After an awesome birthday week and catching up on beach blog posts, I took a little break from blogging....like 7 weeks ;) Not to worry though, the pictures have been waiting patiently for me until now! It was a really nice month filled with plenty of playtime outside in the lovely fall weather, pumpkin patches, social outings with friends, fall festivals, and, of course, Halloween!!
Look at this goofball sitting on the table!
Who could be mad at that face though??
Or that one?! ;)
The boys go running every single night with each other--so cute!
Daddy joining the race to the weather pole (?)
<3
We have fun inside too :)
Back to their old tricks at Grandma's house again!
Ethan still won't peddle...that boy is STUBBORN to the core!!
Maybe tree climbing is more his thing :)
My sweet E
Okay, for this series of pictures, you don't even need captions! Needless to say, the boys LOVED a good snugglebugg with Aunt LoLo! I am in love with this whole series of pics!!! <3
The next day, we were all back at Grandma and Granddaddy's! Tommy immediately went for his bike, while Ethan and Daddy had an adorable series of pictures themselves!!
I LOVE, LOVE, ,LOVE this one!!
Hooray for a late birthday surprise from Megan and Sara--TASU on them!! Thanks, ladies!!
Annddddddddd, we're back at Grandma's!
Those helmets used to belong to me and Nolan!
Ethan, naturally, got my old Dale Earnhardt helmet...
while Tommy got Nolan's old hockey helmet!
Ethan met a new friend in the garden, and I swear I did not alter this picture--the sun shining on his hair really makes it that bright of an orange!
:)
Haha, I think Ethan was worn out!
Nothing some cheerios, Cars PJs, and a movie on the couch can't cure!
Look at these two adorable boys all snuggled up together in the guest room <3 They said they didn't need to take a nap--yeah right!!
It's time to head to the pumpkin patch! I thought I'd go ahead in try out the boys' Halloween costumes, and they looked sooooooo cute! I do regret not going back to the pumpkin patch in regular "fall" clothes, but alas time slipped away. Oh well, at least they had fun the one time they went!!
Hey Goose, you big stud!
Highway to the danger zone!!
I feel the need....the need for speed!!!
Maverick, and his wingman--Goose
Ummmm, what exactly does being a wingman require!?
Little ol' me?!
My little pumpkin head blended right in to the scenery!
<3
Ethan spelling out "P-U-M-P-K-I-N-S!!!!"
Flight school!
Move over Tome Cruise, that's one good looking aviator!
Mom snapped a quick family pic for us :)
Silly boy!
Ethan the menace ;)
A little laugh with Grandma after he slipped off the back of his "ride"!
It's the great pumpkin, Ethan Catchings!
The king of the hay maze!
Bye pumpkin patch--see you next year!
Tommy's first five Halloween's :)
Ethan's first four :)
Craft time at Grandma's house!
The boys were both so proud of their books of "autumn pumpkins and leaves"!
Tommy got to go on a field trip to the fire station, so I took the honey badger out for some pizza!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, first school pictures came in, and I could not have been more pleased! For decor purposes, I would have LOVED a plain white background, but there's just something about the cheesy muddled "school picture" background that makes it a classic!
I was so happy to be able to go to Greensboro to meet up with one of my favorite families of all time, the Boeh's! AJ, on the right, is a highly ranked high school freshman wrestler in Pennsylvania, and he qualified for a major tournament here in Greensboro! It was so, so nice to see them all again :)
Richie and AJ--I used to BABYSIT these guys when they were infants!!
Look how adorable they were as my ring bearers <3
And, their lovely Mom, Christine, with her two big guys!
The following week at school, I was so blessed to be able to attend both boys' "Fall Festivals" and help out in their classrooms. It was really cool to see the boys in their elements, and just get a little sneak peak into what their "school day" looks like!!
One thing was immediately apparent, Tommy and his best friend Patrick are attached at the hip!!
Down the bouncy slide together!
Beautiful little Eliza :)
Gracie and Eliza down the chute!
Leo giving us a big smile and wave!
The gals ;)
Such a cute little class photo!!
Next up was music class--Tommy LOVED it!!
Hopping to the finish line!
Now, this video is a couple of minutes long, but I think it's so worth it. If you've ever worked in a preschool, you're probably familiar with the popular movement song, "Bop Until You Drop". It was so adorable watching all the kids have such a blast dancing!
And, now it's time for...FACE PAINTING!!
Hi everyone!
Patrick went with the dark knight!
And Leo chose Spiderman, which is what I was expecting Tommy to choose!
Kayla Mae was animatedly describing to Mrs. Terri how she just "lost her brain" this morning before school!
Tommy's turn! He surprised me by picking a Jack-o-lantern instead of a super hero!
I ADORE this woman!!! Mrs. Terri is the kindest, gentlest, most tender-hearted woman on the planet!!
Gracie chose to be a flower princess :)
Tommy showing Kayla Mae his scary jack-o-lantern face!
When we got back to the room, we all had a special treat for little Miss Abbi's birthday!
Guess who sat together...........;)
Tommy thinks Patrick is HILARIOUS!
Peer pressure is so interesting! As you can see, Patrick is almost halfway through his doughnut, and Tommy is just staring at it like, "Hmmmm, if Patrick is eating it, it must be okay!"
