Fast Forward

Well, it seems like it has been forever since we last posted.  So, here's a fast forward of the last couple months:

Wy pretending to read to avoid picking up toys

Kids' bedroom decorated for Christmas

 Decorating Rice Krispie treat Christmas trees and snowflakes as an advent calendar activity

 And eating them.

 Brothers are so helpful.  Nothing could go wrong here, right?!

 Enjoying the snow...

 ...and not enjoying the snow.

 My cool dude.

 Buddies

 Wy pulling the sled

 Testing out the new ramp

 Adding to the ramp

 Real men wield pink & purple swords

 Living room camp out

 Wy's birthday cake

 The big three year old's birthday breakfast

 We've had a great last few months.  Grandma & Grampy came to visit on Christmas day and stayed for a week, but I didn't really get any pics.  We had an awesome visit, though.  Bob's been able to go out ice fishing quite a bit, and I was even able to get a ski day in with a good friend from college.  I'm sure I'm leaving quite a bit out, but I'm way behind on getting Wyatt's three year video posted...that'll be next.

Boo at the Zoo 2013

I'll start this post off with a picture of Blake's Positive Behavior Certificate from school.  She absolutely LOVES kindergarten, and she is evidently very well behaved and respectful.

Daddy was out elk hunting the weekend before and the week of Halloween.  So, I took the kids out to the annual Boo at the Zoo event at Zoo Montana.  The weather was about as perfect as it could be around here this time of year, and the kids had a blast trick-or-treating throughout the zoo and seeing the animals.  Wyatt went as Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Blake went as Rainbow Dash, the My Little Pony Equestria Girl.

Posing for Mom

Every time we go to the zoo, Wyatt tells us that there are sharks in the water under the bridge.  This is his impression of a shark.  He usually even throws a "ROAR" in there...I guess sharks look like they could roar?!

 They kindly stopped on the nature trail for me to take a pic.

I caught a good pic of Blake sitting on the rocks by the bear exhibit.  Wyatt, in the mean time, was climbing all over the boulders and falling down hills.

The kids even stopped to enjoy a Halloween performance at the zoo amphitheater, but we didn't get to watch the whole thing - Wy was a little too antsy.

After the show, we visited the barn area.  I had both of the kids' Halloween buckets tied to either side of my back pack.  One of the draft horses thought that I had a special snack for him, so he kept coming over to us.  It was pretty neat for the kids to get to pet him.  When we got done with the barn area, Wy-Guy was done.  As we were walking out of the zoo, there was a really long line to get in.  I happened to see an old co-worker and stopped to talk.  Wyatt just laid down and started to pretend to sleep.  Well, I say pretend.  I did talk for a while.  He may have really dozed off for a bit.

When Daddy's gone, the kids seem to talk me in to all sorts of fun activities - like putting jammies on and eating nachos for dinner in their sleeping bags while watching a movie :)

Blake got to have a Halloween party at school, so we made a little pumpkin toss game and took it as a fun party activity.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it, and then we gave them those butterfly, block and superman crayons that we made over Fall Break as a prize for playing.  We also took a healthy snack of ghost bananas and pumpkin tangerines - totally got that idea off of pinterest, I'm not THAT creative.

 

I carved the pumpkins while Blake was at school because we waited until the absolute last minute to do it.  I carved Blake a Rainbow Dash pumpkin, but it did not turn out very well.  Here's Wyatt's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pumpkin, though - it turned out nice.  I lined the pumpkin with foil and put green glow sticks in to light it up.  It looked pretty cool out on the front porch at nighttime.

The kids went trick or treating in our neighborhood, and then we came back to the house to pass out candy.  Blake LOVED it!  Wyatt enjoyed it as well, but the little turd kept grabbing candy out of the trick-or-treaters' bags as Blake was putting candy in...ugh!  Here's Wy enjoying some Skittles he snagged from some poor kid.  There will definitely be more supervision the next time Wyatt is allowed to pass out candy.

Hopefully, everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Fall...Again

We made our annual trip out to the pumpkin patch this morning.  Wyatt was pretty dead set on being a crank monster and not cooperating for pictures.  But, we still had a good time.  And, we even managed to catch a few accidental smiles from Wy.  Wyatt was not going to smile if he could help it.

 Daddy & the kiddos

I made Bob take pictures of me with the kids.  It's funny how when you spend most of the time taking the photos, you rarely get IN the photos.  We're long overdue for a family photo, but this is the best we could get for this outing.

 Blake with some teeny tiny pumpkins

After we finished up at the pumpkin patch and had some lunch, we made sure that our grumpy little Wy-Guy got a nap.  After naptime, I thought for sure he'd be in a better mood.  I was wrong.  We even went over to a neighbor's house across the street and played in the leaves (we don't get much for leaves in our yard).  Wyatt did have fun, but he was trying awful hard not to show it.

Blake, on the other hand, would have posed for a million photos if I would have let her.  She was having a blast jumping in the leaves, burying herself in the leaves, and building forts with the leaves.

 Stubborn Wy-Guy

 Finally, I caught a few smiles!!!

Hopefully, everyone is enjoying the fall weather as much as we are!  I'm just glad our little winter spell over the last couple weeks has turned back into fall again.

Book It!

