Pumpkin Carving Time!

It was finally time to carve the pumpkins from the pumpkin patch! Mom scooped out the guts, Dad was the official carver and Sam designed the faces.

Sam wanted to carve his pumpkin just
like in his "Five Little Pumpkins" book.

Dad working hard -- he's a great pumpkin carver!

The final product -- and a sneak
peak at the boys' costumes!

Sacked Out

After spending a great day with his Dad at the Portland Children's Museum, Sam was having a little quiet time in his room. He was so worn out he fell asleep on his beanbag reading "his Bible". For some reason he has taken the book Emma and started calling it his "Bible" -- we don't know why.

Haven't we all fallen asleep reading our Bibles at one time or another?

Family, Friends & Fun

This past weekend we headed up for a visit to Poppy and Grammie's house. The boys had fun spending time with them and doing all the fun things there are to do there.

Sam loves to "make bubbles" in the sink. Armed with a turkey
baster and an egg beater he can get quite a bunch of bubbles.

The boys loved getting to see Auntie Paula!

Saturday afternoon we headed to the bowling alley to meet up with the cousins for a little fun. Five bowlers between the ages of three and seven provided much amusement.

At one point, Eli threw the ball overhand down the lane, Kate had a ball going so slow that someone had to go get it and Mae made the only strike! I am amazed that there were no dents in the floor -- balls were dropped more than rolled in this game. It was a little crazy -- but they all had fun!

Mae, Eli, Kate & Sam watching the action.

Sam liked to use the ramp when he bowled.

Zak and Dad hanging out at the ball return.

Sam barely edged out Ava for the win. Grammie pointed out
that his score is higher than her normal score!

Brunch with Grammie and Poppy after church!

Mr. Independent

Yep -- Zak is getting to that stage where he wants to do everything by himself -- and he's not afraid to let you know when you're interfering!

Last night at dinner he decided that he preferred to eat all his food by himself -- nothing on a spoon from Mom. Why he chose chicken enchilada night to start this, I don't know. Very messy -- but he was quite pleased with himself.

He insisted on using a spoon -- he loved putting it in his mouth. He also attempted numerous times to put food on it -- unfortunately gravity got in his way every time.

He went straight from the highchair to the bathtub -- he required more than a damp paper towel. It's a good thing he loves bath time!

The man in charge!

Don't be fooled by the spoon in his
mouth -- there was nothing on it!

Food on the spoon attempt #37.

The food with fingers worked every time!

He loved chicken enchiladas!

Zak's Favorite Shelf

This evening Zak spent about 15 minutes amusing himself with the bottom shelf. He cleared it out and proceeded to play with puzzle pieces. He was having a great time -- but every time I went to take his picture, he would stop what he was doing and flash me a grin!

I was so hoping he would fall asleep in the shelf -- but no such luck. That would have been the perfect picture!

Doing a puzzle Zak's way -- free form!

Getting cozy.

Just lounging around!

Sam's Bible Study

A few weeks ago I started the fall Bible Study at our church -- we're doing Beth Moore's Esther study. It's very good. In an attempt to get it done with a little peace and quiet, I've been getting up early and doing it before the boys get up.

This was working well until last week, when Sam started getting up earlier. So, I told him I was doing my Bible study, but he could read books quietly on the couch while I worked on it. Sam decided he was going to have a Bible study too -- so he got out his Adventure Bible and his notebook and pencil and sat down next to me. He wanted to know what I was reading about. I told him we were studying the story of Esther -- and showed him where it was in his Bible -- we had just read it together a couple of weeks ago. Then he wanted me to write "Esther" on his paper. He then proceeded to write out "Esther" and the number reference that was in his Bible -- we didn't even know he could write numbers!

The next morning, he was up early again -- so he got his Bible and his notebook and told me he was going to work on his Bible study too -- he wasn't finished with Esther yet. He's done this almost every morning for the last week -- sometimes he's even done it all by himself! He has wrapped up Esther and has now moved on to David and Goliath.

Although there are quite a few more distractions with Sam joining my Bible study time -- the questions are abundant! -- I'm more than happy to encourage him!

Sam's notebook page on Esther.

Sam's notes on David and Goliath.

Sam's First Field Trip

Today was Sam's first field trip! His preschool class went to a really neat pumpkin patch. It had a hay pyramid with tunnels, a maze, lots of animals to pet and a hay ride. But Sam was most excited about riding on a school bus!

Matthew went along to help out so he was able to get a few pictures of Sam's fun day.

Sam's class on the bus.

Looking at all the animals.

Sam petting the calf.

Those are some big tires!

Climbing the hay pyramid.

Getting ready to go through another tunnel!

Pillow Jumping

Today was a rainy, gray day -- the perfect day for inside fun!

Sam pulled out a bunch of pillows and bean bags and piled them up in the family room. There was a lot of running and flipping and shouting. Zak had fun climbing all over the pile of pillows.

From the looks of our weather -- we're going to need to stock up on pillows!

Sam always dove in head first!

It was hard to get a picture of the action!

This is Sam faking sleep on the pillows. Not very convincing!

A happy boy!

Zak was a little more subdued than Sam --
he's getting molars and is a little miserable!

Playing together!

BooS & Sin

Kids say the funniest things -- Sam's had a couple good ones this week.

Yesterday he was sitting at the table waiting for me to finish making his lunch. Out of the blue, this is what I hear:

Sam: Mom, what does "BS" spell?

Mom: What? (while trying to figure out where he could have heard this).

Sam: What does "BS" spell?

Mom: Where did you hear about that?

Sam: It's right there (pointing in the kitchen).

Mom: Oh, (very relieved) that's the name of the cutting board. It's called BooS BlockS. But you can just call it a cutting board.

______________________________

This is an excerpt from Sam's prayer tonight:

Dear God,

Thank you for all the wonderful things in my life. Thank you for my sin. (This is where Matthew added, "Thank you for forgiving our sins". This is also where I had to hide my face behind a book because I was laughing so hard)!

You never know what's going to come out of his mouth!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Lately the boys have started taking baths at the same time. When Matthew's at work, it's a lot easier to scrub them up together.

They both think it's fun -- Zak likes to watch Sam -- and Sam likes to squirt Zak with water. It's a win-win!

Zak with his frog cup -- it's his favorite.

Sam showing Zak how to wash his hair.

Getting excited!

Silly Sam!

Arts & Crafts

Today has been filled with lots of fun activities for the boys!

This morning we pulled out the crayons and introduced Zak to coloring. He tended to pound a lot -- so he's very good at making dots. Sam worked on his tracing books and did a great job!

Later in the afternoon we gathered up the painting supplies and Sam painted some of the pumpkins we picked out at the pumpkin patch.

Good times!

Sam helping Zak with his crayons.

If you enlarge this picture you'll notice a little tear on Zak's
cheek. Mommy took away the crayon he was chewing on!

Sam working hard on his letters.

Time to paint pumpkins!

Sam offered to paint Zak's pumpkin for him.
Not quite ready to relinquish a paint brush to a one year old.

In an effort to get a picture of the boys with the
final product -- I have dozens that look like this!

At least they're both looking up!

It's Pumpkin Pickin' Time

Poppy and Grammie drove down to spend the day with us -- so we decided it would be the perfect time to go to the pumpkin patch. The boys had fun playing in the hay house, running through the corn maze and of course, picking their pumpkins.

After our fun morning, we went to Red Robin for lunch -- can you tell who was asked where they wanted to go for lunch? Then it was a quick trip to the park and a little more playing with Poppy and Grammie before they had to get back on the road to go home.

We're glad they were able to spend the day with us!

If you're thinking that Sam's expression says, "Hurry up and

take the picture so I can go run around" -- you're right!

Running through the hay house and all its tunnels.

Zak had a blast crawling through the tunnel.

Cute little pumpkin!

Cute big pumpkin!

Running through the corn maze.

Family fun!

The boys and their wagon load of pumpkins!