Trick or Treat!

The boys had such a great time Trick or Treating. They both had great energy to make it around the neighborhood. Well almost, Zach couldnt quite finish the last 3 houses. He said "my whole self is getting too sweaty and my leg hurts". So when we were at the neighbors house I sent him home to Jake and finished up with Eli. We were very thankful that the rain broke and we stayed dry as we made our way door to door. It was fun to watch them this year as they are getting older. Last year it was a little frustrating because Eli was so much faster than Zach and so I ended up carrying Zach alot. This year they both were on top of the game pretty well and made out like bandits in the goodie department. It was also fun to watch Eli run into friends as we went around. He's always had his friends that we know from houses closer to ours, and I know he's making friends now at school that live farther up in the neighborhood...but it was fun to see just how many friends he's really made. Anyone who knows Eli knows that he just has something about him that draws kids to him. Especially the younger ones. But given the chance at a park, as much as Eli loves the little kids, he FLOCKS to the big kids. So I shouldnt have been as suprised as I was, that most of the friends he was saying hi to trick or treating were older! There was a few boys that we saw a couple times around the neighborhood and said hi to Eli, had to of been atleast 4th graders. I asked him later as we were tucking into bed how he knew them. He said they were his friends and they ride his bus. I asked if they were nice to him on the bus and he said "yes Mommy, we play thumb war...wanna see how to do it?" My little boy is growing up so fast, he plays thumb war on the school bus now. So halloween this year was a success again and we had a great evening celebrating Jakes birthday as well.

We dont get many pictures of the two of us, so we had Eli try to snap a few of us. This was the best one we got. Not too shabby. :)

Our little Tigger and Elephant, NOT Eyore. So many people who passed us said "oh how cute, eyore and tigger!" He was just an elephant. hehe

Eli's trunk covered most of his face so we had to hold it up for pictures. It was funny to watch him looking for things as we walked around because it kept getting in his way.
Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween!!!

Happy 29th Birthday Jake!

Halloween is always such a fun time in our house. Not only do we get to celebrate the holiday and trick or treat, but we also get to have fun for Jakes birthday! Zach and I spent the day cooking lots of treats for Daddys birthday while Eli went to school. We made pumpkin cookies, a pumpkin pie, and a caramel apple pie! Then we sang happy birthday to Daddy when he got home from work, and he opened his gifts. We got him some new clothes, and some Wii games. The Star Wars game, Smarty Pants (which him and I played forever that night! so fun), and then Samba De Amigo! I got a fun video of him playing and not knowing I was recording but its a little too dark on the computer to post. He was very happy with all his gifts. Then the boys and I got ready and headed out in the neighborhood in search of goodies. Jake loves to stay home and hand out candy to relax on his birthday and I love taking the boys around the neighborhood, so its always worked out perfect for us.

We also continued celebrating Jakes birthday on Saturday at Red Lobster, his favorite birthday dinner. They just so happen to have all you can eat shrimp going on every year on his birthday.

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daddy and husband. Happy birthday Jake!

Zachs trademark

So latley Zachs started this new, oh "trademark" maybe we can call it. He's really excited about something and then WHAM...he's done. Like in soccer, he played well for 15 minutes and then melted down into a pile of 3 year old goo on the feild. So now the goo has spread into daily routine. As you can see from example in these pictures. He was pretty excited to pose in his Tigger costume...and then slowly decided he didnt want to take any more pictures and melted into goo on the ground. His answer when you ask why he's on the ground is "Im tired". Crazy kid.

Caramel apples!

Every time we go to the outlet malls we stop by the ever so wonderful chocolate factory for some delicious caramel apples. They have some of the most wonderful recipes ever! My favorite is the apple pie one...taste JUST like a pie. And Jake loves the Rocky Road. The boys will eat any of them they can get their hands on. So this year for halloween I thought it would be fun to try to make some on our own! They were fun to make, but the boys didnt get as involved as I hoped they would. Turns out that the years of us threatning them about the oven being hot has paid off, and they were afraid to get too close to the pan to dip their apples in the caramel themselves..so we ended up making them all. They turned out pretty good, but still not nearly as good as our favorite store makes them. So we'll continue to make our stop at the outlet mall for our favorite apples!

