Carving Pumpkins

Today the kids FINALLY got to carve their pumpkins. They couldn't believe it when I said that's what we were going to do.  However, once we got the lids carved on all of them and they put one hand in and they were done.  They all had the same comment, "I'm not touching that slimey stuff!"  So, 45 minutes later after I'd dug out all the pumpkins (which of course had to be the biggest ones that they could find) We started carving.

Natasha and Andrew had fun doing the actual carving for the first time.  Natasha got tired after one eye but Andrew did his whole face all by himself.

It's fun to carve, but a lot of work! Preston was done after we cut the lid off, Natasha was done after one eye, and Adam slept through the whole thing!

Here's the finished product!  (We got a face kit that came with the eyes.)

Andrew's Fun Day of Cub Scouts

Saturday they had an all day scouting event at a farm here and Andrew was in heaven.  That morning he was up and in his scout uniform before anyone else was out of bed!  He earned his BB Gun and Archery belt loops.

Jedi Mind Tricks

This is a cute conversation that happened in the car on Friday.

Me: "Guess what? We get to go to the pet store! I need to buy some crickets.  We can go see all the other fun animals they have there."

Preston: "Yeah! We are going to the pet store!"

Sadie: "Are you buying real crickets or pretend crickets?"

Me: "I am buying real crickets."

Sadie and Preston: "ooooooh"

Sadie: "I went to the pet store at my Grandma and Grandpa's house."

Preston: "No you didn't"

Sadie: "Yes, I did."

Preston: "No, you didn't"

Sadie: "I, didn't?"

Happy Birthday Adam!

I can hardly believe it but my baby turned two this weekend!

He got cars, cars, and more cars!

Being the third boy is hard because we already own every truck, gun, tool, army man that's available.  He has all those toys at his finger tips, so what to buy him?  He is quite the car man, as was Andrew, and the only cars he plays with are the ones from when Andrew was little.  The ones that have half the paint scratched off with wheels that don't work quite right.  I decided it would be fun for the each of the kids to pick out a pack of brand new cars for Adam's present.  Once the packages were opened Adam was soooo excited about those cars.  We could barely entice him away from them to have cake!  The companion to these new cars was supposed to be a new car table.  I had discovered this perfect gift months ago.  However, when I went to order it, it was on back order.  I was worried it would have to become a Christmas present but luckily it came in.  Of course it didn't make it for his birthday but I'll post pictures when we do get it.

Pool party in October!  As part of Adam's party we heated up the spa.  It had been awhile since they had been swimming so the kids were very excited.  
Happy Birthday Adam!

Making Deals

Tonight I was in Preston's room helping him get his pajama's on when Natasha walked in and said, "Mom, how about this. If I promise to be good for the rest of my life, can we have popcorn?"

Oh, if such small rewards could really reap such big promises! 

Another Funny Conversation with Preston

You know those temporary tattoos that kids get now days?  Well, Preston got one on his arm a few weeks ago.  Last night Jason was giving him a bath and while washing him Preston said, "Don't rub off my Ratatoullie!"

Show and Tell

Voldemort shed his skin a few days ago and that was VERY exciting for the kids.  I had been getting worried about him because he hadn't come out of his hide for over two days.  I thought he might be stressed out.  Then after the second day he came out and shed his skin.  It couldn't have happened at a better time because he came out right after the kids got home from school. The other amazing thing was that Fred had shed his skin that same day.  We noticed it in the bottom of his cage. Natasha decided that she wanted to take all the skin for show and tell. She said every one thought it was very cool!  

Family Home Evening Discussion

Jason:  Preston, what does it mean to have an eternal family?

Preston: To not hit anybody.

Jason: It means that you will be able to live with  us, Nana and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa forever in heaven.

-pause-

Preston: And we will go camping?

Cute Preston

This morning while making breakfast for everyone I heard Preston, in a robot voice, saying "Mayday! Mayday! Syrup alert"  I turned around and while eating his waffle he had managed to get syrup all over the front of him.  I thought it was cute how he chose to let me know of the situation.  

I also write this to remind myself just how cute he his because besides that incident I have caught him writing marker on his arms, spraying conditioner on the counter, and wiping Carmex all over the wall.  And all those before lunch!

Okay, so I thought I could sneak away and post this while Preston and Adam were watching the last 5 minutes of their show before nap time.  I was mistaken.  I can now add to the above list.  After posting I was welcomed to a scene of them ripping up paper towels and throwing them all over the family room floor! Adam was just following his brother's lead, and was throwing the pieces in the air saying Whee! I asked Preston,"What made you think this was a good idea?"  His response (in a very calm, matter of fact way) "I just wanted it to be snowing like at Papa's house."   It's hard to be mad at him when he comes up with answers like that!  

My Summer Top Five

Listed below are my top five summer memories.

5. Having Fun in the Backyard

This is probably my favorite picture from the summer.  Probably because it wasn't staged at all.  I gave them otter pops and told them to go in the back and eat them.  When I peaked out to see how it was going this picture is what I saw.  

