Twas the Night Before Halloween

... and all through the house, Mommy was BUSY getting ready for tomorrow. First I got our Angry Birds pumpkins out on the front porch. Aren't they awesome?

It all started when Ephraim wanted to paint his pumpkin like the bomb bird. Then I just knew that Jacob would want to paint a red bird and of course we needed a pig, right?

 So over the weekend the kids painted the pumpkins and then I painted on the faces. We ended up with three birds and a pig! I love how they turned out.

Then I made some gingerdead men (aka. gingerbread skeletons)!

I love how they turned out! I actually tried to make these on Sunday night, but the recipe for gingerbread cookies that I tried out was a flop. Luckily Auntie Em told me where to find a good recipe and this time the cookies worked, hooray!

It took me quite a while to frost them, but I think they turned out pretty awesome. Of course the boys thought they were the best skeletons they had ever eaten!

Then we had dentist appointments. I know! What was I thinking, the day before Halloween? Sheesh! Luckily they went well so we could come home and carve our pumpkin!

Amelia wasn't so sure about Mommy scooping the guts our of the pumpkin. She had to climb up on the table for a closer look!

The boys were really good about helping me this year. We like to use a pattern so we get an awesome looking jack-o-lantern.

We picked an easy pattern, since we didn't have too long to get it done. This year the boys even got to help me carve it using the little saws. They thought that was pretty cool!

We would have carved more pumpkins, but we did spend quite a bit of time over the weekend painting our Angry Birds pumpkins. So we only did the one. But I think he turned out pretty awesome!

Now we just can't wait for tomorrow...

Happy Halloween!

Cornbellys

Last week I was planning to take the kids to Cornbelly's on Wednesday when Daddy had to work late teaching class. But when we woke up that morning it was all soggy outside. Plus I had a bit of a frog in my throat. So I promised the kids that we would go on Monday instead.

Luckily it was a beautiful day! We left home just after Jacob got home from school and got to Cornbelly's just as it opened. The first thing we decided to do was to go to the big jumping pillow.

The boys have been on the jumping pillow once before, but Amelia wasn't sure what to make of it at first. I actually had to take her up to the top of it because she couldn't climb up there by herself.

Then the boys jumped and played with her. They even slid down the side a couple of times. That meant I had to drag Amelia back to the top, but at least they were having fun!

When our turn was up we decided just to get back in line and go again!

This time I jumped with Amelia for a while. She thought it was fun to bounce around and I had a great time listening to her giggle.

After that we wandered around to see what we could find. There were some big tricycles!

There were also wooden playsets of every kind. We played on airplanes, semi trucks, tractors, and buses.

There was even a real fire truck for the kids to check out!

The boys thought it was awesome to be able to flip the switches and turn the dials.

Even Amelia got on for a minute.

After exploring a little more we found out that we could take a ride in a wagon train pulled by a tractor. The boys thought that was pretty fun.

But even more fun than that was their ride on the cow train!

Each kid got to sit in a "cow" and get pulled around by a tractor. Since I could buckle Amelia into her seat, I thought it was pretty safe for her to go by herself. After all, she had one brother on either side of her!

The kids thought it was awesome! We went on that ride twice too. The second time I went with the kids and sat with Amelia, which was fun.

Before we knew it the sun was starting to go down (and the moon was coming up!).

But it wasn't bedtime yet, so we decided to play around a little more. There were tons of things to look at and do.

They had some pretty impressive carved pumpkins in a very tall pyramid. We walked around all the sides and looked at them.

Amelia and I went and checked out a sandbox made of corn for a minute, which she thought was pretty fun. As I was changing her diaper that night I found corn kernels in there!

Of course there were some fun cutouts to take pictures in too. Amelia was too small to get into the cutouts without help. So I mostly just took pictures of the boys.

We had so much fun at Cornbelly's, but it was getting really close to bedtime. So we headed for the exit. But we had to stop and take a picture in the big rocking chair!

Cornbelly's was awesome and I think we definitely want to go next year. I think I will try to get tickets early and go on a weekend so we can spend as much time there as we want. We were there for three hours and still didn't even make it into the corn maze! It was a blast.

As I got the kids home and in bed, I couldn't help but notice the big, full moon. Isn't it gorgeous?

Snow in October

This morning when we woke up there was snow on the ground! It has been a wet week, and apparently it finally got cold enough to snow. We haven't had snow in October for a long time!

The boys were really excited about the snow. What they really wanted to do was shovel the driveway, but there wasn't really enough snow for that.

