Trick Or Treating

We decided to go trick or treating tonight with Chris, Brenda and Bode. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the kids had a blast and got TONS of candy. Tate got the hang of it towards the end. We had debated even going and heading up to Colo tonight to see about helping before Sean's grandpa's funeral, but we decided to head up tomorrow instead. I'm glad we went trick or treating because we needed something light and fun to do with all the sadness we will be feeling and surrounded with these next few days. This was it. It was a nice evening.

Black Spiderman with Mommy and Daddy

Bode had a blast trick or treating and towards the end decided he wanted to do it all by himself and not have Brenda go up to the doors with him. It was pretty cute.

Black Spiderman going up to the door all by himself.

Elmo and Sean

I love these pictures!

sad

Sean's grandpa Sylvester passed away this afternoon. We got the call this evening from Sean's Dad and haven't really been able to focus since. Sal and Sean were always really close. Sean has told me so many stories and memories of times he's had with Sal. He was such a sweet man. Sean loves him so much and is really having a hard time with this even though Sal's health has slowly been deteriorating these last few years. You just can't ever prepare yourself for losing someone you love. It's been a sad night.

A Great Weekend

Our time in Muscatine truly was refreshing and much needed. Tate and I both had such a great time! It's always just so wonderful spending time with family and with my nieces and nephews. I have the pleasure of getting to see Bode pretty much whenever I want, so I really cherish the time I get to spend with Brigg, Lani, Ayla, Tyler, Leah and Kayla. I just don't get to see them as much as I would like. It was great to get to spend time with Brigg, Lani and Ayla. Since I was going to miss the festivities for Lani's birthday, I was happy to get to go and visit her and be there to give her her birthday gift. Brigg is getting so old and I cannot believe Ayla will be 1 in just 2 short weeks! Time really flies. I love seeing Tate playing with his cousins. Now we are in desperate need of some time with the Peakin side cousins!

It was so nice being at Cassie's. We had much great conversation, lots of laughs, there was always a hot pot of coffee ready, lots of yummy food and always an adorable child to watch. Thank you Cassie and Paul for housing Tate and I and for the great hospitality. Thank you Mom and Dad also for everything you do and for always helping to make our weekends in Muscatine so much fun and so memorable. We love you all!

Oh the memories...

With this piano comes so many memories. Pounding on these keys are some of my earliest memories from when we spent time at Grandpa and Grandma's house. I remember listening to Grandpa play it whenever we were there and singing Christmas carols around this piano on Christmas with my aunts and cousins. It really is so special to see Tate sitting at this piano now. He truly would have spent the entire day there...maybe he'll be a musician! He definitely loves anything involving music...playing it, singing, dancing. I love that he enjoys music so much.

Time Out

Tate spent some time there while in Muscatine.

Cassie and Ayla

We're home

We got home around 10 pm last night and pretty much went right to bed. I am still exhausted! I have lots of pictures, but they will have to wait. It's cold outside today and I just want to stay home and cuddle up on the couch (or stay in bed :)) with a blanket and my boys. Tate did not want to get up this morning either! The weekend was great though, a ton of fun! I'll post pictures later. I need to go try and make it through my work day. Ugh.

Today is Lani's 5th birthday! I can't even believe it! She is the sweetest thing ever and I cannot believe it's been 5 years since the first time I saw her beautiful face! Happy Birthday Lulu!!!!! We love you so much!

In Need of a Refresher

I can't believe that it's Wednesday night! Two more days of work this week and off to Muscatine for a fun weekend! I can't wait to get through these last 2 days of my week. I only wish Sean could come with us! :( My mind is mush...I don't really have anything exciting to write about, just feel like I am going through the motions to do my job during the day, get home in time to make dinner, feed Tate and then get him cleaned up and ready for bed with maybe if I am lucky 45 minutes to spend with Tate before he goes to bed. It's wearing on me. I have moments of "I don't think I can do this anymore." I know that I have to though. I desperately need something to refresh me, I am hoping this weekend will do it...I am PRAYING this weekend will do it.


I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
—Philippians 4:13

Wish it was still the weekend...

I miss this weekend. It was a good one! Here are some pictures from Sunday when Tate and I met my friend Jamie and her son Jaxson. Jax is such a little sweetie...he just melted into me when I held him and he didn't make a peep the whole time we were at the park! I love little babies and seeing them makes Tate seem so old!

Tate and Jax on the swings!

Little sweetie!

