A Great Start!

Sharing and playing together before breakfast.

What a great way to start the day!

Happy Kids

Sam wanted me to take a picture of him with a few of his animals -- and it was so cute I was sure that the grandparents would want to see it!


Zak took a break from his camera aversion for a quick photo -- I love that he is looking so adoringly at Sam.


They are too cute!

Getting Into the Spirit!

It's Spirit Week at Sam's school -- and he is fully participating!

Monday was Crazy Day and Sam did not disappoint. He headed out the door with his clothes turned inside out and his shirt on backward. He really wanted to wear his shoes backward, but I couldn't figure out how to make that work.


Tomorrow he is wearing school colors -- navy, crimson and white. Or as his Principal says, "red, white and blue"!

A Time To Paint!

I think the boys almost get more excited about painting their pumpkins than they do about carving. We hauled out the brushes and the paints and let them go at it!

Sam had a plan...of course!

Zak never has a plan -- he just goes for it!

Impressed with Zak's masterpiece!

Zak's took a loooong time to dry!

I couldn't get anyone to pose with the finished pumpkins -- Sam was too busy and Zak is suddenly averse to the camera.


The boys love seeing their pumpkins in the family room and they last forever!

Marble Party

Sam's class has a special jar in their classroom -- it's the Marble Jar. Good behavior by the class earns them marbles -- and when the jar is full it's time for the Marble Party! Last week they finished filling up the jar.

What made this party special was that the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes to school. Sam was very excited!

Sam was ready to party!

As soon as Zak saw Sam with his bandanna -- he decided he was not going to be left out.

Don't all pirates wear sunglasses?

It was a great party!

Pumpkin Pickin' Time!

It's that time of year again -- we headed out to Joe's Place to pick up some pumpkins!

The sun was so bright that our pictures didn't turn out great -- everyone was squinting in most of them -- but we salvaged a few. The boys crawled and and climbed over the hay bales, played in the teepee and chased each other through the corn.

Sam and Zak had a blast going off the
path and running through the corn stalks.

Matthew was the only one
who cooperated for this picture!

The boys filled up their wheelbarrow
with some great pumpkins!

We're looking forward to carving our pumpkins soon -- Sam said he has some ideas.

The boys also picked up a few pumpkins to paint. Since they don't get to handle the carving knives yet, this gives them a chance to do whatever they want -- and they do!

No Girls

We read a lot of books at our house -- the boys always pick out books for me to read during lunch -- and at dinner if Matthew is at work. That doesn't include reading together on the couch. We go through a lot of books in one day!

Sam and Zak love "Frances" books -- Bread and Jam for Frances, Bedtime for Frances, A Bargain for Frances...and the list goes on. The boys decided they wanted to have a "wandering day", just like in one of the Frances book. So, they made their special signs, just like Frances...I packed them a "hamper" of food, just like Frances...and then they headed out. They had a great time wandering through the house with their signs, eating their picnic and having sack races in the family room!

The signs have made an appearance every day since then. There was a parade, they are placed in front of doorways -- they are getting a lot of use.

Curious?

Here are the boys playing with their trains.

They had it routed under one
of the chairs -- Zak especially liked that one!

After I helped them tweak a few
things...this was the sign they put out.

Best Friends Outing. No Girls.

They take down the signs when they want food.

Silly boys!