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!

Sam & Zak Visit the Station

It's been a couple of months since our last visit to Station 10 -- so with freshly made gingersnaps in hand, we headed over to the station to visit Matthew.

The boys had fun checking out the "new" engine. If you haven't heard the story you'll have to ask Matthew -- it's really long, but really good...well, good if you like things catching on fire!

Matthew had a burn earlier in the day -- a training exercise using an abandoned house. Hard work -- but fun for those guys that like to run into burning buildings.

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Sam and Zak hanging out on Engine 10.

Zak's first time "driving".

Sam's an old pro!

Good times!

Zak loved the engine!

Matthew on his burn.

The house -- once they were finished training,
they let it burn to the ground.

It's A Zoo!

Rainy weather is supposed to start next week, so we thought we should take advantage of the sunshine and make a visit to the Oregon Zoo.

After Sam's 4-year check-up this morning (for those who are keeping track -- he weighed 36 pounds and was 42 inches tall) we headed for the zoo.

Sam and Zak -- ready to go!

Sam popping up in the "gopher hole" -- I don't really know
what it's called -- but you get the idea!

Zak watching the lions in the new
Predators of the Serengeti exhibit.

The exhibits windows are so clean and thin that it actually
made me a little nervous -- but you can see that Zak wasn't bothered at all!

Sam watching the cheetahs from the back of a jeep.

Sam playing the drums in the Serengeti exhibit.

Walking in the rain forest.

Sam and Zak on the tractor -- still Sam's favorite thing at the zoo.

A typical ending to many of our trips -- tired boys!