More pumpkins!

**I'm almost all caught up! I have one more post I may try to squeeze in before I post all about Halloween so keep checking back, I'm on FIRE!**

Yesterday you read my scintillating post about our adventure-filled trip to the pumpkin patch. I then left you with a cliffhanger: "What did they do with those pumpkins!?!" The suspense must have been killing you. I apologize, but now you get another post!

I thought hard this year about what we were going to do with our pumpkins and I came up with an idea that I think is genius! The girls painted their pumpkins and the boys carved theirs. This way, everyone got to do something with their pumpkin and I didn't have to do all of the work (mostly for the girls, the boys proved last year that they're pretty good pumpkin carvers).

We aren't one of those families who goes crazy with pumpkin carving. We don't do intricate designs or anything fancy. We're pretty traditional and old school.

Here are the pictures (there's a lot of them - I'm trying to overcompensate for the pumpkin patch picture debacle):

These girls loved painting their pumpkins. It was so nice to just sit back and watch them do their thing (much better than trying to let them 'help' me carve).

 Love this cute messy, necked baby!

 Clayton was an animal! He worked so hard!

 The girls pumpkins. I think they turned out adorable!

 Clayton and Noah got a little help from Justin for some of the more intricate parts.

The boys had gotten haircuts that morning. They apparently gave Noah stickers. He put that one on his forehead and it stayed there all day.

 Love the look of concentration.

  The boy's finished pumpkins.

I love the bumpy pumpkins. Clayton's especially (his is probably my favorite - but shhhhh, don't tell the other kids!).

 All four:

 The boy's all lit up (Josie got mad at this point because hers didn't light up - oops):

Getting ready to put them by the front door (we had to wait for the paint to dry on the girl's pumpkins so we did this the next day after church - that's why they're especially fancy).

Love these kids and the pumpkins that they decorated (almost) entirely by themselves. We had the best night doing this with them. I love that they're getting old enough where projects like this are truly family events (not just me and Justin doing the work while the kids get bored and leave). These kids are pretty awesome! Bring on Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

**This is my second post of the day ::pause while I wait for you to stop applauding:: so scroll down to see my earlier post about Noah's gross tongue.**

We went on a field trip last week with Josie's class to the pumpkin patch. This is our fourth year going on this field trip and I love it every year. It's my absolute favorite! This year I was worried about the weather (we've gone in both great weather and in nasty weather - I prefer the nice weather). The day seemed like it was going to be a cold one so I made sure we were extra bundled. I'm glad we were. The weather was cold, but with all our layers we were nice and comfortable!

Since pumpkin patches are pretty self explanatory, I'll let our pictures do (most of) the talking!
Hay ride (me and the girls with Josie's super cute friend Ruby)

 Love these sweet excited girls!

After the hay ride we went through a corn maze. I wanted to take pictures of it, but Josie was running so fast and so far ahead of us that it was all we could do to keep up with her!

Jo with her prize pumpkin:

Sammie (who wouldn't look at the camera) with hers (she loooooves that pumpkin, she wouldn't let it go for anything - even though she struggled to carry it):

 The kids in her school (this is four classes worth of kids):

They also had a playground and a petting zoo but I didn't get pictures of that either. Hmmm, maybe my pictures don't tell that great of a story after all. Oh well, it was still a great time - even if I didn't photograph it all! We also picked up some cool pumpkins for Clayton and Noah. If you stay tuned (hopefully tomorrow) I'll post about what we did with them!

Ouch!

**I'm about a million posts behind (that always seems to happen this time of year). So check back often. I'm going to try to post a lot this week!**

So, Noah and Josie were playing really well together when I suddenly heard screaming. It was Noah. His screaming was angry screaming, not hurt screaming. Because of past experience I assumed something had happened with Josie and he was mad at her. He ran in to where I was with his hands shoved into his mouth, screaming his angry scream. Since it's not unusual for him to have something in his mouth, I didn't think anything of it. I kept asking him what happened, but he just kept screaming. I walked into the kitchen and he (thankfully) followed me in there, screaming the whole way.

I finally got a little frustrated with him and demanded that either he take his hands out of his mouth and talk to me, or he take his hands out of his mouth and go find something nice to do, but either way he needed to take his hands out of his mouth! He did. And then the whole tone of the afternoon changed.

Blood was everywhere. Honestly. Pouring out of his mouth like I've never seen. It was dripping down his front, puddling under him on the floor, squirting on to my cabinets. It was insane! Noah's screams instantly changed from angry to hurt/scared. I've never heard him make that sound before and it was awful. There was so much blood that I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Apparently his hands were acting as a tourniquet and staunching the blood flow...until I demanded that he take them out. We went through several paper towels before the blood flow was light enough that I could see where it was coming from (honestly, this took about 10 minutes).

When I finally was able to get a good look in his mouth, I saw that he'd bitten a hole RIGHT THROUGH HIS TONGUE! It was nasty. I could have put my finger through that hole. All I know is that he and Josie crashed into each other. I guess Noah runs around with his mouth open and tongue out.

I took a cell phone picture and called Justin to figure out what our next step should be. After some back and forth we decided that we'd do nothing about it. (We could have had it stitched, but they'd have had to put him completely under for that and we just weren't comfortable with that.)

Pictures:
This was right after it happened. Poor kid was terrified. Not going to lie, I was pretty scared myself.

