Another visit from family!

Before we get to our first visit from Alex's parents, I just have to share this story. Olivia is very motherly and bossy. Maybe those things are synonymous, but she is the epitome of in-charge. A lot of the time that leads to discipline and me saying 'O, you have to be a friend/cousin/sister now' and she replies 'and you be a mommy now, OK?'....over and over through every day. This particular day, however, was right after Carter started walking consistently, and apparently all of our cheering rubbed off on her as well. Her sweet little voice yelling to me:

'mommy, go over here! Carter is ridin' horsey. It jus his size...perfect!! Can you say ee-haw buddy? Good job little man, you are big boy. So big, almos' like a big girl, me. Yay cutie!!'

Even now I love how many nicknames she fit into three sentences! So fun being a mom to these two :)

And I start the post with two of my favorite pictures of these guys. Carter was showing off his book, that I let him take to nap with one day. He was so happy, and so sweet when he woke up. O is just playing outside, but her eyes were glowing that day. She is a beautiful girl.

Alex's parents came to visit us in Mid-October. We were so excited to show off our house, our neighborhood, and all the fun things we have discovered in the Boise area. We always like to try a new adventure when company comes, and this is no exception. The first day we went back toe the Grand Opening of the The Village. They had all the same things, but the courtyard and surrounding area is very nice, and fun to walk around. The kids enjoyed cookie decorating and playing on the playground, and I REALLY enjoyed letting Mary and Gary do all the wrangling of kids :). It's like a vacation for me!

That evening we had our cousins over for dinner and to celebrate Gary's birthday a little late. They had a blast in the leaves, and I got WAY too many cute pictures of it!

We wanted to have an adventure, so the next day we went to the Boise Zoo! I had heard mixed reviews, but I thought it was a great size, the perfect amount of walking for the kids, and it had great, very active animals! Carter also had his first crush. He was so enthralled with this statue of a young girl. He kept petting her, and walking around her. So funny!

The groundhog exhibit was cool!

Mary with her very favorite animal :) Quite a matched pair!

I honestly don't remember what these ears are all about...but they make for a good photo spot!

This goat was so funny! He just came right up and started eating Carter's snacks out of his stroller. Then he wouldn't stop licking and trying to get more. Carter wasn't thrilled, but he didn't cry or anything, he just watched intently the entire time.

The last must-see place to take all new visitors is Costa Vida of course! Yes this means we got it two weekends in a row :). And can you tell which part of the meal is Carter's favorite? He ate two platefuls of black beans...and wanted more!

It was such a fun trip, and the kids didn't want their grandparents to leave. I love how close all of our parents are to our kids, and all the memories they are going to have together! We can't get enough :).

Family Time and a Grand Opening

As the fall continued, and we kept having great weather, we enjoyed LOTS of time at the little playgrounds in our neighborhood and the huge park that borders our HOA. The kids like to play outside as well, but haven't quite reached an age of independence outside, or with play in general. So I am always thrilled when we have visitors who can entertain and play with the kids! The second week of October was full of fun, because a lot of family came into town for Kade's baptism. We had people sleeping in our guestroom and playing at all hours of the day...just the right kind of crazy :). 

Here is my mom's token Costa Vida grandkid picture. I'm not sure why we always round up the kids with Grandma here, but it is her favorite restaurant in Boise, and we love going when she comes to town! Eight kids, with 5 under 3 was a trick to get all sitting at once...here are the two shots I got :).

That evening we were playing at the house, and loved this 'bonding' moment between the boys :). Carter spent about 15 minutes just following Justin around (they were both crawling at this point), pulling himself up and then sitting on him until he scooted away :). At least they were both comfortable to watch the show!

Kade's baptism was wonderful, and it was so great to see so much family and have that special day. What a handsome kid!

Afterwards we went back to the house for some family time, which ended up with 8 kids on the trampoline (most of the time unsupervised), with all the grownups inside chatting ...

