What we've been up to

We've had a couple of busy months, and I wanted to catch up before things get more crazy (because I KNOW they will).

Addie had a birthday!  My little princess turned 6 in August.  She is such a joy, and such a challenge.  With every ounce of sweet comes an equal ounce of sass.  This includes stomping (literally) off and rolling eyes and TONE!  But she's also the best helper I could ask for, she watches out for her brothers, and she is easily the most excited to have a baby sister come into our family.  This may be because I promised she could have a bunk bed only if she had a sister to share it with.  I keep reminding her that this is easily 5 years away, but she's confident that she's getting the coveted double decker :)  I love this girl and am grateful for being her mom.

Addie also started 1st grade this year.  We are soooo lucky to live one house away from the school walkway, and we get to walk to school nearly every day with great friends.  Here she is with Emily on the first day of school.  Herding little boys and excited girls to school was not the most conducive to picture taking, so I failed a little on the first day pics.  Oh, well.

Not the best pic (goofy look) but Addie's lost her two bottom teeth.  Her first was the night before her dentist appt, and she was a total trooper!  I was determined that the dentist would not be involved in that milestone, so we worked hard all week to make sure that didn't happen.  Turns out that tying floss around the tooth and giving it a good yank up works great!  We're two for two. 



And Max also started school.  He doesn't look too enthusiastic, but he truly loves going to school.  My little man that refuses to acknowledge me teaching him anything can now write his name and is starting to identify letter sounds in words, so I am totally loving preschool.



Poor Hudson wants to do EVERYTHING Max does.  Including carrying a backpack and going to school.  Don't worry, I've since upgraded his backpack to a cool Buzz Lightyear backpack instead of a pink hand-me-down from his sister.

And Max had a birthday, too!  He's now a big 4 year old, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.  I love this sweet little man, and he is easily my most cuddly and loving child.  That means he's also the most tender-hearted, so he has his fair share of crying.  He tolerates Hudson so well, the taking things away and the beating up and the tantrums.  In turn, Hudson thinks the world of Max.  Good thing :)

One of the things that have kept us very busy is the work we've been doing/having done on our house.  The biggest and best thus far is changing our backyard  from a trashy dump to a great place to be.

We started out with this...

and this...

and went thru this...

and this...

to this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and finally THIS...

and THIS!!

Sorry for all the patio pics, but it's something long desired.  Even in Milwaukee, we dreamed of extending our patio into something great to hang out on but never did anything about it.  If you need concrete work done, I know the man to use!! 

I know I'm a little early, but we had Trunk or Treat last weekend so I'll put up pics of that so I'm current for the next time I decide to catch up my blog.

Man, did we luck out!  All three kiddos were good with costumes we already had, so I just had to supplement them a little and we were good!

Captain America was a hit, and all I had to do was buy the shield.

With a Scooby-doo costume in his hand at WalMart, Hudson decided to be the dinosaur we had at home.  I promised a little face painting, and we were golden!

You should've seen the costume list this girl came up with, most that needed to be purchased.  She ended up deciding on a witch, again because of the face paint!  Left over wig from Daphne, tights and a broom and she was set!

And then Sunday was the Primary Program so I had to capture these cuties before church.

 Better pic, but Hudson still had his mouth open showing the googly-eye he was chewing on.  Stinker!  They did so well in the program, Addie singing her heart out and Max walking confidently to the microphone to recite his parts.  It was great!  I forgot how easy church could be when I only had one child crawling onto my disappearing lap and Corey sitting next to me again.  Sigh! 



Speaking of disappearing laps, I am down to 5 weeks left and can hardly wait!  I don't have a belly pic for you, but will probably get around to taking one before she makes her appearance -- right around Thanksgiving!  Hooray!