Happy Halloween!

Carson had zero interest in wearing his costume to school. I have no idea why, but he did the same thing last year.

The teachers got it on long enough to take a picture with the other Chases :) Carson would say "Same, same!" about this.

I think they partied all day. He like hitting the "punkin". 

Miles also had no interest in dressing up for school. In the pictures that his teachers posted, I noticed several of his friends didn't dress up. I guess some of them are outgrowing it. He only wants to be "something scary" which you can't be for school.

I suggested a baseball player, football player, or a hunter, but he turned his nose up at all three. I asked him if he ever regretted not dressing up on days like this or a theme day once he got to school and saw everyone else and he convincingly said no. If he doesn't care, I definitely don't. I just didn't want him to miss out just b/c I didn't help him.

After work, school, and daycare, we picked up our online grocery order and grabbed some Taco Bell.

Miles went trick or treating with Mason and his family while Carson and I stayed home. It was really cold (the 30s is cold for us) and I had to pack Miles for his church retreat tomorrow night. I'm so glad I was home b/c I worked nonstop all night on dishes, laundry, packing, etc. It's 11:30pm now and everything is finally finished. Miles wanted to be an LED stick figure but when we finally got around to ordering it on Amazon, they were sold out. We picked up this light up, voice activated mask at Walmart for $10 and he was thrilled. He couldn't wait to wear it all day.

They were able to join with some other friends and trick or treat with them.

Miles was sad that Carson couldn't go. I told him that Carson would slow him down and Miles said, "But it would be more fun." Miles told Carson that he would get some candy for him. As soon as he got home, Carson gave him the biggest hug and told him thank you. They sorted his loot together, chocolate in one pile, candy in another. I've taught him well.

I thought it might be raining tonight, but it turned out to be a fun night for both of them. Miles got to spend time with his best friend and Carson enjoyed being home. 

Less Words Wednesday

We just had picture day for both boys. One had to be completely coerced through the whole process. I started talking to him the night before about wearing jeans. Even though it was a little bit of a process, he did much better than I expected.

Miles has always been cooperative with clothes and with pictures. He wears pretty much anything I set out for him every day without complaint and always flashes a fake smile my way.

It's the Little Things

Darrin and I decided earlier today that we would carve pumpkins with the boys tonight since this was the only night that Darrin would be home. I didn't get home from work and working out until almost 6:30pm. It would have been tempting to skip out since we had forgotten to get the pumpkins, but Darrin told the boys and it was on. Miles was so excited about carving. Carson was excited about going to Walmart. He said, "We going in momma?" We rarely go in Walmart anymore b/c of online ordering and he misses our Walmart trips. He's liked going to Walmart since he was old enough to say Walmart.

We bought two pumpkins for carving and two for painting, but we ended up carving three.

Miles came up with a design all by himself and worked diligently. He said, "I didn't even use the internet, I just thought of it." 

Carson wasn't sure about the pumpkin guts.

I finally convinced him to stick his hand down in there and get dirty. He did a little bit, but never loved it. 

He did love squeezing paint all over the pumpkin. He opened every color and squeezed it like ketchup all over the top and on the plate. It was a little wasteful, but he was so content and seemed focused on his project so who am I to get in the way of his creativity???

Darrin carved a pumpkin face and I carved a "C" since Carson couldn't carve one.

Both boys told us that they loved us at least five times and thanked us over and over. 

We also ate pumpkin pie (for Darrin) and candy corn (for me) while we were carving.

It took us two hours including our trip to Walmart and cleaning up. It was just a little thing with little thought or planning on our part, but such a big deal to the boys. I probably would have skipped it, but I'm glad Darrin pushed us to do it. It was a good reminder to me of how easily memories are made.

Weekend Wrap Up

Carson got to start his weekend with PJ day at school. 

I probably have a hundred pictures with Miles making this same pose, head tilted, fake smile, and foot out to the side. These are his buddies Rhett and Charlie.

Granny, Pa, and Marmee spent Friday night with us. Carson was happy but uncooperative for pictures. 

We had two volleyball games at home this weekend. We went 1-1. The game we lost was actually more exciting than the game we won. It was a hard loss, but the girls played so hard and the crowd was electric. It's hard to be sad about how far they've come. Their conference record is 7-2 at the halfway mark. This picture cracks me up. I am in the top left with my hand up in the air. It must have been an awesome play :)

I did a really terrible job of taking pictures again this weekend, but I did manage to take a couple random shots. Carson enjoyed a good bubble bath at some point.

