SIMPLIFY: October 2016

Sometimes I come home from church and find my kids adorable. Today was one of these days. I have to take note of these days, because most of the other times we come home from church, everyone is crazy and I'm ready to strangle them all! Not exactly the feeling you want to have after church, but it's the truth. Well, cheers for today!

Xander absolutely loves looking handsome in his suit.

He would wear it all day, every day if I let him.

The essence of twins...

First, Declan finds a huge nerf gun that belongs to Easton's friend.

Xander looks on.

Seeing Declan struggle, Xander comes over to help him shoot it.

Success, and they both find it hilarious!

I have to say, I love my boys because they are such boys and yet they are oblivious to most stereotype boy/girl things. They love watching Tinkerbell movies, they love playing puppies, pink and purple are just colors, and have I mentioned rainbows??? They love rainbows and have become quite amazing at coloring them!

My sweet, sweet Easton. He's growing out the top of his hair, while cutting the sides. Since I have no girls, he occasionally lets me play with his hair. I know, I have quite the talent. But I also have such a cute face to work with!

Let the craziness of October begin.

We have Easton's (20th) and Cache's (17th) birthdays in October. Two birthdays, two birthday parties, Halloween and all those parties, then we dive right into the holidays. Hold on!!!

We love inviting tons of friends to the boys parties. We always put 'rain or shine' on the invitations. We have been so lucky to have beautiful weather so far. This year we are doing Angry Birds ball launching, gaga ball, capture the flag, and nerf wars.

Here is the Angry Bird target set up...it turned out awesome and was easy to do!

Columbus Day is a week before their birthday, on a Monday. The last 2 years, we have had their parties back to back on this day. It has worked out perfectly. Most people are around, the earlier in October, the better chance of good weather, and we can get it all done at once!

Cache had his party first. Cache turned the big 8!

He decided to have it at our house rather than the park.

I had the great idea of making ice cream cookie cakes this year. I thought it would be easier and more fun...I also wanted a change up from cake. But is was kind of a disaster! Hard to cut, messy, but it did taste good. Oh well, many more birthdays to come!

Friends hanging around the cake table ready to eat...where is Cache?

Yep, the more boys the better...that's our motto around here!

I even hired two teenage boys to run the activities and field games.

They were awesome. The best $20 I've ever spent!

Cache reigning at gaga ball.

We used our water balloon launcher to shoot balls at the Angry Bird targets.

Before we knew it, Easton's party began! Easton turned the big 10!
We moved everything to the park by our house.

After people took their turn shooting the ball, they would help set up the targets. Pretty soon, they wanted to become the targets...boys?!?

Cake time. This time is was a brownie ice cream cake...but same problem. Delicious, but a total mess. Easton was cute this year because he didn't invite as many friends as usual. He still understands that each friend equates to a present, but wanted to make sure it was a friend he actually hung out with or had a true friendship with. Aww, my son is growing up so fast!

We went back to traditional cakes for the boys actual birthdays. Here is Cache's...

Easton, the man, wanted bacon for breakfast on his birthday.

He requested a raspberry poke cake for his birthday.

Here is definitive proof of the effect of sugar on Cache (just moments after eating cake)...

Not to mention that Cache hates having his picture taken most days.

As I was cleaning up the backyard for the winter, I ran across this scary spider.

I see those bright colors and think 'poisonous'.

Oh, and don't worry...there was another one as well! Yep, if you find me almost dead in the backyard, take these pictures to the doctor to find the anti-venom!

A few of Cache's creations...

So many cute twin moments that I almost catch...they were both hanging off the couches like Declan. They are often doing the same thing - not to copy each other, but it really must be a twin thing.
By the time I took the picture, only one remained!

Grandma Annie sent this little Yoda for Halloween. Declan likes fighting him.

The twins friend, Leif, invited the boys to a party. Leif made these chocolate mummies and hid little clues inside them (wrapped in foil). The twins loved it!

