For Eric & Leah

Okay guys, well, here's the only shot I got of the short-shorts-sporting grandpa...you can see a tiny bit of leg if you look right above the purple-triangle-looking thingy on the bottom right side of the picture. But lemme tell ya, the bare leg went up waaaaaay dangerously higher than that! Ah, so disappointing. I'll have to aim better next year...

Charlie's 4th Birthday Celebration...and Halloween.

Charlie was a rhino for Halloween!

I forgot to grab him a trick-or-treat bag, so he "decorated" one of his birthday present bags with stickers. The kid is easy to please. "Ding-dong!""Knock knock!"

"Trick-or-treat!"Brian, April and Loralye (aka "White Tiger") came along with us. Sorry, Brian, somehow I managed to not get a picture of you! I guess I was too distracted by your daughter's extreme cuteness!My most favorite part of the night was the very first house we went to. This 70 + yr old guy answers the door in the shortest little shorts you've ever seen - and the funniest part was they weren't supposed to be a "costume", I'm sure of it. He was totally serious! My mouth was just hanging open, and April seriously laughed outloud! Made my whole night. Ha ha! Sleepy Rhino - after about 8 houses, Charlie said something along the lines of, "I'm already asleep, mommy." So we headed back home. :)

Charlie had his much anticipated "4th Birthday Celebration Bash" on the 30th. I meant for it to be a small gathering, since Charlie tends to shy away from lots of crowds and excessive noisey-ness. But, we ended up with a pretty good sized crowd and Charlie did great with it! He was SO excited and happy all night long. He loved it! The best part was about half-way through, when I said, "Charlie, are you having a good birthday?" And he said, very seriously yet also very dreamily, "Mom, it's EXACTLY how I wanted it to be." Melt my heart! I love that kid. :)

The night before his birthday, I attempted a 2-layer cake. Charlie doesn't even like cake, but insisted we have it because "all the other kids like it". Well, other than the bottom layer breaking completely in half...it turned out okay. Of course, I had a lot of help! And once it was covered in frosting, you couldn't even tell the bottom half was in 2 pieces!

I have to admit, although my OCD is mostly cured...if you compare the previous pictures to the following one, you can see how I had to take the 2 m&m's off of the letters of his name. I just couldn't stand it! It really bugged me, for some stupid reason. Sorry, Charlie.

Anyways, here's the finished product! Too cute. And yes, I did his name, although it might look like it was done by a 4 year old. Yeah, so I'm not too handy with the icing tube...

The "spread", and pumpkins designed by Charlie! He drew the mouth for the big one. And the little one was inspired by his "prozac pumpkin".

Ellie and Jasmine in baby heaven - holding Paisley and Ava.The pinata line-up!

Eli taking his first swing.Little Cody taking a shot!

Ellie

Blake

Jackson

Charlie - here comes the candy!

CANDY!

Opening presents.

Cake time!

Singing the song - he was a little embarrassed, thus the quirky look on his face. But, I could tell he was pretty happy about it, too! :)

Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday, Charlie. You are loved beyond anything you could ever imagine!

Art only a mother could love...

Here's Charlie's entry to the New Seasons Halloween Coloring Contest: What do you think, is it a winner? :)

Kinda makes me think maybe he's got some issues with aggression?

Egg Factory

Our chickens are in full egg-making swing! Today, we got 3. We're pretty sure that 3 chickens are now laying. So, 3 down, 8 to go! We are having so much fun. Every day we have a little egg hunt. This morning, there was a HUGE commotion, and sure enough we found 3 eggs (up until today, it's just been 2 a day), so we're pretty sure another chicken laid her first. Sorry neighbors...

Scrambled eggs, anyone?

"Flighty Whitey" is still putting out an egg a day - that's her white one on the right. The other hens are laying brown ones - on the left.