pack only $4.50.  A good price for diapers!!

Lovin' my Walgreens this week!!

Cotillion~Hollywood Blast From the Past!!

This past Sunday was the Cotillion costume event and the theme was "Hollywood~Blast From the Past".  We knew we had the perfect costume...hanging in our coat closet:)  It was a suit that belonged to Travis's dad.  He wore it in a family Olan Mills picture back when Travis was tiny.  It is NICE!!

So, we decided Blake could wear the suit and go as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever.  Of course we had to get a black wig.  The boys had fun playing around with it on Sunday morning.

Obviously:)

 Evan, what can I say?

 And drumroll........THE SUIT!!!  Yes, some of my college friends will recognize it as the suit that Travis wore to Trash Disco at OPO one night:)  Ha!!

 There were some really great costumes.  Mason won the costume contest in his Ghostbusters costume.  Super cute!!

 Of course, there was dancing.  This time they learned a swing dance.  Blake caught on really quickly, and actually looked pretty good.   All of the girls took off 1 shoe and the boys had to pick a shoe and that is who they partnered with.  The funniest part-he had NO IDEA what the girl's name was that he danced with!!

 They all had to take a turn coming to the microphone and saying their name, what they were dressed up as, and something about someone new that they had met earler.

 Blake and the girl he walked to the refreshment line.  Again, he has no idea who she is.  Anyone recognize her??

This was another successful Cotillion.  Blake really does like it.  I'm so glad.  It's painful enough for me for both of us!!!

Beau~11 months old!!

Little brother, you are growing SO fast!!  This month your personality has really started to show itself and I LOVE IT!!  You are so sweet and such a mess all at the same time!!

You are a good, good baby.  I don't know what I would do if you weren't.  You go to so many practices, soccer games, and lessons and you almost never fuss.  You can sit in your stroller for hours on end and be as sweet as can be!

 ~You are eating us out of house and home!!!  You are eating table food really well.  You have actually started eating some meat.  You love lasagna and will eat small bites of chicken...sometimes.  You also are really liking the Gerber meat sticks.  (They look like vienna sausages, but are MUCH better for you).

 ~You are nursing 4 or 5 times a day.  Now that we are approaching your 1st birthday I'm getting really sentimental about it.  I hope you don't try to wean yourself in the very near future:)

 ~You unofficially weigh about 20 pounds.  We sat you on the bathroom scales and that is what we came up with :)

 ~You slept through the night twice in the past week!!!  Now I know you can do it, so I'm getting excited that it might become a trend!! 

 ~You have started taking a really long (3 hour) nap in the morning.  YOu have not been napping well in the afternoon.  I think you are trying to move to 1 nap.  We've just got to get it a little later in the day!

 ~You have become VERY clingy to me.  If I even start heading out of the room you starting whining and crawling after me saying "mama,mama, mama".  It secretly thrills me!!  You come climbing to me and crawl in my lap and I melt!!

 ~You love to be barefoot.  Now that it is cooling off I have been putting shoes and socks on you more often.  You have them off in 2 seconds flat!  I'm sure people wonder why I let my baby run around barefoot, but it's not for lack of trying!

 ~You are cruising around all over the place, but haven't made any real effort to take any steps unsupported.  That's really fine with me.  I know you are a genius no matter when you decide to walk:)

 ~You are obsessed with cell phones, specifically my iPhone.  You will do just about anything to get it in your hands and then in your mouth.  I love this picture below...just hanging out texting your friends:)

 ~You are doing so good at Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays.  You are taking a nap (usually only about an hour) but it keeps you from being too fussy.  I am so thankful that you have adjusted well!

 ~I had to use this picture below.  That is the face I see anytime you don't get your way!  This was right after I took my phone away from you.  You are SO cute even when you are being a stinker!!!

 ~You still wear a size 3 diaper and your winter clothes are 12 months.  You are wearing a size 3 or 4 shoe.  You are gonna have the Barnhill/Bartlett big foot gene I'm afraid:)

 ~You are a little tornado.  You leave a path of destruction everywhere you go.  You pull out everything from every drawer, cabinet, and pantry you can get into.  And you are SO proud of the mess you make!!!!

I count my blessings every time I look at you.  You have changed our family for the better in so many ways.  We love you and can't get enough of you.  I thank God every single day for you.  I love you my sweet baby Beau!!

Happy 11th Birthday Blake!!

My baby turned 11 yesterday!!!  Wow.  Eleven sounds so much older than 10.  I think 11 may classify him as a "pre-teen".  Unbelievable!!!

Here he is with Beau.  My 11 YEAR old and my 11 MONTH old:)  Blake thought that was SO cool!!!

 I checked him out for lunch and he chose to eat at Lin's Garden.  My dad and Travis met us there and we had a really good time!  He got to open a present from Travis and I.  It was a new Bible and he was thrilled!!  I was afraid it might not be "exciting" enough, but he truly loved it!!  He said "oh perfect, the New Living Translation, just what I wanted"!!!  I'm so proud that he considers a new Bible a really special gift!

I always get him iced cookies on his birthday.  This year was Frankenstein!!

Before dinner he got to open a package from his Nana and PaPa.  It was a new Wii game that he LOVED!!  Here he is with the card that Evan made him.  It had a little "pocket" glued on the inside and Evan had put a gold dollar in it.  They really do love each other!!

 Blake chose to have pea pie and apple pie for dinner. His faves!

 Here he is with his own "personal" apple pie:)

 Travis and I gave him one more present after dinner.  It was a new chess/checkers set and he was obviously thrilled!  He and Evan sat in the floor while Blake tried to teach Evan to play chess for a long time after dinner!

 A little table decoration that Evan made for Blake :)

We had a great day celebrating with Blake.  He is becoming such a grown up young man and we am so proud of him.  I can't wait to see what this year holds for him!

Blake and Evan are having a joint family party and joint friend party in a couple of weeks.  So, we still have MUCH MORE birthday partying to do over the next little bit.  Beau's 1st birthday is also just around the corner.  It makes me tear up just to type it...

The Pumpkin Patch!!

We drove by the Methodist Church the other day and the boys have been dying to go to the Pumpkin Patch ever since.  So, Tuesdsay afternoon we headed down to pick out a pumpkin.  They have a really good variety of "different" pumpkins and gourds. 

We had fun taking some pics of Beau!

 Beau was cracking us all up...

 His little personality is coming out big time!!

 Waving BYE!

 Blake and Evan were behind me entertaining him!

 LOVE those sweet little feet!

 Beau loved his little pumpkin that his big bubbas picked out for him.

 So much he decided to take a little taste:)

 The boys just can't keep their hands off of Beau.  I love it!  He is still "their" baby and they love to take care of him.  Blake is such a big help with Beau!

 Evan with one of the MANY pumpkins they LOVED.  We finally settled on a mediumish sized white pumpkin and 2 little ones for Beau.  This Pumpkin Patch is a fund-raiser and I absolutely wanted to support them.  But, I had to draw the line at the $30 pumpkin my boys REALLY wanted.  We went to Wal-Mart for the big boy :)

 My sweet boys!  Oh how I love them!!  This picture just makes me melt!!!

Happy pumpkin shopping to all!!!