Annual Pumpkin Carving/Painting.....

I have to admit it, I'm not a big fan of pumpkin carving. It's messy and slimy and just kind of gross. Last year I was able to talk the kids into painting the pumpkins. This year that only worked for one kid. The older wanted to carve and he wanted to carve it by himself.
I've never allowed Colton to use a knife before. I was a nervous wreck and managed to quickly snap one photo of him cutting out the mouth of his pumpkin. The rest of the time I was closely observing, sweating and hoping he wouldn't cut off any phalanges. Success. Brett chose to paint again this year. Pretty sure we went through a gallon of paint. He was very serious during this project. He didn't say a word until he was completely done.

See that concentration? Tongue out and all.

Here's Colton's final product. Pretty darn good for using a knife for the first time in his life.

Brett's words when he decided is pumpkin was finished were, "isn't it beautiful?"

NaBloPoMo

I'm giving it a go. 30 posts in 30 days....yikes.

New Chapter......

Life is full of tough decisions. Mike and I had to make one last week. I have heard horror stories from friends about their daycare situations. Luckily for me, I cannot relate. Colton has had two daycare providers from the time he was 2 1/2 months old until second grade. Brett has had one.

Judy has been such a big part of our lives and our children's lives. Since Colton was 1 1/2 years old, he's been going to Judy's. It was like going to grandma's house and seeing your cousins every day. There was a house full of boys to play with and just not enough time in the day to do it all.

Fast forward a few years, Brett is born and it was a given that we were going to continue going there. Colton and all his buddies were old enough to do their own thing and Brett got lots of one on one attention which he needed. It was great.

Fast forward another few years and Colton is in school all day, but doesn't get to go to Judy's on school days because we live in a different boundary than she does. He's bummed, but loves that he goes there on non-school days. Brett on the other hand is still loving it at Judy's. He's now got two other little dudes to play with.

Now it's today. Colton is in a before and after school program that is fantastic. Brett is still at Judy's but all by himself. Over the past few weeks when we've asked him what he did today, he struggles to think of something. I ask if he played with anybody and his response is, "I don't have any friends to play with today." Talk about breaking your heart! While he adores Judy as do we, there's just something about a 3 year old not having anybody to play with during the day when I know he's such an active little boy.

We got lucky again. Brett is going to start going to Tami's house the first week of November. He'll be with 4 other 2-3 year old kids. Brett is excited, as are we. The other night he said "thanks for finding me some friends." That's seals the deal that we made the right decision.

That didn't make things any easier when I had to drop the bomb to Judy on Friday. I was a ball of nerves that whole day. All I had to say was that I had a tough message and didn't know how to say it - Judy jumped in and knew exactly what I was going to tell her. She totally understood. "I'm a mom too and realize that kids need to be around other kids." Her comment made me feel so much better.

Here's to another great daycare experience!

Pumpkin Patch.....

It's official. My kids refuse to let me take their pictures so I have to take side shots and sneak pictures when they aren't looking. My next investment will be a zoom lens. Then I can sit far away and they won't have a clue that I'm actually taking pictures of them.
We met my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and my niece and nephew for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day - the air was crisp and the sun was shining.

Here are the boys watching a huge pig that just wandered around eating whatever he could.
Before we got to the pumpkin patch, I told the boys they could each pick out a pumpkin. The only rule was they had to be able to lift it.

We went on a hayride through the cow pastures and pumpkin fields. These cows are not afraid o anything. This one walked right up to us and started eating the hay we were sitting on!

See, when my kids refuse to let me take pictures of them, I have to resort to creatures that will. Here are two bull cows fighting over something - perhaps that pumpkin sitting there that the bright female cow is about to eat while the two manly cows duke it out.

The boys and I arrived to the pumpkin patch first. We sat and watched the peacocks and turkeys for about 10 minutes. Personally I think birds are nasty, but the bright colors on the peacocks were beautiful.

We had a great time. Came home with four pumpkins, some gourds and very tired kids.

Weekend Review......

I am happy to say that I had quite a productive weekend. It started with grocery shopping on Friday evening - don't be jealous, really. Then I attempted to stay up to watch my cousin and his band play on Jimmy Fallon. Turns out, this gal doesn't see that time of the evening all to often and I ended up having to set my alarm for 11:30 p.m. It was so cool to see him playing on national TV! Way to go Cory!
Saturday was spent doing some much needed deep cleaning around the house. We're talking floor boards and everything! Now the goal is to keep it clean for longer than 2 days. Wish me luck.
Sunday Marilyn came over and we recreated Bakerella's cookie jars. We figured these would be perfect to sell at our upcoming fund raiser. We made them with a Halloween theme. If they sell well, we'll give it another whirl for Christmas. Didn't they turn out cute?

Awareness......

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Unfortunately, breast cancer is all too familiar in my family. My great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt, cousin and aunt-in-law all battled this horrible disease. What is very fortune is that they all fought tough battles and are cancer free. That isn't the case for so many women.
I'm trying to make a difference one step at a time. I'll be walking 60 miles in 3 days in August of 2010. Right now I'm raising money to participate in that walk. Each walker needs to raise $2300.
My teammate and I have ordered t-shirts for a fundraiser. Here's what they look like:

If you are interested in purchasing one, send me an email at leahk2121@yahoo.com. Please put T-Shirt in the subject line so that I don't miss it. We are selling them for $15 or 2/$25.