Autumn Time

I am so excited to post these pictures. Clint and Keven requested a few weeks ago that Caleb and Hannah be Raggedy Ann and Andy for Halloween. I went to get some pictures framed at Jo-Ann's and while there found a pattern for these costumes. Usually sewing is a bitter-sweet thing for me. But even while I was picking thread out (which happened quite a bit) I didn't get mad. I was too excited for the end result. It was worth every second of time I put into it!

There was no way of getting these two to hold still or smile at the same time. But what was amazing was how long they kept the wigs on. Cary and I both thought it would last 10 seconds. They kept them on most of the night. Cary and I were only holding wigs for about the last 20 minutes of the night. I was very impressed!Mitchell was a dinosaur for the church party. He wore the same costume 2 years ago. He is a much more willing participant this time than last. We had to force it on him two years ago. Here is a picture of him with his three good little friends from the ward. (The costume has a dino head and gloves but it was too hot for him to keep them on.)

Our boys have been so excited about leaves falling off the trees. This leaf pile has replaced the sandbox for the season. One afternoon my mom brought Mason over to play for a little bit. They had a great time getting buried together.Saturday night we went to a local farm the was showing "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and giving hay rides for free. We went on the hayride first then watched the movie two times. Clint was standing in line for doughnuts during the first movie and Mitchell didn't mind sticking around to watch it again!Saturday, before the movie, was demo day. The county forced us to take our 30 year old metal shed down. It was a lot of work and we filled our trash can plus a kind neighbor's. Clint burned a big pile of wood and there is still a big stack of metal waiting to be picked up. It was a good little shed and we'll miss it. But it was nice to throw a lot of trash away that had collected there AND it will be nice to have a larger driveway to ride bikes on (and shovel in the winter).

Sicko!

Once a month my parents have my family and my brother's family (the only two left in Utah) over for Family Home Evening. For the activity the kids carved pumpkins that my parents had grown in their garden. They had a great time, though Mitchell was not a fan of the pumpkin guts. (I'm not sure what my face was doing during this picture.)

The kids drew numbers to see which pumpkin they got. Caleb got the biggest. Clint helped him carve it and couldn't resist putting Mitchell's pumpkin stem that had fallen off in Caleb's pumpkin's mouth. That jack-o-lantern is setting one fine example!

Mitchell really enjoys competition. He is always racing us. He races to get dressed, eat breakfast, use the bathroom, anything he can think of. The other day I told him that he "smoked" Clint in one of their races. Now, from Mitchell, we often hear, "I LOVE to smoke!". Oops.

I've taken on sewing Halloween costumes for Caleb and his little friend, Hannah, this year. They are now complete and I will post them next week. But while I was sewing I couldn't keep the kids away from the pins. They had started putting them into a fabric chair so I asked them to find something else. Poor Snoopy.

Surprisingly enough, while playing with pins the boys got along really, really well. Mitchell was very protective of Caleb and made sure that he wouldn't hurt himself. This was taken during one of those "brotherly love" moments that was brought on by sharp instruments. Caleb was pretty sick for most of this past week. He was feverish for 4 days straight and near the end of the week got a pretty congested nose. Luckily after my brother, who is a chiropractor, adjusted him his fever broke and he was able to sleep better. This picture was taken during the sick period. He was a sad little boy.

Is it Christmas time yet?

Mitchell woke up this morning, saw the snow outside and excitedly asked, "Is it Christmas time yet?" Clint tried to explain to him that we need to have Halloween and Thanksgiving first when Mitchell interrupted and told him that he already knew those things. But because there was snow outside it needed to be Christmas time. I hope that we have a white Christmas this year or we will have one 4 year old that won't believe us when we tell his it's Christmas morning.

After church the snow had melted much to Mitchell's dismay so he was very excited when it started snowing AGAIN during dinner. He didn't waste any time gearing up and heading outside. He absolutely loves the snow!This is Caleb with his little girlfriend, Hannah. They get so excited to play together. We know that Hannah wears the pants of the relationship. She likes to bully him around, but he takes it like a man. One afternoon we found them outside holding hands on their way inside. As soon as we got the camera out Caleb let go to pose. But they had no problem re-enacting their affection for the camera!

Seconds before this picture was taken Caleb reached up to the stove and burned his hand on a pot. Luckily he didn't touch the burner or the burn would have been much worse. To cool his hand down I let him hold his hand under the cold water. It wasn't long at all before he forgot about his hand! He loves to play in water!