Halloween

Some pictures of our Halloween festivities for you all to enjoy!

Luke and Evan in their matching Halloween shirts that blink when you move.

Luke with some Halloween decorated cupcakes.


Cleaning out his pumpkin with Uncle Mark.

Yuuuummmmyyyy!

Cleaning out Evan's pumpkin.

The pumpkin.

Wall-E

Wall-E with his little pumpkin.

The carved, glowing pumpkins.

The loot.

10 Months Old

Evan turned 10 months old this week. He's been a busy little bee lately and is getting into everything!!! Luke loves playing with him, as long as Evan is no where near Luke's toys! I have a feeling this might continue to be an issue. :)

Evan is good at walking with his walking toy, but I don't think he's quite ready to walk. That is okay by us! We are trying to keep our baby a baby for a little longer! He has no interest in sippy cups, but is starting to eat more real foods. He loves cooked carrots and sometimes likes mashed potatoes. You can refer back to this post to understand his love of rice!

Enjoy the new pictures of our little man!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch today. It turned cool today, but we still had a great time. It felt Fall-ish, so it made the pumpkin patch that much more fun.

We rode out on the wagon and began our search for the perfect pumpkins for the boys. Of course, we had to get a few cute pictures, first.

Soccer Picture

Here is Luke's fall soccer picture. This picture makes him look really old, to me! Where did my baby boy go?

Dancing

Evan has learned to dance! Anytime any tune comes on, he starts moving to the music! Luke is his favorite musical artist!

Legos, Part II

I spoke too soon. He continued his building frenzy and built the bulldozer, roller, and dump truck. All by himself. Here's a picture of him showing off his creations.

Legos

Luke is really getting into Legos. He got his first set of Lego toys for his birthday in February. We've always had to help him build them, but he loves playing with them and building his own creations.

Today, however, Luke graduated into higher level Lego building. For about an hour, he worked on building this bulldozer all by himself. He followed the directions, step by step, and never asked for help.

I had a hard time putting that one together! I'm so impressed!

It's okay, you can say it...

... I'm a cool Mom. I make Halloween costumes for my kids.

This is Luke's Wall-E costume at step 845 out of 1, 367 steps.

It's taken a little more work than I had originally thought, but it's turning out pretty cute. We still have to paint the goggles to make them look like Wall-E's eyes, and we are going to add Wall-E's wheels to the side of the box. Then, we'll be done. So far, we like it, though. I've kind of impressed myself!

Remember, I've made him an ambulance costume, too. I'm just a regular Martha Stuart, huh?

Education

From Barack Obama's website:
Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. YES! Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school. Obama and Biden will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both. Obama and Biden will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families. YES! YES! YES!

From John McCain's website:
No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others.
I disagree. We can accept different standards for different students. Children are different and they learn different. Children with special needs and children who are still learning English should not have to take the same tests as students who only speak English and have no special learning needs.

Every federally supported program (including Head Start (this is PRESCHOOL)) must include meaningful, measurable standards designed to determine that students are ready for school by measuring their school readiness skills.
I don’t think that making preschoolers pass some kind of “test” is what early childhood education needs! For those who are questioning what “measurable standards” means, it means a test. Testing preschoolers to “hold them accountable” is wrong. Plain and simple. Wrong. That’s all.

Mmmmmmmm.

Evan is a picky eater. Always has been, probably always will be. But, today we had a breakthrough! Evan ate "real" carrots that had not been mushed up (cut into small pieces, but not mushed) and he also discovered rice. He couldn't get enough of the rice! He would grunt and scream for more and more! It got a little messy, but was well worth it! (Please excuse the mess on his shirt, we weren't expecting the rice tasting to go as well as it did, so we didn't put on a bib!)




And these, my friends, are the days of our lives. :)

Evan's First Haircut

I finally gave in and let Evan have his first haircut. It was quite over due, but I couldn't bear to watch my baby have his long locks cut. Dan finally convinced me that it was time (well, Dan and the many people who ask if he is a boy or a girl) and we got his hair cut last night. He did pretty well sitting on my lap, eating Cherrios, and sucking his thumb. Near the end, he decided he was done and screamed for the last 2 or 3 minutes.

Before:


During:


After:

Our Boys

Evan's 9 Month Picture


Luke's School Picture

Don't Vote... Really.

Check this out!

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/10/breaking_news.php

Some Pictures of Some Cuties

Summer may be over, but Luke still swims in the bathtub!

Evan is eating more and more everyday! He's a little picky (hmmm, wonder where he gets that from???), but he's doing better and trying new things!

Trying to get the boys to pose together... impossible!!!

Presidential Education

Yes. I'm going there. I'm jumping into the political realm on my blog. I love discussion and open minded conversation, so feel free to comment on anything I post here.

Not that a degree ensures a good candidate, but it is interesting...

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually critical election year.

Let's look at the educational background of the candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama: Occidental College - Two years.

Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.

Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899

Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester

North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study

University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism

Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester Uni versity of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism