Pumpkin Fun

The big day is finally here and the boys are pretty excited for trick or treat tonight, or "tick or teet" as Henry would say. The past week has been filled with Halloween and pumpkin fun.

Henry got to wear his costume to storytime on Monday and have a little party.


We made pumpkin that look like Clifford.


On Tuesday night we carved our pumpkins. The big news this year is that Jack carved his completely by himself. Nathan cut out the top and I helped him get all the guts out, but he carved the face. He used the little pumpkin carving tools and was very determined that we would not help him.





Today is his Halloween party at school, so he got to wear his costume.


And this morning Henry and I made a family of jack-o-lanterns.


Tonight promises to hold more adventures and fun with Jack dressed as Wolverine and Henry as Jake, and both of them on the hunt for as much candy as they can find.

Pajama Day and MOPS Halloween Party

Last Wednesday Jack's class got to wear their pajamas to school... they earned 10 super sticks for good behavior and their reward was PJ's and watching a Magic School Bus during rest time. Jack loved it and chose his Superman jammies. I happened to volunteer in his class on Wednesday so I got to see all of them dressed up -- they were so cute.






Today was the MOPS halloween party and Henry chose to be a super fire chief with a dinosaur gun. His real costume is Jake, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but he didn't think it was cool this morning. He had a great time doing a couple of crafts and eating a fun marshmallow ghost snack.

Jack's Room - Updated

About a month ago we did a little update to Jack's room -- new paint, bedding and artwork, and moved all his toys to his closet while cleaning out a bit. We hadn't done much to his room since the summer of 2010, so he needed an update to make sure it didn't look babyish at all anymore.

Here's a few pictures from three years ago... he was 2 1/2 and is wearing the pants Henry wore to church yesterday.









Here is the new room...






The artwork above the dresser and shelf are Jack originals -- Batman on the left and Superman on the right. The globe is from Grandpa Glen's storage room and Great Grandpa Bill made the bookends many Christmases ago.



The books on his nightstand are his Star Wars phonics set, along with a Jack and Annie book and two Bibles. Now that he is reading, he can pretty easily read each of these Bibles to us -- partly because he's learning more each day to read and partly because he pretty much has them memorized. The pictures in the frames are of Jack and Henry and also one of Jack and Luke.





This is his Lego corner and his bulletin board with his kindergarten sight words.

I am much more impressed with my little room re-do than anyone else in the family. And thank goodness he has a huge closet with built-in shelves... so we can shove all his toys in there!

The Day We Won

That's what Jack wanted to call this blog post. On Saturday morning, we stopped in at the library to pick up a book and it also happened to be Star Wars Reads Day. They had several people in costumes so the kids could take pictures with them (our boys would have none of that) and also some Star Wars crafts for the kids to do. And, they had lots of door prizes... so many that both boys won two things! They were very, very excited.

Cool Guy

Henry had a fun day today -- Grandma Pam came to visit and we all went to school to eat lunch with Jack. He says so much cute stuff these days; I need to start writing some down so we'll remember them.

When I strapped him into his carseat, I told him he was cute and he said, "No I'm not. I'm a cool guy. With cool hair that sticks up."

Then when we got to school, he walked right to the office (where we sign in) and opened the door and said quite loudly, "Well hello!"

Here he is doing a paint with water page, which he loved for two reasons: first, he hadn't ever done it before and second, he didn't fall asleep at naptime and got to get up early and do something special.

Henry's First Fish

I thought Henry caught his first fish when we were at Wilderness Lodge, but I had forgotten about his real first fish. He caught a whopper at Grandpa Dee's pond back in May when Nathan and I were in Seattle. Here he is with Grandpa Bill and his fish.

First Soccer Game

Jack had his first fall soccer game last night. He's on a team with his 3 best friends from preschool and 4 other little boys. They all had a great time and even won! Jack got hit on the head with a ball and also scored a goal all the way from kicking it in off the sideline. It doesn't officially count but don't tell him that.

Oh Goodie Goodie

One of my favorite things about Henry is the way he expresses delight at the smallest things. When he gets excited, he often says, "Oh goodie goodie!"

Today was one of those days because library storytime started again after the summer break. I love our library and we have gone to storytime there pretty much every week (except summers) for the past four years! Today was Henry's first day to go without Jack. He had a great time popping bubbles, singing songs, dancing with shakers and the parachute and making a craft.


Today was a significantly better day than Friday. After MOPS we went to McDonald's for lunch with friends. As we were getting ready to leave, Henry somehow disappeared and we couldn't find him. After maybe two minutes of searching my friend looked out the window and saw him in the parking lot standing at our car! I have never run so fast or been so scared. When I got to him, the first thing he said was, "Mommy there were no cars and they green car told me I could go." My heart raced and legs felt shaky pretty much all afternoon. I am so thankful he is safe and cannot believe that happened! He is so fast, but doesn't really ever try to run away from me. I think he just thought it was time to go and decided to go ahead and walk to the car.

9th Anniversary

Nathan and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary last week. On Sunday the boys went to Grandpa Glen and Grandma Pam's house, and we went to a bed and breakfast near the Plaza for a night. The boys had a blast at Grandma's and we picked them up the next day. It was nice to have a little bit of time away. Nathan also made me this awesome shelf for our entryway. While he was working on hanging the shelf up, Henry and I made him a chocolate cake. Henry's main job was licking the beater.

3 Weeks of School

Today marks three weeks of kindergarten for Jack. He is doing very well and really likes it, but I think he is just now getting to the point where isn't exhausted when he comes home. I know he's still very tired, but he isn't having quite as hard of a time holding it together as he was at first. His school day starts at 9:10 and ends at 4:10, so we don't get home until 4:25 or so. That's a big change from two days of preschool last year.

He rides his scooter to school every morning, and then we stick in in the stroller and Henry and I bring it home. His teacher is Mrs. Birkland and she's been teaching at Schumacher for 10 years. She is great and we are very thankful he is in her class. Jack's favorite things at school, if you ask him, are recess and P.E. Oh, and probably lunch. Today Henry and I went and ate lunch with him. He seemed so grown up as he told us what to do and where to go. But then when we left he wanted a hug and didn't really want to let go of me.

He is already learning so much, especially with reading. He's making lots of new friends and is ready to go again every morning. Henry and I still miss him though, but we too are adjusting to the new schedule a little more each day.