two peas in a pod

One night (well, there are lots of nights, but this story is about just one of those), Graham was having a hard time. We got up with him a couple times before midnight, then he slept through the night after that.

In the morning, we discovered why he had slept through the night. He had climbed the ladder and slept the rest of the night in Drake's bed.

The second night, he didn't wake up once. Shad and I were excited, and went into their room the next morning to find a similar situation. The only difference was that this time, Drake had left his own bed, and joined Graham in his.

For the next week or more, Drake would happily allow Graham to climb into bed with him after they said their prayers, and they would fall asleep together.

Graham has slept through the night every night since (with the exception of just a few times he got out of bed early in the night to get a drink of water).

I think it is so sweet that they are able to sleep in the same bed, especially because they both move around quite a bit throughout the night.

I figured that Drake wouldn't always allow Graham to sleep in his bed, but I was glad as long as he was willing.

Graham sleeps much better when he knows someone is right there with him.

The night finally came when we were helping Graham up to Drake's bed, and Drake decided he wanted to sleep by himself.

Graham was surprisingly okay with that, for that night. But the very next night, Graham had a hard time going to bed. Drake immediately volunteered to sleep in Graham's bed with him. Problem solved.

To this day, Drake still climbs into bed with Graham, every single night.

I know it won't last forever, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

It just makes me happy.

Miracles for Tegan

A little while back, Shad's sister e-mailed us to let us know that one of her friends who lives in our town has a little girl named Tegan that was diagnosed with cancer. That week they were doing an ice cream social to help raise money for Tegan. If you know me, I'm not one to usually pass up on ice cream, especially when it's for a good cause. But when the night arrived, my two youngest were already very tired and fussy. They were not in the right mood for me to take them somewhere public and expect them to behave nice and quiet, and Shad was at a meeting so I didn't have back-up. So we didn't go.

Well this morning there was a craft show fundraiser for Tegan. Shad was out of town, but it was in the morning, so I knew my kids would most likely be in good moods.

It was held at our local Mystique Theater.

The kids were very cooperative, and had a good time looking at all the stuff.

And I was happy to contribute a little to helping out Tegan and her family.

If you're interested in reading about or helping Tegan and her family, you can go to their website here: http://miraclefortegan.blogspot.com/

And just below the main picture on that page is a link to Tegan's own blog where they give updates and info on what and/or how she's doing.

It was neat to see my kids interested in helping Tegan out. I think they're still upset I didn't buy more stuff. :)

bread and butter

Graham wanted a piece of bread with butter. I told him to help himself because I was in the middle of something.

So he did.

And yes, with the help of Drake and Avery, it was eaten all gone.

october in review

My kids really do get along well. But just like any other kids, little things that don't go just the way they want them to, can become a really big deal.

Here's just one example: the boys were playing ball in the backyard.

Something not to Graham's liking happened. I don't remember what it was.

Shad comforted him.

But life is still hard sometimes.

Avery trying on her new dollar store attire for the winter.

We did finally have our first snow.

Sanding our entertainment center that we bought for cheap.

The kids "helped" a lot.

A line of school buses... and horses.

The canal is now empty for the winter.

I just really liked the clouds on this day.

Favorite pasttime.

Drake still runs to me every time he gets off the bus.

Fishing... when it's too cold to fish outside.

Enjoying a warm October day.

Buds.

Since we moved into this home, our bedroom door has always been really hard to close and open. It was just too tight.

So Shad decided one day he was going to fix that, using a good old-fashioned hand planer. Our door works like a breeze now.

Drake's light show: The picture didn't really turn out, but you can still hear his amazing sound effects.

I love this bunch.

Goodbye October...

halloween

For halloween this year, I thought it would be fun (sometimes I wonder about my thoughts) to make our costumes.

With the help of Shad and Matt (watching the kids) I was able to sew my Wendy Darling dress and Graham's Peter Pan costume. Drake was one of Captain Hook's pirates (NOT Captain Hook, which he made clear to everybody that asked) and Avery was Tinkerbell. Shad didn't get a costume...

We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat earlier in the week.

We walked around the parking lot (some went around several times) and got candy from people we know.

Or at least people that we thought we knew.

After braving the cold for some candy, everyone headed inside for soup and rolls and socializing. These are my friend's kiddos that I watch from time to time.

Our little Tink.

A spider.

Just plain cute. There were a lot of really cute little kids there.

Enjoying the soup.

Avery still isn't sure about letting other people hold her, but plenty of people try to break her of her uncertainty.

Here's a closer look at our munchkins.

If you tell Avery she is pretty, she will touch her hair and say "Pretty".

Halloween night was perfect for trick-or-treating. The weather was just right and the sky was very Halloween-ish.

I tried to take some video to give you an idea of how much the sky added to the Halloween effect... the clouds were going so fast though. As soon as the moon would come out into an opening between the clouds, it would go right back behind some more clouds before I could get the video going.

We only went to a few houses along our own street and finished up after Drake was scared (nearly to death) at one house that had the bowl of candy sitting on what looked like a fake, stuffed person. Drake found out the wrong way that the guy was not a fake. Graham just laughed. Avery only scored two pieces of candy at homes that insisted she needed candy too.

Drake and Graham on the other hand finished the night with a decent load.

I'm glad we didn't do any more trick-or-treating than we did.

Happy Halloween.