happy halloween

Happy Halloween from the batty Bode boys!

weekend recap

Connor is pretty lucky that Grayson still doesn't move, because pretty soon (well, I shouldn't assume with 'pretty soon' more like 'eventually') Grayson will be able to move and defend himself. Although, activities like the below don't seem to bother him too much :)

We are having a nice weekend. Friday night we went up to my Aunt Mary and Uncle Al's house in Stillwater for the evening, family photos with the amazing Gina Ziedler (I'm sure she will once more manage to make us look good and make it appear that the boys were cooperating...and if for some reason we don't look good, or it's obvious the boys weren't cooperating, well, that would be the truth then and not Gina's fault :)) yesterday afternoon, thanks to Rachel for swinging by our photo session with oodles of bribery for Connor and now onto a fairly lazy Sunday (which involves stacking tons of toys on and around Grayson apparently) of church, watching football, naps and playing with my new camera :)

Halloween Party

We had Connor and Grayson's Halloween Party at school tonight. Connor typically is VERY anti-costume. Hates wearing anything that we try and force upon him. So this year, I tried to plan it safe. I found a little brown onesie with the white stitching to be a football for Grayson and figured I could just throw a jersey on Connor and call it good. While shopping yesterday I found a little set that included pants, shirt and helmet. Thought, why not give it a try. Connor LOVED it. Barely took it off last night. I also had picked up a pair of spikes at a garage sale last year and although they were far too big, he thought it was great. I was pretty pumped :)

Anxiously awaiting the party.

 And for the record, I am fully aware the Vikings are horrible. But, it felt a little wrong buying some other team.

My little football :)

fascinated with Connor's helmet

 the only pic of the two of them. 

hopefully we get a better one Monday night before or after trick or treating

and the BEST part of the night, Connor's best buddy Mason was also a football player so we had to get a picture!

duluth

Bryan and I decided to do a little spur of the moment trip to Duluth this past weekend. We quickly learned that it would have been a good thing to plan much farther in advance, mostly to get a decent hotel room, especially if we wanted to stay where all of the action was. But, we found a room at the Edgewater Hotel & Waterpark, with really no intention of going to the water park (which we never did), and it worked out great. Was right on the lake and we had a lake view out of our room, was a few miles from Canal Park, but it was just fine. The water park looked pretty cool if anyone is interested. So, we left Friday at about noon, with an unexpected quick trip to urgent care for Grayson and a potential case of pink eye, which was confirmed, but armed with eye drops we were on our way. The boys did fantastic in the car on the way there and back. We arrived about 5:30 and had made reservations at Grandma's Saloon on our way up for supper.

We explored Canal Park while waiting for our reservations and were in love with the scenery. The fall colors were still beautiful (we were a little worried we'd miss it) and since I hadn't been to Duluth since I was very young, it was neat to see the sights! Dinner at Grandma's was excellent and then we waited around for a ship to pass through the bridge, which Connor was in awe over the size of the ship and how the bridge could lift. 

The next morning we had lined up a boat cruise of the harbor on the Vista Fleet. We are fully aware that we were the cliche tourists, but we're fine with that. Connor did fairly decent on the cruise, kind of a lot to ask of a busy three year old to sit still for two hours, but it was good and the history was interesting, however the jokes were a little much :)

(photo credit: connor)

 Our first attempt at a family photo on the trip, I was a little worried this was telling of how the rest of the trip would go.

After the boat cruise we headed north along the Scenic North Shore Drive to see Split Rock Lighthouse and Gooseberry Falls. The lighthouse was Bryan's favorite part of the weekend, we did the tour, watched the movie and again the history was so interesting. I loved the scenery.

(photo credit: connor...ha, I was just impressed it was fairly in focus?)

exploring Gooseberry Falls

 Other than Grayson looking crazy I am happy with how this one turned out!

 Connor mad I took the camera away from him.

 So we let him take a few of us...

 me and my boys, love them

 bryan and connor exploring

That night we ate at Little Angie's Cantina and Grill which was also great. We didn't hang around to see a ship as I think we were all pretty exhausted :)

 Sunday morning we decided to hit up the Lake Superior Zoo before heading home. The scenery at the zoo was BEAUTIFUL. The colors were amazing, the animals were pretty good, too :)

 Connor insisted on being our tour guide at the zoo.

 our horrible attempt at a self-timer shot

We had a great time and look forward to going back again someday! (maybe next time without kids, however pleased we were with how it went this time around, it would be a great 'date weekend' :))

jackpot (at the library)

Connor and I made our first visit to the North Mankato library tonight and I would call it a success! I rarely look at the inserts in our monthly water bill (or I think that's where the sheet came from) but last week I caught 'preschool story time' every Monday night in October. Feeling guilty that I have yet to bring Connor to the library I thought it was a good time to start. He didn't really want to go, I think he was tired from school, but I told him if he didn't like it, we could come home. He sat very well for story time and then after we were finding a few books here and there that he seemed interested in but then we hit the jackpot for construction books. He thought it was the coolest thing ever (so fun!). He couldn't wait to get home and show dad all of his construction books and can't wait to read them before bed tonight. (if you're judging me in that it took me three and a half years to go to the library with my child, just knock it off ;))

so happy about his new books!

fall photo fun

Yesterday morning Krystal, Mom and I rounded up the kids and went to a piece of property near my brother's house to take pictures of the kids. As you can see, it was difficult to get a good one of all of them, we'll blame that on Grayson, but I loved the location! There were so many potential photo backgrounds that we didn't get to, guess that just means a return trip! 

One of the very few of the four together that turned out ok :)

 

Hilarious, this might be my favorite.

 

I am always happy when I accidentally take a decent photo, love this one.

just sharing how difficult it was to get them all to cooperate, ha

 exploring the bean fields

trip to the dentist

Connor and I made an unexpected trip to the dentist last Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully there had been a cancellation so we were able to get in right away. Now, to back up for the full story.

About a month ago, Connor fell off of our bed and on the way down, smacked his face on the nightstand. To clarify, he wasn't sleeping and fell out, I think it was one of those moments that he was cranky and didn't want to get out of bed or didn't want to stop watching the ipad, something to that effect. Obviously falling didn't help the mood any.

So, lots of blood, lots of tears. I didn't think that his teeth were loose but he really wasn't happy with me digging around in his mouth so I can't really be honest with you whether they were loose or not. He did complain for a day or so about his mouth being sore, but after that, seemed back to normal.

Fast forward to last Tuesday night as he's brushing his teeth I catch a glimpse of one of his front teeth...and it's not white. More of a tan-ish/gray. Enter instant mom guilt and I began furiously brushing his teeth (as if that would help, ha).

So, we make the trek to the dentist. They do a good job of making me feel better that even if I had brought him in right after the fall, it wouldn't have helped any. They confirmed that indeed both of his two front teeth are turning gray, and most likely, will stay gray and probably even get darker. This is due to damage to the nerve during the fall. There is a chance the nerves MIGHT heal on their own, but we're not counting on it. They also said they could get darker and then lighten back up a little, but again, who knows. I am happy that the teeth aren't going to fall out and have him be toothless for 4 years until his permanent teeth come in.

Guess I should just be thankful we all come with two sets of teeth :)