I'm going to be like Jeremy.

Walter has been talking about when he gets bigger lately. He's talked about becoming a doctor and today he told me this. I like it.

I had a lovely weekend with my mom's group at one of our friend's cabin. I got in some much needed girl time and came back feeling refreshed with my patience restored. Perfect.

The boys obviously had a wonderful guys weekend with Jer. They also got some special time with Grandpa Monster and Grandma Joanne. They had kid's choice on what to do and enjoyed time at Under Water World at the MOA. When they got home they were excited to tell us about all the cool fish and creatures they had seen, particularly the alligator fish.

Finger Toothbrushing

With Tricia out of town for the weekend with her girlfriends, the boys and I attempted to have some serious fun!

On Friday, we started the evening with a game of touch football in the neighborhood triangle. Owen's favorite route is a left to right post. Walter just likes to take hand-offs. After the game, we made up Berry and Coconut ice cream bowls, and watched a few movies that we had earlier picked up at BlockBuster. Walter's choice was "The Chipmunks Halloween" and Owen picked a Veggie Tales episode. I picked 'getting some shut eye'.

On Saturday morning after breakfast we went bowling at Cedarville Lanes. Owen started the day with a strike down the middle. Walter countered with two spares and took home the honor of beating his brother in both games that we played. Owen confirmed that he wants a bowling birthday party.

After the bowling we grabbed a quick Mexican lunch and picked up a pumpkin at a local stand. I only call it a Mexican lunch because it was at a Mexican restaurant....Owen had a hot dog and Walter had a cheeseburger. I went with the tacos. I'm not sure if the sour stomach was from them or another Gopher loss.

Once we got home, we carved our first pumpkin of the year. It was a scary two headed monster with each boy responsible for drawing a face. After they were drawn, Owen did the carving (see the pictures below), and we saved the seeds for roasting. The seeds must have been good since we had them all down within a half hour (check out the recipe I used: Pumpkin Seed Recipe ).

After the pumpkin carving, we headed back to Blockbuster because the boys wanted to rent a few Wii games to play. Walter picked Mario Galaxy 2 and Owen picked Carnival Mini Golf. When we got home, we decided to go back to the triangle for a little more touch football before we played video games. After the video games were over, uncle Moogs came over and we played a few rounds of UNO. Walter won the first game and Owen won the other. Uncle Moogs is still dusting off UNO cobwebs.

As we were getting ready for bed, we remembered that Griffin had eaten their toothbrushes earlier in the day. As a result, I gave them an ol' boy scout lesson in finger toothbrushing. It was a fun end to a fun day.

- Jeremy

I was just trying to recognize.

We were in a rush to get out the door this afternoon to pick up Owen. When I asked Walter to come get his shoes on for the third time, this was his reply. I love hearing words come out of his mouth that he has heard before but doesn't really understand what they mean yet.

We spent the weekend in Wisconsin Dells celebrating my mom's big 10.10.10 birthday. It was such a fun weekend full of smiles. That place is heaven on earth for kids. We went to a different water park every day, went mini-golfing a couple times, played plenty of video games, won plenty of cheap prizes and went on the Ducks...the boys even went twice! Talk about a party.

Last week the boys brought me in to their classrooms to show me what they are working on. Walter was quite proud to show Owen and me around his room. He brought us up to the loft/reading area a couple of times and read us a book in another area of his room. Owen showed Walter and me the bird cards and a few other reading materials. His skills floored me for sure. It was a true pleasure to see my boys take such pride and show such joy in their classrooms.

I want to show you Walter.

Sunny Hollow had a open house of sorts this evening where parents get to go into the classrooms and the children show them what they are working on individually. The boys and I were done with Walter's class and moving on to Owen's class as we overheard Walter's teacher ask a girl if there was anything she wanted to show her mom. The little girl, Lola, responded with "I want to show you Walter." I hear a good amount about Lola and apparently Lola is equally talkative about Walter.

We are loving fall and living up the 70 degree days. This weather reminds me of our beautiful wedding day...which was nearly 8 years ago now. We spent last Saturday exploring the Afton area, enjoying nature centers and nature hikes.

Last night Owen came running out of his room to tell me his tooth had come out. It is tooth number 3 and sure is a big one. I absolutely love his new smile!