Hot Date!!

So Wayne & I got to finally go out on the town to celebrate my birthday (it was in August). Our good friends, Keith & Lisa watched the boys for us. Thanks guys - You're the best!! We had planned to go out on my actual birthday, but sick kiddos made for a change of plans.

Since we both got gussied up, I figured now is as good a time as any to put some pictures of us on the blog. We went to The Melting Pot here in Reno. It was a first for both of us. Let me just say that I could get used to it. I would also weigh 500 lbs. if I did! I swear the buttons were about to burst on my shirt because I was so full. If I had worn a green shirt, people might have mistaken me for the Incredible Hulk. It really was that bad.

This was my favorite part. Dark chocolate & white chocoloate. Yummmm!

Brotherly Love

The boys have been playing really, really well together lately. They are both such good, sweet boys (most of the time).

They are very affectionate towards each other. Jack is constantly rubbing the back of his hand on Ben's arms and his hand, especially when Ben is sucking his thumb. Ben must like it because it would bug the heck out of me.

Jack is always the first person awake in the morning. He loves to go into Ben's room in the morning and say so sweetly, "Good morning sweepy-head!" and then he climbs into the crib with Ben. They are so excited to see each other every morning.

When Jack is laying on the floor playing with his toys, Ben likes to climb on Jack's back and give him hugs and snuggle.

The past couple of weeks when I drop Jack off at preschool, Ben has cried and called out Jack's name as we leave. Very dramatic...JAAAAA! Then he asks about Jack the entire time that he's at school. He loves his big brother so much.

Here they are together inside the pop-up tent.

Trick-or-Treat

This year we went Trick-or-Treating with Kristin's friend Dani and her kids and nephews.

The Trick-or-Treat crew:

Pirate Ben, Pirate Jack, Soldier Bella, Buzz Lightyear Milo, Soldier Carter, Lion Elias

Bella and Jack were so cute together. They were SO excited to Trick-or-Treat and get candy. They held hands and by the end of the night they began to sound like an old married couple. Bella's bag was getting a little too heavy for her, so she asked Jack to carry it for her. Then Jack started grumbling about how she always wants her to carry her bag. Wayne told him that he better get used to it ;)

Ben just realized that there were some pieces of candy in his bag. He then proceeded to have a meltdown until he got to eat a piece of it.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Back at Nana's house for some much needed rest. He worked so hard for his candy.

Go Vols!

A few weeks ago, Wayne went to Tennessee to visit Moosh & Elisa. Moosh is part of the football coaching staff at the University of Tennessee. He gave Wayne an all-access pass for the game. Pretty amazing! He had a great time!

He even took a picture of Nick Lechey for me :)

Haircuts!

As usual, I've loaded the photos in reverse order...you would think I'd have figured it out by now. First come the after pictures and then the before picture.

I took the boys to a park this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather and changing leaves. I just love this time of year.

I have no idea what is so cool, but whatever it is must be good!
Ben's looking at the water, trying to figure out how to get in it. He already took a header, which is why the front of his hair is wet in the pictures.

He is learning to say new words every day. Sometimes a couple of new words in a day. He tries to say water: waaah-er. Then when we saw the ducks, he said 'qwaaaak'.

Here is Jack with his stick fishing pole. His bait is a leaf.....gotta love this kid and his imagination.

Hmmmm....what other sort of trouble can I get into.

This is the before picture. MAJOR bed head. We were at Nana & Pa's house and Nana didn't want him to go to bed with a wet head. So she held him, rocked him and stroked his hair until he fell asleep. What a hair-do!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

On Tuesday, Jack's preschool class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch. This was the first day of the school year that he was actually excited to go to school. He has been asking if we can take him to the pumpkin patch since about April.

Here is Jack with his best friends from school - Chloe, Alex & Griffin. Getting ready to leave on the hay ride.

The boys were so excited to be on the hay ride. It was so funny to listen to their conversations with each other. Jack says to Griffin: "Hey Grif, did you go on the hay ride last year?"

Griffin: "Yeah!!! It was fun."

Jack says to Alex: "Alex, did you go on the hay ride last year?"

Alex: "Yeah, the hay ride is my favorite."

Jack: "Me too! hahahahaha."

Me: "Do you guys remember last year when the class came to the pumpkin patch and we all went on the hay ride together?"

Mom, this is the pumpkin I want. Help me - it's stuck to the vine.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Monson boys

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Mammoth. These are a few of the Monson men. Uncle Jack holding little Jack, Grandpa Butch, Ben and Wayne.

Uncle Jack and Benjamin

The 2 Jack Monson's.

Grandpa Butch playing with Jack.

Daddy with his boys hanging out with the bears in the village.

Busy September

Here are some pictures from our trip to Mammoth and the Balloon Races. This year, we had our trip to Mammoth planned during the weekend of the balloon races. We missed the dawn patrol and the glow show that is so amazing and worth every bit of getting up at 5 am for. But rather than missing it all, we got up early on Friday morning and watched the balloons. Then when Wayne got home from work, we loaded up the car and drove to Mammoth to visit his parents and Uncle Jack & Aunt Judy.

Here we are on our gondola ride, Jack's favorite part. He was SOOOOO excited!!!

So high we could almost touch the sky!

Jack is using his binoculars to see everything.

It was so incredibly windy on the top of the mountain!

Please pay no attention to our bed heads.

Jack, Chloe and Ben. Ben was soo stinkin cute. He just kept pointing at all of the balloons and saying 'wow' over and over and over again. He was in total amazement of it all.

Big Dig

Last weekend we were given tickets to a boy's paradise of sorts - The Big Dig. It was a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society where kids and their parents are allowed to operate heavy construction equipment. Jack, Ben and Wayne had a blast. I had a good time watching them and even got to operate a small backhoe with Jack.

Wayne was so cute....like a little boy on Christmas morning after he was finished driving the D9 bulldozer. It was HUGE! Wayne operated the accelerator and Jack did the steering.

Here we have the mud brothers. I think this was the highlight of the day for these boys.

Benjamin was covered in mud from head to toe when he was finished. We had to strip him down to his diaper just to put him in the car.

A big thank you to the Buhrmann family for the tickets, and another huge thank you to Dr. Ryan Gini for being a sponsor of this wonderful event!

Honey Bear

Jack has moved up to the 4 yr old preschool classroom, The Honey Bears. He's still having a bit of a rough time with the transition. Thankfully, he is in the same room with 3 of his best buddies and that has made things a little bit easier on him.

Doing okay so far.....(that's because he hasn't realized yet that he's going into the new classroom)

Jack is standing up in the upper right side of the photo, next to his buddy Griffin. He's not too sure about this new class, his new teachers and all the new faces. Several of the kids from the Teddy Bears were not in the Honey Bears class.

This is right about when things started going downhill......FAST!

And then the meltdown started.....

I'm such a mean Mommy, I quickly snapped the picture and then gave him hugs. The teachers told me that he only cried for a little bit after we left and he was a happy camper the rest of the day.