Big Change #1

I told you there were some "big changes" coming up and I meant it! Our baby is no longer a baby. He is a big boy. Finn has shocked me and his daddy and is completely out of diapers. He is in big-boy undies all day and all night now. It is something we never in our wildest dreams imagined would happen so soon. I mean, he just turned two at the end of July. He had been asking and/or telling us he needed to poop prior to us going to Disney World. I didn't think a whole lot about it, but knew I was not prepared to undergo potty training AND Disney World all in the same lot. So I tabled potty training until we got back. And sometime in October I tested the waters by just cold-turkey putting him in underwear. Well, he dirtied them pretty quickly and didn't think a thing about it. So I figured it was still too soon to try and potty train. But I wanted one more shot, so I did a couple "naked" days where he literally ran around buck-naked. And he had zero accidents. So, I put him in undies on the third day. And he stayed dry. And he has been like this every since we did the naked-bootcamp. And a few weeks ago we ran out of diapers, he was wearing them for naps and at night only but was keeping them dry, so we decided to cold-turkey go to undies for naps and at night. He has had one accident and it was at 7 in the morning because he slept later than normal. He has had a couple accidents over the past month but he has truly impressed us with how big of a boy he is. We never expected this to happen so soon, but we are tickled. NO MORE DIAPERS!! And he is obsessed with his big-boy underoos. 

Potty training lasted a lot longer with his brother, so I got a ton of fun pictures with Keagan...but not so much with Finn. But here are a few cute ones!

Goofiness with Mommy's glasses while pottying one morning...

During our Naked Potty Training Boot-Camp. I couldn't resist...who doesn't cook bare-bottomed?

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Strength in Numbers when it comes to potty-training. Finn had to have his "BunBun" (i.e. his bunny...which he is obsessed with) and his "Na-Na" (blanket) close by in the early days...whatever it takes!

Oh sweet Finn. You have truly impressed us all. How quickly you have grown up and how emotionally torn I am. I am so glad for you to be out of diapers and so proud of you for being such a big boy already, but I deeply miss my baby already! It amazes me how quickly time flies...

Silly Gooses.

You know those beautiful days where the sun is shining perfect, and the temperature is perfect, and the fall leaves have perfect color? And you think, man, my kids are being adorable and enjoying the lovely fall day...why not take some pictures!? They would turn out perfect! You know those days?

Well. There are those days, but when the camera turns on there is no such thing as perfect.

In fact, I got nothing perfect. Neither little boy could sit still. They were eating push-up popsicles so they had sticky faces. They wanted to play and not be photographed.

But as imperfect as these pictures are, they really are perfect in their own little ways. And don't judge me for dressing them alike. I won't be able to do that when they are 16 and 14 so I am doing it now.

...

Let's call this The Forced Smile. It comes around an awful lot these days. I guess every child goes through it. This one isn't so bad...usually they truly look painful.

Kung Fu Fighting. Everybody was.

Loving on Oscar. I like that Oscar was all up in their business. I feel certain he was trying to eat the popsicles. And I am even more certain Finn offered his.

And my all-time favorite perfectly-imperfect picture from the afternoon. These boys are so silly. I wish I could bottle their little personalities.

Trick-Or-Treat

Halloween was super-cold. And super-windy. But we dressed the boys up in about 100 layers and I wore some of Josh's camouflage so really, our family stuck it out for a while! And the boys really had a great time. Keagan really got it this year. He was darting from house to house, flying off the golf cart before Josh brought it to a complete stop, pushing his way into the pile of kids at the front doors, and even saying Trick-or-Treat and Thank you (sometimes needing prompting). Finn enjoyed himself too...generally pushing his way into people's homes, helping himself to their buckets of candy, and just looking super sweet when he mumbled Trick-or-Treat. I have to say, this was my favorite Halloween yet.