The weather was supposed to warm up later in the day, so I knew the snow wouldn't last long. So I went out to take some pictures.

The last of our roses were covered with snow and ice crystals. It was actually quite beautiful.

I used my macro filters to get as close as I could to the ice crystals. They were pretty tall, but as I was taking pictures the sun came out and they started to melt.

I caught some pretty cool pictures of the ice crystals on one of our yellow roses. Here is one of my favorites.

Mount Timpanogos had a nice layer of white on it, as did our roof. As you can see, the snow quickly melted off the driveway.

It will be interesting to see how much snow we get this year. Last year we didn't get very much at all, so maybe this year will make up for it! Either way I plan to take the boys sledding and build a snowman this year. Hopefully while we are home for Christmas break.

I Want to Ride My Tricycle!

This morning my little girl woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She was cranky and moody from the get-go and I couldn't seem to cheer her up no matter what I did. I totally blame it on the weather. It was cold, dreary and a little damp today so we didn't go play outside, and there is only one thing that Amelia wants to do lately.

Yep. She wants to ride her tricycle! Actually, it's Ephraim's tricycle and technically she doesn't actually ride it. She mostly just scoots around on it. But she desperately WANTS to ride it!

Just yesterday I spent a large portion of my afternoon following her around. It was a cloudy day, but not too cold and she was having a blast. She was so dang cute that I had to take some pictures with my phone.

We played a game where she tried to "get me" with the tricycle. I ended up with the cutest pictures that way. Isn't she adorable?

I know we need the moisture, but here's hoping that the weather clears up a bit this week so we can play outside. Goodness only knows what I am going to do with this girl all winter!

Last Soccer Game and Sleeping Angel

Saturday was Jacob's last soccer game of the season. It was a great day for a soccer game!

We always enjoy soccer season, but it is nice when it ends because it is starting to get a bit cold. Jacob is always sad when soccer ends, but at least we get to have Spring season start again in March.

Here is a fun picture of Jacob practicing with his coach during a break in play. We really have enjoyed having Coach Art, even if he is stretched a bit thin this fall. He is coaching a few other teams because they couldn't get any parents to coach them.

I didn't get too many pictures of Jacob during the game. It is hard enough to keep my eye on Amelia and enjoy the game!

After the game we went home and had our regular, busy Saturday. We always have plenty to do to keep busy. Of course Amelia went down for her afternoon nap, and this time I got the cutest pictures of her!

I don't usually take pictures of Amelia when she is napping because she tends to wake up (unlike Ephraim!). But today she was really tired, so I figured I could get away with it.

She always sleeps with Brown Bear, which is kind of funny because he used to belong to Jacob. Apparently Amelia had laid claim to him!

What a beautiful girl! We love her so!

Preschool Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Yesterday Ephraim's preschool class went on a trip to the pumpkin patch in Vineyard. In the past the kids and I have gone to Hee Haw's, so it was fun to go somewhere different. The pumpkin patch in Vineyard is actually part of a plant nursery, so they had more than just pumpkins. They sold all sorts of gardening stuff.

Of course the kids weren't interested in that, they wanted to go and have fun in the corn maze!

I wouldn't call it a corn maze, as much as a corn trail. The kids followed the trail and there were various cutouts that they could put their heads into. They thought that was fun.

Ephraim has really been enjoying preschool this year. His class has 8 boys and 2 girls. The kids all live in our stake, so hopefully Ephraim will know a few kids in his class when he starts Kindergarten.

This year the theme of the pumpkin patch was Alice in Wonderland. I laughed when I caught this picture of Ephraim coming out of the Queen's Castle.

There was a ton of play equipment, including the pumpkin pyramid. I have seen the orange pyramid many times on my way to UVU, but I never knew that there was a slide at the top!

We were at the pumpkin patch for several hours and the kids had a blast. At the end, Ephraim got to pick out his own pumpkin!

They had lots of pretty pumpkins to choose from, but I think Ephraim got a good one. He has already told me that he wants to paint it black so he can decorate it like the bomb bird on Angry birds. What a funny boy!

This was the first field trip that I have been able to go to, so that was fun. I am glad Ephraim is enjoying preschool. At first we weren't sure if he liked it because he would tell us that he didn't, but he was always excited to go each morning. And he was really sad on the days that he didn't have preschool. Finally we figured out that he likes it SO much that he doesn't want to leave. So he makes himself feel better by saying he doesn't like it when he isn't there. Make sense? Well, apparently it does to Ephraim!