October Happenings and Halloween

We had a very busy October but we always seem to be busy during this month.  We have lots of birthdays, college football (in our house this takes up a lot of time!) and fall activities.

Earlier in the month we went to the pumpkin patch with Lyndsay, Ryan and Ella.  We had planned to go the weekend before but we got rained out so we made the trip the following Friday because the kids were out of school for the day. We also went to a new pumpkin patch this year, it is where we get our Christmas trees every year, and we loved it.  We will be making this our new place to get pumpkins every year.

Pulling their wagons and filling them up with a lot of pumpkins!

Love these 4 so much!  Walker wasn't too happy to take a picture.

Waiting for the next tractor to pick them up

Love!

Finally a picture of the 4 of us where everyone is smiling at the camera!!!!

These 2 boys are crazy!

Lou Lou and Ella

The Shirley fam (minus Dallon)

Happy to finally get their turn to ride the tractor

My sweet baby

Feeding catfish

Later in the month we celebrated birthdays.  Ryan and I have the same birthday and this year it fell on a Saturday.  He had a small get together with three of his friends on his birthday, so we celebrated with him on Sunday.  Since we had the weekend open Jeremy and I took advantage to go out and celebrate mine and his birthday together since Jeremy's birthday is just 4 days after mine.  Friday night we had a sitter come over and we got a nice night out.  On my actual birthday Jeremy's mom came over to watch the boys for us during the day so we enjoyed a nice day out together.  It was so nice having some kid free time!  On Jeremy's actual birthday we just hung out at home and I cooked him dinner.  His birthday fell on a Wednesday and since he had to work we weren't left with much time to do anything fun unfortunately!

During all the birthday celebrating we carved our pumpkin with the boys.  It ended up that the boys just played while Jeremy and I cleaned out the pumpkin and carved it.  Maybe next year they will want to get their hands dirty!

Bennett checking out Jeremy's carving skills

Walker just being Walker!  Silly boy!

Our finished product!

I was so excited that Halloween fell on a Friday this year.  It was nice not worrying about bedtime or having to be up early the next day for school.  The morning of Halloween Bennett's school had a parade then his class had a party afterwards.  It was a fun start to our day!

Bennett during the parade.  I told him before I dropped him off that he needed to keep up with his mask and of course he comes out without it and doesn't know where it is!

Luckily he just left it in the classroom!

His whole class

Decorating a pumpkin

Proud of his work :)

Walker got to decorate his own cupcake with the big kids

Later that evening we went over to Lyndsay and Dallon's to eat dinner then head out to trick or treat for the night.  My dad came with us and the kids had so much fun trick or treating together!  It was freezing that night which I expected but half way through our night we started to feel rain drops.  I had no idea it was going to rain.  I was hoping it was just a random sprinkle but no it started to pour rain on us.  Ella and Bennett did not want to stop trick or treating but the rest of us wanted to get back inside fast since it was so cold.  We let them hit up a few more houses on our way back then we dried off and took a look at all the candy they collected and it was a lot!

Power Ranger and Ninja Turtle!  Quite the duo!

They all looked so cute dressed up!

My cute turtles!

He was ready to go!  He was so excited!

This mask didn't stay on long.  Poor guy couldn't really see out of it.

Getting his first piece of candy for the night.

He had so much fun!

The three big kids running from house to house!  They ran most of the night.

It was great night!  I love this time of year and all the upcoming holidays we have to look forward to.  I have gotten a head start on Christmas shopping and have gotten a lot done already.  I really can't wait for Thanksgiving.  We have a fun day planned with my family and I am looking forward to all the wonderful things the holidays bring!

2 Year Stats

Walker had his 2 year well check last week a month after he actually turned 2…one day I will get them in closer to their actual birthdays!

He has grown a ton since his last visit which I wasn't surprised by.  He can still wear 2T clothes but in shirts he needs a 3T sometimes.  It is crazy because Bennett can still wear a 4T in some things and Walker is growing into a 3T.  He is a big boy!

Walker's 2 year stats:

Weight- 30.4 lbs  75%
Height- 36 in  88%

Poor guy had to get a shot and his finger pricked and he didn't handle it very well.  He screamed like his toenails were being ripped off one by one.  He also screamed like that when the Dr examined him.  I was in a full blown sweat once the appointment was over from trying to hold him down.  As soon as they were done with him he would go back to talking away and being cute.  He can turn it on and off like that!  He entertained and charmed everyone even though he screamed like crazy!