4. Camping and More Camping!

Our first camping trip of the summer was to Mt. Diablo (near Walnut Creek, CA).  We went with some friends and all conditions were perfect and we had a lot of fun.  As you can see from the picture it felt like we were camping up in an airplane.  This picture was taken just steps from our camp site.  At night you could see millions of city lights from this picture.  This was also a memorable trip because Andrew caught his first lizard going solo.  This poor lizard must have been totally scared because it let the kids hold him on their hike for quite awhile.  Everybody had a turn, even Adam.  Preston always likes to tell the story about how the lizard pooped on his shoulder.   Such fun memories for boys.    

For our second camping trip we went to Calaveras Big Trees (you can see giant sequoias there).  We got to go with Aunt Renay and cousins Kaelie and Alyssa.  This is my favorite place to camp and we have gone every summer since we moved to Galt. The kids got to swim in a creek and walk through BIG trees.  However, I think they had the most fun collecting giant ants in their buckets back at camp.  Oh the little things in life that can make kids happy!

3. Visiting Friends in Utah

We visited the Kletzli family in Fruit Heights, Utah.  They are our really good friends from when we both lived in Brentwood, CA.  Even though we stayed there for a week in a house with 9 kids (the oldest being 12) it was my most relaxing week of the entire summer! 

2. Lovell, Wyoming

We took a trip to Lovell to visit family. Nana and Papa Stevens, Grandma Jala, Bryan and Leslie, and many more were there.  This picture was taken up in the Big Horn Mountains at Porcipine. (If only pictures had sound, you would hear me yelling at them to MOVE!!!!)  Andrew couldn't get enough fishing. He felt like a big kid because he got to go on an all day fishing excursion with his Dad and Papa.  Everyone had so much fun visiting with Grandma Jala and hanging out with all the cousins.  Weeks after we got back I had a conversation with Andrew where he decided that because he could live anywhere he wanted when he got older he would definitely pick Wyoming.  That way he could visit Grandma Jala whenever he wanted!

1. Camping in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

We camped for six nights in a row ( a new record for us) with Grandma and Grandpa Behrmann and cousin Mike Behrmann.  We had a blast!  We spent 3 nights in the Tetons and 3 nights in Yellowstone.  Everything just went perfectly for this trip and I'm sure we will be reminiscing for years to come.  Even now, months later if Preston sees dust in the air or smells a stinky smell he thinks geysers are on the horizon.

Halloween Preview

This picture was taken a few weeks ago right after I found Natasha's and Preston's Halloween costumes.  I decided to try Andrew's old pirate costume on Adam to see if it would work.  Well, Andrew wanted to get in the theme of things so he went and changed into his Halloween shirt from last year.  I had music playing for them to dance to and it turned into a pirate sword fight.  And yes, if you can't tell from the picture, the swords were a hockey stick and part of the vacuum.  It was so funny watching Adam (with a very serious look on his face) go after Andrew and Andrew blocking him.  They did it for a very long time and my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.  My dad decided to call them out to the back to take their picture and it turned out so cute I had to post it.

Kids finally get a pet!

We got a new snake this last week and his name is Voldemort. Okay the real story starts about a year ago.  One day when the kids were at school I caught a garter snake in our front lawn.  I thought the kids would get a kick out of it.  I saved it in a big plastic bin until they got home from school.  Jason came home for lunch to see it too.  After the kids came home and they looked at it for awhile, I decided that it was time to let it go.  So, we let it go.  Well, Jason came home from work holding a glass tank and asking where the snake was.  Unbeknownst to me, he wanted to keep it!  His secretary at work's son had been into lizards as a kid so she had given him the tank.  I never had thought about the snake being our pet!  I felt really bad.  Anyway, the tank sat up on a shelf in the garage for many months.  Every once in awhile the kids would ask when we were going to get a pet snake and I would brush them off with the answer of never! Then 3 weeks ago a neighbor girl asked Andrew and Natasha if they would like a lizard, she had two and they were fighting.  (This discussion happened on the bus home from school) When they came through the door that day they were practically hyperventilating.  Since we already had the cage I gave in.  How hard could a little lizard be to take care of? We named him Fred (after Fred from Nim's Island, their favorite movie).  So the kids were so excited that they finally had a pet.  Jump ahead two weeks.  Natasha, Preston, and Adam were playing out in the backyard around 8:00pm.  All of a sudden I hear Natasha yelling "Emergency!, Emergency!" I went out to see what was going on and this black and white snake was slithering on our patio.  I immediately yelled for Jason (he was reading with Andrew) to come.  He knew right away that it was a California King Snake.  He went to pick it up and Natasha said "Who do you think you are? Bindi's dad or something?"  Needless to say the next night we went to a pet store that specializes in reptiles and got Voldemort all set up.  Andrew and Natasha fought over whose room got to house Voldemort.  Andrew won out because he paid for the cage with his own money.  After years and years of begging for a pet the kids now have two, a lizard and a snake.  Hey, at least they don't mess up my house!