preschool halloween party

Tyler- army man, Mark- Captian Hook, Janelle- fairy princess, Jeffrey- Bob the Builder, Josh and Ben- the Superman twins.

The Halloween sugar rush started early today as the kids decorated spider cupcakes at preschool.

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Josh's cupcake was a work of art, he had the candy sculpting down to a science. A place for every candy, and every candy in it's place.

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Ben took a more one sided approach, keeping the focus on the webbed cupcake. As soon as he scraped every last bit of frosting off with his teeth, he pronounced himself "done!".

two little pumpkin heads.

Daddy, starting the job off right!
Scrape Benny, scrape!
I was the carving artist for the day.

An orange and toothy grin!
I love when we get to carve our Halloween pumpkins. The smell always brings back memories. Yesterday, Josh had a distinct idea of what he wanted his pumpkin to look like, and kept reminding us with his facial expressions. It was hilarious. Ben picked out his seeds one at a time with his hands, placed them in his spoon, and then dumped them into the bowl. It kept his attention for over an hour!

the Flower Mound pumpkin patch

Peter picked a peck of punkin's... I almost lost my two punkin's in the peck!

We made it to the top of the giant pile of hay! yay!

I can read your thoughts! "I can't wait for all that candy, candy, candy, candy..."

Happy Halloween!

My two li'l punkin' heads.

Beware of the creepy graveyard!
Making their way through the childrens hay maze...

The boys climb in the barrel train and wait for their turn around the patch.

A couple of weeks ago I heard through the grapevine, about a wonderful (and free!) pumpkin patch in Flower Mound. We were pleasantly surprised by all the free and fun activities they offered, the kids especially enjoyed the barrel train, the hay ride, jumping in the inflatables, and playing in the pumpkin house. I let them pick a mini pumpkin for 50 cents to take home (the large ones were way overpriced-$15 to $20-I guess they have to make their money somehow.) and met Jeff at home to prepare for our own (grocery store) pumpkin carving this evening. Happy Halloween!

Brrrrrrrr...

Today was such a blustery, cold day. I was so excited to see the roaring fire when we walked into the library this afternoon. The kids loved it. While I looked for some movies in the lobby, they roasted their tootsies.

(Caution) slippery when wet.

"When in doubt, take a bath."

-Mae West

contdown to Halloween.

Here's Jeff with a friendly reminder!
5 more days 'till Halloween!

top o' the mornin'

I knew I loved the rain. The dark clouds cut out the harsh morning sun and the kids slept in until 7:30! But, that extra hour of luxury has a price...
Ben woke up on the wrong side of the bed had has been grizzly all morning. As you can see, he grumbled as he chowed on his cheerios and strawberries at breakfast. He has been grumbling ever since his little eyes snapped open this morning... should I "blame it on the rain?"

it's an inside kind of day

It poured last night. And I only know that because I was up with Josh two times during a coughing fit. (poor guy.) When we woke up this morning and pulled the blinds, there were about 8 black birds sitting on the ridge of our fence, chit chatting and enjoying the sprinkling rain. As soon as I cracked the door open for a photo, they flew away. They were not photogenic.

You can tell it's a rainy day in our household because Ben's hair is in a constant state of disarray.
His bedhead beats the odds of gravity and every time I get a glance of him, I can't help but laugh.
I love rainy days.

Ben: on being a scarecrow

Bravo!

You're absolutely haunting...

Welcome, Brooklyn Mae

Congratulations Jeremy and Adrienne! Baby Brooklyn was born Monday, October 16.

She was 7 lbs, 5 oz, and 20 inches long. What a cutie!

fab {fall} fashions

You know it's officially FALL when...

I shuffle around the house in Jeff's "old man" (but oh-so-comfortable) house slippers. You know you are jealous.

But, shhhhhhhh!

(Don't tell him.)

singles ward memories

Blast from the past. It was a Prescott Singles Branch reunion! We had a great time with the Moons, the Kemps (and the Kemps), and the Timberlakes at our very own pre-Thanksgiving feast. I brought my favorite, Apple Salad.

The kids had a ball in the upstairs rumpus room.
All the kids gather for pie and ice cream!

(the best part of any meal)

picture perfect

It's happened! Josh has discovered his "Fake" smile. It's the first face he plasters on every time I ask him to pose for a picture. The other day I asked him what kind of a smile that was. And he replied "My skeleton smile..." It takes some pretty hefty pleading to get something a little more natural.

Work it!

The camera loves ya, baby.

20 questions

While shopping at the grocery store this week, Ben hugged me as he was riding in the front basket seat. Suddenly, he realized that I had something he didn't have...
"Mom, what is that?" He said while patting my chest. "Mom, what's under your shirt? Mom, what is this?!?" he asked, with his wildly poking fingers.
"Boobies."I quietly and nonchalantly replied as I quickly pushed the cart around the corner and away from eavesdropping ears.
"Movies?!" Ben exploded. "I want to see a movie!! I like Toy Story, can I watch Toy Story, Mom?! I like movies!!"
"No, not movies Ben, boobies..." I quietly hissed.
"Ohhh, boobies... oh yeah, your boobies!" Ben thought about that for a minute, you could see the gears in his little brain clicking away... "But mom, where are your movies at?"

the letter A

A is for alligator and today in preschool, our art project was gluing packing peanuts onto our pet alligators jaws to make their sly toothy grins.
Josh's alligator teeth are curiously- very orthodontic.
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We took a walk through the "swamp" ( a blue blanket) and tried to avoid getting chomped by the alligators, ants, and armadillos (hey, it's Texas!) along the way. We ate apples and almonds and listened to a great story about Alex the Alligator that had a hard time making friends because of his big, sharp, white teeth. I would say, it was A success.

I love jacket weather.

And I always have!
Today is actually chilly! I had to pull the kids coats out of the closet for a romp around the backyard this morning. Ben drew breath pictures on our back window while Josh rolled down the grassy hill. I coaxed them inside for lunch with the promise of a hot cocoa and marshmallows for dessert.

Worked like a charm.

I SEE YOUUUUU...

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B. for the creepy and very realistic eyeball candy.

As Josh ate a piece he said "Ewwww Mom! This is so good!"

Eeeeeeeeeek!

It's the Texas State Fair, Ya'll!

The view of the Texas Star ferris wheel. It was HUGE!

One of our favorite exhibits was "Little hands on the farm". It was a pretend miniature farm where the kids could plant seeds, gather eggs, and drive a tiny tractor while they harvested crops and took them to market to sell and earn "money" for treat at the end. It was a hit.

Josh and Ben "feed" the hens in the hen house, and collect eggs to put into their basket.

Farmer Ben.

Howdy Cowboy

Jeff is such a good sport. Thanks for standing behind the cheezy photo board (on your knees), hon. You made my day.

Of course, it wouldn't be a true Texas fair experience without fried foods! We sampled the huge corny dogs for lunch. Other interesting fried foods we spotted were fried Snickers, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fried oreos, fried cheesecake on a stick, fried mac and cheese, and the weirdest: fried Coke.
Everything about the petting zoo in the childrens barnyard was so much fun. They had a ton of baby animals, and even some that you would only think to find in a zoo. Jeff felt right at home when we first walked in and saw the kangaroos. There were zebras, camels, and even a giraffe.

A friendly llama nuzzles up to Josh.
"cheese" for the cheezy photo op.

At the Birds of the World show, they had birds of all sizes flying inches above our heads. The best was when they let a California Condor off the top of the Texas Star ferris wheel and it swooped our heads on it's way down to the stage.
The kids adored the jungle train. They thought they were on Casey Jr.