The Halloween Low Down

AKA: The Recap and Picture Overload

Ah… the days keep getting away from me. Each year I want to post our Halloween pictures but that is always slighted by our anniversary. These past few days were fun, filled with all things pumpkin and candy.

As in all years past, the boys were super excited to carve pumpkins only to have that excitement fizzle about five minutes into the process. They started out strong and interested.

Man, I love those hand dimples.

And round cheeks.

 

Mr. Dunbar, of course, finished off the pumpkin.

One pumpkin carved.

The other two well, perhaps next year we’ll carve multiple pumpkins.

Part Two: The Parade

Bogie’s pre-school did not do a “Halloween Parade” instead it was a Community Helpers Parade. And since he is adamant that he is going to be “the police” when he grows up, that’s exactly what he dressed up as. He looked like a New York City traffic cop and he was proud as punch.

The Grandma’s came to watch the parade.

Part Three: Classroom Crafts

I went to help out with crafts in Monkey’s class. It’s still very surreal to be on this side of the whole classroom and parent teacher thing. Monkey’s teacher rocks though, she teaches just like I did and she loves (standards-based) crafts.

Part Four: The Neighborhood

 

Part Five: Trunk N Treat

Our church does a phenomenal job of TrunkNTreating. The cars and people are decked out, all in good fun. There are no scary, spooky, dark side cars. Which I love and its so fun for the kids. We Treated down one row of cars and then my boys wanted to go play games and bounce.

Nerf guns and large pumpkins? Love at first sight for my boys.

Fierce faces? Scary faces?

Confused face?

 

Cool skateboard.

And we called it a night.

Wow it was a busy day.

And now its November, so we’re moving on.

~mrs. dunbar

Who would’ve thought?

Eight years ago we went from being this:

To today, being this.

 

He is the ketchup and I am the mustard.

He’s always the little sweet and I am always the little tart.

It’s just the way we are, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Anniversary.

I love you, Mr. Dunbar

~mrs. dunbar

these days…

if I had a photo dump for you, these pictures would be included.

                   

      

     

1. baby splashing

2. big boy eyelashes- to die for

3. moving nap time to floor

4. farmer day

5. concentration

6. hair done

7. corner church trunk-n-treat

8. ninja turtle

9. pharaoh's kingdom

~mrs.dunbar

The Patch

We made the trek to the small church Pumpkin Patch near our house this past weekend. If you think trying to get 2 kids to look at the camera is hard try getting 3, its darn near impossible. I am going to start prepping my boys from here on out, “If you smile and get the good pictures mommy wants at the beginning then I’ll stop bugging you and you can go play.”

Anyhow here they are.

 

This one is getting printed. .

Most of Popeye’s shots looked like this. “Tell that lady to get the camera out of my face!”

Do my kids just look so happy? And how about the Hawaiian shirt theme for the pumpkin patch?  Seriously, Mr. Weather Man please deliver some cool weather soon.

~mrs. dunbar

5 Things of Dunbar Boy Happenings This Week

As always my life revolves around these 3 guys. So here are 5 happenings from our week.

1. Trying to get some decent shots of this guy. Never happens.

2. It’s fall. That means football.

3. Mr. Larry, our neighbor, pulled Monkey’s first tooth out. It was hanging on by a thread. This is the reenactment, and his hands were clean. The Tooth Fairy brought $5. Is that fair?

4. I slammed Bogie’s fingers in the car door. We were dropping him off at pre-school. I thought they were broken and I couldn’t even bring myself to look at them. I grabbed the baby and Bogie and headed straight for the Preschool office. Thank goodness those ladies were not even fazed and had lots of words of encouragement for me. Fingers are fine.

5. A nice surprise arrived in the mail. A card from the Northern Cousins. My boys love to get mail. Absolutely love it.

Now you’re all caught up.

Have a good weekend.

~mrs. dunbar

How Dad’s do Dinner

The other night I asked Mr. Dunbar to help me put dinner together. I told him it was pretty simple, the directions were on the counter.

Stromboli.

Easy Peasy.

A pizza crust, some provolone, a little parmesan, salami, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.

Roll.

Then bake.

 

He did a great job. Came out perfect.

I got out some veggies. Chopped them up for a salad. Made the pizza dipping sauce. Served it all up.

Monkey say’s, “Dad, you make the BEST stromboli ever. Papa makes the best cookies.”

Ummm, excuse me?  Mom did all of the work. Oh and Papa’s cookies? Yeah, those are all Pillsbury.

The boys have asked for Stromboli twice since then. They want it in their lunch. They want it for dinner tomorrow. If anything, I think I found a new go to dinner, that even Mr. Dunbar can handle.

Do you have a go-to dinner? Do share. 

~mrs. dunbar

Snippets of Time

Along with a blogging break, I seemed to have taken a break from taking pictures as well. But I did find these shots on my camera from a few weeks ago. All three boys, on my bed, in their jammies. Doing what they do best; laughing and wrestling.

And though most of the shots are a bit blurry or someone’s head is cut off in most of them, they just made me smile this morning. {sigh} Smile and think.

When I drop Monkey off at school in the morning I see all of the “big kids” heading off to their days without a Mom at the gate saying “I love you.” Instead I see them with cell phones texting who knows what, to who knows who. And it just reminds me, these days are limited. My walks up to the gate-numbered. All three boys having a good time in my room- circumscribed.  These are fleeting moments. I have to consciously tell myself to enjoy the moment, stay in the moment and relish it because so often I am doing laundry, or getting lunches packed, or making sure that homework is signed or the Share Bag is ready to go. Along with checking the weather channel and the online banking site, and the ever progressing to-do list for the next day just grows and grows.  But then, every once in a while, I remember to grab the camera while the boys are doing just what boys do. Laughing, Wrestling, Reading, Jumping.

And these two?  These two are joined practically every waking moment. The big brother, the caretaker, guider, protector. And the littlest brother always the student. They are so close even at this young age. When Bogie gets up the first thing he does is check on his baby brother. I love to hear their sounds coming from the nursery.

 

And then I pray. Pray that they will always find time for each other. Pray that they will always put the other first, above friends and girlfriends. (Wives will one day take the number one spot.) Pray that the protector, my Lion Heart will always look first before leaping because his little brother is watching. Pray that my Leader will honor all that God has gifted him with, and that he will find the strength that I know is growing inside of him. Pray that my Baby will grow into a man with integrity who is not afraid of responsibility.

And the weight of it all seems so heavy because I want the best for each of them. And I turn to Mr. Dunbar and he smiles and tells me to “Relax. To enjoy them, enjoy the day. That they will be boys.”  I want to just throw my feet up in the air.

But then someone toots, or calls out a Potty Name and my work begins again. And I think, “God you must have some divine plan for these hooligans or a great sense of humor entrusting these smelly creatures to me. But I’ll take it, each and every moment with them. I’ll take it.”

‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11

~mrs. dunbar

A Costume and an Update

Any guesses what this little guy is going to be for Halloween?

If you guess correctly it might just be worth something sweet.

And after weeks of computer drama… I think I just may be back up to par with blogging.

New computer: check

All set up: check

Photoshop loaded: check

All other programs loaded: check

Only took a few weeks time, interviews to one brother about his computer, a trip to my other brother’s house for computer set-up, multiple phone calls to him during work hours, and hours of Mr. Dunbar setting up all of my favorite programs.

Anyway…hopefully this is it.

And back to that cutie pie up there, isn’t he cute? Any guesses what he’s going to be?

~mrs. dunbar