CURLS!

I've always wanted a little one with curls! Finally, I have one! Soooo precious! We did decide that they were getting a tad long and I took Kai for a trim soon after this picture was taken, but I still love his locks! :)

First Halloween Party

For our first Halloween party of the season, at which we also said farewell to some friends who are moving out of the country, Alexander and Jack decided at the last minute that they wanted to be cats. A snip-snip here and a brush-brush there, and voila! Cats!

Tiger Cub

Alexander has been begging to join Boy Scouts and this year he is old enough to become a Tiger Cub. He is thrilled to have his uniform, to be doing Scouting activities, and to be learning new things. He thoroughly enjoyed his first Den meeting and was a model Scout. Scouting is a bit of a tradition in our family, and I'll be interested to see how far he takes this and if either (any?) of his brothers follow in his footsteps. (By the way, in the video he is not reading a teleprompter for the Scout Oath. He just happens to be looking off in an odd direction. He does have it memorized.)

Jack's Pumpkin Patch Visit

Last week, while Alexander was at school and Kai was playing with a friend, Jack and I went with his preschool to the pumpkin patch! We went to a really neat nearby farm where we got to ride in a hay wagon to the pumpkin patch, pick out several pumpkins from the field (Jack chose 3 mini white pumpkins), see chickens, peacocks, goats, and a pony, climb on a huge pyramid of hay bales, play on old tractor tires, go down a huge slide, ride the "moo-choo train," play in tunnels, and MORE! This is a really great family-run farm and it's especially nice to go with a school group because it is not open to the public during that time. So, Jack's class of 12 kids had the entire place to themselves. I went with Alexander 2 years ago, also.

Jack had a fabulous time. He really enjoyed every single minute of it and that is not always the case with Jack. Sometimes he takes a while to warm up to a new situation. So, I was really thrilled to be able to spend such a fun morning with him and to see him so happy. His face was lit up the entire time. I also loved seeing him interact with his preschool friends, and the fact that he is starting to open up with them and initiate play and conversation. His teacher did say that he is still pretty quiet at school, but he always, always says that he enjoys himself there and I think he is really starting to feel comfortable there and come out of his shell.

Firehouse Tour

Last week Jack, Kai, and I went on a tour of our local Fire Station with our MOMS Club. We got to see where the firefighters hang out, where they sleep, and where they eat. We got to see all their trucks including the ambulance, the ladder truck, the "canteen" truck which brings the firefighters food when they're out for several hours on a call, and several others. The kids got to climb in the ladder truck. We also got to see a firefighter put on all his gear, and then two firefighters raced to see who could get their gear on faster.

We also did this tour last year and Jack was very sullen, still getting used to doing much of anything without his big brother Alexander. This year he was more cheerful. Kai wanted to be put down and run all over the place which, obviously, was not such a good idea. But, we had a great time. The firefighters at this station all seem extremely friendly and helpful and are great with the kids!

Fall Face Paint

Kinda creepy....