Pumpkin Patch 2011

I took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday with Valerie, Matt, and Robbie. We had fun checking out the pumpkins. The kids wanted to go on a pony ride, so we waited the 20 minutes (UGH!) or so for that ride, and then they got their faces painted before we came home. The others were ready to go, so they came back here to the house and we met them for lunch. We will pick out a pumpkin next weekend when Erik can be with us. I'm sure the kids will have fun going back, and maybe I can get some better pictures.

 We have to take our picture here every year

 Robbie checking out the pumpkins

Hay stack picture

 Robbie and Kayleigh

 Brian on his horse

 Kayleigh on her horse

Brian pointing to his pumpkin that he had painted on his face.

Kayleigh with her turtle.  (She told the girls she wanted a turtle, a lizard, or a frog.  All green animals!)

Catching Up

A few weeks ago, we bought ourselves a kite at one of the consignment stores. We took it out to the park last weekend to see it fly. It actually did better than I thought it would, but ended up breaking after one too many crash landings. The kids had fun with it, so I think we'll be getting another one sometime.

 

I read online or in a magazine, I can't remember which, about painting a glass jar orange with some tape on it to look like a pumpkin.  I didn't have the correct paint, so I thought I would end up storing in my brain for future use.  Then, this week, one of the girls who works with Erik sent him home with a whole supply of acrylic paint--just what I needed!  I bought a little glass and taped some eyes and mouth on it, and put Kayleigh to work making a pumpkin.  It's not perfect by any means, but isn't it cute??

Then I found this idea online for some nice fall decorations. We already had the wine glasses, and I bought the little pumpkins at Walmart when I bought the glass for Kayleigh to paint.  In the picture online, it has the pumpkins in the bottom and candles on top.  I figure this works just as well.  This is pretty much the extent of our fall decorating.  We'll bring some more stuff out for Christmas, but that's really the only time we go big.



Brian's birthday party

It was finally Brian's turn to turn two yesterday. He's been saying that he's two for about a month, so now he's not lying anymore. :) We had the family over for pizza and dessert last night. Brian got a bunch of fun gifts from everyone, and he had so much fun playing with his cousins and friends!

Birthday cake

Blowing out his candle

 Checking out his new bike!

 Playing with his lawn mower.  Okay, this picture was taken the other day.  We let Brian open it a few days early when Erik was mowing the lawn.

Praying mantis

We were cleaning up from playing outside this morning, and Kayleigh started freaking out in her Jeep.  We knew some kind of bug was in there, but we didn't know what it was.  I was so surprised to see a praying mantis!  We heard a few weeks ago at the Grape Festival that they lived here in town, but I had never seen one.  I got a bunch of pictures of it while it was on Kayleigh's Jeep.  It looked like it might lunge at Kayleigh, but it didn't and we reassured her that it wouldn't hurt her even if it did.  Not a minute later it jumped on me, and in Kayleigh's words, I "freaked out"!  That may be an understatement.  We don't want our kids to be afraid of every kind of bug, but I don't really know what those suckers can do to a person!  Erik got it in our bug net and put it on the tree.

Here it is right before jumping on me:

Here it is on the tree after being rescued by Erik:

All by himself

I heard Brian in the kitchen playing around the dishwasher.  I had taken some of the dishes out, and he closed the door.  The next thing I know, he's in my room saying, "Ink!" (Drink)  The lid to his cup was resting on top of it, like I had left it after taking it out of the dishwasher.  I asked him if he wanted some milk, and he said no.  I went to get the cup and realized that he was so excited about his drink because he had grabbed the cup, gone into the bathroom to fill it up with water (from the sink) and then put the lid on it!  I still went and got the stopper for the cup to keep it from leaking and screwed the lid on all the way.  I couldn't believe he had done that, though!

Go Gators!

I did a lot of sewing in my first week, finishing with Kayleigh's new Gator dress.  I did the shorts for Brian a few days before.  There is one other dress that I made for Kayleigh, which I forgot to get a picture of her in.  I made her wait until Sunday to wear it because I was afraid she might stain it.  I'll get a picture of it the next time she's in it, maybe later this week.  I can't wait for Jenna's sewing Bible Study!  I'm going to put off any other projects until then.

Sew...

So, my friend Jenna has been sewing for a couple of years now and has made SO many cute things! She is starting a Bible Study in a few weeks where the girls will get together and sew. It sounds like fun, and I have kind of wanted to try sewing, especially since I have my grandma's sewing machine. That machine isn't working right now (boo!), but Jenna came over the other night with her machine and material, and we made this super cute dress for Kayleigh.

After I took Kayleigh's picture, Brian (of course) wanted to have his picture taken. Sorry about the lack of shorts...He wasn't done getting dressed.