Mimi Erin's Birthday

The first week of November, Henry had two days off from school for parent-teacher conferences.  After our conference on Wednesday, the boys and I hopped into the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa L's house to celebrate Mimi Erin's birthday.  We're thankful for both of the mimis, so we're glad when we get to celebrate with them!  After a yummy dinner, there was...

 

Present opening:

Walter was the efficient assistant-present-opener (he may have been a little too efficient). 

A Massive Wrapping Paper Roll Battle:

 A Few Pictures with Mimi Erin

Another Battle:

A Photo Session By Henry:

Cake and a round of "Happy Birthday"

 

A Sleepover and Late Night Movie:

Unfortunately, there were naps on the drive in so Mommy was very tired but the boys were much less tired.  We paid dearly for that nap time over the next few days!  Grandma and the Mimis spent some time with us while we watched the movie.

 

 

Front Tooth

On October 30 Henry lost one of his front teeth.  It had some major wiggles the week before and we had even tried getting it out a few times.  He got off the school bus that day and took a bite into his snack and there it was!

Driving to the Harvest Hoopla

Here are the last of the Harvest Hoopla pictures - Grandma took these on the drive there...looks like there was a little excitement in the air!  When they got home we dumped all the candy together and it filled a large Tupperware bowl - Yikes!  (This did help us save money when it came to buying candy to hand out on Halloween.)  Grandpa reported that Henry declared the Harvest Hoopla a "boy's paradise!"

Things couldn't get much better because after filling their pumpkins with candy, Grandpa and Grandma treated them to dinner at DQ.  I love that you can see a red goggle outline on his forehead from the canned hair coloring.  What scares me a little is that I can see Henry at 16 when I look at this picture...

 

A few days later Dad took them out trick-or-treating.  Grandma was kind enough to take a picture of the guys together when they stopped at the house.  They were planning on going to our church's trunk-or-treating the next day, but they decided they just wanted to stay home and relax with Dad.  



Harvest Hoopla

The weekend before Halloween, one of the local churches held a get together with fall themed games and candy for families.  Grandma A called on Saturday morning and asked if they could take the boys...which put me into high gear because we didn't have costumes ready yet.  Henry decided weeks earlier that he wanted to be a mad scientist and then Walter decided he better be a mad scientist, too.   Thankfully, we located a few a Dad's old shirts and converted them into lab coats (Thank you hot glue gun!).  We ran to the dollar store and got goggles, hair gel, and spray-on hair color.  The hardware store had a few pairs of kids' gardening gloves that we thought could double as mad scientist gloves.  We made it back home just in time to do their hair before Grandma and Grandpa picked them up.  There are a still a few more pictures to come...

 

 Isn't this how all mad scientists pose?

(Walter prefers the down-on-one-knee for pictures lately)

A little out of focus, but with Grandpa and Grandma (and my dying summer flowers).

 And with Mom - I was told to scream and look frightened...

Laundry Basket

If the boys aren't available, Dottie follows me around.  A few days ago, she followed me down to the basement laundry room.  When I turned to grab some clothes for the washing machine, I found her getting comfy in the laundry basket.  She actually does this all the time - finds a good spot and snoozes while she waits for me to finish my work - thankfully she always chooses the baskets we store our drop cloths, rags, and paint clothes in!  It's slightly mortifying to post this picture because our basement was a mess (which was a vast understatement!).  I'm happy to report the mess is no more which has left Dottie slightly confused as to where her spot went... 

And then Walter came down and had to get in the picture, too!

Walter & Dottie

From past posts, you may have figured out that Walter loves to have his picture taken - especially with Dot.  A few times a day he says, "Mom, take a picture of me and Dottie!"

 Curled up in between the pillows on a school morning.  She waits for Walter or Henry to get dressed and hop back into bed next to her for some cuddle time.

 

 Dot's other favorite spot for napping (and squirrel watching - they drive her crazy!).

 Sometimes we have to remind him that she needs to breathe while being hugged...she's loved.

 

First Bird

Looks like Dottie is hooked on pheasant hunting!

 

Walter loves to carry the birds around...Dottie shadowed him very closely.

 It was a little chilly, so after grabbing his coat, hat, and batman gloves, Walter watched as Nate cleaned the bird.

And of course, Dottie had to be there, too.