Halloween craft time

Yesterday was pretty cold outside (which has been the trend lately as fall is upon us which makes me think that I’m not at all ready for winter!) so the boys chose to stay inside & play. We had some left-over Halloween foam craft supplies sent home from the Halloween party Wyatt & I missed 2 weeks ago, so I figured, what a perfect time to bring it out. The boys had a blast & stayed occupied with it for at least 20 minutes.

Colton - "Cheese!"

Working on his bookmark.

Wyatt decorating a pumpkin.

Colton adding some eyes.

Wyatt working hard on his bat.

Maybe this bat needs a couple more eyes...

Craft time at our house!
(with Bailey supervising underneath the table)

Yard work.

Really, we are quite behind on the yard work this year but we’ve been so busy enjoying fall & Cory’s been getting in quite a bit of duck/pheasant/goose hunting – some less important things always get left behind. We have quite a few maple trees in our front yard that are beautiful in the fall but make quite a mess when it comes time for the leaves to fall. We took advantage of the nice weather & took Sunday afternoon to get some outside work done. I cleaned up & organized the boys’ outdoors toys (which are coming to an end of being played within the next month or so) and Cory & the boys made the first pass of raking up leaves in the front yard. I’m not sure if the boys were more help or hurt – helping daddy rake up leaves & then running through the pile, causing daddy to have to re-rake quite a few times!

Their favorite part was when he hooked up the little wagon to the 4-wheeler and let them ride along while he picked up the leaf piles. They thought that was the coolest thing & really didn’t want to get out after all the leaves were picked up.

Don’t worry boys – you’ll have plenty more opportunities to help daddy out this year…and years to come!

Daddy raking.
Wyatt & Colton throwing the leaves back out!

Fall fun.
(Wyatt)

Fall fun.
(Colton)

Daddy's little helpers.

All packed up & ready to go.

...and they're off.

More pumpkin fun! – Part 2

We headed down by the big pumpkin launch – the boys didn’t know what to think of that (it was loud & launched the pumpkin higher than I think they could see) – and also hit up a small corn maze that my nephew “I” lead us all through. The petting zoo was next – but as usual – my boys weren’t too interested in getting very close to the animals (& my camera decided to give me a hard time). It was kind of funny because before we left for the pumpkin patch, Colton kept talking about wanting to see the animals – I knew better though! We hit up a bunch of the other play stuff; including a big, black tunnel slide that daddy took each of the boys down. Finally it was time for a wagon ride. This pumpkin patch also is a Christmas tree farm, so the wagon ride took us through some of their tree fields.

We grabbed some lunch from the little food stand and sat on the patio to eat – although the bees were quite pesky. Both boys fell asleep within minutes of leaving & took awesome naps that afternoon.

We had a really fun time & will continue to make this a part of our family fall traditions for years to come.

Colton & cousin "N" ready to take on the corn maze.

Corn maze fun.

Our 3 little "leaders"!

Colton taking daddy & Wyatt for a ride.

 

Deep conversation going on here.

Wyatt's turn to take Colton for a ride.

Wyatt loving the little tunnel slide.

Daddy & Colton coming down the BIG tunnel slide.

My 3 guys - "fishing"!

Too cute!

Family picture time!

The boys on our wagon ride.

More pumpkin fun!

We had a fun weekend planned with a Halloween party on Saturday & a visit to another local pumpkin patch on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Wyatt had quite the cough when I picked him up from daycare and ended up spiking a fever into the 102-103 range that night & into the overnight. So Cory & Colton ended up going to the Halloween party while I stayed home to snuggle with Wyatt (who seemed to be feeling much better later that afternoon). Wyatt was pretty bummed, but I let him wear his costume around the house so he didn’t feel totally left out. Colton & Cory also brought home some fun goodies for Wyatt, so he didn’t miss out on all the fun. The boys’ favorite goody bag item so far – small flashlights that have different “covers” to go over the lighted end – so they can shine pumpkins, bats & ghosts all over the house.

With Wyatt feeling better, we hit up the pumpkin patch early Sunday morning, right as they opened (as to try to beat the crowds since temps were supposed to be in the upper 60s by afternoon – warm compared to the 40s & 50s we’ve been dealing with so much lately!). Less crowds also let the boys enjoy a couple things that they probably wouldn’t have tried with all the “bigger” kids around later – specifically the bounce houses. 

This place has so much for kids to do – we didn’t even get to it all. It’s really fun to see how much the boys have grown since last year & how much more they could do this year. I had to take a couple of comparison pictures that I knew I had taken last year – so fun to look back at how little they were last year (or how big they’ve gotten this year!). One new item this year was a big, wooden train set to play on & ring the bell – ringing the bell was the boys’ favorite part, of course!

Daddy taught Wyatt how to keep his hands warm!

Bounce!

Wyatt loves it.

Driving the "choo-choo".

Climbing through the haystack tunnel.

Daddy with the boys & cousin "I"...taking turns driving the tractor.

Teamwork.

Wyatt ringing the bell.

Colton did it too!

"Look-how-much-they've-changed" pictures:

2011

2012

2011

2012

Pumpkin fun!

With the not-great weather this past weekend, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day we had on Tuesday & meet some friends at a local farm store/pumpkin patch. (This was the same local farm store we bought sweet corn & other veggies from this summer.) They had a cute little set up for some fall harvest fun & the best thing about it – it was FREE!!

We met a couple friends & their little girls for some playtime. The boys had a blast playing on the play set & lawn tractor (they fought over who’s turn it was every time!). There was a cute little hay bale maze that the boys loved – although they cheated a bit & crawled over the bales instead of trying to follow the path from time to time. They also had a small petting-zoo area with sheep, goats, donkeys & a pony. My boys are still unsure of farm animals & kept their distance (they are interested in them but are not about to get up-close) while the two little girls went right up & were petting them. Too funny!

We enjoyed a little more playtime on the play set and then tried (not very successfully) to take some pictures by the pumpkins. My boys were being boys & didn’t want to sit still long enough for me to get a good shot. We had a blast & will definitely be putting this place on our fall “to-do” list every year.

Riding the lawn mower.

Taking on the hay bale maze!

Jackpot!

Wyatt's fish-lips-face that he's famouse for.

Keeping his distance.

Wyatt taking on the maze again while
Colton drives the lawn mower in the background.

Playin'

I'll catch you Wyatt - so sweet!!

Playing on pumpkins with little friend "P".

Colton's taking that one.

Say "cheese"......OK, don't.

Wyatt didn't like his "free saddle ride"!

Colton ridin'

A giant pumpkin!

How do you get little boys to stand still for one minute?
Easy...have a tractor drive by...at least they are looking my way!!