Happy Halloween!

Here is Jacob's handiwork, 2010.

A spider, a "6" and a cat.

Officer Sammy

In his "corn" stache (obviously he misheard what Jacob was calling their 'staches).
And trying on Freddie's


Firefighter Freddie

Looking a lot like his namesake Freddie Mercury in his 'stache.


Ready for trick-or-treating!


And here's El Tigre from yesterday.


The lighting wasn't great at the Big Bunny but here's the little Tiger.

(Thanks again to Tami for the hand-me-down. It was perfect and adorable!)

Happy Halloween, Blogger friends!

Along for the ride.

Pumpkin Pickin'

At Peter's Pumpkins in Shakopee, Minnesota. What a great farm!

Six months old!

Baby Jack Jack (seems nearly everyone calls him this now, may as well refer to him this way :) turned six months old last Friday. Here he is in all his blue-eyed beauty, as captured by Tami Tripp.

Jack has two bottom teeth, one about 3/4 of the way up, the other just came through this week. He is going through the world mouth-first, trying to find anything to gnaw on and relieve the gums. He's eaten a piece of paper already (the Target shopping list).

He is eating "solids" or gruel as Jacob calls it. Watery rice cereal, sometimes with a mashed banana, avocado (although feeding him this makes me queasy. allergic. to. avocados.), sweet potatoes and prunes. He loves the sweet potatoes and cereal.

He can roll and kick and grab his feet (and other things worth grabbing). He can babble very articulately. He weighs 20.5 pounds and is 28 inches long, putting him in the 90-97 percentile (Freddie was nearly always over 100 in case anyone was wondering). He is constantly loved on by his brothers and all of their friends. He endures it ;)

And that's our baby guy!

Tami Tripp Photography Fall Photo Shoot!

My uber-talented photographer friend Tami took pictures of the boys last Friday, while the weather was still agreeable in Minnesota. Here is a sneak peek that I am posting today in honor of my stepfather's 60th birthday. We love and miss you, James! Love you, too, Tami! Thank you so much for sharing your gift with our family.

Winter hat preview:

Sammy's Spirit Hat, Jack's Helmet and Freddie's Cluck.

The "big" guys. Sammy is not yet 6 and Freddie is a few days shy of 3.5.

I know, their size belies their ages. In the future I hope this will work to their advantage, right now it can be tricky, as people expect them to act differently because they look older than they are. It's easy to forget how little they still are. They are both so full of laughter and silliness and *energy*!! I hope they never out grow of their sense of humor.

Happy 60th Birthday, Ba!

We wish we could be there in person to celebrate with you (but you may be relieved that we are not ;)! Sending lots of electronic and energetic birthday hugs your way!

Iz in yer fone

txting u



My bad. I droolz on yer fone.



**Baby spoof of Lolcatz ** In case the humor here was lost on some of you.

More from Boo at the Zoo

Our little civil servants.


Jack, who wasn't quite dressed up (slacker mom) but luckily was wearing black sweatpants and an orange UT hoodie. And a Halloween bib that our neighbor, Henry, gave him last week that says, "I love my Mummy." :)

Wearing expression #2: Bewilderment. (thanks, Cody :)

The boys really liked the bean bag toss. They were both tossing with their left hands at first because they wouldn't put down their candy bags. Once Sammy switched hands he made all three!


Stop!


Officer Sammy


And just because I like it, a Jack-o-lantern pizza.

We may have to hit Papa Murphy's because this is too cute.

Boo at the Zoo

Boo at the Zoo, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

We traveled to Duluth this past weekend to visit Cody and Ashley and attend Boo at the Zoo. Trick-or-Treating and animals. The kids loved it. It was a good excuse to wear their Halloween costumes more and practice for Halloween :)

Freddie is a Fire Fighter and Sammy is a Police Officer. Just in case you couldn't tell by the picture.

Fantastic Freddie!

Freddie was in a weekly Super Hero preschool class in September and his super hero name was Fantastic Freddie.