Why does Miles look like a teenager in this picture???

Carson went to a birthday party this weekend. It was at the indoor playground at our church. All his best friends were there. He was a happy boy. This is Max, Charlie, and Carson.

This is the birthday boy, Tucker, and another friend, Cooper.

He stopped for a few seconds to eat the icing off of the cake and then it was back to the playground.

Carson shot some bad guys in our bedroom. 

Our house looked like a disaster most of the weekend. The agreement is always that we clean it up before we go to sleep on Sunday night. Mid afternoon I couldn't take it anymore, so we all took 15 minutes and put away the toys, vacuumed, and cleaned the kitchen. Carson didn't do his part, so he wasn't allowed to watch Paw Patrol for the rest of the day. Usually that is an effective punishment, but he seemed unfazed today.

The boys went for a ride on the 4-wheeler after Carson's nap, while I did some laundry. I think I did 6-7 loads today. It was quite a chore, but I am happy that everything is done to start the week.

I also cleaned out Carson's closet and drawers and sold a few things that we had sitting around. It was a pretty busy day around here for me, but I'm glad that we were all home with nowhere to be all day after church. Now it's 9:25pm and both boys are having a hard time falling asleep. Miles doesn't feel tired and Carson is fighting sleep, which is his new thing. It makes me pull my hair out every night. Darrin is usually at practice, but he's getting to experience it tonight and he's about to go crazy too. I better go see if I can help!

Less Words Wednesday

It was 50s day at daycare today! I am a party pooper when it comes to things like this b/c life is so busy and it's hard to make time for extras like this. BUT, he looked adorable!

I'm not going to lie, getting him ready was an absolute struggle b/c everything has become a struggle with him lately. One of those phases I suppose.

Bless one of the moms for making the boys matching shirts.

That made my job much easier.

These boys are W-I-L-D. The two on the right are Carson's best buddies, Charlie and Tucker. He calls them Carlie and Tuck :)

He told me tonight that this is his best friend. Her name is Landry and this is the first I've heard of her. I asked the teacher about her and if they play together. She said he doesn't really play with the girls, but if he does, he plays with her.

Next dress up day is Halloween. He says he wants to be a tiger which I think is great choice, but we'll see if he sticks with that.

Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekend was pretty much about volleyball and trying to get Carson healthy. Darrin's parents spent the night with us on Friday. They took Miles to the game and I stayed home with Carson. He definitely wasn't up to going especially since the game didn't start until 7pm. 

They won in three sets!

One Miles' baseball friends and classmates came to the game with his family. Miles must have been really excited to have him there b/c he sat with him instead of sitting on the bench with Darrin.

Carson wasn't excited about Granny, Pa, and Miles leaving without him to go to the game, so I bribed him with popcorn. 

He had never seen the air popper before. Miles got it for Christmas years ago and it's always been a hit. He has the best facial expressions.

Carson loved it! I think he liked the actually popping more so than the popcorn. When it finished popping he said, "Do it again!" Pure joy!

It was a perfect bribe and then we watched the game online and ate popcorn. He actually watched Paw Patrol in the sun room while I watched the game in the living room. It was a smooth night which always makes me happy.

On Saturday, Darrin has to go to work pretty early on gamedays. He usually has recruits in town that he has to meet with or eat breakfast with their families. Granny & Pa were nice enough to watch the boys so I could work out and run a quick errand. I came home to find them practicing baseball.

Miles would pitch and then Carson would throw one to Pa. It was a little frustrating for Miles to share time, but Carson was quite cooperative and Miles was happy to be throwing with Pa. The weather was beautiful outside. I'm so happy that fall is finally here.

The girls won again on Saturday and improved to 6-1. It has been a great start to the season, which has us excited and consumed with volleyball around here. Some seasons you can't wait for them to end, but this one has us hopeful and soaking it up. We have some key seniors, but for the most part we are very young, so the future looks bright.

Carson felt good enough for us to go on Saturday. With it being a day game, that made all the difference. Since volleyball is best 3 out of 5, the games can last anywhere from 1:15 to 2:30. Thankfully the girls won in three and we were out of there in 1:15. Carson has been surprisingly good at both games he has been too. That is very nice especially since he is adamantly opposed to babysitters right now. 

Only three days left in this work week and then we get another weekend!