Ayres and The Three Bears

When Cohen was "in womb" Cody and I went on a little trip to KC. While we were there, we decided to build the baby (did not know it was a Cohen) a bear at Build a bear. It was the baby's first stuffed animal and it also was created by us with love:) Well when Miayla was in womb, we let Cohen build it (we didn't know it was a Miayla) a bear so the baby had it's own first stuffed animal. Obviously you can see where this is going......yep, back to Build a Bear for another bear to be built for the baby that we don't what it is except that it too, like everything else, was created out of love. The kiddos decided to build a polar bear since the baby was going to be born in winter.....they plan on bringing it to the hospital with them when they come to meet "it" for the first time. Which I hope is very soon.




Let the process begin...I think Miayla was checking out all the questionable characters at the mall that day:)












Aw, a white polar bear..PERFECT


























Stuffing the Bear.
I LOVE this picture b/c if you look at their hands, they are holding each other...













fluff, fluff












Warming the hearts and making wishes for the baby.....while jumping up and down five times












questioning the whole bath thing....














Cody showing them how it's done...he is an expert by now;)











"whoa, this is cool"












Joe, the bear that Cody and I built for our first child, Cohen David:)












Dos, the bear Cody, Cohen, and I built for our second child, Miayla Renee:)









And introducing...Leroy Thomas, the bear that Cohen, Miayla, Cody and I built for our third child.......

(the kids really want to name the baby Thomas, (after the train) Cody argues with them that it's name will be Leroy fudpucker...now though, I explained to all of them , that we can't have two of the same name in the family so both names are out..darn;)








The kiddos decided to do a Santa hat, diaper, and bib that read "Baby's first Christmas"


















All three of the bears:)










LOVE this picture and this " happy family togetherness" is why I am confident, God-willing, we will build more bears:)

Bad to the bone-well as much as you can be with a huge stuffed duck

Cody did the Toys for Tots toy run again this year. I was not able to ride...obviously, but he was able to find another back warmer at the last minute:) My dad nicked named me "duck" when I was little b/c of the way I swam, so Cody thought a big stuffed duck was appropriate to replace me. The kiddos and I went out and saw him and the family out on the rode....they were going way to fast for a picture. I sure did miss being a part of it....maybe next year!





Cody and his duck

The kiddos with him before he left. They thought the duck was pretty cool.

HALLOWEEN

The kiddos were Thomas the Train and a Princess for Halloween this year (although Miayla thinks she is a princess everyday of the year). Every year their costumes have coincided so this year was hard for me with them wanting to be different things. Miayla was a banana her first year and Cohen was the monkey. Then they were Winnie the Pooh and piglet, then Dora and Diego. My hope is next year, if we have a girl, Miayla will be Strawberry Shortcake and the baby be Apple Dumpling:) I know...that is a little far away to be planning, haha. Another funny story is when we went to buy Cohen's costume, he wanted to try it on. It is pretty basic so I wasn't worried about it fitting. He put in on and it obviously fit. The guy was like, "yep, it fits." Cohen went, "wait...." and he walked all around the story "chugging and chooing". Once he made his way back to us he was like "yep, it'll work." Like that was the deciding factor. It was pretty funny.




Trick or treating Uella and Papa earlier in the week b/c they were going to be in Rome over Halloween. They have been out of town every Halloween since Cohen was two. On a side note, mom is dressed as a traitor...boo kapaun.











At Resurrection (church and school) for "Trunk o Treating"













Getting ready to head out Halloween night...



















Choo Choo

Cheesers!!!

Popcorn balls

Cohen and I made popcorn balls one evening for a Halloween treat and got "way messy." I LOVE to cook with the kiddos and Cody was able to capture it.






















Sticky icky icky









I love this picture because he has this "humm, what to do" look on his face....

Candy Comparison

Cohen and Miayla both had school Halloween parties on the same day....I caught them as they were sitting on the couch comparing everything. They were so cute and so excited . I was truly touched with how sweet they were to each other. If Miayla got something she knew Cohen liked, she would give it to him and vice versa. They were all about sharing and making the other happy. Such sweeties:)

Army men...

So one night I was cleaning up the house and noticied an army man on the table....The kids were asleep so I couldn't tell Cohen to pick them up. Then I noticed one on the counter.....and I remembered earlier in the night Cohen snickering to himself while he was in the living room...when I asked what he was doing he said "nothing" laughing. I soon realized what he was doing and Cody and I began searching for Army men. The next morning at breakfast we asked him about his army men and he was like "I don't know what you are talking about."--laughing again. He is so much fun!








On the table, next to Miayla's beautiful painted pumpkin.















On top of his picture on the counter.




















On a side table in the living room...
















On top of the TV......

















Another side table in the living room.....

And one on the the console table:)

Pumpkin Carving 2009

So with visiting lots of pumpkin patches this year, we had many pumpkin options to choose from when it came to carving. We invited my family over to carve and Ricarda and mom joined us....Tony came for apple cresents but then left:) When the kids "carve" it is more so Cody carving and them sitting there critiquing it. Cohen decided he wanted to carve a spider and a spider web and Miayla painted her's an assortment of colors. It was a fun, fall evening.













Cody beginning his masterpiece.















Miayla cheesin it up:)

















Ricarda with her very big pumpkin

















































Cody assisting mom:)






























Yay for Uella time!















Miayla taking a break for food, imagine that:)

Everyone hard at work.

Cohen with his pumpkin, lol. Great job Cohen!

Setheul got hitched--and Cody danced

One of Cody's best friends got married in Pittsburg, KS in October. Cody was honored to be a groomsman for Seth and Kylie on their special day. The weekend was a lot of fun and a nice little getaway for us. I think what made it so great was that Cody was surrounded by his friends, the ones that have known him the longest, and his true colors really showed...apparently he loves to DANCE:)






Cody and Traci walking down the aisle..














what a hottie:)












Yay for Kylie and Seth

















Kylie's dress was amazing and she looked gorgeous. She was such a beautiful and gracious bride!!!















And the dancing begins.....














and continues...... (I'll spare you all the pictures, including him leading the conga line and the "train")
















He even sauntered towards me carrying a rose in his mouth...don't know whose bouquet he got it from....but I left with a rose:)