Pumpkin patch trip

This year we ended up at the pumpkin patch solo. Past years we go with friends or family, but timing wise it just didnt work out to meet up with anyone. But that was ok becuase we had a great time anyways, just us as a family. We found this great farm last year, Bauman Farms, in Gervais. And were pretty sure its where we'll always go as long as its open. Its one of the biggest pumpkin patches we've ever heard of locally. You pay $10 per person and you get to play all day long, and do all the activities as many times as you want. Thats pretty great compared to most patches that make you pay per activity and can add up pretty quickly to way more than $10. We spent most of the day there, had some yummy apple cider donuts for snack, played in all the mazes (including the dark one that Eli and I were in for over 2 hours while Daddy and Zach ate hot dogs.) We bounced on the bouncey pillow (and Zach got angry everyone kept bouncing him to the edge), rode zip line swings (which I was so suprised Zach did too!), pet lots of animals, wrode a tractor hay ride, and so so sooooooooooo much more. It was a fun packed day, and they both passed out in the car with exhaustion within minutes of hitting the road. We didnt buy any pumpkins at the pumpkin patch though. We grew TEN in our garden this year, so instead of buying pumpkins we bought Bauman farms yummy apple cider, some donuts, and lots of other yummies they sell in their store there.
These pictures are all off of a disposable camera because our digital broke. So I ran out of film durring our pumpkin painting. :( Its too bad too because it was pretty humerous. The boys ended up painting themselves, and made for a crazy shower. We got it on video, maybe I'll have to just post the video of it since I dont have pictures. But I will also take a picture of the boys with the finished results of our pumpkins on my NEW CAMERA my hubby just bought me. Yep, Im back up and running...blogger watch out.

Zach and soccer....not friends

Since Zach turned 3 this summer and was now old enough to join his first season of soccer, we decided to sign him up on a team. Eli started at 3 also, on the same team. Little Kicks. Its more of a camp style that teaches them the beginnings of sports and lasts about 8 weeks, every saturday morning. Our very first practice Zach took off running with his team and coach. I was so proud of my brave little baby. But my brave little baby quickly melted...and every saturday since that day, its been the same exact story line. We get to practice all amped up and ready to play, run to the team...play and stretch for about 5 -10 minutes...and then MELT DOWN. I think we've decided that maybe he's not the sports nutt that brother Eli is. Zach can run around the house all day long and not get tired, but put him on a team and all the sudden he's couch potato city. So where we push Eli to do sports, because he loves them....I dont think we'll push Zach much anymore unless he asks us to. He may just end up a Drama and Choir boy like his Daddy was and put his sports career in his past. We'll see, we never know. Because even though it was a fight at practices, he was so proud to brag to friends and family that he plays soccer now. So here is what every saturday played out like:
Time to stretch

Playing red light green light with the ball

Go Zach Go..nice job! He's the one on the far left

And were done....

No really...he's done for the day. He's "tired". 15 minutes complete..dont even try to bribe him to play more. He goes totally noodle legs on you when you try.

So Ive decided theres nothing wrong with going to college as a Drama major. He could be our next Brad Pitt. ;)

Kindergarten school pictures

What a handsome little Kindergarten boy! I have to admit, I think he's one of the cutest little handsome boys Ive ever seen...and I dont think its just because Im his Mommy. ;) We cant go anywhere without someone commenting on his looks, his beautiful green eyes, his heart warming smile, or his cute little "butt chin". He's so cute with his reaction to his "fans" as well. At soccer this last week, the lady passing out their team pictures stopped when she got to him and their conversation went as follows:

Lady: "Man, youre a little cutie arent you?"
Eli: "uh hu" (with a big cheesey smile across his face)
Lady: "I bet you hear that all the time?"
Eli: "uh hu" (with an even bigger wrench your heart out cute smile, nodding his head in agreeance with her))
Lady: "I bet youre going to win all the ladies over someday hu?"
Eli: "uh hu. Im going to go play soccer now" (as he's waving to her and still wearing that ear to ear smile)
....what a flirt. We may be in trouble.
I was very excited for his "1st" school pictures to arrive. We did his hair all handsome, and then I threatned him when he got on the bus NOT to touch his hair until after the pictures were taken at school. :) The background color came back wrong than from what I ordered (I ordered BLUE not red...yes I know, I gave up a red something? am I sick? I guess they knew me though, and still gave him red) but I was very pleased to see that he smiled nicely for the camera and hadnt touched his hair all day long!
Now in my school years, we werent technologically advanced like things are these days. With his picture order we also got a cool cd that had these 3 different styles to his picture saved for us so we can share our pictures online too! Wow, why did I order all those wallets then? ;)

Once again, if you havent noticed our blogs slowing down latley, were having camera issues. Again, we broke ANOTHER digital camera. Ive lost count how many we've gone through in our marriage. We've been told that we should just buy those childrens fisher price cameras. Its probably best we do, then the next time we drop our camera in a puddle, the sand, at the fair, etc...it wont matter because its child tested! hehe So, soon my friends (when I can find the time to go buy a new camera...or develop the film on the ever so trendy disposable camera!), blogging will resume. Give me a week, and I promise that pumpkin patch and all will be clearly blogged for all you viewers. :)