Lately...

Aside from (or perhaps because of) this really big deal, we haven't had too much excitement around here the past few weeks. Here are a few random pictures of what The Brothers have been up to.

We spent one pretty fall evening at Mr. Boyer's, where Ryan hunts with my Uncle Dale and cousin Josh. These two (three?) were in heaven getting to explore, throw rocks, and act like country boys:

 

 

 

Getting lots of wear out of our Thanksgiving shirts made with love by Honey:

{Grant L, Reid R}

Visiting with our favorite peanut every chance we get (never mind the hot chocolate on their shirts -- I tried to be a fun mom and let them get a treat at Starbucks. FAIL!)

{Grant & Blaire}

{Reid & Blaire}

 

 

Finally picked up some helmets to keep the Knievel brothers' noggins safe while they're careering around corners on their bikes (no, we don't make them wear them inside; they just like them):

{Reid L, Grant R}

Coloring, cutting, and crafting -- they LOVE cutting paper with their My First Scissors. When I first busted them out a week or so ago, they seriously spent over an hour just cutting construction paper.

{Reid L, Grant R}

{Grant L, Reid R}

{Reid}

{Grant}

Last week we visited the library for story time for the first time. They were a bit unsure at first but loved the singing and dancing by the end.

{Grant L, Reid R}

And what they REALLY loved was getting to play on the library's computers -- books, schmooks:

{R}

{G}

 

Ryan was out of town last weekend for a client hunting trip. The weather was COLD and rainy on Saturday morning and I knew we would all fare better if we got out of the house, so we went to play time at Kids In Action followed by another trip to the library. (Reid's in the Pilgrim shirt and Grant's the Indian.)

 

{"Don't even think about telling us it's time to go..."}

 

And of course there's been a whole lot of this, too:

{Reid L, Grant R}

This is my favorite time of year, and I can't wait to experience all the holiday excitement with these little maniacs now that they're old enough to enjoy it!

Kind of a big deal

So, this happened:

{Reid L, Grant R}

That's two big boys in big boy underwear, in case you couldn't tell. 

After 2 years 10 months and close to 15,000 diapers, a couple of weeks ago I got a wild hair and decided it was time to give potty training a run. We started on a Friday and literally did not leave the house for three days. I can't even tell you how many hours I spent looking at this:

{Grant L, Reid R}

{Grown men in training}

Nor can I tell you the number of times I wanted to give up. Lord have mercy, potty training is not for the faint of heart! The boys actually did great -- once we started, no one ever had more than 3 accidents in a day, and that was only a couple of times each -- but still. This is parenting in the trenches for real. 

Of course we had a few minor setbacks, but parts of it were actually much easier than I expected. They use public toilets like a boss. They go #2 like professionals. And now, 2.5 weeks in, they're pretty much golden (pun intended). They tell me when they need to go, and sometimes they even go all by themselves and don't tell me until after the fact. (Or until after they've tried to dump their potties into the big potty and spilled the contents all over the bathroom floor... like I said, NOT. FOR. THE. FAINT. OF. HEART.)

There have also been lots of potty-related prizes, including hundreds of Skittles, dump trucks and backhoes from Honey, time in their bounce house, and a trip to Toys R Us (their first public restroom experience) to get new engines for their train set and some cute conductor duds:

{Grant L, Reid R}

 

And because I want to remember it, I'm including the lyrics to the potty song I made up. Sung to the tune of "Texas Fight" (with sincere apologies to my Longhorns):

Potty time, potty time
It's time to sit on the potty.
Potty time, potty time
'Cause we like to go tee-tee.
Potty time, potty time
Yes, the biggest boys are we.
Potty time, potty time, YAY potty time
Now let's try to go tee-tee!
YAY Grant, YAY Reid
YAY boys, GO TEE-TEE
Potty time, potty time, YAY potty time
Potty time, potty time, YAY potty time

All in all, I'm pretty stinking proud of them (and myself, I'm not going to lie). They're turning into big boys right before my eyes, and I could cheer and cry all at the same time. 

Yabba Dabba Doo (Halloween 2013)

Look at these cute little cavemen:

{Reid is Fred Flintstone & Grant is Barney Rubble}

We spent Halloween morning at Sassy's house visiting with Blaire, Honey, Memaw, and Tennie. Of course the boys had to wear their costumes to show them off to this sweet pumpkin:

They really could not love her more.

And who can blame them??

We had lunch over there, played on Honey's iPad, loved on Blaire, and then headed home. 

We had had several days of constant thunderstorms and flooding leading up to Halloween, so we decided to forego our neighborhood party and go to our church's fall festival instead. Of course, just before we loaded up to leave, the clouds parted and the sun came out... but we pressed on and I'm so glad we did.

I tried to get a picture of the boys together before we left, but they were not having it. This was as good as I could do:

We had a great time at the fall festival. The boys spent a few minutes in a bounce house, until the Chick-Fil-A cows walked in and they freaked out and couldn't stop saying "Cows not get me, cows not get me." They still have not stopped talking about those cows.

There were jungle gyms to climb in...

Food trucks (and a Daddy who bought us cheeseburgers and fries so we could have a carpet picnic)...

Tables filled with rice for digging...

A petting zoo...

And best of all, PONY RIDES!

{Reid told me "Get your arm off me, Mommy"}

There also were lots of tears when the pony ride ended, but thankfully a couple of suckers made it all better. And a second round didn't hurt either...

{Pretty sure that's a donkey, not a pony....}

We stayed for about two hours and then it was time to get back home...

But not before a stop at the cupcake truck for some sweet roadies, just in case two rounds of suckers wasn't enough sugar for one day.

Halloween 2013 was a sweet one for sure.