Jamie and Jax

A Good Weekend

As I stated in my previous post, we had a good day yesterday. Today was a good day too. Tate and I went to Raccoon River Park and met up with a friend and her little boy Jax...he's such a sweetie, almost 4 months old. We had a picnic and then enjoyed the beautiful weather while Tate played on the playground. Tate had a blast! Then, we got home and played and played and played with all of Tate's Handy Manny toys and read books and danced...just had a nice afternoon. Then Tate went down for a looooooong nap. I got some time to relax and get some clothes organizing done. I put away some summer clothes of mine, reorganized my closet and dresser. It feels good to do that. Once Tate finally woke up, we headed to Cathy and Steves because my Grandpa and uncle were there. We ate some super yummy food (thanks Cathy!) and hung out and Tate ran around with Bode and had a great time. Tate was a little stand offish with his Great Grandpa at first, but by the time we left, he was leaning in for kisses. He kept wanting kisses and kissed him about 4 times! It was so sweet!

We had a great weekend and it makes it all the harder to head back to work tomorrow. :( I am hoping that the week flies by. Sean has a busy weekend ahead of him this next weekend and Tate and I are going to Muscatine on Friday when I get off of work and will head back home on Sunday. Lani's birthday is the 27th, so we wanted to see her and hand deliver her birthday gift. Also, I think I will be setting up shop to do Cassie's hair while I am there as well. It'll be nice to get away for a weekend. It feels like it's been a while. I just wish Sean could come too. Looking forward to the days when Sean will be more available. It's not far away and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...only about 6 months! Woohoo!

Be Prepared For...

Lots of pictures.

Lots of smiles.

Lots of drool.

Lots of cuteness.

It was a good night.

I probably shouldn't post this

My Montage 10/18/08

For those of you who don't know, my dad (and I and probably my siblings too) can do this thing where he "pops" his ear. Anyway, Tate was introduced to this several months ago and now he does it all the time...so that's what he's doing in the beginning of this video. Anyway, the reason I shouldn't post it is because his unexpected hitting that happens at the end of the video...probably not something we should be proud of. Now I don't know if it's just because it's 2 a.m or what, but watching this video cracked me up so much that I had to share it.

fun with daddy

We had a great time tonight and I got so many fun pictures. Because I am the "photographer" in the family, they are all of either Tate alone or Tate and Daddy. I was joining in the fun though despite the fact that the pictures don't prove it. :) We played pretty late tonight because Tate was completely off of his schedule today. He napped from 4:15 pm until 7:00 pm when we woke him up. He usually goes to bed at 8 pm and since he had just woke up, that wasn't happening. SO, he stayed up until 9:45ish. Anyway, this gave us lots of time to play. :-)

His new thing is, "ride Daddy" and then Sean lets him ride on his back.

He's got some serious drooling issues...notice his wet shirt.

We played lots of basketball.

I love Tate's feet at the bottom of this picture...so cute.

I can't even stand it...

Look at that face!!!

This is why...

Tate is getting his tonsils taken out. Check out the tiny hole he has to breath through. He's been SO drooly (as you can see in the pictures from the previous posts) and the doctor says it's because of his tonsils. It just so happens that this picture caught a good view of those nasty little guys that are causing all of the problems back there! Ugh.

Reading Scripture

Tate likes to repeat everything we say, for several nights in a row now, Tate will repeat Sean as he reads scripture we have hanging on his wall. It's pretty cute. He usually is a bit more into doing it than the video shows, but you get the point. He's so sweet!

scripture

Soft Blanket

Tate and I have started a routine of rocking before bed and singing songs, counting, I tell him stories and he talks to me for about 5 minutes before he lays down. In doing that, we sit in his recliner in his room and cover up with his blanket that was made when we had his bedding made. It is SO soft on the inside and he loves how it feels on his skin. Tonight he was just hanging out in his diaper and he immediately crawled up on his recliner and started cuddling into the soft blanket. He loved how it felt on his skin.

A few of Tate's favorite things

I have neglected to take many pictures lately. I'm not sure why, but I am going to try and take more again. It seems I go through phases of taking a ridiculous amount of pictures and then I go through a phase of not taking any.

I have taken a few random pictures these last couple of days though.

Tate has been having such a great time playing with all of his toys he got for his birthday. He really does love every single thing he got. Here he is standing by his Handy Manny Tool Box and his art table. He spends most of his time sitting on the floor in front of the TV stand playing with his toys.
We finally got his basketball hoop set up a couple of days ago. It's temporarily sitting in our living room, but will be moved as soon as we do some reorganizing in his bedroom so it can be moved in there. Tate has been shooting hoops constantly these last 2 days since we set it up. He is actually pretty good!
Tate is very serious about his art. Really, he LOVES art. He has been using his magnidoodle like crazy and he even has a littler one that stays in the car that he uses the entire time we're in the car driving anywhere.
And boxes...this child LOVES boxes. We had his basketball hoop box standing up by the back door to take out when we got a chance and he was thrilled to pull it over on it's side and find that it almost worked like a slide. He's funny...he'll "slide" down it (which it about a foot) and say, "WEEEEE".

Less = Better

I have heard that one sleeps better when there is not clutter or a mess under their bed. I don't have anything under my bed and I sleep well. So, I guess this must be true. :) Remembering that made me think of how this translates into so many other parts of life.

