Pumpkin carving 2012

Last night we carved our pumpkins!

Thank goodness Papa came over because he was in charge of scraping out all the insides.  Caleb and Ella aren't too interested in this - as you can tell from Caleb's face.

Olivia, on the other hand, loves to do it.  She doesn't like when it gets on her hands, but she loves to work on her pumpkin.



Ella patiently waiting to start on her pumpkin... not really, but at least she is keeping herself entertained :)

Caleb wasn't listening to me, so I decided to have a little talk with him.  With a bat.

I kid. 

It was wrapping paper.

After our little "talk", Caleb and Olivia got right to work on their pumpkins.

Caleb decided his pumpkin should say CALEB.

Ella worked on her heart eyes and star nose/mouth.  Gramma helped her with her pumpkin face and somehow they forgot to leave room for the mouth...

Luckily, Ella didn't seem to mind and oh so carefully carved the heart eyes.

Carving letters is tricky, so Chad helped Caleb.

Papa helped Olivia clean out every last bit of goop and she was ready to starting drawing her face.

The kids did an amazing job of carving this year!  They each wanted to carve all by themselves and were so careful.

 

 Chad tried to get Caleb to taste some pumpkin.  Caleb wasn't having it.

Gramma then helped Olivia draw her pumpkin face.  Here, they are deciding on making "fancy" lips.

 

With all of the labor intensive carving, our pumpkins knives broke.  Chad and Dad came up with this idea...  it worked!

 

Papa and Caleb took a break and played!

 

And, now what you have been waiting for... the great pumpkin carving reveal!

 

Ella's pumpkin: 

 



Olivia's pumpkin:

 

Caleb's pumpkin:

 



All three awesome pumpkins:

Then, late last night, I decided to make Halloween puppy chow for the kids teachers... 

I found this recipe here and it looked easy.  Let me tell you, it was not.  It was messy, the chocolate wasn't as "melty" as it should have been.  My clean kitchen was now trashed.

Next time, I will use Ericka's recipe for puppy chow!  In the end, they looked cute enough and tasted even better.  I hope the teachers liked their surprise this morning.

The kids are SO excited for trick or treating tonight.  I am excited to post their pictures tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!!!

Not quite ready

Caleb and Olivia love to ride their bikes.  They ride their bikes every. single. day. 

Ella can usually be found riding her scooter or driving our motorized jeep.

Chad asked her if she wanted to try and ride her bike without training wheels.  The crazy girl said, OK!

Her enthusiam soon turned to worry and frustration...  with a few tears.  We praised and encouraged her.

 

After the tears, she tried one more time!

 

And shortly after, Chad added her training wheels back on.

Soon enough, she will be ready.

Summer Recap

Since it is the middle of October, I thought it made perfect sense to post some pictures from this past summer.  Right?  Why not!

I enrolled the kids in swim lessons as soon as school ended.  Nitro is the best of the best here, according to other parents.  The kids work in small groups and must pass each station before moving on.  They are still going to swim lessons once a week after school.  Since then, Caleb has graduated from Nitro 1 and is now in Nitro 2.  I am so proud of how confident they are becoming in their swimming.

Just a normal day of cramming into a cardboard box to color...

The kids attend VBS (vacation bible school) at the same church they attended preschool every summer.  While the kids are in class, they hold classes for the parents which are always motivating!  The kids love VBS... now I just need to get us to attend church on a regular basis.  It would be good for all of us.  That is one of my goals.

Some smore making!

Olivia and Caleb both lost a tooth that night!  The tooth fairy is a frequent visitor at our house :)

Ella hiding in her blanket.  With her fluffy :)

We spent a lot of time at the pool this summer.  I am trying my hardest to relax and not worry as much - taking 3 kids to a pool makes me a nervous wreck.  We are lucky to be able to use different pools throughout our neighboring subdivisions, so there is no reason not to go.   We found 3 pools that the kids love!

Caleb practiced and practiced his swimming!

The girls love the water!

Chad celebrated his birthday at the end of the summer and I made him these delicious cupcakes!

Ok, maybe I bought them... but, I did put a lot of thought into which kind to buy :)

Olivia spotted a huge lizard that snuck into our house and was hiding... can you see him?

Uncle Christopher was in town so we called him and Papa to come and save us!

Don't be tricked, that lizard was fast - and he bolted for the kitchen.  I may have screamed a little.  And jumped on a chair.

Papa caught him and set him free in the backyard.  I am sure he is back in my house right now.  Probably watching me as I type this...

And finally, the girls got thrown around by Uncle Christopher!  They just adore him and his craziness.

And, in case any of you never heard, Uncle Christopher had just taken an unexpected fall into his pool (you will have to ask him how this happened) and scraped up his knee and foot pretty good so the kids had to be careful around him.

Hope your knee and foot have healed Uncle - get ready for your next visit!!!