Pumpkins Round 1 and the Pumpkin Patch

We let the kids paint pumpkins this year, which I think they enjoy more than carving since I'm not about to hand them a knife yet. They all obviously had a great time.

 This is Ethan's final creation. He was very proud of his work.

Me and my mom took the kids to a pumpkin patch over in Phoenix. They had so much fun. There were animals to look at, this huge balloon/bouncy thing to jump on, cars to ride, slides, bounce houses, corn mazes, the pumpkin patch and few more things I know I'm missing. I didn't get any pictures in the corn maze but that was probably the most fun part. It was a little hectic keeping track of all the kids, plus pushing Maddie in a stroller the whole way through so there was no time to pull out my camera. But it was so much fun, and a lot longer than I thought. It took us about an hour, which is pretty typical from what I was told.

 My mom was awesome to push the kids around on these. She even got covered in mud from the wheels throwing it up on her.

 I knew I forgot something. They had these little "trains" pulled behind a four-wheeler. It was super cute. I ad to ride with Ethan because he was a little worried at first. That was a little tricky since they definitely weren't adult sized, but we made it work.

 Say Cheese!

 By the time we made it to the pumpkin patch we had been there over 6 hours and Ethan was filthy. Look at that face! You can definitely tell he had fun.

 Brayden  helped Ethan put the wagon back we used to carry the pumpkins. Could they be any cuter?

October Continued

I am coaching Tawny's cheer team this year and we're having so much fun together! These little girls are all so cute. And the best part is that we cheer for Brayden's football team.

 He loves his little sister!

 I wish this picture wasn't whited out because I love it.

Papa's birthday was at the beginning of October. Being the good Papa he is he let the kids help blow out his candle. Ethan get pretty excited about birthday cake, as you can obviously see.

 He also loves his Papa very much. It was a pretty great day for him- Papa and birthday cake all at once.

 After the candle had been blown out the kids wanted more so they blew out a few matches.

 I love this picture of them, minus the super shiny wrapping paper (which I'm pretty sure had either ponies or princesses on it)

 Another hair shot that Tawny wanted me to include. This is probably one of her favorites right now.

 Brayden enjoying some time with Maddie. He's very helpful with her and seems to enjoy playing with her. He is a huge help throughout the day, now that he's home because of homeschool (which he is loving by the way).

 Tawny wanted to get in on the fun too. I love how terrified Maddie looks. I bet she spends a good chunk of the day fearing for her life.

 This is a tote I made for a friend. A pretty simple design, but I love the fabric and was very careful about placing. I really love how it turned out. I think I may need to make myself a bag soon!

First of October in Photos

I was feeding Maddie upstairs and getting her ready for a nap. I knew the kids where up to no good because it was sooo quiet. This is what I found downstairs in my kitchen. Two very happy, very dirty little kids. They were pretty much done and so completely happy that I even let them finish it.

 In this picture I asked Ethan what he was eating? His answer was a very enthusiastic "ICE CREAM!!!"

Tawny got her first real head wound at the beginning of October. I was cooking dinner and the kids were all playing in the playroom. Ethan was going through this phase where he threw everything. He hit her in the head with the metal edge of a tractor and immediately she started crying. She ran into the kitchen to tell me all about it, which happens at least 10 times a day. I was only half paying attention at first and was about to tell her she was fine and to go play, when I looked up and saw that there was blood running from her head all the way down her arm and dripping off her elbow.  It took quite a while to get it to stop bleeding. Of course the actual cut was pretty small. But man it bled so much! My favorite part is when I told her it was bleeding. Her response was "I know. But don't worry. I was really careful and made sure it didn't get on my pretty dress." Ha! It's all about priorities right?

 This is Ethan's favorite spot to be while I'm cooking for two reasons. One, he gets to be around his favorite person (mommy) and two, he can score tons of fruit when I'm not looking.

 

Ethan isn't always trying to kill Maddie. Sometimes he is very sweet to her. I actually don't think he ever intentionally hurts her. He is just so rough and doesn't realize it. But the was a particularly sweet day. I think he "read" her about 10 books before she fell asleep. Then he covered her with about 50 cars. Like I said, the sweet moments are few and far between.

I threw a baby shower for Aunt Tawny who is due in November. Her husband Jason is in the Air Force so I got a few old uniforms from her and used the to make her a diaper bag. I replicated all the patches and pockets from the front of his shirt on the front flap on the messenger bag. It's the first diaper bag I've made, but I think it turned out pretty awesome. She loved it so that's all that really matters. (at least I think she did, but then again, what else is she going to say?)

