November, in a nutshell

Logan's Thanksgiving program - they sang a funny little song where the turkey went "gobble gobble gobble" and "wobble wobble wobble" so we've heard that song about 1000 times now :) It was cute!

Connor's music program - Connor swore for weeks that he "didn't have a speaking part" but I could just tell by the way he said it that it must not have been true. Turns out he got to say the name of one of the songs they sang...he was so proud he pulled one over on me :) Just before the program he told me he was a little scared to be on stage so I tore a corner off a piece of paper and wrote "Fear Not" on one side (a phrase he'd learned from Vacation Bible School last summer) and "We love you!" on the other. He stuck it in his shirt pocket to help him not feel scared. After the first song he stuck his hand in his pocket for a few seconds and then gave me a thumbs up with a huge smile on his face. Priceless. I won't soon forget that moment :) Here are my Dad and Logan waiting for the program to begin...


Crazy Hair Day - Connor's school had crazy hair day and his class won 3rd place! He loved his hair and frequently asks to do it again!


Connor and his friends at the bus stop on crazy hair day

Thanksgiving was at Grandma and Papa's house. Yum! Logan and I made pumpkin pie together and then Connor and I made chocolate peanut butter pie. Both were delicious!


The boys had fun checking out the HUGE rocks unearthed during a recent septic system overhaul...

Fiddle/Elvin - The day after Thanksgiving a mysterious box appeared on our doorstep. Santa had chosen our family as special recipients of the "Elf on the Shelf" (wow has Santa raised the price of this thing recently! It's super popular but, come on...it's doubled since he asked Amazon.com to send it to us in mid-November!). Anyway, Santa sent us an elf who stays with us during the day and then flies to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa how the boys behaved that day because, you know, it's hard to keep track of all the kids in the world, even for Santa. He ends up in a different location every morning so it's a race to see who can find him first! He's been on the tv, hanging from the blinds, on a shelf in the bathroom, on top of the refrigerator, stuck in a candle jar and lounging on the clock, just to name a few! Where will he be tomorrow??


The book that came with him tells his story and explains how the first thing we have to do is give him a name. Connor decided to name him Fiddle which Logan seemed to like too. The next day, though, Logan couldn't remember his name so he's been calling him Elvin ever since :)

The book also explains that we can't touch him because it might cause him to lose his magic and then he wouldn't be able to get back to Santa. Amazingly, the boys have respected this and totally believe that if they touch him bad things will happen. The first few days both boys spent a lot of time talking directly to him and telling him not only what they want for Christmas but also about every little detail of their lives - adorable! Recently, though, they mostly talk to him to tattle on the other brother :) LOL

Tomorrow our oldest baby will be SIX. I'm not sure how that happened, as clearly I have not aged a day in that time (haha), but the calendar tells me it's true. More about this milestone later... :)

Some pics from the end of October

Time. It just goes way. too. fast. It's almost Thanksgiving? When did that happen? :) Here are some pics from around Halloween...
Connor's class had a fun Halloween party and parade


His whole class


Connor and his friend Morgan (who's dressed as pumpkin spice) playing ghost bingo

On the actual day of Halloween Connor woke up with a fever and runny nose so we were afraid that most of our planned activities that day would have to be canceled or shortened. We decided to try the Halloween parade and the boys had so much fun! Their costumes were a big hit. In case you haven't figured it out, Connor was a street cleaner and Logan was a bus. Connor decided quite a few months ago that he was going to be a street cleaner and never wavered so we had to make it happen! The headlights worked (thanks to Papa!), Connor had a flashing yellow triangle on the back of his and Logan's stop sign flashed when he moved! They were so cute!




After some good naps we managed to trick or treat to a few houses. Here are the boys with our neighbor Maddox, who clearly didn't know what to make of their costumes! :)


A few days later (after the fevers subsided) we managed to finally rake and play in the leaves in the backyard!

Just say NO to NaBloPoMo

Yeah, it's November 1st and I'm blogging. Does that mean I'm participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) as I've done for the last two Novembers? No. Somehow I don't think I can stick to it given that so far in 2009 I've only blogged 28 times. :)

The only news around here is the boys have fevers. Again. Yuck. So, they both saw the pediatrician today. Logan is on day 9 of his antibiotics but still has an ear infection, so now he's on a stronger (and much more expensive) antibiotic. Connor has croup and is now on a steroid to help his lungs and a course of antibiotics. Fun times in the Dean house...

