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!

Kickin' Off Kindergarten

Well, I'll start this post off with a cute Blake story that I forgot to include in the last post.  One day a couple weeks ago, I was fixing a quilt that my Grandma Brune had made me.  Blake wanted to know who made the quilt and if she had met that person.  I told her no, and she asked why she hadn't met my grandma.  I told her that Grandma had died.  We then had this long conversation about how everyone dies.  So when Bob gets home that evening, Blake opens up the dinner conversation with, "Today Mom and I were talking about how you're going to die."  Lovely.  Continuing with the same theme, Blake now keeps bringing up fun things to do and then she'll say, "You know, we should do that before you die."

I wouldn't want to leave Wy-Guy out, so here's a quick Wyatt story from a week or two ago.  The kids and I were in the car driving in town.  We were experiencing about the closest thing we get to stop-and-go traffic around here when all of a sudden Wyatt yells from the back, "Knock it off, Mom!  Either go fast or go slow."  Ahhh, I just love my back seat drivers.  Wyatt has really clung to that phrase - knock it off.  It cracks me up to hear him telling Blake, the dogs (you name it) to "knock it off."  Funny boy.

Blake started kindergarten this week, so we decided to start a new first-day-of-school tradition (not original idea, by the way...I heard of another family who did this, and I thought it was a cool idea):  Ice cream for breakfast.  Don't worry, I made them muffins to go with it.  The kids thought that it was really cool.

 Ms. Serious posing for a first day of school picture for me.  She's definitely a Brune.

 posing with her brother, too

After we got done taking pictures, Blake was exasperated and said, "I know, I know, Mom.  Put my backpack in the blue rectangle and play until the bell rings.  Then, line up on the blue line. I got it.  Can I go play now?!  I need to find Kenzington and ask Carson who his teacher is."  At this point, Wyatt realized that he wasn't getting to stay, so he was in hysterics about that.  So, I left my big girl to do her thang while dragging Wy-Guy off the playground as he's screaming, "want play" and "need Blake".  BUT I did find out from another mom after school, that Blake kind of freaked out when the bell rang and a bunch of parents swarmed the lines of children to give their first school goodbyes.  Maybe she's not as confident as she puts on, but she made it to the correct line and now has the morning routine down pat.

When we got home from dropping Blake off at school, a friend of mine brought two of her kiddos over to play.  I could not resist posting this pic of Wyatt & Tyce playing with the wagon.  They were quite the buddies that day, and Tyce saved me from the wrath of Wyatt - definitely a good distraction.

Little Miss Blake is all about picking out her own clothes for school.  Oh Lord, help me.  She's even got her own modeling poses. YIKES!

On the second day of school, I got a call towards the end of the school day saying that Blake was sick, and I needed to pick her up.  Poor Wy-Guy was sleeping, so I had to wake him up and go get Blake.  As soon as we got home, Blake was all chipper and wanted to watch cartoons and have a snack. Ugh!  So, Blake spent the rest of the evening resting in bed or on the bean bag with no snacks and no TV.  After that little experience, she's told me several times that she will never be sick at school again ;)

One final Wyatt story:  Yesterday I told Wyatt that if he went poopy on the potty, I would give him ice cream.  I later found him sitting on the toilet whispering, "I can do it. I can do it."  Hilarious!  But, I gotta give him credit.  He did it!  Well, he got half in his underwear and half in the toilet - a start, at least.  BIG NEWS, though.  As I started to upload pictures for this blog post, Wyatt came and got me saying he had to go to the potty.  So, I took him in, and he pooped on the potty!!!  Hey, that's seriously a big deal...to me, anyway.  I HATE cleaning up those type of messes - yuck.  I'm sure we still have a little ways to go to finish up the potty training, but he's been doing really well.  Other than the half poop incident yesterday, he's gone one and a half days with no accidents.  I cannot wait to be freed from the diaper/underwear/dirty britches washing routine.

Happy Labor Day weekend to you all!

