So Busy!

We've been pretty busy these past few weeks. I've been so good at taking pictures lately (I downloaded over 1GB of pictures from just the last two weeks) but not as good at updating the blog... so get ready!! I'm making up for lost time...

Collin has been coming over about once a week to play with Kyle while Kristina goes to her prenatal appointments. Kyle just loves these times! There was one morning where I had told Kyle that Collin was coming, but he didn't actually come. When I broke the news that Collin wasn't coming, Kyle broke down and cried, he was so bummed!! (Notice he is looking a toy catalogue, it came with his Thomas the Train set and it is his new favorite "book." He asks me to read it at least four times a day!)

I've been working on potty training Kyle. I've actually been working on it for about six months now! He really enjoyed it when the potty was new, but eventually would cry if we asked him if he needed to go or sit on his potty. My latest trick is this potty chart I made for him. When he fills up a whole row with stickers, he gets a toy. Our original prize toy was a matchbox car, but the excitement for that lasted about a day. Then I found a "cheap" Thomas the Train piece at TJ Maxx that we started bribing him with. Boy, did that work!! He's doing better, but we still have a long road ahead....

Just after we went to the pumpkin patch I decided to take some fall pictures with the boys and our new pumpkins. Here's one of the better ones. I thought it was hard to get a picture of one mobile child, it was much easier than trying to get a picture of two mobile children!

Belleview (the school Jeremy works at) did a school-wide fundraiser a couple weeks ago. It was a walk-a-thon where the goal was 500 miles. They had each secondary class set up some kind of refreshment to sell and a different activity for the younger kids to have fun with. Apparently all the riding in the stroller made Bryce thirsty, here he is trying to get his brother's juice cup. (Notice his little LL Bean shoes that I got on clearance... they are so adorable!)

Jeremy's class was selling pizza, so of course he bought a piece for his boy. Kyle ate most of it before running off to play. (While he was gone, Bryce crawled over and tried to eat what was left.)

One of our new favorite outings is the bookstore. At our local Barnes & Noble, they have a great Thomas the Train set that Kyle loves to play with. It's nice because Kyle gets to play with other kids and learn to share. Plus, as long as I have a Starbucks gift card and I don't buy any books, it's a free outing!

It has now been two weeks since John and Amy packed up their house and moved to Visalia, CA. We miss them and will continue to, but we know the people they are serving in Visalia will be blessed by them. We love you guys!

Kyle waving goodbye to the truck as they start out.

This is the last bunch of pictures that I took this morning. Our maple tree out front dropped almost all of it's leaves this past week and the wind hasn't blown them away yet. So the boys and I went out for some fall fun!

I raked up three big piles of leaves for Kyle to jump in. He wasn't too sure what to do at first and actually just went and sat in the piles. Soon he got the idea and was running around, jumping in all of the piles. Jer said that when he took his diaper off later, it was full of leaf bits!

Kyle likes to push his brother over and even announces it just before he does it. I actually got a picture of him in action today. I heard, "I push Bryce over" and turned around in time to capture this incriminating photo. Bryce usually doesn't mind too much and just crawls off to his next adventure. Kyle also doesn't seem to mind the discipline he gets after each time he does it, because he obviously keeps doing it.

Here is one of the first pictures I captured this morning and it is one of my favorites. I'm so blessed with these two adorable boys who just love to play with one another. Kyle was throwing leaves all over himself and his brother and they were both cracking up with laughter. It just makes my heart melt to see them interact like this and I'm so thankful to the Lord for such great kids.