Noah couldn't eat or talk well for days. It was SOOOO sad! Justin and I were trying to give him pudding and ice cream and jello. Anything so he would eat (but he still didn't). He was starving. Nothing breaks a mother's heart like watching their child be hurt or sad. Thankfully, the really bad part was only two days. Then things got better quickly.

This was taken the day after the incident.

Things I've learned:
-Accidents happen. They happen less though, if you keep your tongue in your mouth when you run around.
-Watching your baby sit there, unable to eat, but trying so hard is a heartbreaker (I cried every day - poor kid).
-The tongue is a BLEEDER! Holy cow!
-The tongue heals SO FAST! It's been just over a week since the accident, and it's barely noticeable anymore!

We are so glad that he's better now! He's such a trooper. He handled it well. Love this kid.

 

Had to...

This little girl dressed herself today (not in the literal sense, but she was very adamant about which clothes she was going to allow me to put on her). I was going to try to get her in something else, but sometimes it's just not worth the fight. Besides, her little outfit was pretty cute. Therefore, I had to post about it.

She feels very sneaky wearing Josie's fancy boots (Side note: I must have been out of my mind when I let Josie get those - holy gaudy Batman!)

 Oh yeah, and she packs heat. I wouldn't mess with her.

Can we just talk for a sec about how my baby is growing up? I feel a little like mourning the infant that once was. If she weren't such a joy and a delight as a toddler I'd cry every day. Seriously. It's hard watching your last baby grow up.

Here's the deal Sammie, I've let you get this far but that's it. You officially have to STOP getting bigger. Your momma's not sure her heart can take it (and I don't think your daddy's could either)!

Family Pictures!

**If you don't need the play by play go ahead and skip down, there's tons of pictures!**

I was noticing recently how the last time we had family pictures taken, Sammie wasn't even on our radar. I mean, my SIL took a few shots for us at my sister's wedding when Sam was 4 months old, but really they're not my favorite. Not because Kerstin did a bad job (she didn't - she's awesome and I'd recommend her to anyone even though she's not technically a "professional") but for a bunch of other reasons. I didn't like the way I looked, we didn't get one with everyone looking at the camera, the outfits weren't what I would have chosen for family pictures, etc. etc. etc.

It had been bugging me for years but I was hesitant to bring it up because Justin megaloathes family pictures. I get it, it's frustrating to take pictures with a bunch of wild animals children who require constant bribing, cajoling, and bargaining in order to get the job done. On top of all that, you need to maintain YOUR composure and keep a smile on YOUR face while your children are throwing exorcist style tantrums in the background and just pray that the photographer snaps the picture in such a way as to make the tantrums look like something that we planned as a fun photo op. And even after all that, there's no guarantee that there's going to be a good one. Sigh.

However, when I brought it up with Justin he was very agreeable and on board! Apparently three years in between family pictures is a good space. It's long enough that it gives you time to forget the last experience (much like childbirth).

I found an awesome photographer in our stake. She'd done some pictures for a few other families that we know so I already knew I liked her work. When we spoke I told her I only wanted one thing:

A decent picture where I look good, every one is looking at the camera, and no one is obviously crying or pouting.

I tried to set the bar low.

We met her on the Notre Dame campus for the photo shoot. The first thing that happened when we met up with Stephanie was Josie got very angry. "She's prettier than me!", she pouted. (Seriously, who is this kid - what four year old thinks these things!?!) Stephanie is pretty, she kind of looks like a Disney princess but you really can't compare the two. However, since I needed her cooperation I started in on the "no, no one's prettier than you" spiel. (**I know, I know, it makes me angry at myself that I went there too, but I had to do what I had to do for a good picture. Three years people! Three years!)

We were in kind of a rush because we had about 30 minutes before Justin had to leave for work. I think Stephanie did an excellent job. The kids (and Justin) came through for me in the end and I am very pleased with the end result.

I will now share a sampling of the pictures. But I'm not giving away the farm here, I'm saving the true gems for the Christmas card. So if you're not on my card list and want to be let me know. They're going to be frame-worthy this year.

Here we go:
Now, if I were to officially title our shoot, I'd call it "why you should never do things with a two year old". They're bribe proof, bargain proof, and reason proof. It's just a fact.

This pose (below) was not a good idea. Sammie clearly doesn't understand what's happening and, again, Noah's giving some serious face. (Is there an 'America's Next Top 6 Year Old Model'? I think he'd win.)

These two (below) happen to be two of my favorites. Of course it's the ones where we all look goofy. Go figure.

 Me and my man. My shirt is not doing a flattering thing here. Promise I'm not pregnant.

I actually really like these ones on the bench and I think I may have used them for our Christmas card if Justin and I had been sitting closer together. We kind of look like strangers sitting on the same bench. Sigh. Bummer.

I call this last series, "the two year old is officially over it":

She did get some really great individuals:

 Hello handsome!

 He looks so good when he's not giving us that weird cheesy smile!

 She was over it too, until Stephanie showed her what she looked like on camera. Then Miss Diva turned it ON!

 Sammie refused to be posed (no one is shocked). But we got some good ones. Love this baby!

This one of the girls might actually be my favorite shot of the whole day. Seriously. I love the interaction, the candidness, the happiness. Makes my heart smile.

 And, of course, these fine men. Be still my beating heart!

We had a pretty good experience with family pictures this year and hopefully, in another three years, it'll be even better (they'll ALL be old enough for reason/bribery/threats then - muahahahahaha!) Huge thank you to Stephanie Purcell for the pictures and to Justin for going along with me on this. Taking family pictures isn't necessarily my favorite thing, but I sure do love the result!