(pre) Halloween Loot

What? Snow on our fall leaves? yep. October saw our first snowball fight and snowman!

 

Halloween goodies started with a care package from Hawaii! Nothing is better than snail mail. Really. There was even a pack of sour gummy worms with my name on it! Thank you!

 Justin has turned a huge corner with his food choices. Colin convinced Justin that adding furikake (japanese seasoning) to his rice, it would taste good. Score! Justin finally eats rice! We all know how embarrassing it was for me to have a child who didn't eat rice. =)

 Leela/Aarti weekly dinners are still going on. The kids made monkey munch for a special Halloween treat. (yes, monkey munch twice in two weeks.)  So easy and so good!

 Our first official trick or treat of 2013 was on Friday. Our old neighborhood (Cedar/Lee) hosted a t-or-t at all of the small businesses. The weather even warmed up for the afternoon! (This year, Justin chose Captain America and Colin wanted the same.)

 The monster garage was the most fun. They had an air compressor in the candy bin - scared the boys a bit. They took their candy and ran!

 Our marble run has been getting a ton of use lately. A huge hit. Also, Colin found this happi in the house and wore it all day.

 Craft time. They went to the craft store and bought their own projects with saved money. Justin bought a paint project and Colin bought rainbow loom rubberbands. Who wants a bracelet?

 Paint time gone wild.

 

 Then we were off to Grandma's. She made all of the grandkids winter hats this year. The kids got to choose which animal and she made them custom to fit their little heads! I didn't know - but C & J both chose dinosaurs! Matching backpacks to go with their hats. She did a great job on all of the designs!

 The kids didn't want to take them off. Justin, as usual, was asleep 4.5 minutes into the car ride home.

 Trick or Treating #2 was on Sunday at the mall. It was my first mall t-or-t experience, and let me tell you, this was the best surprise I could have asked for. Indoors, good lighting, little walking, restrooms, benches, warm, nice people. All great conditions for a fun trick or treating afternoon! I'm officially a suburbanite.

 Beachwood does a great job at hosting kid events, and Halloween is no exception. Games, treats, non-candy prizes, friends, fun. Loved it!

 C & J and Koki & Katsuki. Look at that - matching brothers!

Each kid got 1 donut hole as a snack. Justin would only play one-armed games until he was done with his donut hole. He just refused to play any game that required 2 hands.

 The day ended with a birthday party for one of Colin's classmates. The host graciously invited Justin to come as well and both boys had a lot of fun!

 After the long weekend, we all came home and dove into the Halloween loot. And you're right, it's not even Halloween yet.

 

Ones I remember...

Me: Colin, do you want your brother to come to the party with you or do you want to play alone with your friends?
Colin: I want Justin with me. We can play with them together.


Colin: Mom, I want to learn different languages.
Me: What are you talking about?
Colin: I want to count to 10 in different languages.
Me: How many different languages?
Colin: As many as my brain can remember.
(That night we did English, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and French. We decided that Korean was very difficult for us to pronounce.)

Justin: Colin, are you listening to me?
Colin: Yes.
Justin: Hold your brain together so you don't forget what I'm saying.
(I forgot how much I love 3 & 4 year old talk.)

At Justin's parent/teacher conference, the teachers reported that Justin was an "angel" and a great listener, helper, etc. Then,
Teacher: He tripped a 5 year old boy.
Me: What??
Teacher: The 5 year old boy was annoying all of the children and when Justin thought nobody was looking, he tripped him.

Getting ready for grandma's house.
Justin: I'm bringing Grandma my lizard. (the one that he bought with his own money.)
Me: Oh, do you think Grandma likes lizards?
Justin: Yes. because it's from me.
Me: Oh. How about we bring her a picture and a lizard and let her choose?
Justin: She's going to want my lizard.

Colin: I don't have anything to bring Grandma.
Me: What do you want to give her?
Colin: (after much thought) Justin, can I have some of your candy to give to Grandma?
Justin: ok.

Pumpkin Family

Started off the weekend with a fun sleepover. These 3 boys always have a good time together. iPad games, marble run, soccer and legos were the big hits.


Then it was pumpkin weekend. Jack & I have been in an "exhausted phase" lately, and the thought of driving anywhere was not appealing. Luckily, we love our backyard. =)

 (oh, and we snuck in some leaf clean up too.)

 Carving time. Everyone picked out their own face design.

1. Can you guess who's whose?
2. Can you guess who's is whose?
(Grammar police: Which one is right?)

Found these pics on the camera this weekend. Boys playing on the chalkboard - Justin writes his name now and perfected his "S" this weekend. He's a proud boy. And me cutting Colin's hair. I think I'm getting better. I'm a proud mama.

Since kindergarten, our nights have changed dramatically. Before, we just did dinner and play time. Now, we get home later (with two school pick up locations), baths are now at night (school bus is too early for a morning bath) and homework time is needed. We're trying our hardest to squeeze everything in. How do people do this?

