Love this time of year!

What a great weekend we had!! I just LOVE this time of year! The beautiful leaves, the pumpkin patches, the brisk air, the Halloween costumes, usually made last minute by grandma, and the "pumpkin spice" candles burning.

This weekend we did all of that! Mom made Spanky a "Swiper the fox" costume and Miss Rascal a poodle skirt. I even helped a little, and used the sewing machine! :) I'd really like to know how to sew so I got a lesson or two this weekend. Lots of fun!! We carved pumpkins, Spanky was completely freaked out by the "pumpkin brains" but we had lots of fun anyway. He really enjoyed flipping the seeds across the room to see how far they would go! :) We also played in the leaves out front and Spanky enjoyed jumping in them! He really enjoyed playing in the trees too!! What a fun weekend!!

Pumpkin Patch '09

We had our annual visit to the pumpkin patch this weekend. It's always such a fun time to watch the older kids with Spanky and watching them enjoy all of the fun things they have to offer. It was a beautiful day....Darla even enjoyed it...she slept the whole time! :)

Spanky slide down "Boo Mountain", jumped on the bouncy balloon, climbed on the hay bales...when the kids told him to jump off into the hay down below, he didn't even hesitate...OK he said and JUMP he did! Luckily no broken bones! :) We launched pumpkins, they raced peddle cars...Spank and Alfalfa one...but Miss Rascal says they cheated! :) We stopped for some photo opts....which are always fun and Spanky ended the day with a ride on the barrel train. It was lots of fun at the patch!

We also celebrated Alfalfa's birthday at lunch. He'll be 1-6 next week...oh dear!! I can't believe he's 16 already...but such a wonderful Young Man....WE love you!

Two Months Old

Man, how times flies...I can't believe Little "Darla" is 2 months old already. She is finally starting to give us some feedback...smiles and cooing. She's awake a lot more, but still a good sleeper...her favorite time to sleep is in the evening, like 5-10, we need to get that moved to like 10-3 but it's actually a blessing in that I am able to have a night routine with Nolan while she is sleeping. We'll get it figured out to have them both sleeping at the same time, but for now, God is giving me some good short quality sleep. :)

Spanky is doing really good with Kate. He's more interactive with her now, but really would rather she be sleeping. If she cries he says, "I think she needs to eat" or "I think she needs her binky". He really is very sweet to her. Tonight she was crying and he yelled for John to come get her blankey so that would make her feel better. Such a good and sweet big brother.

SO, things are going well on the home front. We're getting into fall, the weather is chilly, we're heading to the pumpkin patch this week with Spanky's class and school pictures later in the week. The trees are starting to turn all of those beautiful shades of orange and red and it's almost time to start playing in the leaves!

Let the good times roll!!

First Dentist Visit

Spanky had his first dentist visit last Friday. He was a little worried going in..."he'll hurt me". I reassured him that the dentist doesn't hurt...it's actually fun! But if he did a good job he could go to Target and get a surprise. This cheered him right up!!

He did such a great job!! He got right in the chair and opened his mouth! She said she was going to count his teeth and he had all 20 so that was good. She didn't know if she'd get to clean them or not, she said she'd see how he did...well, he did great, got a full cleaning and he LOVED the water sprayer in his mouth and the thing that "Sucked" it out of his mouth!

Dr. Carnahan also counted his teeth and gave a great report NO CAVITIES...WHEW!! :) Good news for both of us!! He was super excited for the fun bag of toys Cheri gave him when we left, Spiderman is so cool!! When we walked out of the office, he held my hand on the way to the car and with a shrug he said, "she didn't even poke me!" Too cute!

He really loved the trip to Target and picked out "Hungry Hippo" for a prize! Until next year....thank you Dr. Carnahan!

First Field Trip

We have really enjoyed Central Christian Academy Preschool for Spanky this year. They have such an awesome program and Spanky really enjoys his new friends and teachers. Their first field trip of the year was to the zoo. We had a great time and watching him with his peers is so much fun! I also got to meet many of the other mom's which was lots of fun as well. There are only 3 boys in the class and they were so fun to watch among all the little girls. We had great luck with the animals, they were all out and active which is always so much more fun than playing hide and seek with the animals!!

Next Field Trip is the Pumpkin Patch next week and this week is their fundraiser, "The Great Race". I'm so blessed to be able to stay home and attend all of these fun activities with Spanky. I thank God every day for giving me the best job in the world!