Halloween Happenings

This is just a bunch of randomness from over the month of October, so here goes...

I was upstairs the other day and heard Jemma say, "Mom come quick! You gotta see this!"

Here's what I found. :)

After I took their pic, Carter laid down next to them...he wanted to be a part of the silliness. No glasses, but that goes with his attire, right? No clothes either!

Carter helped me make sugar cookies the other day while Jem was gone to preschool. I pitifully forgot to take pictures of them after they were decorated. Jem and Carter put so much stuff on them, they were almost unrecognizable.

Pumpkin carving:


The finished products:
So, Jemma wanted a smiley face on hers - easy enough, and Carter wanted Lightning McQueen...hmmm, that ones a little trickier...we settled on a lightning bolt, however, his pumpkin was a bit squatty, so we carved it in horizontal rather than vertical...Jemma said it looked like mountains, so we decided we would tip the pumpkin on it's side for the pic.
Problem solved.

I actually cooked up the pumpkin seeds this year (thanks Kristina for all the tips on making them DeLiSh!) The kids would. not. try them. Jemma told me I was weird and that she only likes, and I quote, "peanut butter sandwiches, mac & cheese, food like that". Her loss, cuz these bad boys were tastey!

Thursday, I got the craft bug, and so me and the kids made some little lanterns during quiet time. (Have I mentioned that Carter has pretty much out grown naps? Real lame...but guess what, I found a cure for it if he's fighting a nap and I really need him to sleep for an hour or two...

too much of this/aka crafting...

produces this:

(What a boy. Jem and I finished up while Carter snoozed on the couch.)

Finished product:

Now, I wish I'd just done all faces...Carter thinks the pumpkin looks like an apple and I really, really dislike the bat. Oh well. They're still fun and festive, and let's face it - I could ALWAYS use new seasonal decor. :)

I got the idea here, in case you're wondering.

Happy Halloweening!

I've been meaning to post...

We took the kids to Lakeview Farms...that's right, the same pumpkin patch Jemma's preschool went to. It's our favorite! (It's actually the only one we've been to here in Oregon...why stray from what we already know we like?)

Anywoo. Here are a plethora of pics from the adventure. :)

Gavin started out...not so happy. I had to put this picture on here, just so we would remember.

Hillarious!

(Can you see the key in Carter's hand? He carried it with him during the ENTIRE time we were there. We got it in the mail a LONG time ago with some advertisement from a car dealership, but he thinks it starts any car and opens any door...THANK HEAVEN that isn't true!Look for it in the pics he's in...most of the time you can spot it. )

Brandon keepin' Jem warm on the ferry ride across the lake.

Me and the gang. :)

Hide & Seek around the haystacks.

Carter and I were lookin' at pumkins and lost track of Brandon and Jemma...in this pic he had just spotted them.

Loaded up on the train with our pumpkin.

Gavin, a bit happier.

Even more happy...

Happiest!

"CHOO-CHOO!!!"

Jemma and Carter acted like little celebrities as we rode the train back to the patch entrance...waving to everyone who wasn't on the train.

Jemma took this pic...she did alright!...Just a little off center. We'll practice. :)

Gotta say that I'm gonna miss Oregon pumpkin patches. It's pretty cool to head out to a farm where they actually grew the pumpkins (or at least most of them...or just some of them if they didn't have a good crop...whatever...) and then walk through the fields to find a good one! And by the way, ours was a decent size and only cost $4!!! That is one good deal on a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch!

Stay tuned for posting on the carving of said pumpkin! :)

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last week, Jemma’s preschool took a trip to our FAVORITE pumpkin patch, Lakeview Farms. My good friend did a babysitting swap with me, so it was just me and Jemma! We were both pretty excited to have a “Mommy-daughter” date together.

Here’s Jemma with Jasper the pony. (Pretty sure that was his name…) She was in HEAVEN with that little guy.

Jemma with her pumpkin of choice. She picked a cute one, huh!


Jemma with classmates Trennon and McKenna on the train. (I gotta say that after I took her pic here with her friends, I asked her to come and sit with me…was that selfish? I really wanted to share the train ride with her…)

Jemma’s preschool class up on the haystack.

It was Jemma’s day to bring snacks and when I told her, she said, “Are you serious! On pumpkin patch day! All my friends just do it at school!” Hilarious! She did a great job of helping her teachers pass out the food and despite a bit of a wasp & bee attack over spilled juice, I think the rest of the class enjoyed Jemma’s snack.


I had a WONDERFUL time being with just Jemma. She is becoming so independent and grown-up (in a little girl sort of way). It was odd to be able to have my hands free to take as many pictures as I wanted and not have another child (or 2) to wrangle; to be able to pay attention to just her and make a memory together.


I think it might be time to start instigating mommy-daughter, mommy-son dates more regularly. They are FABULOUS!


Love you Jem!

Gavin is getting so big! Just look at him in his big brother's arms!

He just turned 5 months old today...YIKES!!!

His latest trick is grabbing his feet.

I LOVE that.

Quite possibly one of my favorite things babies do.

Love this boy!

“Frazzled”

It's been an awful interesting morning.

I'll spare you the details, but let's just say Carter has been on at least 10 time-outs and the kids have done more than their fair share of fighting and mess-making this morning.

So, when Jemma and Carter were jumping around being crazy
again, I told them, "Can you give me and Daddy some space cuz we're frazzled".

Jemma quickly responded, "Well, we're frazzled from you being upset with us!"

Touché

Playin' hard...

We have had a CrAzY busy couple of weeks, and let me tell you, if it weren't for the flu bug I'm fighting, I would be working on Halloween costumes right now...so, if there's one thing good about bein' sick, it's the chance it's giving me to catch up on my blogging!!!

We had visitors last weekend, and let me just say we had a BLAST! Brandon's mom came to see us, and for the first time since we lived in Oregon, we had his sister Jade and her son Trey here too! It was really special for the kids to have a cousin come visit. :) (Not that Aunt Jade and Nina are any less special!)

They were only here for three days, but we JAMMED those three days full of fabulous fun! Friday, when Brandon was in classes all. day. long. we headed off to the Portland Children's Museum. It was a bit crowded since there was no school that day (a bit insane really), but we had fun anyway. Here are some pics of the kiddos.

Trey pushin' Gavin in the stroller.

I gotta tell you, Gavin was sooooo good. Maybe he was just busy "people watching", but seriously, I would forget he was there cuz he was bein' so happy!

This is Jemma's FAVORITE part of the whole place...it's face painting, but Jemma says she's doing her make-up.

Now that is some killer make-up! She's GoRgEoUs! :)

Jemma showin' off what she built in the Tinker Toys section.

Carter was mesmerized by this thing. It was filled with all these little metal balls and when you turned the wheel around, they would filter through these little holes in the middle. Pretty entertaining for this 2 year old!

Jemma, Trey and Carter responding to calls for help in the ambulance.

Carter driving the bus. (Jemma did his "make-up" for him.)

Saturday we headed over to Out-of-this-World Pizza. We had hoped to go to the pumpkin patch, but Oregon weather did not cooperate. I would venture to say though, that we had an equally fun time. Check out the pics below for proof.

Brandon and the kids.

Jade & Trey.

We had SO much fun, that all three boys were pretty wasted when all was said and done!

Gavin with his Nina. (This was the happiest face he could muster...shoulda taken pics earlier...let's face it, we were just too busy havin' fun!)

Icecream cones make EVERYTHING better though!

Thanks Nina, Aunt Jade and Trey for coming to see us! Love you and can't wait to see you guys again!