C & J favorite ways to spend time together:

• Bath time. They love bath time together.
• Pretending to be animals. Colossal squids are their favorite right now. "Hey Colin, do you want to play colossal squids with me?" - J. Then they proceed to trap each other with their squid arms and legs.
• Watching Wild Krats. Then quizzing Jack & me on animal facts.
• Homework time. Colin does his homework and Justin does a workbook. Normally, Justin finishes first, so Colin will make more worksheets for him. It's pretty funny to watch.
• Legos. Boys love legos.
• Jumping in leaf piles. Burying themselves in leaf piles. Losing safety goggles in said leaf piles.
• Playing with fire. Campfire sticks. 

Family of 6?

We had a fun weekend as a family of 6! It was sleepover time with Reagan & Brooke. We stopped off at an apple farm that did not have apple picking. (?!?!?) Instead, they had a full festival. Great views, fun times, and lots of sugar.

 

 Came home and made monkey munch. Reagan & Justin were into it.

 While Brooke and Colin did a Rainbow Loom crafty thing. If you haven't done a rainbow loom bracelet yet, you probably don't have a kid in the 5-10yr age group. Lucky you.

 Cooling (and eating) time on the monkey munch. It was our first time and I declare it a success. Delish!

 Lots of apples = apple muffins and crock pot applesauce.

Dinner time as a family of 6. Elwells love Mexican food! Love these girls - they are hilarious and I love watching the cousins all grow up.

No pictures, but as soon as Reagan & Brooke left, we had another family friend come over! I double booked us, and the boys were exhausted, but in a good way. Let's just say bedtime routines went smoothly on Sunday night. Jack said that Justin was pretty much asleep as soon as his head hit that pillow. Another fun weekend in the books.

1st pumpkin roll

Yes, our 1st pumpkin roll of the season deserves it's own blog post! Thanks, Danielle!!!

School Pics! Colin @ Kindergarten

Weekend Fun: Apple Picking, Family, Friends

A fabulous weekend. Now that I have an iPhone, I have lots more pictures. As if I didn't have enough already. =) Here are a bunch of random pics throughout the week in no particular order.

On any given day, this is what the 3 boys look like if anyone says, "look, a bird."

Justin's class made an apple tree and after describing it to Colin, we had to make an Elwell tree. Ours has names of friends and family on it. If you want your name on it, stop by for a visit. =)

 "I'm a fireman." - J. And both boys can take a shower, but they prefer playtime in the bathtub.

Colin made airplanes with a drill gun for both he and Justin. Jack taught him well - drill bits and screws. Nice job, boys!

 The boys and I went for an after-dinner bike ride/stroll. Somehow we ended up at Starbucks (completely my mother's influence.) Yes, they are on pink and purple bikes - and they love it. And yes, Colin still has training wheels - Jack & I are a bit too lazy to do the holding & running thing to teach him how to ride without them. Maybe next year?

 Elwells still fly.

 Oh, one of the highlights this weekend was our apple picking trip! It was our first time and we loved it. Pick any apple and it was $1/lb. We had a blast, and the view was incredible.

 While we were picking apples, we stumbled across a soccer game. Sat and watched for a bit. Look at those trees!

 Our apple picking loot. Justin's favorite part was the donuts and Colin's favorite part was picking apples. Does anyone else cut donuts into fourths so you can try more than just one?

 Impromptu family dinner.  "Mom, can I have the hot dog with no hot dog?" - Justin's way of asking for a hot dog bun.

 Boney has been lonely ever since Martha ran away. She barely comes out of her house and is hardly eating anything. We took a better look at her, and realized that she even had poop stuck on her shell - hence her kitchen sink hose down. In better news, Boney is getting a friend next weekend (when her friends are 50% off at the pet store.)

We had another fun playdate with Koki and Katsuki. The boys all have so much fun together. Fumie even brought over some homemade onigiri and karaage to share for lunch. Delish! She loved my tomato basil soup and I had to break the news to her that I got mine at Costco.

 
  Jack and I had date night. We had a rough start when Jack tried to take me to Orvis (a fly fishing store), but we made up for it when we went to Paladar. Guacamole was just the start of the feast. =)


I think these pictures make us look busier than we really are. Pretty relaxing weekend altogether.

• Jack had a boys weekend and camped out with friends and then ran a half marathon. He's superdad. 
• Justin's class has been playing "scientist" with foods and trying new things in class. And the payoff has been HUGE at home. Justin ate dinner bacon (ham), turkey, peas and meat lasagna. It's been amazing!
• Colin is mostly quiet about school happenings and we're trying not to be too pushy with questions. But last week, I found out that kids ask him to arm wrestle on the school bus. He won't wrestle anyone he knows he'll lose to...he said he arm wrestled one girl and won. Is this standard in the school bus world? Oh, and he taught himself how to whistle. He whistles all.of.the.time.
• Jamie is thinking about exercising again. haha. In all seriousness, I'm loving our slower pace and truly enjoying my time with C & J. Life is good. But really, I'm thinking about exercising too.