Camping... in the backyard?

The things we do to appease our kiddos. Last weekend, Jason and I went camping with friends - adults only. We had a great time! Tyler got a little upset that he was not going so when we got back, Jason had the idea to set up our small tent in the backyard. He thought it would be fun for Tyler to help set it up and to pretend camp. We had some leftover smore ingredients so we lit up our firepit and roasted marshmellows too!! Tyler loved it and can't wait to go camping ~ for real!

Pictures say a thousand words!

OK... so it mostly says 'Need to do laundry' and 'These pants/shoes were the closest thing to the diaper station!' How sad is this look? You know you have a lot going on when you let your kids out of the house looking like this! At least it was just in our driveway!!

Busted!

Caught in the act!!! Even the look on his face says "I'm guilty!" Good thing he tromped all over the monkey grass... I don't think anything can kill that stuff!!

Fun Pictures

Maybe Colby should have been Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Tyler brought out his Buzz glasses the other day and Colby wanted to wear them so bad. After some coaxing, Tyler let Colby wear them and he loved it j- wore them all day long!

Since the Heard Nature Museum is so close to us, I went ahead and got a membership (figured it would be something fun, quick to do with the boys). It has been a great investment - we all love going! I recently took the boys to the Dinosaur Alive exhibit and Tyler finally got over his fear of dinosaurs (we went last year and he was very, very scared). Yay!!! We went again today and will probably go tomorrow too. Tyler is out all week for Thanksgiving so trying to find things to fill up the day. We love it out there!

Halloween After Party

For the past few years the Donato's have had a Halloween After Party so that we could get all the kids together and see them in their cute little costumes! Every year we try to get a picture of all the kiddos - it's never easy and I don't think we have ever had one with all kids looking at the camera but I at least got one!

Halloween

Halloween was on a Wednesday this year and Tyler had school the next day so I decided to give the boys a bath before trick-or-treating. I knew that we would be putting on costumes soon so instead of getting them all dressed I just let them go in their underwear for a couple of hours. Tyler was so, so excited for trick-or-treating this year. He kept saying how excited he was and that he couldn't wait, etc. Tyler could see that the evening was approaching, Duda got home and so he knew trick-or-treating was near. He was so excited that he started jumping around and dancing and making up little songs... "it's Halloween, Halloween, I get to trick-or-treat, Halloween, Halloween, ring the door bell" and on and on. So, Colby chimes in and starts running around in circles - screaming and dancing too. The boys were nuts!!! I am watching them from the kitchen and thinking to myself how cute they look dancing and singing in their underwear!!! They were totally nuts and out of control, but you gotta love it!

This year Tyler was a Transformer - Optimus Prime... and sweet little Colby was a dragonfly! I was going for Tyler being a frog and Colby a dragon fly, but it didn't work as I planned. I thought it would be funny since frogs eat bugs (dragon flys). But... since Tyler is getting older and has his own likes and dislikes, he was pretty anti on being a frog. I decided to let my boy be a big guy and choose his own costume. I had a newspaper insert that had all sorts of different costumes and told Tyler to choose - that is the story on how he came up with Optimus Prime. He has never even seen Transformers - all he knows is that he looked cool!!!

Pumpkin Time

I get so excited just before Halloween because it means I get to carve a pumpkin - I love it!! We wait until a night or two before Halloween to do it! THis year, Duda carved his own, I carved one and Tyler and I did one together. Tons-o-fun! Check out our pumpkins!

Tricycle Parade

Tyler's school had their annual Tricycle Parade just before Halloween. All of the kids dress up in their costumes and decorate their wheels of choice (bike, tricycle, scooter, etc). The school plays music and all the kids ride their bikes around the gym for a few minutes. Might sound a little dull but it is pretty cute to watch!!

Sunday Ritual

When the Dallas Cowboy season started, Jason and Tyler both had on their Cowboy jersey for the first season game - and the Cowboys won!!! When game #2 came around, Duda said things needed to be the same so Tyler and Duda had to wear their shirts again... and the Cowboy's won! So, on week #3, Duda of course didn't want the karma to change and decided they have to wear their Cowboy shirts for the rest of the season.

I thought to myself that Colby needed to be included in this ritual and approached Jason with the idea (he was so serious about not messing with the karma that I wasn't sure if poor little Colby was going to get to wear his shirt)... Jason was hesitant at first to let Colby wear his shirt but of course he decided to let him. The Cowboys won game #3 and went on to win all but one game so far this season. So, now every Sunday, the boys have to have their Cowboy shirts at game time - no joke! This past Sunday, against Philly, was a late Sunday night game so both boys slept in their cowboy shirts... this is serious stuff!!!

Happy Helper

I love it when the boys offer to help! One of Tyler's favorite things is to help me in the kitchen! Colby of course does not 'offer' to help with much but he loves to help put the toys up.

Tyler loves to help me bake (cake in a box is still baking, right??)! He goes and puts on his bakers get-up (all by himself) and then says he is 'ready' ... check out a cute pic!