Before we took off I wanted to try one final time to get a decent picture of the boys. HA. Seriously. I am crazy for thinking I could make it happen. Check out these hilarious faces:

And we are off! Attempted selfie. You would think with my Go-Go-Gadget Arms (you're welcome Lindsy) I could take a great selfie. You might even think that with the length of my arms I could make it look like someone else was taking our picture. nope. Oh well....and Josh only lets me have one attempt. So here it is.

Trick-or-Treat!! 

That's It!! I have finally reached the end of my Halloween posts. Aren't you so glad. Now I can move on to
some exciting happenings in our home! YAY!

Pumpkin Carving: having kids changes everything.

I told you Halloween was pretty much the entire month of October...and now we are reliving it during the month of November!!! Check out these cool pumpkin wraps that  my mom found for the boys. The funny thing is, they perfectly went with their costumes! Coincidence? I am not sure..but either way the boys thought it was pretty awesome! I liked these because they were no-mess...

But...mess HAD to happen anyways. Keagan was begging to make a J-j-j-jack-o-lantern. He likes to sound out words these days, and jack-o-lantern is one of these words. Normally we get all involved in pumpkin carving: the more elaborate, the better. It is an event. But this year, there really was no time for such events in all of our other events...and everyone knows two little boys don't have the attention span necessary to create such works of art. Keagan was thrilled to have a traditional Jack-o-lantern. The boys really enjoyed the entire process, which only took about 20 minutes! 

These next few pictures make me laugh. I can tell who is going to be my surgeon and who is not. Keagan is like his momma in that he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. He made faces the entire time he was cleaning out the pumpkin, and I think Josh did most of it for him. I totally get it, Keag. I hate stuff like that too. Finn, on the other hand, dove right in. And he enjoyed every moment. He was so serious and intent. I think he actually did most of his on his own! 

Pretty happy with the finished products! Well, Finn looks like he had a rough night...

I love in-the-dark pumpkin pictures, but trying to get one of these with two boys who do not know how to hold still is nearly impossible. So we yelled and threatened and finally they held still enough...but then they look upset. It's a no-win situation. Something funny to me though is that Keagan's pumpkin looks like it is looking up at him and laughing!! 

ONE MORE POST!! ONE MORE POST!! ONE MORE POST!! say it with me: ONE MORE POST!!  That's right: only one more Halloween post!

Trunk or Treat at FBC

Wednesday night, after Keagan's halloween party at school, we re-costumed up and went to Trunk or Treat at our church! This time Finn was able to eat, dress-up, and play. Both boys were so well-behaved and we had a blast! We saw a bunch of our friends: Annie is Minnie Mouse, Reagan is Elsa, and the little girl in the white hoodie is also Elsa...but she is a new friend and we aren't sure of her name! Check out Finn's face in the bottom picture as he pulls on his brother's arm. This is classic.

Reagan is telling Keagan "Aye, Aye, Cap'n!" The only reason I know this is Reagan's mom Chasity was telling me this hilarious story about how they were trying to reprimand Reagan the other day and she saluted her daddy and responded with "Aye, Aye, Cap'n!" A bit sassy? :) 

Sweet Annie!

Crazy Finley...check out those muscles!

Heading out to Trunk or Treat! Finley actually figured it out and was opening his bag...and he even said Trick or Treat!

The boys with Ms. Julie, who works in the nursery...she is dressed as Jessie from Toy Story!

The streets are safe with this crew of superheros! EJ is dressed as Batman and Ethan is Captain America. Check out the 6-pack abs! Lots of muscles going on in this picture!

After trunk-or-treating, we had some warm cider and waited for the helicopter to land! The kids loved this part...and the pilots even handed out candy!

After visiting the helicopter, the boys visited the fire truck, and even got to climb up inside!

I love our church. We are so blessed for all that the children's ministry does for the kids. They go above and beyond to provide great fellowship and fun for their members, as well as for the community, and I am incredibly thankful that my boys will grow up with this church family and these memories.