Lightening McQueen, a princess and a pumpkin

Here are a few shots of the kids in their outfits for trick-or-treat day yesterday. Ella was a princess once again this year. She likes to pick one of her princess dresses from her dress-up box for her outfit...easy, not much work for me. She was "Sleeping Beauty" this year.

Caleb was of course, Lightening McQueen. He is absolutely obsessed with the Disney "Cars" movie and characters. His outfit took some work. We transformed a box of diapers into a car. When he first saw it, all he could say was "whoa". He was pretty much speechless, which is pretty impressive to be able to do to Caleb. He really enjoyed his outfit, although his tires kept falling off. Poor design on my part. I should have just glued the wheels on, but I thought it would be fun for him if they turned.

Silas was a pumpkin. He just sat in the stroller the whole time and did great. He didn't know what was going on....

We have lived in our house about 6 years now and this was the first year we went trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. We know quite a few families around the neighborhood so it was fun to see them all out last night. A few families from our weekly bible study that meets at our house on Sunday night also joined us. It was a fun time last night!

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Playdough

I wanted to share a yummy smelling playdough spice recipe I randomly found online. I had to make pumpkin pie spiced playdough for Ella's preschool fall party this week.

I used a playdough recipe from a friend and then added my spice to the dry ingredients and the food coloring to the wet ingredients before I cooked together on the store. It smells wonderful...perfect for the season right now.

RECIPE FOR PUMPKIN PIE SPICE...

For a regular batch of playdough (2c. or so recipe, I would half the below ingredients)

Mix 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 4 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 4 teaspoons ground ginger & 3 teaspoons ground allspice. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Add to dry ingredients.

For color, add food coloring to the wet ingredients. (2 parts yellow to one part red - maybe about 6 squirts of yellow and 3 squirts of red)

Enjoy!

First Day of Preschool

Ella started preschool today. She was very excited and ready to go. She really did not look back when we dropped her off today. There were no tears from her...just from me, as I tried to take a few pictures and not be a silly, crying mommy. When I picked her up today, she said she had fun. She mentioned music time, so I guess that was a big hit. I asked her if she wanted to keep going and she said, "just one more time and then I want to stay home with you". Hope she will keep enjoying it when she realizes it is every week, twice a week!Caleb, Silas and I had a nice time at home while she was gone. Silas slept of course and Caleb and I built towers and knocked them down with trucks and practiced counting bears. He listened to some records on the new record player (see last post) while I cleaned our shower. Fun for me, right?! No, it was good because I don't get a whole lot of time to do this.

I am also thinking I need to start thinking of a new plan for home-preschooling Caleb soon now that we are just about done with BFIAR. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

Record Player

I am very excited to say that I purchased a 1978 Fisher Price record player from Ebay recently. I have been thinking back to the things I have purchased on Ebay (which is not much), but they are all old toys from my childhood. My first ever online purchase and Ebay purchase was a 1960's Barbie game that I used to play as a child at my grandmothers house. I have also purchased a 1976 Fisher Price hospital, which I adore. And now, the record player. I was motivated to get one because my mom still has a bunch of our old records & books that we used with our record player when I was little. Sadly, not sure where the record player went to. So thankful to her for letting me borrow these records for now....

Anyways, last Saturday, when Jeremy had left for China again, I pulled it out for the kids to try. They absolutely loved it and sat and listened to every single record I had. Here are a few of the records I have...maybe it will bring back some old memories of your childhood for you too.
(Peter and the Wolf, The Speedy Little Taxi, Pete's Dragon, The Pokey Little Puppy, Blinky the Lighthouse Ship, The Three Little Pigs, Dumbo, Bambi) Do you have any nostalgic toys you have purchased for your kids? Or, do you have something from your childhood that you saved for your kids to play with now?

Finally some Silas...

It is hard to believe that Silas is already about to reach 2 months old... He is a sweet, gentle, mild mannered little guy. We are very thankful for him.

It has been a joy to watch Caleb and Ella with him. He is continually showered with their kisses...so much that he has already caught two colds from them! They are also helpful...they "read" to him, switch out his toys to look at on his play gym, bring me blankets/pacis when they think he needs them, etc. They also provide entertainment for him - something for him to watch so he is happy to just lay around more than the other two were.

