Funny Boy

Kelly brought over some pictures she had taken during the year. I just had to share these of Braden.

Braden was hanging out on the front of the boat when we caught him doing this "cool guy" pose. I think he was trying to look available for the ladies.

Chocolate mustache.

She's a keeper!

I took Mackenzie in on Monday and she weighed in at 12 lbs 2 oz. She gained almost a 1 and 1/2 from her last visit 3 weeks ago. If you remember she had only gained 10 oz in 2 months at the prior visit so that was a good increase. Now she is at the 8% instead of 3% for her weight!

Recipe for Halloween fun

Step one: Visit the local farm's pumpkin patch


Every Halloween requires a pumpkin and its just not the same to pick it up at the grocery store. We went with Nana and Papa to the patch this year. The Smith Family Farm also has a corn and straw mazes, animals to see, a ride behind an old tractor and musical shows for the children to participate in. The straw bail mazes were by far the favorite at the Smith Family Farm. I remember spending hours and hours in the straw bails with my cousins and brother when I was growing up on my family farm in Idaho. It was fun to see them enjoy a little bit of what the farm has to offer.
























Step 2: Harvest the Pumpkin.


As we loaded our pumpkins on to the tractor pulled trailer a worker asked us, "Is that it for you?" Jason made one of his silly comments and said, "Well, we would really like to help with the harvest, what time does that start?" The worker replied "Right now. You just harvested the pumpkin when you took it out of the patch". I'm not sure what he expected the "harvest" to look like but I thought that was kind of funny. :)

Step 3: Carving the Pumpkins

Sadie really got into carving this year. She designed her face by drawing out the face so Jason could do the cutting. It turned out really good! She helped pull out the seeds for the first time this year. She typically doesn't like to get her hands dirty and in years past was kind of grossed out by the stringy slimy seeds. Braden was another story. He didn't want anything to do with the carving and wasn't fond of the finished product either. As long as the lights were on he was ok with the Jack O Lanterns. Braden later helped me paint a face on a pumpkin. That he actually enjoyed and was very proud of "his pumpkin".

This picture looks like it's from a horror movie with Jason's knife in the background and Braden's scared face... Actually this is his reaction to the pumpkin guts. If only I had his reaction to the "slime" we made for Sadie's preschool. That was even funnier!

Step 4: Halloween Parties!

We had a Halloween party for preschool co-op at our house on Thursday. After the kids got done with their writing assignments they painted pumpkin faces on orange tins and filled them with popped corn (could be reused as trick-or-treat can), we made a Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater craft, made slime (thanks for the recipe Torina!), had a snack picnic eating apples and popcorn dipped in caramel while I read some great Halloween books my mother-in-law let me borrow. We didn't have time to do all the things I had planned but I think they had a good time.

The next day Sadie had a fun day at her other preschool in Brentwood. They made more crafts and decorated cookies, collected candy from all their preschool friends, watched the Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin movie, and then all the kids did a little parade to the "I want candy" song in their costumes around the court for their parents to see. So cute. Of course my camera battery had to die just as I went to snap a picture of all of the preschool kids in the parade. :(

Step 5: Trick or Treat!!

The McMullens and the Roberts family joined us in pizza for dinner and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Not that we needed any more candy since we did trunk-or-treat a couple days before at the parking lot at our church. We had fun doing the traditional way of collecting candy though. I think it just isn't the same if they can't knock on the door and see all the decorations around the houses. Its a fun tradition to go with friends.

The finished product: Candy coming out of your ears! I'm glad this Holiday only comes around once a year because I would be eating way more than my share of candy if it was any more often. The dentist recently confirmed that I do have 4 cavities! If anyone wants to take some of this candy off of my hands I would be happy to give it up... just don't say anything to Sadie, Braden or Jason about my offer.....

Trip to the coast (late post)

I am just now posting pictures from 2 weeks ago when we went to Anchor Bay with the cute Bellante Family and Jeff and Lauren(plus baby girl on the way!) We had a great time! Everyone showed up on Friday - well Jeff and Lauren drove 6 hours to get there and arrived sometime around 4 am on Saturday. Saturday morning was very foggy when we ventured to the beach

That didn't stop the kids from playing in the waves and getting all their clothes soaked!
The guys (Jeff, Jason, and Brian) took the boat out to fish and dive for abalone.
Poor Jeff had some problems with his wet suit he rented but still everyone caught their abalone limit (3/day).The kids were excited to see what they brought back and had lots of questions. They got up close and personal with the fish and abalone. I'm glad the guys do the cleaning because I'm not a fan! Emily and Braden watch from the captain's chair outside the office.
It was the first time I had been there in the fall and I loved all the fallen leaves on the ground and quieter campground. Here is what the view looks like from the deck at Jason's parent's spot.

It was just the right temperature where the fire was perfect to sit around and enjoy. Braden and Colette were so cute together. Notice them fighting over Brian in the picture below. They were cracking us up the whole trip. Every time Braden did something Colette didn't like she would use this tone of voice that made them sound like married couple. Braaaay-deeeen!

Sadie had a great time with Emily and Tony. Her birthday is right in between the two of theirs. Here they are posing on the golf cart Jason's parents use to get around on the campground.

Here's the couple again. Braden takes the driver's seat. Colette is a good passenger.

She even tolerates his jokes and doesn't do too much back seat driving.

I guess there must have been some mechanical problems so Braden checks it out while Colette takes the wheel.
Still doesn't seem to be working so they take off hand in hand by foot. How cute is that!
Here's Sadie and Emily coloring. That kept them busy for hours! Oh that boys had that attention span keeping still and doing something quiet!

Sunday we took a explored the tide pools. Tony, Lauren and Braden relax on the rocks.
Tony shows off a small crab. I still flinch when grabbing the little crab even though I know they aren't big enough to hurt me. It's like grabbing a spider or something, it just is creepy looking.

Emily and Sadie with a crab





Here's one of my only pictures of Brenden. We couldn't hardly pull him away from the beach and the water. He was such a good helper with the little kids, I only felt bad there wasn't any kids his age to play with.

We left our 5th wheel there so I am excited to have the excuse to go up there again soon. Even if it is rainy it is fun to just get away and spend time in the 5th wheel together away from everything.