Easton played soccer this fall. I have had a few philosophies on sports. Last year I told the boys they could only play one sport that year to keep things simple. Of course, tons of people juggle multiple sports and multiple kids, but I don't want that kind of schedule. We also enjoy camping, fishing, hiking - and when you have to juggle so many schedules, those outdoor activities tend to be lost in the chaos. It also gets really expensive out here where every sport costs $150. This year, David insisted it would be ok if we had 2 kids in soccer at the same time. It was ok - and for better or worst, they had practice the same nights and the same time - at fields across town from each other. Fortunately, David stayed in town this fall and everything went smoothly.

It has been a few years since Easton played soccer. He did really well this season. He scored several goals, enjoyed playing goalie for the first time, and really hustled. I was proud of the kid.

Here are some pics from the coldest game of the year. He kept his goalie gloves on just to stay warm. It was seriously death-cold and soooo windy.

Yep, that's Easton as goalie.

The team. We had triplets on our team. I loved talking to their mom during games.

Did someone say 'Alligator'? Yep, here is our brand new, real alligator ottoman. I love it!

I found it on Facebook. How do I know it's real? I just know. It feels awesome, looks awesome, and I always tell the kids to watch out in case it bites...because, it is an alligator.

Cache wants to use it as his new bed.

This is my second kid in 2nd grade. I showed him a few pictures of dioramas, including the one his brother made last year. We decided to re-do that one. It turned out awesome. A lot like his brothers, but a bit different. We knocked it out in one afternoon...and several weeks before it was due!

Glasses.

Easton has been complaining that he can't see at school for months. Yep, I'm the awesome mom who keeps telling him I will take care of it, then doesn't. Finally, I made his eye exam appointment (well, for the second time, I missed the first appointment because I forgot), and sure enough, the kid needs glasses. I discovered the key to getting a kid to wear glasses, it to make them suffer long enough, that they can't wait to wear them!

I don't do anything half way, so we went to tons of glasses stores and looked through tons of online sites to find the perfect starter glasses.

We loved these sunglasses as well...but had to focus and keep looking at eyeglasses instead.

Like them...but a little big.

Like them, but not the silver on the upper sides.

Dido.

Bug-eye glasses for sports.

Love them.

Same ones. Love them. These were declared the winner.

Cache did some really fun drawings at church last week.

This is a shark inside a shark inside a shark.

I love these pics. The first one is the green alien baby picture.

The second one is a recent picture at chuck e cheese.

I love comparing the two. Same sides, Same lips..nose, face..love it!

I really need to stay of Facebook, but I find so many treasures on it!

Introducing, my new coat rack (that Declan turned into a fort). It has two rows of hooks, and 4 sides. With each hook having 2 hooks, that's 32 hooks baby! And yes, we have enough sweatshirts and jackets to fill each and every one!

My little chef. Yes, Xander makes his own 3 Cheese shell mac&cheese every day. Usually I can get him to wait until lunch, but some mornings he insists on it for breakfast.

And yes, that his the Roku with headphones. Such a brilliant multi-tasker.

What is missing? Our old kitchen table. I finally sold it on Facebook and we have tons of space in here now! Well, no where to do crafts, but look at the space!

Cache and his soccer buddy, Noah, doing their air dry clay on the floor. And yep, they survived.

Happy Halloween my little Octopus and Skeleton.

We made the Octopus when Easton was in kindergarten.

I picked up those PJ's for Xander for $2 because he insisted on being a skeleton.

However, before he actually went trick or treating, he put on another outfit over it - Batman. Oh well.

The boys with Skye.

Cache, the soccer player for the 3rd year in a row. Cache hates new clothing and textures and since he is used to his soccer uniform by this time each year, he just goes with it!

Fortunately it was a warmish night so he stayed comfortable.

I also picked up Easton's ninja outfit for $10 on facebook.

I love that my kids aren't into the blood and scary costumes yet!

Another nice day for soccer!

Cache's final game.
We played on the nice turf fields and they are fast! For whatever reason, Cache excelled on these fields. He's reasonably fast, but not the fastest. Maybe it was the predictability without all the bumps in the fields. Who knows...but this kid was awesome. He scored 5 goals, had several other attempts, and several other goals by fellow teammates. Quite the way to end the season!