He is not really fussy...just cries for sleep and food and has been like clockwork since he came home...eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep. He generally sleeps pretty well...takes long naps and has been down to just eating once in the middle of the night. We are getting more sleep and that makes me happy...I really like/need my sleep! I am having some trouble figuring out how to get out of the house with all three of them and run errands, since Silas is not a fan of riding in the car/or sleeping out and about. But, I don't mind staying home...we find lots to do.

I was anxious about having a third and how to do it all and really not convinced we should take the plunge from 2 to 3. Adding a third to the mix has been busy...that's a good word to describe it. I do not feel like I have much margin for anything beyond just the basics of taking care of everyone and keeping the house from day to day. But, each day gets easier and I keep figuring out had to add back in more things. Like the blog...I am finally posting some pictures of him. I hope you enjoy and feel like you got to know Silas a little better. I am glad the Lord thought we could handle a third and gave him to us...
Just arrived....
Caleb and Ella meeting him for the first time.Family of 5!Thought he looked more like Caleb in the hospital, but now thinking he looks more like Ella.Going home...Hiking the second week home...fun, but probably not the best idea...
Ahhh...sleep...one of his favorite things...

Easter

Here are a few pictures of our Easter this year. We had a special time with the kids all week leading up to Easter doing our Resurrection Eggs and reading a few books talking about what Easter is all about. He is Risen! We are very thankful!Family Easter picture at church on Sunday. God would bring us little Silas four days later.

We had an Easter egg hunt at my sister's house with her family. My mom and step-dad came in also for the weekend.
I like this picture of Caleb...eager anticipation!
He eventually decided he had enough hunting and sat down and opened his eggs and ate as much candy he could. We told them there were still more eggs...and he kept saying he had enough eggs. :)My sister and her family.
Grandparents with all the kiddos.

Welcome Little Guy!

We are excited and thankful to announce that our little guy has arrived!

Silas Evan Carter
-Silas, because we liked it
-Evan, because it has the same meaning as Caleb's middle name (Tobin), God is good/gracious.

Born: 11:57am
Weight: 8lbs 4oz
Length: 20 1/2in long

We are doing great! Will post more pictures later.

Baby Re-Org & To Do Lists!

Over the past few months at our house there has been a lot of reorganization and to do's to get ready for baby Carter's arrival. The kids have been helping, too. This has involved cleaning out closets and under beds, transforming the office/guest room, getting baby furniture out of Caleb's room and turning it into a big boy's room, painting, etc. Things are coming together although may not be totally finished before he arrives. But, babies don't need a whole lot, really, so I am sure he won't mind!Caleb's big boy furniture and bedding....One piece built, two to go. Jeremy also built a train table for Caleb to hold a starter train set he got for Christmas! In an effort to buy less diapers because of the new baby...Caleb has been potty training lately. He is now wearing underwear during the day, even for outings and doing great! Actually, great with #1, but still trying to catch #2 on the potty. Not worried though, that came second with Ella too. He is very motivated from watching his sister, M&M's and that he gets to wear Buzz & Woody underwear.
The kids are really now at an age where they play so well together and enjoy each other's company. They find all sorts of things to do together. I am glad they are so close in age! It has really helped me out a lot lately as I am trying to get things ready. Snuggling and playing on daddy's phone.

Rodeo

We decided to go to the Austin Rodeo that was recently in town, especially since we had never been before. I found out from a friend that the particular day we went was "Farmer Day", so if you wore overalls, you got free admission. So, Jeremy and I dug out our overalls from college. Of course I couldn't really fit into mine with my big belly....but anything for free admission...I had to leave them totally unbuttoned. What was even more embarrassing is Jeremy wore an undershirt that he pulled out over his overalls once he got in. And, not many other people knew about the overalls day, so I felt like I was the only one wearing overalls! Oh well, we all had a fun time! We didn't actually go to the rodeo performance, we just walked around the fairgrounds and saw the free events.
The kids loved the tractors and golf carts!
The kids area had a petting zoo and pony rides, although the pony ride did not go so well for Ella after the horse started moving...teary ride!
We also watched pig races, had some dinner and looked at all the animals. The highlight for the kids was the two carnival rides they got to do - a motorcycle and helicopter ride.