Saturday morning we went to another of Kade's football games, which are always a blast. I am really bad at taking pictures of the game, but I always get the sideline events! Today Carter was entertained by stroller wheels (for a LONG time), and Teag chugged an entire can of water, in a Dr. Pepper can. He was SO excited, I am pretty sure he drank half before realizing it wasn't soda.

This is the first year that I can remember that I was unable to attend an OSU football game. Every game that we watched on TV was a little bittersweet, but we really enjoyed the score this week!

(No that wasn't the score, but yes we did win that week, so it's all good!)

The next weekend was the grand opening of The Village at Meridian, a new mall right next to Amber's house. We weren't sure what to expect, but I read of Rapunzel, free samples, and cotton candy (I was sold by cotton candy). We definitely couldn't miss this event! True to expectations, it was great! There's aren't a lot of stores open yet, but there are a couple great restaurants, and a WAY nice movie theater. Outside they have a huge fountain that has a coordinated-to-music show every hour. It was a great time!

The kids were SO excited about the fountain! I love Carter's face below...I just wish I had actually captured his whole face in a picture!

Free face painting! Could it get any better?

And just before leaving we got balloons made for the kids. Carter got a ninja sword, and Olivia got butterfly wings. We had a great time, and decided to go back a couple days later with Alex's parents!

October Week One

Yes it has taken me forever to post anything. I am tired of blaming myself, so this time I'm blaming Blogger. Has anyone else had issues getting pictures to load?

Anyway, we just continue our fall adventures...here is a flower and a monkey. The kids were both totally excited to switch...even though we had a slight moon from the monkey :).

The first week in October was really hard. For no reason in particular, but we had grumpy grumpy kids and an impatient mom trying to get stuff done. So here is Carter in the Ergo (which we LOVE), having a grumpy day. He really loves being held, and being in the carrier is a close second. But he is old enough now that he only wants it for about fifteen minutes before he wants down...then five minutes later we start the process again :).

And we had to get a picture of this loves goose egg that Olivia had for about a week. She fell victim to a cousin who is still adjusting to being bossed around :).

One highlight from the week was pudding! I don't often make dessert, because I'm not a huge treat fan (OK so I wait until the kids go to bed then have ice cream regularly...). But this particular day I made dessert, and was Carter's first time with pudding, and first time using the spoon by himself! He was very accurate and barely missed his mouth at all ;).

My cute fall centerpiece... sometimes you just have to amaze yourself with decorating, and putting things together from four different shopping trips to form a $13 centerpiece for the fall. Homemaker WIN!

On the 5th I took the kids to a Public Safety Fair at the Fire Department. There were all sorts of booths about home safety, fire safety, bike safety, etc. The kids got to meet Smokey the Bear, Scruff the Crime Dog, and a couple other mascots, and we had a fun time walking around to all the booths. Alex had to work, but it was fun to have a day out with happy kids that were excited the whole time! Part of the day was a few demonstrations, from the Police Dog, the extrication crew, and the Fire and Police Departments. I was amazed by the police dog, who sniffed out drugs, attacked a bad guy, and stopped from a dead run in like two steps (if the criminal surrenders, the dog can't attack him).

Overall a super fun day! Thank you Meridian Emergency Services!

I'm pleased to announce the newest addition to our family...a new grill! I told Alex he was going to have to wait until Christmas for this purchase, but I wanted to grill in the fall and eat outside to enjoy our beautiful Idaho fall weather.

Next year I will do a small garden and have more outside plants to make myself feel like a homeowner. But we did pick up a cute Orange Mum on late fall clearance and put it on the front porch. After it froze and died, we proceeded to leave it on our front porch in the pot until Mid January. Lacey 1, Home Beautification 0.

English muffin pizza night! This was the first time we let the kids do it themselves, and I would call it a success :). The pile of cheese that O 'needed' was bigger than three handfuls, and Carter just ate everything we put on his tray. We really enjoy having personal pizzas though!

And we close with some goofy boy pictures...he is such a ham! His favorite place to be is the fridge, where he opens and shuts produce drawers until he finds something that will work as a ball (apple, grapefruit, tomato, etc.). Sometimes I am fast enough to stop him before he throws it, but not usually :).