Freddie has really grown so much since Sammy's started school. He is so articulate and smart, funny and sweet, and all that has really come to the surface now that he's not second in command. He is in preschool activities three mornings a week and thriving there, but still cool with hanging around the house with mom and Baby Jack.

He really enjoys working on puzzles. He'll put one together and then take it apart, bit by bit, just to put the pieces back. He loves to count. He'll count things as we are waiting in line at the store, he'll count the slices of bread for sandwiches, he'll just count to count. He has a very good memory. He can remember names and songs after hearing them once. He pays enormous attention to detail.

He is silly and adventures (he loves to jump off the arms of the couch like a Super Hero, much to his mother's horror), and very methodical. Not OCD methodical, just in the sense that you can hear the wheels turning when he is working on certain things. These sounds were there before, but they weren't "heard" as well with Sammy bellowing in the background ;) Freddie more often then not has to complete the task at hand, or has to have things go just the way he thinks they should go, which I think is a very good quality, as annoying as it is at times as the parent.

And he is an incredible big brother. He is still totally in love with Baby Jack. He always wants to hug him, hold him, help with feeding and check on him. Jack, in turn, has a lot of smiles and squawks for both of his big brothers.



Oh, and Freddie is going to be a Fire Fighter for Halloween!

A helmet for the well-chinned one.

I made an Aviatrix hat for Jack. Thanks to his multiple chins it fits more like a helmet (according to Jacob). But that's cool. The wool will absorb the drool rolling out of his mouth. Doesn't matter - he'd look adorable no matter what he's wearing. Actually, he is especially adorable nekkid.

At the bus stop.

Just a few shots of our morning madness. I mean, routine. Of course, these are all laid-back, after we've raced to the bus stop pictures.

Sammy sporting his new School Spirit hat. Hot off the needles.

It's blue and yellow, difficult to see in the morning sunshine.

I made this specifically for him to wear during the Walk-A-Thon:

Sammy is pledging to walk around Lake Nokomis and is seeking your financial pledges to mark this milestone. Proceeds will help the school PTA.

Don't be shy. If you'd like to pledge and we haven't hit you up for money let us know!


Freddie always sees Sammy off.

And jumps for joy when the bus returns Sammy in the afternoon.

Then, after we walk home Freddie always tries to lock me out of the gate.


And through this Jack Jack naps. (Sometimes.)

Yeah, 'bye Daddy.

Yeah, 'bye Daddy., originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Jacob is leaving for a recruiting trip this week (like, alllll week) and since his flight is late this morning he was able to go to the bus stop with us. This was Sammy's speedy goodbye to Jacob as the bus arrived.

(Jacob was on a work conference call.)

More eating.

It's very messy.


And *very* time-consuming. Freddie and I spent 21 minutes yesterday getting this guy to eat 1 tbspn of rice cereal.


But we love eating.

Huge Fisher Price recall

Sigh. See if you have anything. Link: The Fisher-Price Recall: More than 10 Million Products

Um, hello? American-based toy companies? Could you please start making toys in America again?

Baby eats.

He loves food!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Jack Jack started "solids" yesterday. Organic rice cereal. Very watery but apparently very delicious to Baby Man. He tried to tip the bowl into his mouth. Just one of the Rod boys :)

photo taken by Sweet Big Brother Freddie

Kim!

What is happening at UT? email me!

Here is the article for everyone else: Univesity of Texas Shooting

Jack has Kaia pinned!

Jack has Kaia pinned!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Jack is just shy of 20 lbs at 5-months-old. Kaia is just over 20 lbs at 3-years-old. What never gets old is the very amusing contrast between our childrens' sizes. Every time I am around Lisa I marvel at my gigantic and her miniature children. :)

Jack at five months old.

, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Still happy. Still chirpy. Still quite a sleepyhead! Still such a little love.

"Mommy, I'm gobbling up them."

Freddie, about opening a new package of white chocolate chips: "The reason why I opened them is because they wanted to come out."