Halloween was ok, so maybe I'll post pictures soon. Not tomorrow, though...don't want you thinking I'm going to post every day this month! haha

Edited: Uh, yeah, I just realized it's not even November 1st. So, uh, the whole point of this post isn't so funny anymore. Sigh...

What a difference two days make...

You know how I love leaf pictures given posts of the last couple years but this year has been difficult. Once the leaves here in Longmont really started to change Connor and I got sick, then it snowed, and rained, and before we knew it it was October 26th. There's no real significance to that date other than we watched the news and realized that the weather forecast was calling for a foot of snow! So we quickly loaded up the kids and drove to our favorite trees, hoping that enough of their leaves had fallen to make it worthwhile and that those leaves hadn't been destroyed by a lawn mower or blown away by the wind! I think we got some cute shots.

The first picture I took - Logan was sliding in to lay next to Connor :)


Our little monkeys swinging in the trees




What a goofy look on his face!


Brothers


Connor up in a tree


Logan hugging a tree :)


And then, 48 hours later, SNOW! Lots and lots of snow! I think there's probably 8 to 10 inches so far but it's hard to tell since it's also been pretty windy. All surrounding school districts were closed today except for ours (of course) so when Connor got home we built a snowman!


They did cancel school for tomorrow, though, so we're hoping to have pancakes for breakfast, carve pumpkins, maybe even make cookies!

Update

I'm not sure why blogging is always the first to fall off the to do list but it does...

Connor and I were both sick over my birthday which pretty much sucked. My argument now is that if I didn't celebrate it, I didn't get a year older. Yeah, that's what I'm going with because it makes me feel somehow better for not leaving my bed that day. I still have a lingering cough but Connor bounced right back :)

Here are some pictures from a couple of fun trips to some pumpkin patches over the last few weeks.


Logan on the barrel train ride - he tells us every day that he wants to do that again!




Pumpkins!


Logan making a funny face and Hannah (Kristina's daughter) with her beautiful painted face!


Logan, Connor and Connor's friend Noah walking hand in hand


We should have made a break for it while they were locked up!


Connor loves this cow - it's his favorite part of this pumpkin patch!


Jeremy and Logan breaking the rules in the corn maze by leaving the trail :)


At our other favorite pumpkin patch


Mom! It's too bright to look at the camera! :)




Brothers, pumpkins...what more do you need? :)


We're busily trying to get the boys' Halloween costumes finished this week. Losing a week due to illness was not in the schedule! :) Connor is doing great in Kindergarten and amazes us with his reading progress every day. Logan is doing well too!

School Days

The Saturday before school started we went to a parade in downtown Longmont. There were fire trucks from all over the area and once they were done parading down Main Street they let the kids climb all over them - a little boy's dream come true!


The day before school started I was at work, as usual for a Tuesday, and in a meeting with a coworker who just returned from maternity leave. My mind drifted during the oh so interesting meeting and I thought about my first few times back in the office after Connor was born...and how he was about to start kindergarten now and everything that he's done over the last 5+ years and...I had a hard time keeping it together! I thought for sure I was going to be a mess when the day actually arrived but Connor's extremely positive and outgoing nature was overwhelming that day and his excitement helped us all be excited!
Connor about to go to Kindergarten, Logan about to go to preschool


He wanted to pose like a big boy :)


Lining up and getting ready to walk in the classroom. I'm not sure why he posed like this but it's cute! :)


After Logan's nap he asked me take a picture of him again so here it is!


Connor thought every day of Kindergarten would include a photo op so here's Day 2...


Day 2 was also Connor's first bus ride to school! He told us he's waited his WHOLE LIFE to ride that bus and it was just as good as he imagined it would be! In fact, he was upset that we took him to school and picked him up the first day - he would have been fine riding the bus from the beginning!


Poor Logan has kind of been neglected as far as excitement over school goes but he's liking his new class as well. Two days a week Connor stays for a full day at Kindergarten and each of those days so far Logan begs me to go pick Connor up so they can take naps together. He misses his big bro!

A couple quick tidbits about Logan:

- His favorite new phrase is "you're my best friend" - 3 year olds are just so loving! A reward for making it through the terrible twos I guess :)

- When he feels sad, or at least is pretending to be sad, he makes a pouty face and points to it saying "look...I'm SAD." It's really hard not to laugh at that!