10/31/10 - Our First Halloween

Our Halloween pumpkins:Ryan loved sticking his hands in the pumpkin and pulling out the guts (just like Mommy) and John was happy to just use a spoon (kind of like Daddy who doesn't like any part of cleaning out the pumpkin!)

We got two of our pumpkins at Aldi and Gramma bought us two at our Stade's trip. The boys then were excited to point out big boxes of pumpkins when ever we were at different stores. They are the boxes with the Peanut characters on the side and since we watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown special, they worked hard to remember the characters names. (John pointed out that Charlie Brown looks like Uncle Don, my brother who shaves his head - ha! ha!) It was so much fun to explain the process and then actually carve pumpkins with the boys this year! They LOVED seeing the candles lit inside at night.

Coming home from visiting our friend Ms. Alison on Halloween, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a little Will Smith in Hancock looking back at me!

Woody and Buzz getting ready to head out into our neighborhood:Aren't they too cute? I don't know who had more fun, Mike and I doing the costumes or the boys wearing them and getting candy!!

Trick or treating at Gramma and Bompa's and posing for a group picture with the cousins Samantha and Maddy Jo.

10/20/10 - Referral-aversay!!

One year ago today ...

http://godsplanaformikeandamy.blogspot.com/2009/10/102009-stork-has-landed.html

There is nothing like the words, "This is your referral call!"

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights ..." James 1:17

10/11/10 - Stade's Pumpkin Farm

For the past seven or so Columbus Days, we have always visited Apple Hollar, a local apple/pumpkin farm, but this year we were looking to try a new location: Stade's (which I am told by the locals is pronounced Stod-e's)Farm and Market. It was AWESOME and we highly recommend in for anyone in the area!!

There is no admission charge and no parking fee. Most activities require tickets but the boys got wristbands ($15 each) which gave them unlimited access to everything (except a ride on Frank the combine). And there was tons of stuff to do.

A just the right size for the boys hay bail maze. They loved climbing and jumping on the bales of hay more than actually going through the maze:
One of the most popular activities, a giant sensory box of corn kernels. Here we are burying Ryan:

and Sami:

and John:

and Maddy:

Then it was on to the two GIANT slides:

And defiantly the boys' favorite, the pedal cars (they rode them four times!). John and Maddy:

Ryan had no problem with the pedals which is pretty impressive seeing as how the car is about as big as he is:

John gives a wave:

Maddy cruises along:

And Sami takes a few spins as well (with Ryan in the background):

Thank you Gramma for lunch!

We timed lunch so that we would be right across from the Pumpkin Launcher, which launches every hour on the hour (and was my favorite part!):

Note the two orange dots in the upper right hand corner of the picture - those are pumpkins hurling through the air!! they would also lower the arm of the launcher and launch pumpkins at an old car - it was great!!

The hay ride to the pumpkin patch was free and any pumpkin picked out was only five dollars, as part of their Pumpkin Stimulus Package - ha! ha! Gramma got the boys each pumpkin and there were literally thousands to choose from!

John looks for just the right one:

Aren't they just too cute!

Back for more pedal cars:

Sam did this with corn kernels as we were waiting our turn in the moon bounce:

The barrel ride:

It was a SUPER day and we look forward to going back again next year!!

Passing of the Torch

Well, the really passing of one box to another!

The boys have had this box: since it arrived in March with presents for Aunt Teri and Uncle Mike. To say the least it ranks right up there as there favorite toy, right along with cars and Buzz and Woody.

But after eight months of love, it was on it's last leg. My Mom and Dad recently got a new dishwasher and saved the box for the boys:

So a new era has begun!

Here they are right before closing the door to try out the lights on Buzz in the dark!

Feeeding the Giraffes!

We recently visited the zoo and our (very) special treat for the day was feeding the giraffes!!

Mike got some great video of both boys feeding the three giraffes but I unfortunately only got only pictures of John. Ryan was a bit timid and only feed the giraffes twice. And John was so excited he fed the giraffes really fast. They weren't so much into holding still and looking at Mommy!!I have two giraffes for little boys!Ryan just looking cute:The" Rapper J." that developed at lunch time:

and which of course was imitated by his brother, Rapper R.

A stop at the zoo is never complete without a visiting the bonobos and seeing if they will play peek-a-boo with the boys again!