Six Halloweens

This year is our sixth Halloween as parents!  That just seems crazy!  Before we had kids I don't think we even stayed home to pass out candy.

 

Halloween 2007

For Wyatt's first Halloween he dressed up as Yoda!

Halloween 2008

Wyatt was an astronaut,

and Reesie was a pumpkin for her first trick or treating experience!

Halloween 2009

To avoid panic and frustration, Wyatt dressed up as Yankee Irving, 

and Reesie made an excellent Strawberry Shortcake!

Halloween 2010

Both kids really "got it," and Wyatt chose to be Iron Man, while Reese was more interested in dressing up as a bad guy - The Joker.

 

This is probably my favorite costume ever!  I loved the way it all came together, and I loved the green ribbon in her pigtails!

And Iron Man was pretty cute, too!  Of course we all welcomed Hudson to the family 6 days later!

 

Halloween 2011

Hudson's first Halloween!

We re-used the Yoda costume, and I think he looks just as precious as his big brother!

Reesie decided to be Jessie!

And of course Captain America also made an appearance!

As long as Sandy goes away in a timely manner we will be trick or treating on Wednesday night.  Reese was supposed to have her pumpkin patch parade at school tomorrow, but school has been cancelled.  Hopefully she gets a make up.  Wyatt's is scheduled for Tuesday, but we should still be feeling the affects then, so I guess we'll have to see what happens!

Reesie is going to be Tinkerbell, Wyatt chose a pretty cool Storm Trooper costume, Hudson is going to be an astronaut and Finley is going to be a pumpkin!  Might as well get as much use out of these precious little costumes before they can choose theirs, too!

Frankenstorm

That's what they're calling her anyway...

While I love living on the East Coast, this is probably my least favorite part.  We should get hit by Sandy tomorrow, but the outer bands of the storm have some pretty high winds, and I think we're supposed to feel the effects of that through Tuesday?  This will probably mean no school for the kids on Monday for sure (which means no pumpkin patch parade!) and then we'll have to see what happens for Halloween!

I am hoping to that we keep our power (well, me and the breast milk that's sitting in the freezer, but I think that will go to Brian's parents house since they have a generator), but I'm working on making sure that chores that require power (like laundry) get done today!  We left town when Irene hit last year, but we're planning to stay for this.  Hopefully this one is more like Irene and less like Isabel, a storm  that hit in 2003 and left us without power for a LONG time!  How crazy is it that we're getting hit at the end of October?!?

We are off to soccer and hopefully baseball this morning.  Really hoping this storm calms down!

Game Ball!

Wyatt got the game ball at his baseball game last Thursday.  Brian decides who gets the ball based on their play, their attitude, how good of a team mate they were, etc.  I think as Wyatt's dad it's sometimes a little harder for him to give the ball to Wyatt - not because of any kind of favoritism, but because of our expectations for him.  Sometimes we call him a baseball and soccer player with a "hockey player mentality" if that makes sense!  He is aggressive, and especially at this age, that isn't always the best thing.  Some kids are just trying out sports for the first time, and Wyatt goes out there and wants to play like it's life or death.  And we definitely have our struggles with his sportsmanship.  He's only 5, but we know he can do better than he does some days!

Wyatt got to play first base the first inning while his buddy Hunter pitched.

They were able to work together to get a few outs! 

Baseball ready!

And I really have no idea what was happening here?  My guess is that Hunter got the ball and ran home to get the out!

Wyatt was in the outfield the second inning (every child on the team basically hates the outfield!), and then he pitched the third inning!  Throwing the ball to Aden to get the out...

They got it!  Wyatt's new thing this season has been to walk to whichever team mate got the out to give them a high five.  It's really cute, but also a bit distracting when he's at third and the out was at first!

After Brian announced that Wyatt got the game ball, Evan was the first one off the bench to congratulate him!  (And Daddy's shadow was right there!  We are in full meltdown mode with her right now whenever Brian leaves her side!)

Surrounded by the team!  It came out blurry I know, but I haven't yet mastered holding the baby and taking pictures at the same time!

Wyatt was SO excited to get the game ball!  He was waiting on the edge of his seat to find out if it was his.  He cracks me up!

Wordless Wednesday - iPurge Style!

Finley smiled for the very first time last week - in her car seat of all places!  Let's just say that she is typically not a fan!

I love this little boy's smile!

Finley licking Wyatt!  Ha!

He got the game ball at last week's game!

Love her little baseball hat!  I ordered it from this etsy shop after I saw it on Pinterest!

The big three waiting on the steps together while I got Finley out of the car!

Can't get enough of this little face - waiting to leave for soccer on Saturday!

