Halloween - Round 1

Ben and Abby dressed up in their Halloween costumes for church this week.
Ben was a jedi again. One of these days he will break out of the Star Wars rut, I mean, phase.
Abby opted for her clown costume from last year. She didn't want to be a clown this year, and won't be for trick or treating, but she won "best costume" last year and wanted to try for it again this year. I think she looks adorable!
(Stay tuned to see what Abby really wanted to be for Halloween!)

Pumpkin Carving

Thursday night was pumpkin carving night at our house. We LOVE to carve pumpkins! Just as we were getting ready to get started we discovered that "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" was on. Great for our theme, but it made our night very long!
So, Ben and Abby got started in the living room. Abby is cutting out her pattern and Ben is drawing his design on his pumpkin.
I think this is Ben's favorite part! He loves digging out the 'pumpkin guts'!
Abby is not such a fan of this part. She hates the smell and the slimy feel of the gooey innards. She thought putting on this clown nose would protect her precious nose from the smell. Silly girl!
Ben can't seem to do the carving with his tongue in this mouth! :)
This is the part that Ben cut out of his pumpkin.
Abby enlisted Dad's help. She thought her pattern was going to be a lot easier than it turned out to be.
I took the easy way out! Using the drill took very little time to complete my pumpkin. I had seen this idea several years ago and always thought I would like to give it a try. I was very pleased with the results.
Looking at Ben from the inside of his pumpkin.
Ben and his finished product.
Abby and her finished product.
Crazy boy!
Lovely...
Mine, Abby's and Ben's pumpkins in the dark.
So much fun!

Lukey & His "Lankie"

Luke is my Linus. He loves his blankie! He carries it around wit him, eats with it, takes it in the car, sleeps with it (but does just fine without it too)...

Well, yesterday morning Luke brought his blankie to me and told me that it had something gross on it. I took a look at it and sure enough there was. I told him that his blankie needed to go in the washer for a bath. YIKES!! He was not a happy boy!
He cried for almost the entire hour that the blankie was in the washer. I tried to console him with another blankie that is even softer than his favorite, but he just wasn't having it! I was completely surprised by his behavior because I have never seen him act this way about his blankie.
He was VERY happy when the dryer was finished and he could get in there and find his blankie!
See what a happy boy he is now!
Crazy!

Father/Son Bonding

I love seeing Jon and Luke lounging together! (Or any of the kids.) I just thought this was a sweet picture.

Crafting With A Friend

The Halloween jars have been a hit! My friend, Deborah, who is super duper crafty came over to make some of her own.
She refused to look at the camera, however! (Hi Deborah! :) )
Her sweet baby, Emma was a perfect angel!
I don't have a picture of Deborah's finished product, but here is the one I made. It's huge! (Thank you, Sheila!) I love it!

Deborah brought over some Christmas tissue paper too and we made some Christmas jars, but I don't even want to talk about that for several more weeks!

Tuckered Out!

Over fall break Abby went to Girl Scout camp. She had a great time! She got completely wore out! The night that she got home Jon and I walked back to our room to go to bed and this is what we found.
Sound asleep!
I'm so glad she had a great time at camp and was able to come home and get some good sleep before going back to school on Monday.

HaPpY LiTtLe LuCaS!

I know, another post about Luke. I just couldn't resist sharing these happy smiles from the little guy! They are priceless!
Luke loves to play in the unfolded laundry! Even more than the laundry, he loves his new Thomas trains!
He is particularly fond of Henry!
Does it get any better than this?!
I just love this little guy to pieces!!!

The Pumpkin Patch

Luke and I went on a MOPS field trip to The Pumpkin Patch.
This part may have been Luke's favorite part of the whole thing: the tractor! We took a tractor (hayride) out to the pumpkin patch. All Luke could talk about was riding the tractor! I wanted to take a picture of him by the tractor but it was much too loud for his liking.
Luke picked the perfect little pumpkin!
He even gave it hugs and kisses!
I wish I had been able to get a good picture of the two of us, but this is as good as it gets.
Mesmerized by the tractor and the pumpkins.
It was fun to eat lunch at The Pumpkin Patch! Especially when McDonald's has the fun Halloween buckets for their Happy Meals. (I never splurge for the Happy Meal, but once I saw the buckets I caved!)And then it was playtime! (Luke is into danger!)
This is the little pumpkin that Luke chose at The Pumpkin Patch. It's a cute little thing. However, my one little hangup with The Pumpkin Patch is that it is SO expensive! This little pumpkin cost us $5!! Yeah, that included the hayride and everything. But, if you don't get a pumpkin you don't pay. Since it was just me and Luke, I was ok with the $5. If I had the other kiddos with me they would have wanted a pumpkin and they wouldn't have been happy to settle for the little ones. The lady told us that the bigger pumpkins were around $10!!! What in the world?! Another thing is that the pumpkins aren't even grown at The Pumpkin Patch! They are trucked in just like any of the grocery stores! I just can't see paying $5 for a little pumpkin that they didn't even grow there!

I know, I'm ranting! Anyway...
After Luke and I left The Pumpkin Patch we headed to Aldi to buy some big pumpkins. They are only $1.99 there!! And let me tell you, these things are huge!
Here is a little bit of perspective on the size of the pumpkins. One little pumpkin for $5 and five big pumpkins for $10! CRAZY!

Wondering why I bought so many pumpkins? No, I'm not planning on using pumpkin in recipes or saving the seeds for roasting (although we may do some of that). Last year we only bought two pumpkins. One for Ben. One for Abby. When it came time to carve the pumpkins for Halloween neither Ben nor Abby would allow me or Jon to help them. We were really bummed since we really enjoy carving pumpkins. On one of Jon's days off of work, while Ben and Abby were at school, we went out and bought our own pumpkins and carved them ourselves! I know, we're just big, selfish kids! This year we will have enough the first time!

Halloween Craftiness

I often have the desire to be crafty,however, I am anything but. I get all of the e-mails of cute crafts to do with the kids and always have great intentions, but the crafts rarely get done. Amazingly enough, this craft actually made it from my inbox to my front porch! Here's the link if you would like to make them too! Let's just say...The options are endless!
I found so many great jars at garage sales, by cleaning out my refrigerator, and a great friend.
Ready to get started! I had planned to do this with Abby since she loves crafts, but I couldn't wait and made a few while she was at school. Thankfully she wasn't mad at me for not waiting for her. It just made her more anxious to make her own.
Here are the ones that I made.
I love how they look in the dark!
Finally, Abby didn't have too much homework or softball practice, so we were able to get busy.
These are the pumpkins that we made together. Not finished yet...
Topped off with a bow!
Abby was very proud of her pumpkin!
After her pumpkin was done she hopped right on to another jar.
Look at that face!
What a nut! I love this girl!!
Here are the lanterns that Abby made! I think she did a great job!!

I love how these look outside lit up on the front porch. I think I will save some jars and make some Christmas lanterns too!