Preschool Party

Bryce and I joined Blake at his preschool this morning for a special Halloween party. Blake and his classmates sang songs for us, decorated cookies, and then we all played games in the gym.

Collin, Blake, Bryce, Ella, and Ty taking a break from the action

Nancy's Boys

Blake and Caitlin
He always tell me, "Caitlin is the prettiest girl in my class"

Here is a snap shot of the Halloween show between acts

It was fun to see Blake interact with his school friends and Bryce was thrilled that he finally got to go to school!

Nancy's Kids

Wednesday night we went to a Halloween game night at Blake's school and all of Nancy's kids were there (Nancy is our extended family member who loves on Blake and Bryce while I'm at work). Super Girl, Lauren, even made an appearance!

My Halloween Boys

Play time with Quinn

Quinn came over last night for some play time with his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. As you can see he was quite comfortable!

In case you ever wondered . . .

How to entertain 4 O'Mara boys

Our nephew is so smart he can use the computer and read a book at the same time

Thanks for playing with us, Quinn, we love you!

Stories

Funny Bryce:
Our friend Kara, who is expecting her second baby in early January, came over for a visit and it had been a couple weeks since we saw her last. Her baby belly is popping right out there and she is adorable! Just as she was leaving Bryce said, "Mom is she full?" I looked at him perplexed, and he said "What did she eat?". It was then I realized what he was thinking and explained that she didn't have a full meal, she has a baby in her belly!

Sweet Blake:
The letter of the week at preschool this week is H. Every Sunday night we talk about the letter of the week, words that start with it, and try to figure out what he can take for Letter bag day. As we named off several words that start with H such as heart, hat, Halloween, etc. he exclaimed, "I'll take the Holy Spirit". I said, "How are you going to take the Holy Spirit?" He said, "In my heart".

Pumpkin Carving '08

We had planned on taking the boys to an orchard today for cider, doughnuts, and pumpkin picking; however, the weather steered us in another direction. We drove down the road a little ways to a farm and purchased our pumpkins off a wagon. Sorry, boys, maybe next year you will get the full experience.

These are the pumpkins I got to display our last name on the front porch railing.

If you look hard I think you can see it in the picture

Daddy and Blake were the only true pumpkin carvers.

Blake and Bryce with their finished pumpkins

Blake has a pirate ship and Bryce has a scary face

Great work guys!

Back to Normal

Whew, it's been a rough week, but we are officially headed back to normalcy around here. I had another ear surgery last Monday and it was more involved than any of us anticipated, but I am doing well and starting to feel good again as of today. Tim, Blake, and Bryce have been caring and understanding and I am so thankful to have such nice boys in my life!
While I was down and out, we had a special delivery . . . the boys Halloween Costumes. This year they decided they wanted to be "Police Man and Jail Person". Mr. law-conscience, rule-abiding, doughnut-loving Blake is the Police Man and Mr. wild man, sassy-pants Bryce is the Prisoner . . . so unbelievably appropriate!

I don't know what these two are doing here, but its scary how much they can be alike despite their personality differences!

Oh yeah, one more thing: Pink Roses from my boys on Sweetest Day

Say what?

Blake has been loving preschool and seems to be slowly coming out his shell. Last week they focused on the letter "F" and what comes along with that is FIRE Safety. Given our experience almost 2 years ago, I was a little nervous about what would come out of Blake's mouth. He barely says 2 words to his teacher, except when it comes to talking about the fire . . . he didn't hold back at all!!! She actually had to pull him aside so he could finish his story without frightening the other kids.
Then, as I was waiting for him in the hall I noticed a project that was displayed with helping hands where each child stated what they did to help at home. To my surprise, Blake's helping hand said he helps pick up his toys (which he does very well) and scrubs the tile with a brush . . . WHAT?! I couldn't help but burst out laughing after I read that, I guess I'm running some kind of sweat shop at my house. I don't even use a brush to scrub the tile, so I am not sure where he got that from. When I asked him about it he started laughing and said he didn't know why he told Mrs. Ethington that. So glad he's feeling so open with his teacher.

Cousin Quinn

Yay! We got to spend some time with Quinn last night and he is growing so fast, attempting to sit on his own and still cooing like crazy :) He will be 5 months old this week.

Cutie Quinn in one of Blake's baby hats

Erica took Quinn to an Apple Orchard and got some great pictures,

so I had to make a collage to show him off!

Pumpkin Festival

We attended the Pumpkin Festival in Davison and there was so much to do: face painting, slides, pony rides, bounce house, games, jewelry making, hay rides, and so much more!

Blake, Bryce, Taylor, and Grace had so much fun . . . and so did the adults ;)

Family Photos

Thank you, thank you to our best friend Monica for spending time with us in the park yesterday to take some family photos. It was a perfect Fall day and we now have so many great pics to choose from. Let us know your favorites, we are having a hard time deciding! I numbered the family photos so you can "vote" for your favorite, we appreciate your help.

Where it all began: Just the two of us

xoxo

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Goofy Boy Blake

Mr. Serious Bryce
My two babies, melt my heart
Not only brothers, but Best Friends
We had many more great shots, these are just some of my favorites. Thank you to Monica, she did a great job as you can see. I don't know what we would do without the Woolmans, Brad was over cleaning my carpet this morning! What GREAT friends, LOVE YOU!

Go Blue?!

Well, Tim has been in my life for 15 years now and he has finally corrupted me: I wore a Michigan shirt and cheered for them at the game on Saturday. A Michigan State fan all my life, I was born and raised that way, so you can understand how proud Tim was on Saturday to see me like this!

Thank you to Brandon and Andrea for inviting us to the game, it was so much fun. We especially enjoyed the pre-game entertainment provided by our new friend pictured here with the Bells.
Andrea & I at The Big House.
We had great seats, fun friends, but a terrible football game. After an exciting 1st quarter it went down hill fast, BOOOOO! I sold myself out for a loss, I can't believe it!