Kindergarten Interview

I thought it would be fun to interview the kids before each school year and record their answers here on the blog.  Hopefully, it'll be a fun little tradition.  I had a notepad with the questions on it, and then I read them off to Blake and wrote down her answers.  Well, here goes.  Anything in parenthesis is my explanation of what Blake is saying or referring to.  Here's Blake's kindergarten interview:

Me:  What's your favorite color?
Blake:  Red

Me:  What's your favorite movie?
Blake:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Me:  What's your favorite song?
Blake:  Twinkle Little Star

Me:  What do you want to be when you grow up?
Blake:  Artist.  Because I'm being good at not scribbling, but I'll use paint.  It's a good thing I'm taking paint to my school, so I can paint things.

Me:  What most excites you about kindergarten?
Blake:  Get to play with kids.  I'm smart at doing this (answering these questions), am I?

Me:  What are you most nervous about?
Blake:  That I'm going to miss you.  That's not a good one (answer), is it?
Me:  No, I think it's a pretty good one.

Me:  What are you most proud of so far in your life?
Blake:  I'm proud of seeing the dolphins when we went to Shelly's world (not sure how it became your "world", Shell...don't let that get to your head) and seeing the sharks at the aquarium with Collier.

Me:  What new things do you want to learn in kindergarten?
Blake:  To color (draw) alligators, sharks and dolphins and ponies.  Sometimes I don't really know because I draw straight lines and they look more like robots than ponies.  Can I color?

Me:  What else do you think you'll learn in kindergarten?
Blake:  Drawing & coloring and learning stuff.  Is that what I'm going to do in kindergarten?  But, did you know that I like red and blue and dark pink?  Can you ask me what my favorite food is?

Me:  OK, what's your favorite food?
Blake:  Two kinds.  Mac n cheese and chicken nuggets.  Write that down there.  Make sure you put down mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. (Insert sing songy chant of "mac n cheese and chicken nuggets" here).

Me:  What was your favorite thing about preschool?
Blake:  Playing.  Well, there's two options, and singing.  Like the butterfly song and the apple song.  Let's sing the apple song.  Can I have a blue marker?

Me:  What is your favorite toy?
Blake:  My Little Pony set

Blake:  Mom, why do you keep laughing?
Me:  Because you are pretty entertaining, Blake.

Penny For Your Thoughts

Well shortly after her fifth birthday, Blake swallowed a penny.  She was lucky not to choke on it, but I ended up having to examine her stools to make sure that it came out.  Awesome.  Thankfully, the treasure hunt ended after only a few days.  Let's just hope not to have to go through that again - ICK!  In more pleasant news, our new furniture arrived around that same time.  Here's my goofballs pretending to relax.  Don't let them fool you, they rarely relax ;)

Daddy enjoying a little quiet time on the massive bean bag while the kiddos watch some cartoons one morning.

We decided to let the kids stay up late last week to see the blue moon.  Well in our case, it was more like an orange moon.  We have a few wild fires burning in the area, so we have had some pretty spectacular reddish, pinkish, orangish colors in the night sky.  Of course, you can't really see the color very well in the picture.  Oh well!

One corner of the kids' closet has a weird sort of shelf/storage formation.  Last week, I decided to turn it into a reading nook.  The kids love it!

They especially love hanging another blanket to make it more like a reading nook with a fort feel.  I just love the feet sticking out!

One morning while I was doing dishes, I caught Blake looking at herself making funny faces in the reflection off the pans.  What a goofus!

Blake has been very interested in what it takes to care for the dogs lately.  She's been asking about what we have to do to keep them healthy and likes to help me feed, water and give them attention.  Here's Maddie getting some morning lovins from Blake & Wyatt.

Poor Wy-Guy is going through detox right now.  I finally took away his bas (pacifiers).  I was going to do it this summer, but with the surgery and all, it just didn't seem like a good time.  He's been getting a little too attached to them lately.  He used to just use it for nap and bedtime.  But when he started to ask for it during they day, I realized it was time to quit cold turkey.  Here's my little addict...a bit ticked off after his first day with no ba.

It was so sad, but also kind of funny the first day without his ba.  He kept whining and pleading with me, "But momma, I NEED it!!!  Me need mines ba!"  Poor boy!  He's doing alright, though.  We're on our third or fourth night without it, so I think he'll pull through.