Christmaholics (not so) Anonymous

I admit it. I started listening to Christmas music today. I LOVE Christmas, and I am always ready to start listening to music, decorate, etc. before Thanksgiving but I have always stuck fast to my rule of waiting til after. Except today... :)

In other news lately...

- We had our 10 year high school reunion last Saturday night. It was actually a lot of fun and we're glad we went. Shame on us, we didn't take 1 single picture. It was great catching up with those we are still in touch with and some of those we hadn't. And on the plus side, I got to bring my best friend home like I have every night for the past 7 years. :-D

- Gage is almost walking! Tonight he took almost 5 full steps. He's taking his time about it, but I definitely don't mind this time around. I want him to stay my baby!

- We finally got Addie a library card. It was really exciting, see pic below!

I think that's all for now!

Super Cousins!

Happy Halloween! We love this time of year and we are always ready to decorate our house, bake fun Halloween cookies, carve pumpkins, and of course dress the kids up and go trick-or-treating. This year Addie, Gage, and Emily dressed as our own little family of Supers. All the fam came over to our house again this year and we had some yummy chili and cornbread before trick-or-treating around the block.

Love this shirt! We watch that movie almost daily this time of year!

Carving pumpkins! Addie wouldn't let us touch her little pumpkin, so it's still in the kitchen. We are going through an "I love everything, we need to keep it forever phase." I really hope we are over it soon.

"Master pumpkin carver, Cameron is."

The Super Cousins!
This was about the only way we could get a picture of all 3 of them dressed up! We ordered the capes from this shop on Etsy. Addie plays superhero all the time, so I love that we will get years of use from these.

Super Addie!

Super Gage!
He was a proper little superhero and kept his mask on most of the night. Love my little man so much!

This was Emily's 1st "real" trick or treat. She would follow Addie to the door, and as soon as someone would answer she would back away slowly and then crouch down in defense mode. It was priceless. Needless to say, she got tons of candy anyway for being so darn cute. Addie is old hat at the ripe old age of 4, and had no problem ringing doorbells, saying "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank you!"

Hope you all had a sugar filled Halloween, and Happy November!

Paaarrrrty!

Here are some fun pics from Gage's pirate party! We had a nice intimate party, and the lil' buccaneers had a blast.

Our little pirate!

Treasure chest cake! I had so much fun making this!

Chocolate moustache

MMMM Cake!

Gage in the pirate ship made by his Grandmama Ginger and his Great Grandpa Weaver. It's made from a cardboard box, but comes complete with mast, cannons, and steering wheel. The kids LOVED it!

Pirate cousins!

Happy 1st Birthday Gage!

 12 months ago today... Gage Paul Sanders arrived at 8:09 am weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz, 20.5 inches, and bringing immeasurable love and happiness to our family. We love our easy-going, happy, fun little bubbers. Enjoy 12 months of Gage!

 

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

 5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

It's My Birthday!!

Flagstaff!

Last weekend we got to go to Flagstaff, hooray! We hadn't been up in a couple of years, and we were so excited to get out of the heat for a bit. (It was actually pretty warm up there, but whatever.) Well, it was an interesting weekend for us to say the least. Addie had been up and down with fever, cough, ear infection, etc. for about 2 weeks prior to us going and had started antibiotics earlier in the week so we decided it was ok to go. (In hindsight, that was our 1st mistake.) Our 2nd mistake was sleeping in one hotel room with light sleeper Gage, paired with coughing Addie... sigh. It was nice to get away and we did have some great moments, but we were all exhausted (read: whiny children) and ready to come home on Sunday.

Strollin' around campus

Her favorite way to see Mom & Dad's alma mater - atop Papa's shoulders!
NAU is basically under construction, and has changed so much since we left 6 years ago. We definitely feel old...

Checkin' out Louie!

 I love this next pic! Flag in the fall is the best!

 We did get to eat at some of our favorite places (Mike & Rhonda's, Buster's, Crystal Creek), super yummy! Sadly, one of our favorite old haunts, Roma Pizza, isn't there anymore, boo! And no trip would be complete without a round of disc golf. As Cam puts it, "It was partially responsible for at least half a point drop in my GPA senior year." Ha. ;)

It's on top! She's a natural!

Very proud to be playing with Daddy.
She has the battle scar on her hand to prove it.

We love it and miss it! Hopefully the next trip will have more sleep involved! :)

While watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown-

Sally starts yelling at Linus in the pumpkin patch because the Great Pumpkin didn't show and she missed tricks or treats. Addie pipes up, "Why is she doing that? She didn't have to go there."

We could learn a lot from 4 year olds.

Labor Day Weekend

I've been slacking on the posting lately, but I wanted to put one in about our Labor Day weekend. We went to CA and stayed with our friends Mike and Jessica and got to hit up Seaworld one day and a children's museum near their house one day and just hung around. It was fun. Seaworld is great for Addie's age and we've been every year since she was 2. (Although I must say it's getting a bit commerical-y, adding more rides and taking away exhibits, boo.) The kids were pretty good travellers in the car, and they had fun playing with Ryan and Sofia (and their toys)!

Here we are in the hot air balloon at the museum! It was small, but Addie loved it. There were lots of little caves and "secret" tunnels, and a music room (Gage's favorite!).

This piano played all different instruments when you pressed the keys,
and as you can see, it was loud!

Gage's favorite place to play at Mike & Jessica's!
When I say "play" I really mean destroy the train tracks!

These next two pics are from the Shamu show at Seaworld. When we went last year, Addie got to pick out her very own Shamu to bring home (and he has a coveted place on her bed). Somewhere along the way she got the idea into her head that Shamu himself gave her the stuffed Shamu, so naturally we brought him along. In the pic, she is watching the show and holding him up so Shamu can see that she is taking good care of him. :-) Gage was a good baby as usual, and sat on our laps for the shows or rode in the stroller. We thank our lucky stars that he is so well mannered, even when he's tired.