Halloween

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. We started the weekend with our ward trunk or treat on Saturday night. The boys were very happy to get a early start! The boys as usual looked great in their costumes! 

Frankenstein, Buzz Lightyear, and a fireman.

  Ethan and Porter both had a costume parade at school today.

Ethan stayed in character and did his monster walk the whole time. It was pretty funny. 

We decided that the boys had enough candy from the trunk or treat, so we decided to stay home tonight and carve pumpkins. We had a great time getting messy!

I even caught Porter trying to taste the pumpkin! He wasn't too impressed. 

They didn't think the pumpkin was scary enough, so they added their own scary faces!

We roasted the seeds, and the boys practically inhaled them. 

It was a nice quiet evening. We didn't even get a single trick or treater!

A New Friend

A friend of mine bought Ethan a set of Buzz and Woody dolls when he was just a year old. Ethan LOVED them. He took them everywhere and slept with them every night!

After Ethan grew out of them, Porter took them over. Unfortunately Woody didn't survive Porter's rough love. So Woody was "shelved" after getting a good sized tear down his pants. I put him up in a cabinet with the intention of fixing him, but he was soon forgotten. I came across him recently when looking for something else, and this morning decided it was time to sew him up. Lincoln was so excited when I finished and gave him to him. The first thing he did was sit him down on the couch, climb up next to him, and request that he and Woody get to watch Mickey Mouse together. 

I hope he enjoys him as much as the other boys have! 

(Just a little gentler!)

Just the two of us...

 I really have enjoyed the one on one time I have to spend with Lincoln while the boys are at school. He is so much fun! Today we made some of my Grandma's famous Halloween cookies. He was such a good helper!

He loved putting the candies on...but loved sneaking them in his mouth even more!! :)

The finished product was pretty good too!

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took the boys to the pumpkin patch. We pass one everyday on our way to school that just teases them, so we decided we better take them. I lucked out and found a coupon for half price ride tickets to a huge pumpkin patch not too far from home. They were impressed with the massive pumpkins,

but enjoyed all the rides even more! They got to drive...

slide...

love on some puppies...

(maybe a little too much love!)

and have some time to just hang out.

After we left the pumpkin patch we treated the boys some dinner and ice cream.

Then we stopped at Walmart to buy a much less expensive pumpkin. It was such a fun evening with the boys. I love the fall and all the traditions that go with it.

Little Stinker

I should never complain about my boys being such good eaters. But, it's a little frustrating when I pull out my last two tomatoes to use for dinner, and after turning my back for just a minute, to find my little Lincoln chomping a big hole right in the middle of one!!

I guess at least it's a healthy snack!

You know you slept hard...

...when you wake up from a nap with hair like this!!

This little man of mine had hair sticking up on every side of his head. Probably the worst bed head I've seen yet!

Too much time with the girls!

We've been watching two of my nieces while my sister was out of town celebrating her anniversary. Lincoln has loved having the girls to play with, especially while the boys are at school. I think it's obvious that he's been hanging out with them for too long when today after Hannah made herself a bow for her hair, he asked for one for his too! He was so funny walking around like that. He kept getting so mad when it would keep falling out. It's a good thing that Dad wasn't around to see this!

A Little Bragging...

Ethan was recognized at school yesterday for his academic achievement. As they handed out each award they made it very personal by reading what the teacher wrote about why they chose the student for the award. This is what Ethan's teacher had to say about him:

"Ethan is an excellent student across all academic areas, and he especially stands out when it comes to his writing. He has been working above and beyond to write detailed and interesting stories. I always look forward to reading his writing. Keep up the great work, Ethan!"

We are so proud of Ethan and how hard he works at school!

Conference Cake

We started the tradition a couple years ago to have coffee cake for breakfast for the Sunday morning conference session. The boys started asking why it's called coffee cake and I think were worried that I was sneaking stuff in their food. We decided to change the name and started calling it "conference cake". The boys love this tradition, and look forward to conference Sunday because of it. I'm sure part of it has something to do with the fact that it is the only time I allow them to eat out by the TV too!