 The baby shower went really great. It was good to see some people I haven't seen in a while and I and so excited for Tawny and Jason!

Tawny with her parents (David & Kellie)

 Tawny & Jason

 Me, Tawny & Linda

 "Big" Tawny and "Little" Tawny

My Silly Kids

There's so much going on that I need to document but I need to take a moment to remembersome of the funny things my kids do on a daily basis.

Brayden:

• "hocked a loogie" (how the heck do you spell that?) into the cupholder in the car. That's not thing funny part. It's absolutely disgusting. What was funny was his reaction. When I chided him for it, he was completely dumbfounded, as if it was the only logical thing he could have done
• He's having a hard time understanding the need for a little aggression in football. At his first game he skipped off the field. Skipped. I about died laughing.
• He spent a half an hour the other day trying to lick his elbow. He swears he did. (pretty positive he didn't)
• The other night we were eating ice cream and I told Brayden to finish up quickly so we would have time to read (We're reading Indian and the Cupboard as a family). His response? "I'm done. I can eat ice cream anytime but you one read to me once a day!" He walked away from a nearly full bowl of ice cream to read with me. Love my little bookworm!!

Tawny:

• She named her stuffed dog "Jerrel Princess Hebdon". Sounds good to me.
• She lost her bottom two teeth and is constantly sticking her tongue through the hole.
• We were half way through her game today when I looked down the line of cheerleader and realized her shirt was on backwards. When I told her to change it she said she did it on purpose because she likes the back better than the front

Ethan

• He put so many sprinkles on his halloween cookies tonight that I couldn't even see the cookie. Just a pile of sprinkles
• Ethan said prayer by himself the other night. It went something like this "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for mommy, thank you for green suckers and purple popsicles and ring pops and ice cream. thank you for papa. help us sleep good and please give Ethan lots of ice cream with chocolate and sprinkles. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." No lie. I was nearly crying by the end of the prayer from trying to hold in my laughter.
• At the football game yesterday he kept hiding his hands inside his sleeves and asking "Mommy, where are my hands? I lost my hands!" in a very serious voice. A few second later he'd pop them out of his sleeves say "Oh here they are!" and laugh and laugh. So cute.

Fun Fun

This first picture is Tawny's hair for church a few weeks ago. She really love it and insisted I include it on the blog.

Brayden and Ethan got to spend a morning on the tractor with Papa. They had so much fun!

A few weeks ago Tawny did the high school's cheer clinic and she really enjoyed it. They got to cheer with the high school cheerleaders at a football game and I could tell she felt very important down there on the field.

Of course Miss Maddie needed a coordinating outfit.

so cute!

The quality isn't great because I'm zoomed way in at night, but she had so much fun and was so cute out there.

Maddie got a little tired out so she took a nap on the bottom of the bleachers. I have not idea how she even managed it but I was so glad she did. Otherwise we would have had a cranky little girl.

Another hair shot. She asked for a "french braid from the top and bottom that met in the middle". She can be so specific!

One last cute pic to end on. You can see her little lopsided smile here. I love it!

Cupcake

I feel like Maddie's been a little neglected on the blog recently. And unfortunately I've been slacking with the camera so I don't have too many pictures of her. I need to take so many more because she changing so fast! She is officially a roller! She rolled over for the first time on August 29th and has spent the last few weeks perfecting it. She's especially good at rolling when Ethan helps her out. If I'm not vigilant he'll roll her across the floor like a log. I think it's pretty safe to say that she really hates when he does this.

She's so close to consistently sleeping through the night. Most nights she goes down around 7:30 and doesn't wake up until I get up in the morning. I usually get up around 4:30 and I wake her up to eat so I can exercise without feeling uncomfortable. I think she would sleep longer if I let her. Every so often she'll wake up around 1am, but all I have to do is give her her "Maddie-fire" (pacifier) and she'll go right back to sleep. I think this milestone is much more important to me than her!

You can't tell from the pictures, but she smiles all the time. I'm usually just a second to late with the camera. I am definitely her favorite so she'll give me a smile pretty anytime. She definitely loves her daddy too. She's more wary of strangers than I remember my other kids being at this age. She's a momma's girl through and through. I don't mind too much. I love that I can calm her when no body else can. It's nice to feel needed and loved. And nothing melts my heart faster than her smile when she sees me walk into a room. Man I love that little girl!