Zoo trip on Saturday afternoon!

School picture day on Monday!

Funnies from the Kids

These three keep us on our toes...and they are funny!  I haven't been as good about tracking down all the funny things they say lately, but I'm trying!

We were talking to the kids about why we don't like Michael Vick.  After explaining what we could on a child's level, Wyatt went on a diatribe about getting dogs together to fight him. Reese decided she just wants to gather "aaaaaaaall the dogs" and show them how to get to our house if they ever get near him so she can save them all. There's a big difference between boys and girls, folks.

After asking about their school day:
Wyatt: "I had to do work. I got a new reader. I played with Jacob. I chased girls."
Reese: "I played with everybody. I did W and Y in my Phonics book. I got to play with Ryan outside! Miss Stephanie had her baby! She named him Matthew!" 
And then I get a run down of every hat worn by every kid for hat day.

"Mommy, I love you more than 35 years ago when they dinosaurs roamed the earth." ♥
That's right.  The dinosaurs died 35 years ago, and I came along 5 years later.  I'm basically a contemporary of dinosaurs.

After I told Wyatt that Derek Jeter broke his ankle (and after he'd changed the channel to ESPN to confirm the story):
"What's Joe Girardi's plan now?"

Wyatt: "Mom, do you know what I told the girls at school?  That I like to litter, even though I don't."  

 and

"Mom, do you know what else I told the girls? That when I burp, I don't say excuse me. But I really do."
I can't get that episode of Seinfeld out of my head now.  The one where one of Elaine's co-workers is interested in George because he's a "bad boy."  Yeah, that's what I think about when Wyatt tells me this stuff.

A conversation about Pocahontas:
Brian: "She's not an Indian, she's a Native American."
Wyatt: "What does that even mean?"
Reese: "It means you're from Disney World."

Reese: "If Wyatt keeps acting bad can we send him to live with another family? And I think it should be a Red Sox family."       

Sports Saturdays

We had another Saturday full of activities last week.  I am getting exhausted shuffling everyone everywhere on Saturday mornings.  I don't think I'll feel nearly as tired when all of the kids are participating as I do now when I have to worry about getting the little ones out of the house, too.  And when I say little ones, I mean as babies.  Because I know that in a few short years I will have 4 kids to get to their games on Saturdays!  Crazy!

Reesie is having a lot of fun playing soccer this year.  She gets along well with her team mates, even though she's almost a year younger than all of them.

She's also taller than most of the kids on the other teams.  I really can't believe how big she is!

I was finally able to actually watch one of Wyatt's games this weekend. He cracks me up when he plays soccer.  He and Jack are constantly yelling, "Pass me the ball!"

I think last Saturday might have been our last day with baseball.  I know that there were a few rain outs so Brian may need to use the first weekend of November for make up games.  But I'm kind of looking forward to this Saturday with just soccer!

Although this guy LOVES baseball, and I know he's going to be so sad when the season is over.  Fortunately (or unbelievably) the season starts again in just 4 months.  I think we'll be taking a break from his soccer career this spring...but I do need to get him signed up for basketball!

Finley's First Bottle

Finley finally had her first bottle last week!  I've always waited until the babies were 4 weeks old to give them a bottle of my milk to avoid confusing them, so we were just a little late with her.  It's been a mixed bag with these kids and bottles - Wyatt was fine and actually ended up preferring them around 6 months, Reese and Hudson wouldn't take them to save my life, and I am hoping that Finley is okay with them! She struggled a bit the first time, but she has had two more and she seems to be adjusting well!

She was very  awake during her bottle experience, and she seemed to enjoy the extra Daddy snuggles she got while she was eating.

I can not believe how big she has gotten!  It makes me just a little sad because I am really trying to soak in every little ounce of her "babyness."  She is just the sweetest little girl, but I know that she is our last and I want to remember it all.  I left her for the first time this morning and I couldn't wait to cuddle her when I got home.  But she was good and took a bottle for Mimi, and my hair looks fabulous, so really, what else can I ask for? Ha!

Oops! More ALDS

I have been in La La Land the last week!  Well, honestly, I've been overwhelmed and my To Do List just keeps getting longer, but I need to make it a priority to record this stuff.  One day the kids are going to be able to look back on this, and well, I want to make sure that I have all of their fun memories documented to the best of my ability.  And it's fun for our family to keep up, too!

We didn't tell Wyatt that he was going to the game until just before the boys left on Sunday morning.  He was beyond excited.  I think the combination of taking a trip with Brian on his own, going to a Yankees game, and staying in a hotel were just the most exciting things ever for him.  He spent the entire trip up worried about the rain because he was so ready to see the game!

