Halloween is in Full Swing

No baby, but that just means that I get to enjoy all the ghoulish festivities with my kids, and they are having so much fun. Last Saturday night we had a trunk-or-treat at my church which was a blast. The best part of the night was when Tanner was trying to get out of the cake walk which he didn't mean to be in in the first place and some kids pushed him out of the way right when the music stopped. The push made Tanner stumble onto a number and when they called the number... it was Tanner's. So he won a cupcake. That's right, my kid is a winner without even trying. Hehe.
So on Monday night we carved our big pumpkin and the boys had a great time.
They only liked the gooey ickyness on the inside so-so and about half way into the project they decided to eat ice cream and watch dad finish the job.
But when all was said and done, tummies full and counter cleaned, we all were very proud of our spider pumpkin.
Tomorrow I think we are painting the rest. You can only scoop and carve so much you know. I'll let you know how that goes.

Saturday Shoot

After the boys woke up from naps I was wrapping up a photoshoot in my living room with a friend and the boys wanted to show off their stuff. Well, Tanner wanted to show off his stuff, Ty had to be talked into it a little. Regardless... I couldn't pass up the chance to get some cute photos of them.

4 favorites for the 4 Lawrences'

Sorry, I'm not MIA, just being really good and getting done my to do's before I blog... and it's taken this long. Actually, I still have a lot of to do's but it's time for a brake.

Quick update on baby Austin. I'm dilated 2-3 cm, which means nothing to me. I was a 2 for a month with Ty but we'll see. I feel fine, just huge and ready, but at the same time, I could totally use more time to get all my stuff done, so whatever happens happens.

Because my time for blogging is lacking here are 4 things the 4 of us are each into right now:

Tanner

• Motorcycles: I had no idea how many motorcycles drove on the street with me each day, but after minutes of being in the car with Tanner one becomes very aware of how many there actually are. He will announce their existence with brilliant enthusiasm each time and usually follow it up with a sound effect which grows increasingly louder each time.Vrrrrrrrrooooooooomm.

• Candy Corn: Normally it's anything with sugar, but candy corn is the recent obsession.

• Animals from the pumpkin farms we've been to: We've been to two farms this month and now I get woken up with Tanner on my bed and the first conversation we have is about the animals; are we going to see them today, what kind are there, how many animals are there... it can go on for about 15 minutes depending on how coherent I am.

• Playing Monsters with who ever is around: Hence the choice in Halloween costumes. Need I say more?

Tyler

• Halloween decorations: Not only does he want to make them and he can not wait to carve a jack-o-lantern, but driving around the neighborhood to see the blow-up decorations has become a nightly event that he looks forward to each day.

• Wanting a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa: I will write a post on his first sleep-over which he had a few weeks ago, but it definitely needs to become a more regular occurrence. That would make both Ty and his parents very happy. He had a great time.

• Riding his bike: Anytime, anywhere.

• The days of the week: He's become so interested in what day and month it is, and now he's really into the season too and what that means. Today he told me fall means the leaves all change colors, sometimes it's colder and we get lots of candy in the fall because it's Halloween.

Eric

• Running his first marathon: 3 months of training is almost completed. He's looking and feeling great. I've never seen him accomplish something like this so I'm super proud of him. The race is on the 15th of Nov. so hopefully I can pack the kids into the car and at least see him cross the finish line.

• Studying the words of David O. McKay: He just loves reading books about past prophets and learning more about their lives. This is something I'm envious of, and need to get better at.

• Heroes and The Office (the tv shows): Duh.

• Avoiding getting the gutters cleaned out before it rains: This is actually been putting it off for I wont say how long, but he knows. I know its not a fun job but seeing at 9 month pregnant lady on the roof would definitely cause some neighbors to talk, so it's up to Eric I guess.

Myself

• Snickerdoodles: So the recipe I posted for these over a month ago is to die for. I make them a lot and a lot of them. But then, Monday night I made more cookies for family night, and Eric said I had to make something else, so I did basic chocolate chip, and they were super yummy too. So maybe it's just cookies I'm into.

• Trying desperately to get everything 100% done before baby comes: Is this possible?

• Making Christmas Presents: You all should be excited about this one and that's all I'm going to say about that.

• Appreciating my family: I'm sure it's the nesting thing, but I've been totally loving my family lately. The boys, even with as much energy as they have, are super cute and come up with the funnest things. Their view on life is so simple and pure, how can you argue with that? Eric's been amazing and supportive and as always so good to me. And my mom is a super star, what would we do without our moms. My dad is so good to my boys and loves his two littlemucachos. Family is so awesome. I'm glad I have such a great one.

Great News For All

New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know!

