Pumpkin Carving

My kids begged for days to carve their Halloween pumpkins. Finally on Thursday night we pulled out the pumpkin carving kit (it is really worth the few bucks for these handy tools) and set to work. Emily had previously decided that she wanted her pumpkin carved with the face of a cat (she saw it in a book at school). So we all got to worked pulling out the seeds and pulp of the pumpkins.I really don't like cleaning out the pumpkins so I'm glad that the kids are old enough to do the work.They had a ball sorting the seeds from the pulp (we never did get around to roasting them). Brad started carving one of the "decorative" mini pumpkins and it turned out quite cute. He even put a candle in it.
Here is Emily with her Kitty Pumpkin. She LOVED the pumpkin and would not let us put it outside because it might get stolen. She was horrified when Brad told her he was going to make it into pumpkin pie. She finally relented, it was either that or throw it in the garbage after it molded.Here is Sam with his pumpkin (please disregard his dirty face). He told Brad exactly what he wanted his pumpkin to look like. Can you see a resemblance?Here is a close up of our works of art. Pumpkin pie anyone?Sam's molded so fast. He picked it at his pumpkin patch field trip. It was already getting soft when we carved it so no pumpkin pie out of this one. This one is cute enough to eat.

Emily insisted on lining them up in order. The one that is colored is Emily's that she took to her school library.
Happy Halloween!

Ben's Pumpkin Experience

While we were carving pumpkins, Ben was:

• Playing with the little pumpkins
• Dancing
• Plundering
• Climbing on the table
• Trying to eat the pumpkins, pulp, and/or seeds
• Trying to grab the pumpkin carving tools
• Trying to climb back on the table
• Fussing
• Showing his tummy
• Being silly
• Getting in the way
• Being delighted by the carved pumpkins
• Awed by the lighted pumpkins
• Trying to play with matches
• Put to bed

Here are the pictures to prove it.

Toy Rotation

I am a firm believer in toy rotation. Not only because it is a good practice in home organization but because I am a recovering toy buying freak. It is true. I went through a period a few years back where I bought an insane amount of toys. Just ask Brad...or anyone else who visited my house. (BTW someone once asked me if I ran a day care because of all the toys)

Most of these toys were from the line of Fisher Price's Little People. I love these toys. I love the imagination they spur when children play with them, I love the memories I had playing with Little People toys with my sisters, and I love that Emily played with them for hours on end when she was younger.

Now I have the space to display all these toys but not the desire to either
A) See them scattered about my entire house while I freak out that the construction set is getting mixed up with the airport set and the airport set is mixed up with the zoo set, etc. (I am a little compulsive that way.)

or

B) See them sit there while no one plays with them and than I feel bad that they are not being used and memories are not being made creating fun Little People adventures with each other.

So to make sure the above mentioned things do not happen, I store each set with ALL the pieces (if a piece is missing I can't rest until it has been recovered-I know, I know-totally compulsive). Then I store the sets in plastic bins and place them in my storage room until the time is ripe for toy rotation. I had the house set out but now no one is playing with it so I packaged it up (no missing pieces, much to my relief) and stored it away for another playtime in the future.

A few days ago, I needed to get a few things done so I took out the Little People Amusement Park and Construction set bin and let Ben and Sam have fun. Here they are digging in. Sam had exclaimed, "MOM, I forgot about these. I LOVE THESE!" It was just like Christmas morning but in October and it didn't cost me so much.
Sam can hardly wait to figure out what adventures the Little People will experience today.
Ben is thrilled with new toys. Although, every toy is new to him.

So the moral of this post is that toy rotation is a great thing. I makes your old toys new again. Brad told me we didn't need to buy anything for Christmas, we just needed to wrap up their old toys and give them to the kids again. As much as I would like to do that, I do still have that insane toy buying freak deep inside of me. It sometimes sneaks out at Christmastime. Oh boy, oh boy!

Sam's New Shoes

While shopping at the huge superstore in my neighborhood, Sam stuck his foot in the shopping cart so forcefully (why he did such a thing is beyond me) that while pulling it out, his cheap copy ($5 at the aforementioned superstore) of a Croc broke. Tears and sobs erupted. I told him it was okay because he has another pair of shoes at home. But he was not consoled. He was teary all the way to the car and eventually it came out that his other shoes were too hard to put on and now he'll never be able to get his shoes on again.

I unloaded the groceries into the car and turned around to go back into the very huge store with two upset boys in tow. We don't want to have a barefooted boy in Idaho now that winter is looming.

After about a mile of walking, we arrived at the back of the store where the shoe department is located. We found a few shoes similar to the ones he had broken but they were unacceptable until we found these: Once he saw them he could not be persuaded to select another pair. I don't know if it was the cozy fleece lining, the transformer symbol (he saw a Transformer DVD, the cartoon version, at my mom house), or the bright yellow that was so enticing. Whatever it was, it was love at first sight.

Now every morning Sam comes upstairs dressed and wearing his bright yellow transformer shoes. At preschool he made a point to tell his teacher and all his classmates about his new shoes. No longer do we spend time looking for his shoes because he rarely takes them off. As you can see from his cheesy grin he is a happy boy!
I'm glad you got something you liked buddy and $10 wasn't too painful.

A Can of Worms

One day while I was trying to work at the computer, Ben was persistent about climbing onto my lap so he could pound on the keyboard. I gave up all attempts at working and decided to let Ben sit on my lap and "play on the computer". The pounding grew more fierce and in an attempt to distract him and save my keyboard I decided to let him view a YouTube clip of a childhood favorite, Cookie Monster singing "C is for Cookie".

Here is brief clip of Ben's excitement. The clip starts out with a cow mooing then the song starts.

We watched Cookie Monster about a million times. After I decided it was time to watch something else (Elmo's Song), I left the room for a minute and when I came back he had used the mouse and clicked back onto Cookie Monster and was watching C is for Cookie again. I was shocked that he had figured out how to use the mouse on his own.


After a few more minutes it was time to pick up Sam from preschool but Ben REFUSED to leave the computer. I carried him upstairs kicking and screaming. I think I opened a can of worms.

Here are few shots of Ben at the computer. He is mesmerized. (Please ignore the messy computer desk.)
One more time please!
Ben dancing and jiving to the music. I love those chubby arms!

I Haven't Died, Just Busy

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I have either been busy or sick. Ben is also at the stage where I can't come into my office with him destroying it or trying to climb on my lap to type. At night I do Brad's dictation and I don't have time to post.

Hopefully, things will setting down and I'll get a chance to update on all our happenings.

Gymnastics-Level 2

Emily has been in gymnastics for just over a month. Tonight they told us she was ready to move to the next level! We are so excited! Emily is thrilled but a little nervous. She is excited to learn new skills but worried about being in a new class. We know she will do great. Can I say again how happy I am that she is in a serious gym that really teaches and evaluates the kids. Too bad she had to wait until she was 6.

The only down side is now I will have to go to gymnastics twice a week-once for Emily and again for Sam. Currently they take the same night with just a little over lapping. Now Emily's class is 1 1/2 hours and not taught the same day as Sam's. Sam said he loves gymnastics and wants to continue. So I guess I'll be spending more time at the gym (too bad I can't get a workout at the same time huh!)