Wyatt is my alarm clock.  He is up pretty much every morning right around 6 o'clock or so.  Sometimes, I kind of ignore him and try to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep.  When I'm lucky, he just goes and plays with his Rescue Bots or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  When I'm not so lucky, he comes up with new ways to wake me up.  For instance, one morning I woke up to an "arrooh" and not so gentle licks to the forehead from puppy Wyatt.  Another of his favorites is to run into my bedroom and scream, "COCK-DOODLE!"  That's his version of cock-a-doodle-doo.  Fun times.  Here's my two goobers one morning hanging out on the bean bag.

Wyatt has been occasionally skipping his normal nap.  We're down to just one nap a day, now.  Sometimes when he skips, he just can't quite make until dinner without falling asleep.  This is how I found him one evening when I was rounding the kids up for dinner.  Have I mentioned that he likes his "button"?  Hilarious!

 What can I say?  He's talented?!

Blake has really gotten into reading, and our local Pizza Hut does the Book It! program.  So, Blake just has to turn in the list of books she's read, and she gets a coupon for a free personal pan pizza.  She was pumped to get her first free pizza and passport to reading last week.

 Anytime I get a decent picture of these two together, I just have to post it.

This past Thursday and Friday was Blake's Fall Break, so we had fun around the house.  We even melted down a bunch of old, broken crayons and made new butterfly, block and Superman crayons.  It was a really fun project!

Hope all is well!  I have some more pics to post from our fun day out at the pumpkin patch today, so that'll be next.

First Snow

It rained most of the morning yesterday, and it was 37 degrees and still raining when Wyatt and I went to pick up Blake from school.  So, we came home and had some hot cocoa and popcorn to warm up.

It started snowing not long after we got home from school and continued to snow over night.  So after we dropped Blake off at school this morning, Wyatt and I decided to have snowball fight.  Well, it was pretty one-sided because I was taking pictures :)

I think this is going to be the last year for those bibs.  Wyatt is getting tall!

Copa was having a blast chasing all the snowballs that Wyatt was throwing.  She especially loves to try to catch them in the air.  These two were quite the pair this morning.

Otherwise, not a whole lot going on these days.  I have been playing soccer again; Blake has read 30 "Sam books"; Wyatt is pretty much potty trained, now (that was WAY quicker than Blake); and Bob continues to work hard and cheer on the Patriots.  I did get a call from Blake's teacher the other day to let me know that she got in trouble at school for kissing a little boy on the head.  So, we've had to talk about how we don't kiss at school.  The following day Blake came home and happily reported, "Hey, Mom.  I didn't kiss anyone at school today!"  Go team :)  Although, I will say the boy that she kissed is a super sweet boy and he has just happened to be in Blake's class in 3 year old preschool, 4 year old preschool and this year.  So at least she knows the kid, right?!

ZOOtoberfest

We've kept ourselves pretty busy with work, school and watching football lately.  Wyatt seems to be enjoying his alone time while Blake is at school, and I have noticed that I feel like I have a little more time to get house chores done.  Here's Blake & Wyatt playing with a bean bag toss game one afternoon after school.

Wyatt & I went to Blake's school one day to eat lunch with her.  We got there a little early, so Wy had fun playing with some of the big kid toys :)

We have already had some pretty chilly mornings.  One morning while I was cooking the kids' breakfast, Wyatt came running into the kitchen exclaiming, "LOOK my painting!"  I was a little worried at first, but this is what he was "painting" on.  Of course, Blake had to join in too.

Blake has been doing really well reading her "Sam books" (these beginning reader books my mom bought for her quite a while ago), and she gets a little treat after reading every 4th book.  Well, one of her bigger treats (after reading 20 books) was to get to go to the zoo.  It just so happened that the zoo was having their ZOOtoberfest event that same weekend, so we made it a family morning at the zoo.  Here's the kiddos showing off their tattoos that they got from one of the vendors there.

 Wy & Daddy looking at the bald eagles

Blake, again, showing off the tattoo and her new bracelet she got at one of the booths.

 Blake & Wy-Guy sitting still on a bench together (rare moment)

 One tired guy!

We also got to visit with Great-Grandma DeCoteau and Grandpa DeCoteau this past month, so I FINALLY remembered to get the camera out and take some pics.  Here's Grandma DeCoteau & Blake.

Wyatt, Grandpa DeCoteau, Great-Grandma DeCoteau & Blake

Blake has really been enjoying kindergarten.  So much so that she often comes home from school and immediately begins playing school.  She loves reading, coloring, drawing and writing.  In fact, she decided to write her name on the hood (and side) of my car with a rock one day.  UGH!!!

 

Wy-Guy still keeps me on my toes, too.  And, he's quite the character.  Just the other day, Blake stubbed her toe on a kitchen chair.  Wyatt (in a very sweet and concerned voice) says, "Awww...Blake, that chair jump out and hit you?"  I have a feeling this was one of his first attempts at sarcasm, but it would be nice if he was really that genuinely concerned about his sister.

 

My last Wyatt story of the post:

 

Me (helping Wyatt get his pj top on):  I need your arm.

Wyatt:  Arrrm, Matey.  (He then grabs one of Blake's bracelets and puts it over his eye like an eye patch.)  Arrrm, Matey!  Where's your treasure?!

 

Gotta love my goofy boy.  Hope all is well with everyone.  Happy Fall!