Totally reasonable.

3T? Not for Freddie!

Freddie says size 3T is so two summers ago. The boy is wearing a boys' (that's right BOYS, not toddlers)
size 5 in pants.

He is 3.3 years old.

Hooray! I start preschool today!

Hooray! I start preschool today!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Freddie started preschool on Tuesday. It was a very exciting day for him. I's been two years in the making, as Freddie's not so patiently watched me drop Sammy off and drag his ass back home or on errands. Needless to say, he was SO thrilled that it was finally his turn to stay and play at school

Hooray for being three and starting preschool! Good times ahead. (Although Mommy does miss hanging out with you, my #2 guy, I do not miss removing you, kicking and screaming from the building 4x/week!)

Baby Baller

This is what happens when Freddie adds his style to Baby Jack.


Jack becomes a basketball player, according to Freds.


Jack: "I am so humiliated."

And one where he's not ready to play but brings the confused cutes.

Our growing Jack Jack!

He still has multiple chins but look! I can see neck!


Isn't he super duper cute? Thank goodness his sweetness was around this morning to put a damper on the whole Dead Microwave fiasco.

Freddie one. Microwave zero.

This morning Freddie killed our microwave.


I was upstairs putting JD down for a nap. I was gone for about five minutes. When I returned the kitchen smelled toxic. I couldn't figure out what it was. I called Jacob. I said, it smelled like something plastic was burning in the dishwasher.

Actually, something plastic was burning and bubbling in the microwave.

I asked both the boys if they'd messed with the microwave and Freddie immediately hid. Sammy looked confused. Didn't take me long to figure it out.

What I think happened is Freddie put the kitchen scissors in the microwave and pushed the 30 second quick cook button. I don't know if he watched it or not. But I sure am glad that it was only 30 seconds because it torched the microwave and surrounding wooden cabinet, and because who knows what would have happened had those metal scissors cooked longer. Overcooking the scissors would have been much worse, I'm sure.

I talked with Freddie about what happened, and what could have happened, and then gave him a very long time out without his DT (blanket). I hope he understood the severity of the situation and how he'd made a very bad and very dangerous choice that morning. But I mean, really, who is ready to parent this kind of stuff?! Or freakin' three-year-old boys in general? Icarumba.

Home from first day of kindy!

Kindergarten was a success!
Here is Sammy getting off the bus.


He was all smiles after school yesterday, and he had a lot to say about his first day! He and Freddie even played school while I made dinner last night, and I quietly listened off to the side so I could learn even more about his experience. It was so good! He likes all the different subjects, he kept talking about Math, Recess and Quiet Time. He told me his teacher gave him a green pillow for quiet time and he gets to keep it in his cubby. He brought him some impressive coloring he did in Art, his Wednesday "Special." And on and on about Day 1.

Here he is showing me how he was tagged with his bus number.

He said a man wrote this on him when he got off the bus upon arriving at school.

Here is me, watching intently for my boy to return home.

I talked all big for months and months but it was one of the longest. days. ever. I kept wondering what my boy was up to, if he was making friends, if he was happy or if he was sad and missing us. I was so happy to see him climb off the bus with a BIG smile and start talking nonstop about his day!

Last night I told Sammy that I was happy for him because he likes school so much. He told me, "I'm excited for myself!" I shouldn't have worried at all. Sammy is the perfect kiddo for a school setting.

And we're off to Kindergarten!

Holy cow. The first day of school for our #1 guy!

Here is Sammy ready to walk to the bus stop. What do you think of his first day of school outfit?


Sammy was so excited to get on the bus this morning.


Jacob stayed home for a little bit this morning so he could see Sammy off to school. And Jack stayed awake for it.


He made a friend at the bus stop. A second grader. Good. Someone to have his back and show him the ropes.

Until Sammy becomes an expert (uh, tomorrow). Then he'll be the bus driver, right James? ;)

Off to school!!

My big guy! (okay, after reliving Mama needs a moment to collect herself.)