Pumpkin Carving

We spent Monday carving pumpkins with the Zinkes. Growing up I always enjoyed carving pumpkins, but I've never had the patience to do any really intricate carving. Mostly, I just liked getting my hands dirty and squishing the pumpkin guts in between my fingers (I still like it). Justin, who enjoys doing the intricate carvings, gets easily frustrated with the short attention span of me and the boys and this year he decided that he was going to be an observer only. (I am sure though, that in a few years, he and the boys will want to do marathon intricate pumpkin carving sessions and I will be the observer - so it will even out.) Anyway, I thought that Clayton would get really into it this year. And he did - sort of. He refused to stick his hands inside the pumpkin!! He didn't want to get them dirty!! What kind of a boy is this!?! So he sat and used a spoon to scoop out the seeds - in case you're wondering, it's not very effective. Well, here are a few pictures of the event:
At first Clayton was fascinated with watching. I love the concentration on his face!

Eventually, he wanted to try to do it himself - without sticking his hands in the pumpkin! This didn't last too long. Once he figured out how long it was taking he decided that he was done.
Noah, however, didn't mind getting dirty. He wanted to eat every piece of pumpkin he could find. It was pretty funny, he'd taste it, make a disgusted face, and try it again! We were laughing pretty hard!
Eventually, I found myself carving our pumpkin alone. While this didn't really surprise me (short attention spans - remember) it did make me want to hurry and finish the pumpkin. In my haste I made a few mistakes...my pumpkins nose and eye are connected, it's not too noticable, but they are connected and when I drew the face on our pumpkin I drew him some teeth, I thought I was being a smartie and finding a really tricky and fast way to cut out the mouth, in reality, I just accidentally cut off all of his teeth. Oops! All in all, the carving only took about 45 minutes, which is the perfect amount of time for someone like me who has no patience for this sort of activity. And, despite my mistakes, I still think it turned out pretty cute:
Clayton took these pictures. He's not too bad!

It was a fun night with good food, good friends, and (if I do say so myself) a good, if not a little generic, pumpkin!

Isn't this a sweet face...
He looks so sweet and innocent and angelic. However, he is capable of very bad things...

That's right!! This is SHARPIE!!!! These are only pictures of two of the places he colored. He also got his sheet and pillowcase, the ladder of the bunk bed, the carpet, and a Leap Pad book. Where was his mother, you wonder. Well, she was in the bathroom, for two minutes - TOPS!! I have no idea where he got the Sharpie (we keep them up pretty high - but, as I've said before, he's a climber). He must have known that his time to wreak havoc would be limited because he sure did color on everything he could find in a very short period of time. All of this occured minutes before we were supposed to leave for our ward's Trunk or Treat so, after I yelled and cried (oh yes I did) and punished (just time out - we needed some 'apart' time) we had to leave. I tried to get it off with no luck. I thought the day was ruined. However, when Justin came home (he'd been gone all day - but he knew of my struggles due to a couple of tearful voicemails) he arrived with...
YAY!!! Lo and Behold - the Sharpie CAME OFF!!! Of everything except the bedding (sad, but not as tragic as my walls or cabinets). I always love Justin but I have to say I my love for him grew at that moment. He saved my walls, my sanity, and my relationship with my baby. Needless to say, the Sharpies are now safely hidden away to prevent future disasters. I did have to laugh though, when Clayton saw it. I was getting ready for the trunk or treat when he saw the wall. He gasped and said, "Mom! What did you do!?!" Seriously Clayton, you think I did this? I had to laugh a little and I told him that Noah did that. To which he replied, "Noah made a VERY bad choice!" Clayton was certainly my comic relief at that moment.

**The moral of this story - I can never go to the bathroom again.**

Noah

I have a few pictures of Noah that are quite random, so I thought I'd throw them all in one post and just kind of update you on what he's been up to lately:
I don't know what it is with two year olds and big shoes. Clayton went through this phase when he was this age.
(This is Clayton when he was around Noah's age.)
It seems as though Noah has discovered the joy of wearing gigantic shoes. I remember, as a little girl, wearing my mom's heels around the house. Apparently that isn't just fun for little girls!!