When the boys got to Baltimore on Sunday it was cloudy, but it hadn't started raining yet.  They got checked in at their hotel and then headed over to the game.  I am a very paranoid (and anxious) mommy, so I insisted on frequent check ins and I like to know as soon as they get off the road.  This was my "we made it here" picture!

My brother is an Orioles fan who waited 15 years for a post season appearance, so he got tickets to go to the game, too.  Wyatt and Brian were able to meet up with Uncle Marc for a little bit before the game (and ran into him the next day at the National Aquarium, too).  Everyone was all smiles before the game!  Now we're all pretty unhappy (the Yankees are down 2 games to the Tigers, no one is hitting, and more importantly, Jeter is out with a broken ankle!).

The one thing that Brian kept saying over and over again was that Wyatt was so good and patient.  The rain delay was over two and half hours long, and he didn't complain at all.  They were packed liked sardines in the walkway and he was just fine.  He did want to keep trying to go to their seats to see if the rain stopped, but he was even fine to sit in the rain for a little bit! 

The boys were sitting next to two guys who Brian referred to as being "nine beers deep."  Ha!  They got to talking and Brian found out that one of the guys (the Orioles fan) actually used to live nearby.  Anyway, the guy told Brian that he was going to get "the little fella" a foul ball.  Brian just laughed it off...until Ichiro hit a foul ball in their direction.  It landed a few seats over, and everyone kept telling the man who caught the ball to give it to a kid.  Brian's neighbor took Wyatt over to the guy who caught it and he gave him the ball!!! How cool is that?  Wyatt now has a foul ball hit by Ichiro and it says 2012 Postseason on it!  This was the highlight of his trip!

The poor guy was exhausted so he fell asleep in the seventh inning on Brian.  He even slept through the ninth inning when the Yankees scored 5 runs!  Brian ended up carrying him back to the hotel, and he slept through that, too.  Looking back, one of our main goals was for Wyatt to be able to see Derek Jeter play live and in person, and after this weekend's injury to The Captain, we're certainly glad that he was able to go! When Wyatt found out about the broken ankle yesterday morning he didn't believe me, so he turned on ESPN!  Then looked at me and asked, "What's Joe Girardi's plan now?"  Chip off the old block!

The ALDS - Baltimore Style!

For anyone that doesn't know, we are huge Yankees fans around here - HUGE.  For our sixth anniversary two weeks ago, I got Brian a Lou Gehrig shirt as his "traditional" gift - get it?  Iron is the traditional sixth anniversary present. Ha!  

We watch a lot of games, and the way the Yankees play has been known to affect my husband's mood.  Brian and I finally made it to Old Yankee Stadium in 2008 before they moved to the new one.  I had never seen them play before, so I was very excited!  Brian had been to a handful of games in Baltimore and has taken many spring training trips, but it was still just an amazing place to see a game!

If you follow baseball at all, you know that Orioles and the Yankees were going back and forth for first place in the AL East in September.  We started talking then about the "what if's" of the Yankees playing in Baltimore, but didn't get too into it. Brian and I went to the NLCS in Atlanta in 2001.  It was an amazing experience - we got to see Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Curt Schilling, and Randy Johnson pitch.  Seriously, it was fantastic!  Then the Diamondbacks played the Yankees in the World Series, and well, that didn't turn out very well for us.

We've always talked about taking Wyatt to a game before Jeter retires.  We have some time, but we wanted to make sure he was able to see Derek Jeter play in person.  The Yankees play Baltimore at really inconvenient times next season (and really, they did this season, too), so on Friday night while we watched the AL Wild Card game, Brian started looking for tickets for him and Wyatt.  The forecast in Baltimore called for rain, the tickets were expensive (but not nearly as expensive as a regular game at Yankee Stadium!), and I would be without the van for a day.  But we both kept justifying it, so Brian bought tickets and it was done!   

Seriously, every Yankees fan has to love this guy!

 The way Swisher, Cano, and ARod are standing cracks me up.  I used to say mean things about ARod, but I promised myself I would stop after he got a clutch hit in the 2009 World Series.  That doesn't mean I can't still think them, though.

 

 The line up!

 Cano and Jeter played catch right in front of the boys! 

 The Captain! 

 CC pitched a great game.

 Curtis Granderson is currently Wyatt's second favorite Yankee...let's just hope they re-sign him.

 I'm not allowed to say bad things about ARod, so let's just pretend that I'm NOT saying that I think this is the only time he's gotten on base in two games, okay?  I didn't say that!

Of course it still rained (the game started two and half hours late), but they had a great time - more about that tomorrow!