The Tooth Fairy

While Tatum was out Trick or Treating, he lost his first tooth! Right before he went out for the night, he was outside playing with some friends. He came inside with a bloody mouth saying that he got elbowed by a friend. His tooth had been super wiggly prior to this but now it was barely hanging on. I asked Tatum if I could just yank it out but of course he wasn't too keen on the idea. 

While he was out Trick or Treating he kept playing with it and twisting and pulling it. And sure enough it finally came out. The rest of the night Grandpa Scott and had to hold on to that tooth until we got home and could put it safely in his tooth fairy pillow.

That night Tatum asked if he could ask the tooth fairy to leave some fairy dust with his money. We left a note asking and sure enough in the morning Tatum woke up to $5 and tiny bag of fairy dust. He is one lucky boy :)

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. I know its kind of a silly holiday; dress up, go door to door and ask for candy, stay home and pass out candy...ya its weird. But our neighborhood is the place to be on Halloween and truly makes the holiday so much fun! Our neighborhood is something out of a movie. Everyone is out and about, the streets are packed and everyone knows everyone. So fun! We have a hand full of neighbors that go all out including homemade donuts, hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and of course Eric's haunted house. He turned our garage into an awesome spook ally and it had quite the turnout, even some adults were too scared to go in!

And what is Halloween without pumpkin carving? Although I don't particularly love the tradition of carving pumpkins, its something the kids love so we had to follow through. All of Eric's family got together to carve pumpkins this year. Tatum designed and carved his very own pumpkin this year. I was so proud of him doing it all by himself and think it turned out great!

Elan made Cambria this adorable little skirt for Halloween. 

She looked so cute and festive that I had to take a picture.

For Halloween we had two Ninja Turtles and one adorable little owl.

 It was so fun to add in some pink this year!

I was worried about it being cold and the boys having to fuss with these masks all night, so Aunt Rachel came to the rescue and made them these cute beanies.  Turns out they didn't need them after all since it was such a warm night :)

This pic made me laugh, so typical...Trey loving on Cambria and her getting annoyed!

All 3 as good as it gets. Such fun memories from this Halloween!

I love FALL

One day Tatum was playing with some of the neighborhood friends. He came inside and asked me if we had a rake so they all could play in the leaves. After he got it I grabbed my camera and put Cambria is a stroller and ran out to capture the kids playing. It was so spur of the moment and lasted only a few minutes but the pictures explain it all.

This is what childhood is all about!

Saying Goodbye to Roxy

One of the reasons we took a trip to the cabin was to get the kids minds off of Roxy. The time has come to say goodbye to our sweet puppy. We have had Roxy since before we got married when she was only a few months old. I snuck her into my apartment for a few weeks before we got married and she was the cutest most fluffy playful dog. 

After about 9 years and 2 sets of puppies, Roxy started to get sick. We started to notice bumps along her belly that almost looked like she was pregnant. Looking back I wish that was all it was. Turns out she was developing tumors. At first they were small and didn't seem to bother her at all. But over time they got bigger and bigger and made it harder for her to be active. She sometimes would moan in the middle of the night or for no apparent reason. We knew something needed to be done but also knew that the only permanent solution was to put her down. We didn't want her to be in a lot of pain but also wanted to make sure the timing was right. 

One day I came home from the gym and our front room looked like a crime scene. There was blood smeared all over my nice front room carpet! Seriously I just about had a panic attack. Roxy decided to try and remove one of the tumors herself and cut herself pretty bad. Thankfully we got the blood out of the carpet but knew that the time has come to say goodbye. 

I will never forget that day. We sat the kids down and told them what was going to happen and that they needed to say goodbye to Roxy. It was the hardest thing we've had to do as parents. They just cried and cried and I cried right along with them. It was almost as though Roxy knew what was going on. She got a sudden burst of energy and was playing in the yard before we put her in the car to go, almost like it was her last time to run free. 

The boys have adjusted ok. For a few days I would walk into Tatum's room in the morning to wake him up for school and he would be crying in his bed. He always would say he missed Roxy. We framed a picture of the boys with her and put it next to his bed and that has helped. Tatum was very worried that he would forget her. Poor Tatum has taken it the worst out of everyone. He has never known life without her.

Now that she has been gone for a few weeks, everyone is fine. Occasionally Eric and I will find ourselves doing things out of routine without remembering that Roxy is gone. But other than that life is back to normal. We miss her tons but a part of me is glad to be done with animals. I know it is terrible but with 3 kids my life is too busy to give a dog the attention that they need. 

We miss you Roxy and will always remember you!

Fairview Cabin

Over fall break we decided we needed a little break of our own and headed to the Larsen cabin with Eric's family. We thought we would be there just in time to see the beautiful fall leaves but soon realized we were a little late and had just missed the vibrant fall colors. It was a major disappointment!

We still made the most of it and the kids spent every waking moment playing with their cousins. This headbands game was the favorite for the trip.

A cabin just up the road has this cute little playground and the owners let the kids play on it while we were there. They named it Coconut Land. It was my favorite moment the entire weekend.

We also went for many rides in the rhino while there. Trey at first didn't want to even go there but all it took was one ride and he was hooked!

And it wouldn't be a cabin trip without guns and fishing. I was dying watching Trey shoot the bb gun.

The rest of our time was spent hanging out inside reading and watching movies. The kids also made some forts out of tree branches and spent hours playing in them. I love how creative these kids are when they are together. Not one minute is wasted and they hardly spend time on ipads or phones.