Early Halloween festivities

We have been celebrating Halloween for a week now!

Saturday was the Fall Festival at church. The kids' costumes made their debut!



Aaron is quite proud of his garbage truck costume. We made it from two cardboard boxes, and lots of creative engineering.


Claire loves her pink kitty cat. The paw has a button hidden in it that meows when you push it. She grins so big when she makes it meow!


Trunk or treat was fun!



I thought this picture was funny. That's Aaron.


Monday we had a costume party with our playgroup.




Claire loved this "slide". Crazy girl.


Checking out the loot.


A funny story--
Yesterday the kids wore their costumes to school for a Halloween party. Mrs. Christy, Aaron's teacher, said she had the kids lined up and was explaining to them that even though it was a fun day they still had to follow the rules--no hitting, etc.

She told me Aaron stepped forward out of line and said, "I have RULES for my costume. No banging on the garbage truck. No playing with the wheels. No wearing it unless you're Aaron. No taking it home unless you're Aaron." Mrs. Christy said she about died laughing. She let the other kids give rules for their costumes just for fun. I have no idea where Aaron came up with all those rules!!!

Park day

Last week we enjoyed a pretty day at the park with friends! It brought out the kids' inner monkeys.

Building a man...

Aaron was putting away his blocks a few nights ago and called me in to see what he had made.




It's a man!

And the special story behind those blocks--they came from my Grandma's house. They are old Playskool wooden blocks in a sweet squeaky wooden wagon. They were my mom's when she was little, and we always played with them at Grandma's house when we were little. My kids have been dragging the blocks out the last few years every time we visited Grandma's. I was so excited to bring them home to my house. We have dubbed them the "unlooseable blocks" because it seems after all these years we have every block in the set. Chris says the unlooseable blocks are doomed at our house, and he might be right because one has been missing for several days and I get indigestion every time I think about it. I just know it will show up soon!!

How tall this fall?

These pictures make me so amazed at how quickly time is passing and my babies are growing!

Oct 2005, 16 months old


Oct 2006, 2 years old


Oct 2007, 3 years old


Oct 2008, 4 years old

Why all the questions?

Aaron asks so many questions that some days I just have to tell him, "Mommy is tired of answering questions!" His questions often have no real answer, which drives me even more batty.

I really have to watch what I say around him, because if I mutter something to myself he will always ask me a question about it. Or, if I use a word he's not familiar with, he will ask me about it.

Some examples:

Mommy, making a mental note to herself: "You need a new toothbrush."
Aaron: "Why do I need a new toothbrush?"
Mommy: "Yours is all ratty."
Aaron: "What's ratty?"
Mommy: "It's all messed up. See?" (points to head of toothbrush)
Aaron: "What will happen if my toothbrush is all ratty?"
Mommy: "It won't clean your teeth good."
Aaron: "What will happen if it doesn't clean my teeth good?"
Mommy: "You'll get cavities."
Aaron: "What will happen if I get a cabity?"
Mommy: "The dentist will have to drill a hole in your tooth for a filling."
Aaron: "What's a filling?"
Mommy: "Enough questions already!!!!"

And this is every day, all day. Chris thinks it has really picked up in the last few weeks. He's kinda moved from "Why?" after every answer to "What will happen if..." after every question.

Oh, and here's the kicker--if you don't answer him or respond in any way (read: ignore!), he will get louder and finally say, "EXCUSE ME MOMMY!" and repeat his question. Then you get "Excuse me Mommy" over and over until you respond.

Chris says I ask too many questions. So I guess he comes by it honest!

Wrapping up a fun weekend...at the pumpkin patch!

After our whirlwind camping trip, we spent Sunday afternoon with Mimi and Pa at the pumpkin patch! The kids had a great time and everyone was exhausted after all the hours of fun.

The first thing Aaron wanted to do was the corn maze. He LOVES doing mazes and had never heard of a maze you could really walk through. He and his cousins had such a blast running through and finding the dead ends and telling us which way to go. They cracked us up!


Claire rode on Pa's shoulders so she could keep up.


Running!

This way Pa!


(Side-note: On the way home, we asked Aaron what his favorite part was. He always says, "All of it!" so I asked him if the corn maze was his favorite. He said, "No! It was toooooo long!!" He didn't seem to mind when we were doing it!)

We took advantage of a photo-op after the maze.



Then we rode the hay wagon back to the front of the farm to see other attractions.

The boys loved the tractor that was pulling the wagon.


We have a picture of Aaron next to this same pumpkin every October since he was 1 year old!


All 5 kids on the train...it's impossible to get them all to look at the same time!



What a perfect photo-op for our 5 crazy kids! That's Reed, Emma, Aaron, Nate, and Claire.


Claire rode the pony, but Aaron didn't because he wanted to head over to the playground.


I apparently took no pictures at the playground, but after that we went to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. (Say that 3 times fast!) I just love these pictures!

Camping Day 2...the food and fun!

Can you tell I have a sickness? I take waaaaayyyy too many pictures. We were gone around 26 hours and I took over 200 pictures! But, at least it makes for good blog material!

Saturday morning after I took pictures of the sunrise, I started on breakfast. The kids were still snoozing away in the tent!

We brought a cast iron skillet to use on the grate over the campfire. That's the first time we've tried something like that, and it was alot of fun. I made pancakes...


And we fried bacon and sausage! Yum!


Right around this time Chris heard a deer "blowing" in the woods. I heard it but never would have known it was a deer. He said they blow when they smell something they don't like, and I said, "Like bacon and sausage??" Ha!

These were the first two pancakes, that I overcooked. The rest were not burned!


I finally went in the tent to get the kids up so they could enjoy breakfast while it was hot! Claire was awake but just laying there, so she was all grins when I came in.


But Aaron was a little harder to wake up.


Look at this delicious breakfast!


After breakfast we all went to the playground. Aaron loved this see-saw but Claire didn't want to ride it much so Aaron was constantly begging her to come see-saw with him. Poor guy!


Claire preferred the tire swing!



We went fishing again!


Aaron baited his OWN hook!


The kids loved playing in the back of the truck. This is Claire with her favorite baby doll, Baby Judy.


You see Aaron rigged up a machine to pull chairs up. Future engineer, I'm tellin' ya!




Then we packed up and headed for home. Claire fell asleep before we left the campground.


And Aaron asked approximately 182 questions on the ride home.


Great camping trip! Can't wait until the next one!