Being cute in between screaming during the examination and shots! And as you can tell he is still rocking the rolls like a champ!  Love his sweet baby rolls!!  I will be a bit sad when he loses his baby fat:(

Everything went well though!  He is very healthy and right on track for his age.  He is actually a bit advanced since he now can recognize all of his letters and even some lower case letters and count to 8.  He knows a few colors but that is something I need to work on with him.  Since Bennett is color blind (yes he is very color blind!!) he will tell Walker that something is a certain color when it isn't.  Poor Walker may go into preschool thinking green is brown!  He is also very verbal and getting really good at communicating what he needs which makes life a bit easier.  They were pretty impressed with all he knows!  We don't have to go back until he is 2.5 unless he gets sick so hopefully we don't have to be back for a while.

Bennett's First Day of Pre-K!

Bennett started Pre-K yesterday!  I was kind of emotional about the whole thing.  It just hit me that this is his last year of preschool and we signed him up for school everyday.  I am sad that he will be gone everyday since next year he has to be in school everyday and I could have had him home a bit more this year.  I kind of wish now I was sending him 4 days instead of 5 just to have him home one day with us, but I know he will not mind one bit being there everyday and I hope it prepares him for the long days ahead of him when he goes to kindergarten next year.  That is why we initially thought to send him 5 days was to prep him for elementary school next year.

He was so excited to go back to school.  I was a bit anxious because we missed his open house the week before because Bennett was sick, so we didn't get to meet his teachers or see the classroom.  Bennett has a few girls from his 2 year old class in his class this year but no one from his 3s class last year.  That was a bit of a let down but I know he will make new friends fast.  His teachers are great and I am happy he is in their class!

I love this boy!

Ready for his first day!

Such a cutie :)

My boys

Ready for school!

Getting settled in.  You can tell he is a bit unsure but when I picked him up he was ready to go back the next day!

Walker missed Bennett.  He wouldn't leave him alone once he got home!

I am looking forward to what this new school year brings for Bennett.  I know he will do great things and learn a lot.  I really do miss him during the day and so does Walker.  Walker asked a hundred times "Where's Bennett?".  I think he figured out pretty quickly that with Bennett gone he gets all of my attention so he is warming up to the idea of Bennett going to school every day!

Walker Turns 2!!

My baby is two!  I can't believe my little baby is already two!  Not to mention I am late posting this since his birthday was weeks ago in July.  I also don't have his two year stats yet because I called last minute to make his 2 year well check and can't get in till later this month…ooopps!

His actual birthday fell on a Saturday this year which worked out great.  I didn't feel like doing a big party so we just had Jeremy's family and my family over.  I planned on the kids being able to play outside with water toys but it was raining so my plans got squashed.  All of the kids were content to play with each other inside and since we kept it small it wasn't a big deal having 5 kids running around.

Walker had so much fun with his cousins and he got an even bigger treat when Ryan and Ella came back over later in the day for a sleep over!

The birthday boy right after he woke up on his birthday

Sweet brothers!

Eating his birthday donut

Opening gifts from us

Cupcakes for the party!  I can't take any credit on these.  My sister came up with this cute idea and decorated them for me!  This idea came up when we thought the kids would be outside in bathing suits playing in the kiddie pool and water.  They were too cute to not do once we knew we were rained out!

Me and my sweet boy!

Jeremy and the birthday boy

Love these kiddos so much!

He was happy he finally got his cupcake!

Not so happy when we sang Happy Birthday to him!

Happy again :)

With our sweet two year old!

Checking out his new gifts.  

Cousin love!!

Precious two year old

Walker has grown up and changed so much in the past few months.  He is talking up a storm!  He will repeat everything he hears and just talks away all day.  He and Bennett have the funniest conversations with each other.  Walker doesn't understand half of what is being said but he still answers and chimes in with whatever he can come up with!  Bennett seems to always understand what Walker is trying to say to him.  Speaking of him and Bennett they have become so close lately and are each others built in play mate.  They fight like crazy and push each others buttons but their bond is becoming so strong.  I love watching them together.  Siblings really are the best thing!

Walker is also recognizing letters.  He will see certain ones and shout out "B" or whatever letter it is he recognizes.  He tries to sing the ABC song but can only get to the letter D.  He is such a smart little guy and picks up on things so fast.  It also helps that Bennett loves teaching and showing him new things.

I just can't say enough about Walker.  His personality and smile are infectious!  He is so funny and silly and loves to make people laugh.  This kid also never sits still, he is always on the move! He can be very affectionate and lovable, especially with me.  He is a momma's boy!  Most of the time he only wants me. It is funny because he is so independent and outgoing but can be extremely clingy and needy all at the same time.  He has a temper and doesn't mind sharing his feelings.  Walker shows every emotion he is having.  You never have to guess how he feels about something!!  He wants to grow up fast and do everything Bennett can do.  Every night he wants to sleep in Bennett's bed and is becoming interested in the potty.  I am hoping these interests stay around when it is time to take the leap and make these changes.

We just love Walker so much.  The past two years have flown by but I love watching him grow up and change.