Pumpkin Patch and other long winded posts about how cute my boys are...

We finally did it on Monday. (And it's a good thing we did because it snowed Tuesday) We went to the Pumpkin Patch close by our house for Family Night. I've loved the idea of Pumpkin Patches since they first began and I've always wanted to go, but couldn't justify going just for me. But now that I have kids as an excuse, I get to do things like this all the time! :)
This pumpkin patch was the best. All the fun goodies are free, you just buy the pumpkins, which I must say were dirt cheap! They had a long row of about 10-15 trackers that the kids could get up and play on, a hay ride, and a little corn maze. The boys (and I) were so enthralled with the whole thing. We couldn't get them off the trackers, then we couldn't get them off the hay ride, then we couldn't get them away from the pumpkins, and then we couldn't get them out of the corn maze, and then we couldn't get them off the trackers again, and then we were finally all ready to leave as it got colder.

Here's my cute boys picking their very own pumpkins.


Sam is so optimistic, just like his dad. I love how excited he is about getting his pumpkins and pushing them around.



Sam chose very carefully!







James found just the right one.




I just LOVE the face James puts on here. Priceless! (You'll have to click on it to see his face bigger.)

Big man Sam on the tracker!


James was fine with whatever tracker you put him on. Just let him be...









Sam loved every minute of the trackers too. It was from the green one, to the white one, to the red one, to the yellow one...


I love the face Sam gave us as we tried to make him pose with James for a "Brothers" shot. A picture is worth a thousand words, or just one bad one! :)

SNOW?! You've got to be kidding me!

October 26th. Need I say more?!...okay, I will...gross!

Words

Sam loves to hear us say animal sounds. He will be reading a book with me or by himself and want me to say the sounds of every animal on the page. The other day he came up to me and said, "Mommy moo?" So I did a really great, "MOOOOO!" He was giggling his little head off and said, "Look Dad, mom a cow!" He kept saying it over and over. Oh yeah, I thought, that's a great thing to go around saying!

Piano Duo

Sam and James love to tickle the ivories together . It is just so cute. Sam definitely has more of the "touch" while, James pounds out his daily composition with all the force he can muster. It really is adorable, but hardly ever ends without tears and territorial claims.

Morning Car Rides with Dad

Every once in a while Sam has a really hard time saying "bye" to Dad in the morning. To help him let Dad go we have developed this little routine that James has now joined. Seth drives them around the block and then drops them off to me in the front of the house. They absolutely love it. It is cute to watch as they beg to go in "Dad's car". Who needs the rides at Disneyland when you can just jump in a car and go around the block! :)


I love that they do this. I remember when I was a little girl that we would run down the hill to our mail box when we saw our dad come home from work and he would let us get on his lap and "drive" up the hill with him. I used to love it so much!

Conference Weekend Crafting

For Conference weekend we had my parents here and my niece Tressa. It was a blast, but we are definitely tired and worn out now.
Us girls got into crafting. It was a blast. It was a mess every where, there were always at least five crafts going, and we didn't stop until they were all done! Here are some of the results. I am very very happy with them.
This was my favorite one. I took old Christmas ornaments, mod podged them with newspaper and then painted them. The jars are just covered with tissue paper and mod podge. I put candles inside and at night they are the coolest looking lanterns!
I love how many Halloween tree turned out so much....

that we had to make one for Tressa!

These metallic pumpkins turned out really well. I pull a little of my black jewelry on them for a little sparkle. They are just ceramic pumpkins painted silver and splattered with bronze. I sprayed some leaves and garland too.

My mom showed me this from a magazine. She made a pattern and so I of course needed one too. It's just a stuffed fabric boot with some garland and twine tied around it.

This is burlap, twine, and painted letters. So easy, yet so cute. The Boo banner was so cute...

that I had to make an Eek banner too.


My mom has these fun binders she keeps with all of her favorite little seasonal crafts and treats. Here are some of my favorites I got from her. We made some of these and loved them.
We had a great October dinner of...
worm burgers (Cut up hot dogs in barbecue sauce...actually quite tasty!) :)

a hand in our potato salad

and "thing" treats!

Things are always more fun when you go all out. That dinner was amazing.

Count Your Blessings....Name them One-by-One

I've counted my blessings one by one and here they are.
I love my sons. They bring me such happiness. They crack me up. I love ruff-housing with them, reading to them, singing them songs, cleaning with them, crafting with them, discovering with them, going on walks to the park with them, bath time, cuddling with them, learning with them, restraining them during family night....

I am so blessed and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for my Eternal Family. What love He has for me to bless me with the gospel. Because of it's restoration I know who I am and what I need to do to return to live with Him. Because of the gospel I have an amazing husband who worthily holds and uses the priesthood, an eternal family, and knowledge of my Savior, and the peace of mind that if I keep the commandments and my covenents me and my family can be together forever.

We had a co-worker of Seth's over for dinner tonight with the missionaries. She has a part-member family. It was such a blessing to have a discussion in my home and share my testimony with them. It brought back so many memories from my mission and all the lives I was able to touch, and it allowed me to reflect on how really blessed I am.

I am so grateful!

Sam's First Official Play Date

Sam had his first official play date this last week and it went really well. He had his friend Harry, from across the street over to play. Harry is in his primary class, but is almost a whole year older than Sam. Harry was a good sport and when his mom came to pick him up said, "He didn't even take any toys away from me." I guess his wise mother told him how Sam is.
This video is to die for. Sam asks if he can "watch Harry" all the time now, so we play it for him and he just giggles.