First bite of doughnut ever! He did seem to like it, but he only had a few bites, which was fine by me!
Eliza, the unicorn princess!
Oh boy--time for a hayride!
Tommy looks like he's not so sure about this one ;)
"Bye Preschool!!"
My sweet little pumpkin <3
The super hero duo sat together for the hayride!
Meanwhile, Tommy found himself surrounded by princesses as they went down the hill!
<3
The next day, it was Ethan's turn!
Ethan seemed a little surprised when Mommy showed up in his classroom during morning art!
I got to go outside with Ethan's class, which is something I missed out on the previous day in Tommy's class. Luckily, Tommy's class came outside later, and I was able to snap a few more pictures of them as well :)
Ethan's little buddy, Brady. Their other partner in crime, Alex, was out sick that day :(
Happy Natalie!
Great picture of just the kiddos--can't believe everyone was smiling! It is crazy the difference in picture taking between 3 and 4 year olds! Many times, the 3's would smile or say cheese, but they totally weren't looking at you when they did!
This time I made Mrs. Jennifer get in the picture too! Again, I could not be more pleased with both of my boys' teachers--they are phenomenal!!
Ethan's turn for a hayride!
Another difference between the ages ;) The hay was just too tempting for little 3 year old hands!
Class shot on the hayride! I feel so bad because I can't remember 2 of the girls' names!! I know one of them was Savannah, but I can't remember which one :/
In the bounce house, I could NOT believe it when the whole class chose to play with the sensory tub instead of bouncing, after just a few bounces!
Ethan getting ready to slide down on the bouncy slide!
Aren't all of those hands and arms so cute in there working together?!
Time for more outside time--I was very impressed at how well they all listened to Mrs. Jennifer!
Shocker--the girls went right for the sidewalk chalk!!
And, the boys went for the buckets and balls...hehe, had to capture this little "plumber" shot of Ethan!
Ethan Spidey!!
A pretty little rainbow butterfly!
Butterflies for 3 year olds, and princesses for 4 year olds!
I thought Ethan looked too cute with his Spiderman face!
Back to Tommy's class for recess! Cute little Leo!
And, Kayla Mae :)
How cute do Eliza and Sammy look in their Halloween best!
As for Tommy, he begged (again) to wear his "Wolfpack number shirt"!
The birthday girl, Abbi!
And, Gracie paused from running around with the other girls for a quick photo op!
What a busy week! After attending both Fall Festivals earlier in the week, it was finally time for Halloween itself! This was the first time we've let the boys go Trick-or-Treating, and they just might have a new favorite holiday!! I also just have to say, I LOVE our neighborhood. Everyone was so friendly, and it just seemed like something from a movie--all of the little kids running from house to house, clearly on cloud nine with all of the candy in their respective buckets!! If you need a neighborhood to go to next year, come to Mill Ridge!
My little guys getting ready to head out!
A HUGE thank you to Grandma for staying behind to hand out candy to all of the other little trick-or-treaters while we were out with the boys!
As ever, Mommy and Daddy proudly represented our respective house alma-maters from Hogwarts, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor!
Our very first house!
So cute!!
This was the "scariest" it got in Mill Ridge.....
The kids didn't seem to notice as they loudly pleaded for candy!
I love this picture--my three guys <3
Have you ever seen a cuter fighter pilot in your life?!
Tommy looked so great in his aviators!
Ahh, the differences between my two guys continues! Tommy immediately backed away scared by the little dog, while Ethan was moving forward trying to pet him, saying "Hi puppy dog!"
One final house!
I think someone is a little tired--better head back home!
At home, we all sat around the table and ate Pizza Hut. The boys were so excited to tell Grandma about everyone they had seen--Buzz Lightyear, Iron Man, Spiderman, etc etc etc!
They hauled in a pretty nice loot too! I have to say, Halloween candy comes in very handy when it's time for a preschooler to take a nasty tasting antibiotic!!
I think Tommy had just as much fun handing out candy to a few late arrivals! He would sprint to the door as soon as he heard the doorbell, and say "Who's here?!?!" (meaning which character would he see--it was adorable!)
And, as I have been, I'll conclude this post with a little taste of what my guys have been doing school and craft-wise! They are always so proud of everything they make, so I try to keep stuff out from that month for them to revisit :)
Tommy's pumpkin crafts for the month! He's gotten soooooo much better at cutting--all of the eyes, noses, and mouths you see were cut all by himself!
And, he's getting much better with his handwriting too! The page on the left has the little dots to trace, and the page on the right is "all him" haha ;)
A leaf rubbing, spider book, and an impressive tracing of letter G!
And, for the Catchings clan--Tommy continues to do really well at "math", although his coloring leaves plenty to be desired!!
Ethan's pumpkin crafts!
All of these were done at Woodhaven--they do the coolest crafts in his class! I love the 3D dinosaur they did--it looks even cooler in person!
Ethan's "Fall" crafts!
The boys colored one page each week of October on Wednesday nights at Grandma's for their books!
And, lest you worry, Ethan is pretty good at math too! My Mom said he got the "5" right all by himself, though she obviously wrote in his answer for him!!
Thus concludes the month of October! It was a super busy, but very fun-filled month--a wonderful introduction to the "holiday season"!!