For example, when my kitchen is at it's cleanest is when I have the desire to cook a nice meal as opposed to going out or making some Mac and Cheese or Chicken Nuggets which would be much less healthy. Therefor, clean kitchen = healthier food/healthier life. :)

Next, when I have less laundry, I am more motivated to do the laundry that I have. Too much laundry is too overwhelming and I always put it off until it's out of control. Note to self, the less laundry I have to do, the easier it is to do it. Duh!

These are just a couple of examples of how less = better, in my opinion. The problem is, I am not good at "less". Not really in any way, shape or form. I am a keep my life busy, something always on the burner, not wanting to throw anything away, pack rat type of girl. It's really not a good thing. I don't really know how to break myself of this. I want to declutter my life. This maybe has been brought to my mind because of me witnessing my sister lately decluttering her familys' life. I have a lot of "stuff" which makes it way more work to clean, pick up, focus. Sean and I are probably going to be moving again in 7-8 months and the thought of packing up our house full of stuff in addition to getting our "stuff" that has been stored for over 2 years in my parents storage space makes my head spin. I don't want to do it. I want to throw away everything, but this thing inside me cannot let go of so many things that I think I might use again. Ugh!

Really though, I am starting to see that the more "stuff" in life that we have, the more we have to worry about, the more we have to stress about, the more we have to do or take care of or remember. I know that for myself, if I had less bills, I would have less stress, if I had less clothes, I would have more space in my bedroom, if I had fewer dishes, I would have fewer dishes to do, if we had a smaller house (this is something I don't want, but I am trying to make a point here), I would spend less time cleaning. Point is, with less of things like these, the more time I would have to enjoy family and friends, relax, be healthy, live. I am making a decision to start working on this.

If a little is good...a lot is NOT always better!

Clearing out the clutter...

I am READY for the weekend! It's funny though, at the same time, I feel like the week just started. I love that my weeks go by so fast, but hate that the weekends do too. We have no plans for the weekend. I plan to get some extra laundry done. Exciting, I know.

I put a TON of Tate's 12 and 18 month sized clothes away last night. He can't fit into anything smaller than 24 mos in bottoms, though he still wears a lot of 18 mos tops. I put a lot away...it seems like jeans that fit him3 weeks ago are suddenly high waters. He sure is getting a lot taller these days. I can't really tell except for in his clothes though. He's been wearing a lot of 2T things this last week.

Also, Sean and I went through a lot of his toys last night and put a ton of those away too. Our living room was getting out of control...it's becoming a toy room. That had to change. I want my living room to look like a living room and want all of Tate's toys to easily fit into his little 3 ft x 3 ft corner that's kind of hidden by the TV stand and the couch. This has been pretty manageable until after his birthday and we started to spill out into the other areas of the living room, so we cut down on the toys. They all fit in that corner again so I am happy. :) He has his "toy room" in the basement and also has a few toys in his room. It seems that he mostly prefers to play with the toys in the living room though.

Tate got a bath tonight and for the first time, I had to comb his hair and there were rats in it! Ugh! I really might have to break down and cut it. I don't know. We'll see, but for the first time in his life, it did cross my mind.

I don't know about all of you, but I am (almost) thoroughly enjoying this fall weather! I love this weather, but my allergies are a mess! I have been digging at my eyes like crazy...it's miserable! I have had headaches and a scratchy throat for days. Despite all of that, I can still say I LOVE fall!

2 Year Well "Baby" Appointment

Stats:
27.4 lbs (60th percentile)
35 inches long (50th percentile)
20 inch noggin (85th percentile)

Tate was not a fan of the visit. He pretty much hated it. It was not pretty. He got his flu shot, blood drawn and the regular checks. His tonsils are still HUGE and we will be going back to the doctor for those again in November. Tate cried non stop for about a half an hour after leaving the doctor. It was pretty traumatic for him. He may be a bit dramatic though. He has a cold and has been laying on the couch since we got home on the verge of falling asleep.

Oh, and he's a developing beautifully according to his doctor. :)

We celebrated today...

...by going to a pumpkin patch.

When you have to take your own family picture...this is sometimes the best you can get.

Tate enjoyed the petting zoo. He would have stayed in there for hours!



Then we went to Stella's for dinner with Chris, Brenda and Bode. Tate had a Birthday Sundae.

When we got home, Tate opened his gifts from Mommy and Daddy. He got his first backpack...Handy Manny.

He also got a Handy Manny Paint with Water Book that he LOVED. He is quite the artist and had so much fun painting with water. Personally, I liked it as well...NO MESS! :)

It was a great day. Sean took the 2nd half of his day off so he could spend it celebrating Tate's birthday. Tate was a sweetie all day. It was really probably one of the best days of his life so far. He was so happy and singing in the car and when we got home tonight after dinner, he was dancing around playing with all of his new toys. He gets to bring a cake to daycare tomorrow for a little celebration they will be having there for him as well. He has had such a great birthday!