There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Fsjd&altl=Mbxsfodf

Jot back a note to let me know what you think! I am super excited!

Flying Good Fun

Halloween is half way here and the boys are super super excited.

About a week ago my landlord dropped off a whole bag of home grown pumpkins. When the boys woke up from their naps they thought it was Christmas when they opened the bag and pulled each pumpkin out one by one. We spent about an hour sorting and resorting the pumpkins according to size and color and which one they liked best... it was very entertaining.Then today Tanner found his Halloween costume in a bag and would not put it back. I didn't want to pull them out too soon in case they wore them out before Halloween. Ummmm, today that was all out the window. After Ty got home from school we put them on and they couldn't have been happier. Ty is a bat and Tanner is a monster. Actually Tanner is in a dinosaur costume, but they call it a monster, so whatever.
And don't you know that bats and monsters can fly, well my can. I got smart and moved the table to avoid an injury - smart moment for me. And so they flew off the window, over and over and over again.Too bad they think they are so scary, because actually they are the cutest little bat and monster I've ever seen. Taking off the costumes was drama but I'm sure there will be a new round of excitement tomorrow. I wonder what spooky thing is hiding around the corner...

Lesson Learned

My husband is amazing. As I've mentioned in various blogs he does wonderful things for me and my boys as well as friends and others who need him. We all know he's just great - right? I know he is. One thing Eric does for me is he 99.9% of the time the parent who gets up before the sun with our two kids. I don't know why, but no matter what our boys seem to get up at 6 - give or take a 1/2 hour.... EVERY MORNING! And yes, when that happens, Eric takes the boys out and lets me rest a little more. Now, you might be thinking - wow, that's wonderful, but there is a little more to the story. While the boys are out of my room and with their dad at these early morning hours... Eric has a set routine with the boys. It's really simple actually. Eric puts the boys in front of the t.v. to watch a morning show, lays out a towel or blanket and puts a bowl of cereal or their food of choice out for them to munch on while they watch t.v. and Eric lays on the couch, semi-conscious, and they are good-to-go. (The semi-conscious is a point of debate. I think he's out for a morning snooze, only to be awoken when there is a disagreement over something between the boys and he claims to be fully conscious, just resting with his eyes closed. I haven't had a good answer to why his breathing is so deep and a few snores pop out here and there while he his wide awake, just with his eyes closed).

So bottom line is I'm grateful for the sleep I get, because I am not as lucky as Eric and when it is my turn to take the boys in the morning, the last thing I get to do is "rest", so thanks Eric. But a week or so ago, Eric did learn a little lesson about "resting" so deeply. He was on the couch, and the boys ate their breakfast on the floor in front of him, Eric was enjoying another quiet moment with his eyes shut when he all of a sudden heard Tanners voice very clearly say, "You eat it Dad." Immediately following his statement Eric felt something that apparently had been pre-chewed pressed firmly against his lips. Eric quickly came out of his "resting" stage and was now fully aware of the fact that Tanner had shared his previously tasted breakfast, which happened to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with his dad. Yummy.

Lesson to learned: Choose how deeply you want to rest while a 2.5 year-old is lurking near by, no matter how calm and relaxed the situation may appear. Happy 'resting' dear.

Do you have your Boots?

Yea!!!!! It finally rained! I love the rain so much. I love the smell of that fresh rainy smell. I love taking pictures when it's overcast. I love getting in my sweats and sitting in front of the fire. I love drinking hot coco. Oh, I just love love love the rain.

So today when it started raining at about 3 this afternoon I was so excited! When the boys woke up we made hot chocolate and then we couldn't take it any more and we had to go outside and play.

It was the perfect temperature and a light sprinkle. Just right for playing in.
I forgot to mention that the boys really like to play in the rain too. The especially like getting ready to go into the rain with their coats and their boots and their hats.
While we played we also looked at our neighbors leaves that are changing colors.
We caught rain drops on our tongues.And some missed an hit our nose. Tanner thought that was hilarious.
Ty even tried to run so fast that the rain drops wouldn't touch him. He did pretty good, 'he's super fast'- as he kept reminding me as he zoomed around the yard.
Tanner wanted to see if hoods or hats work better in the rain to keep your head dry.
He came to the conclusion that he likes hats better. And Ty just loved his new rain boots. They are super-duper cool. Tanner likes his too, but please don't tell him they aren't new and they are Ty's from last year that he outgrew. Tanner thinks they are new and loves them a lot too.
Ty got to try his photography skills with my camera. He did great, but he only got one shot. Why push my good luck with him not dropping my good canon camera right? I think he took a pretty good shot, that camera is heavy!
But over all the boys did what they do best and were just totally cute being themselves.
Who could ask for two cuter kids?
What a fun day in the rain.