My Least Favorite Halloween Tradition

If you know me, you should know what that is.

I think my face shows clearly just how thrilled I am with this procedure.

These faces, however, show the reason we continue this tradition every year.

And this face?  That's how he smiles when he's doing what he does with his sheet.

Yes, that tiny, shredded strip is all that remains.

We didn't get a ton of photos this year, but Bryce cleaned his pumpkin out all by himself.  And Kayli did her entire carving on her own.

Maybe this tradition will get better as my part in it scales back.  All I did this year was separate the seeds from the yuck and then roast them.

Happy Jack-O-Lanterning!

Growing Girls

For the most part, the act of children growing up is a subtle one.  Gradual, day-by-day, and imperceptible.

But, every now and then, they take a big leap forward.

Like deciding it's time to sit on a bar stool.  Like one of the big kids.

It doesn't have a back, so you can see I improvised with a couple of other chair backs.

And if you look behind that sippy, you can see another one her sweet angry faces.

And this is a funny kissy face that is typically accompanied by the head nod you can see in progress.

These pictures were taken over a month ago and she is now quite the accomplished Bar Stool Sitter.  It makes her pretty happy.

This was another leap forward in growing up.

Something she's been anxiously waiting for for almost a year.

Her new scriptures.  She was supposed to get them for her birthday, but the Church was re-doing their scriptures--just changing a few of the chapter headings and something about getting a new leather provider.  So, it was a long wait.  But you can see how happy she was.  And still is, each night as she opens them to read.

I love my girls.

Everyone's Favorite Halloween Tradition

I apologize in advance for the plethora of photos.  But, our local pumpkin patch is just too much fun to limit to a reasonable amount of photos.

Outside one of the scary haunted houses.  I love Kayli's face in this one.  She's showing you how scary the haunted houses are, in case you're not sure.

There's a chicken in there!

There's a bit of a petting zoo at the pumpkin patch.  She was screaming and squealing with delight at the sight of all of the farm animals.  I mean, who doesn't get jazzed about goats?

Then there were these fun trikes.  Trey's face says it all.

This was the same day as their fun run.  And they were overjoyed to pose for a photo with their mom.

Life size Candy Land.  How fun is that?

I love those faces.

Bouncy inflatable pillow thingies.

We need one of these in our house.

The line to get on one of these buggies was ridiculously line.

But, as you can clearly see, we waited anyway.

Giant stacks of hay.

Note To Readers:  Other kids just love when you pick up handfuls of hay and throw it on them.  Love it.

Oh, look how happy she is!

Because she had all of the nasty, crunchy, dried corn she could want.

Bumpy slide time!  That's Kayli way up at the top.

Sometimes this child is terrified of everything.  He could not get enough of this slide.  That made me happy.

You might think there are only three members of my family in this photo.  Look again.

Did you see where that little one was hiding?

Finally, the reason we all go to the pumpkin patch--the hay rack ride!

And the pumpkin!  How do you settle on just one?

The rule is, you have to be able to carry your pumpkin to the trailer.  This one just barely made the cutoff.

Pretty pleased with his pick.

She's always been a huge fan of Smashing Pumpkins.

I think somebody stole her spot on the way back.  Don't mess with this child.  I love her mad faces!

That's a happy face for the end of a great day.

And that's why we love pumpkin patching.

How To Grow Runners

If you've been following our blog for a few years, you know that they do some local 1-mile road races just for kids here.

I love that.

This year, Blake ran with Kayli.

See if you can spot them.  (Hint:  Blake is giving a triumphant wave.  Which makes sense, seeing that this was about 30 seconds into the run).

Lanaya gets the prize for the Spectator With The Awesomest Bed Head.

And Trey wins for "Sweetest-Yet-Somewhat-Frightening Smile".

Almost there!

Next, I got to run with Bryce.

I love the look of determination on his face here.  This was about halfway through.

And he wanted me to hold his hand the whole mile.  I love that he still does that.

We finished!

Both kids did it in about the same time--right around 8:50.  We were pretty proud!

Highlights From Mid-October

A.k.a--I Can't Find A Common Theme, But We Have GOT To Combine Some Events Or We Are NEVER Going To Get Caught Up.

Do you like that I included you in that process?  Because this is a team effort, my friends.  Go Team!

Trey took his first ever field trip!  He was pretty excited to show me what he got.

 I love this child.

My mom gave Lanaya one of these blankets as a baby gift.  She surprised us by getting attached to it pretty much right away.  So, we bought another to switch out to save on wear and tear, or in case the first one got lost.

But then she found the shelf where I stored the spare.

And it's been like this pretty much ever since.  That's a lot of blanket for one little baby.  But, it's the only way she's happy.

This is what she looks like when she's NOT happy.

Can I confess that I think this face (complete with the string of drool) is positively adorable?

One of my good friends moved away.  In honor of her leaving, we ate a lot of pie.  Twice.

That's how we do it 'round here.

Blake and I participated in one of those long distance relay races.    This was right before the longest of my three legs in the relay.  

On a side note:  I desperately need to find someone whose job can be to tell me when I'm doing that weird thing with my neck when I smile for a photo.  For real.  Like maybe the man who I married who was also taking the picture.  Seriously, shouldn't he have my back in moments like this?!

Of course, then there was this.  Maybe it was just a bad photo day for me all around.  My eyes look a little bit possessed.  It was October, though.  The season for that sort of thing, right?

Plus, this is the only picture we got of the two of us the whole day, so I had to post it.

Our amazing baby sitter agreed to spend the night at our house (we left early) and watch the kids for the whole long day while we ran our race.  And then she iced the cake by helping them make these wands.

Harry Potter style.

And now we get to listen to Trey run around yelling, "Exthpelliarmus!" all the time.  I love it.

How cool is our baby sitter?

This is one of those indoor play places for kids.

And dads.

And yes, he did just drop my two youngest through the basket ball hoop.

Daddy makes everything more fun.

Church Halloween party.  We took a total of three photos.  This was our best.  Blake was asked to make the root beer for the whole shin dig.  His brewing skills have become legendary.

Hooray for mid-October!