Halloween and Hurricanes

Ethan loves his art class at the nature center!

Cider press at the Harvest Festival

horses!

Face painting at the pumpkin farm- he has a candy corn on the other cheek.

Grandma and Nate

Finding the perfect pumpkins.

Clearly Ethan is thrilled to be on a tractor ride.

Brothers

Nate, almost 7 months

Dump truck driving dragon!

Storm clean up- 

Ethan helps Grandpa George, "get the job done" cleaning up the yard after Hurricane Sandy.

My little dragons!

My happy little man!

Making pinecone bird feeders.

Nate's first Halloween, 7 months old.

We have enjoyed Fall so much with pumpkin and apple picking, tractor rides, Harvest festivals, art classes, and more.  Every season is so much fun with kids!

We were in CT when Hurricane Sandy hit.  We got lots of wind and rain, lost power for a couple of days, but luckily everyone stayed safe and no damage was done to the homes of our family and friends.  So sad to hear the stories about devastated areas around us- and so hard to explain it all to a three year old, and still make him feel safe and secure when he hears that a storm is coming.  Ethan learned what "damage" from a storm meant after seeing trees torn out of the ground, and power lines down all over town.  And on a lighter note, he loved, "getting the job done" helping Papa blow the leaves and collecting sticks for the wood pile with Grandpa George.

Halloween was sort of funky this year as many people around us had no power, which made trick or treating a bit more challenging.  We did however find a few neighborhoods that had power and Ethan had a blast running from house to house.  At one house, a nice older woman asked, "Do you like lollipops?"  And Ethan's response was, "Yup, I sure do like lollipops!!"  We took the stroller along with us in case he got tired of walking, but he was very concerned that if he sat down, he'd crush his dragon wings and would no longer be able to fly!

Nate was less enthusiastic about the Halloween festivities and so we took him around to a few houses and then he stayed with Grandma and Papa. The biggest Nate news is that he is weeks, maybe days, away from crawling.  He is able to get up on all four, but can't get himself moving forward.  I am in no rush to have him mobile!  I am so sure that he will be into everything!!  When he does start moving, I'll be sure to post some video.

Hard to believe that we are moving into winter holidays.  I so look forward to experiencing Thanksgiving, Christmas, snow and more with my little guys!

Thanks for reading!

August, September, October, Oh My!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ethan!  

Nate, our happy little guy!

Ethan creates a masterpiece... in his underpants!

Playing with trucks together already

Nate, 5 months

First solid foods, 5 months

These guys sure do adore each other!

Brothers

Nate hangs out with Great Grams, and Grandma D

trucks and sand- what more could a kid ask for?!

Ethan's family/friends party

The kiddos after a visit from the ice cream truck

Ethan looks cool waiting for the train to the "big city"

Ethan and Daddy in the big city

Toys R Us Ferris Wheel- can you tell Ethan is excited to be in a toy store??!!

Sam and Ethan

Trucks at the playground

Ethan checks out the livestock at the Common Ground Fair

Nate and his Billy Bob teeth

Ice cream at Ben and Bills, Bar Harbor, ME

A little rain can't get this kid down

Hiking around Jordan Pond- one of my all time favorite shots of Ethan and one of my favorite places!

walking the trail

Our fam

Nate and I stay warm and cozy

Tubby for Two!

Feeding goats at the Cumberland County Fair

Pony ride!

Apple picking is serious business

Nate practices his sitting

This how Ethan helps out in the kitchen- delivering the squash in  his dump trucks!

Happy fella!

Nate, 6 months

getting good at this sitting business!

Well, it has happened again- weeks and weeks have gone by, and I haven't found the time to sit and write!  Here are the highlights from the last couple of months.  As you can probably tell, we haven't had too much trouble filling our time!  We celebrated Ethan's third birthday with family and friends. We had a wonderful day despite the tornado warnings!!  Happily the sun shined the whole time, and we topped off a fantastic day with a visit from the ice cream truck- not sure who was more excited- the kids or the adults!

We spent a lovely, though soggy weekend in Bar Harbor.  Ethan loved everything about going on an "adventure" from hiking trails, to staying in a tiny house (cottage) to jumping in puddles throughout Bar Harbor.  I'd be lying if I said that I was happy about the rainy conditions, but these day spending a long weekend with my family is awesome, no matter what the weather.

In Nate news, he is now 6 months old, has one tooth, and is getting pretty great at sitting up on his own.  He's moving through these developmental stages way too fast- I can't keep up with him.  As always, he is the  happy, easy going baby that he has been since he was born.  We've found that there are only a few things that really get him upset.  One that really stands out is if you put him in his high chair, and then don't immediately start feeding him, he definitely lets you know that he is NOT happy!  He loves everything!  Even peas and green beans!  We'll see how long that lasts!

Ethan cracks us up with all of the funny things that he says.  He's got a wonderful, extensive vocabulary so the little mishaps in his language are that much cuter.  For example, he loves miso soup and always asks for us to feed him the "toe-food" that is at the bottom of the soup.  He says "bommet" for bottom, and "kepich" for ketchup, and "orangin" for orange.  Pretty cute.  He also answers everything with a "sure do!"  "Ethan, do you want cereal for breakfast?"  "I sure do!"  He is a funny little person!

As nutty as life has been for us, being back and forth from ME to CT, I try to keep everything in perspective.    I am so very lucky to have two adorable, healthy, happy boys.  The rest will work itself out (perhaps not as quickly as I'd like it to, but it will) and in the meantime, I'll just enjoy every moment with these two special guys!  Thanks for reading!!