Noah is getting (slightly) better about sleeping in a "big boy" bed. He's only fallen out of bed twice this week! Every night, when I go to check on him after he's fallen asleep, he is sleeping with some large, hard toy. I can't imagine sleeping next to something that hard and cold. Anyway, last night when I went to check on him I found him snuggling with this train. I had to take a picture of it. I also had to wonder how on earth he was able to fall asleep comfortably next to this toy (and the random piece of wood by his feet - I need to get this kid a stuffed animal)!!
He is also at that age where he has to do everything himself. If I try to feed him, or get him something, he repremands me with a stern, "No! I do it!" It can be a little frustrating. One of his favorite things to do is feed himself. I like that he does this, it frees me to do other things, but it always ends in a huge mess! Today, when he finished his breakfast, he decided to show me that he was done instead of tell me. In case you can't tell, he also really likes to build things. What a mess!
Finally, here is Noah in his Halloween costume. We decided this year that a monkey was the PERFECT costume for Noah (since he likes to throw things, climb on things, and bananas are his favorite fruit). I thought this picture was sweet because he's sucking his thumb. Whenever I see him with his thumb in his mouth, it reminds me of when he was a baby. Truthfully, I love to see him like this (although hopefully sometime in the new year he will give it up).
So there are a few of the things that Noah has been up to lately. He's getting so big, I can't believe he's going to be two in a month!!! I love this little guy, even though he can be VERY "two" sometimes, he's still such a sweet little boy and I am so lucky to be his mom!!

Dogs and Horses

Yesterday was, for my boys, the greatest day EVER!! Justin and I have been talking for a while about getting a dog. We always come to the same conclusion: our house is too small, our boys are really young (when we look at rescues out here, they say your kids have to be older than 5 in order to qualify for a dog), and we have no income. So the answer is always, "Not right now, but maybe in residency." This topic comes up about once a month. Our boys both LOVE dogs and we know that, even though it would be a lot of work, a dog would just fit right into our family dynamic.
So, back to yesterday, we got a real treat! My good friend Mindi and her husband have a beautiful black lab named Maggie. She let us "borrow" Maggie yesterday! We got to have Maggie with us all day yesterday - plus she got to spend the night!!! Needless to say, the boys were in HEAVEN!! They adore her and they spent the entire day yesterday following her around endlessly. Clayton especially loved it. He spent the whole day pretending he was a dog too. It was so much fun (and perfect for us because we got to see how the kids would do with a dog without actually having to get one)! We came to the conclusion that, someday, a dog is definitely a must for our family (which kind of surprises me a little because, after growing up with millions of dogs, I never thought I'd want one)!!
The boys wanted to do everything with her. They loved that she followed them everywhere.
She thinks that Noah is especially tasty (although, in fairness, so do I). She can't stop licking him. This is just fine with Noah, he laughs and smiles and gets so excited when he sees her coming at him.
She played tag with Clayton. This was so nice because Clayton always wants to play tag and I just don't have the energy to play tag for hours (which is what he wants to do). Maggie, however, has endless energy and didn't mind an endless game of tag!
Here are my puppies.
Both boys were fascinated by Maggies dog bed (they'd have slept there last night if I would have let them).
First thing this morning, Clayton turned back into a dog! (And Noah decided to eat dog food as an 'after breakfast' snack - delicious!)
The other fun thing that happened yesterday was that we got tickets to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. Just a brief history for people who don't know what they are - Lipizzaner Stallions are white horses that are from Austria. They are incredibly intelligent and very well trained. Anyway, they dance. It's fun and if you have an opportunity to see it sometime, it's worth seeing! A guy in our ward had three tickets that he couldn't use so he gave them to us. We took Clayton (we didn't want to have to chase Noah around the arena, so we left him with friends) and it was great! The horses were amazing, we were all pretty impressed with them. For some reason though, all of our pictures of the horses were either blurry or really dark. Sad, but here are the best of the ones we took:
I wish our pictures would have turned out better, because these horses were so cool and my pictures just don't do them justice!!
The horses performed for about an hour and then there was an intermission. During the intermission, we had some SERIOUS fun!! Clayton has decided recently that he is a photographer. He loves to take pictures but we rarely let him. Well, during the intermission, he was given the camera and told to shoot away. We got some really funny stuff. Here are a few of my favorites (I know Justin and I look ridiculous, but it was so much fun and we were all laughing so hard that I just had to post these!):




And here are my favorites that Clayton didn't take:

I love it when Clayton is silly in pictures - it cracks me up!

It was almost sad when intermission was over and we had to go back to watching the horses (but not that sad since the horses were awesome).

Anyway, it was a fun day. Though Maggie was DEFINITELY the highlight of the day (and probably the week)! Thanks Mindi and Troy for letting us watch her! She's such a great dog it was hard to give her back!!

Be My Echo...and other fun stuff

Lately I can't stop thinking about that Sesame Street song, 'Be My Echo'. Mostly because that's what Clayton is. He has been repeating the things that Justin and I say to him. At first it was funny, but now it's just annoying - especially when he says it to Noah.
Here is my latest example:
The other day we were driving to dinner with friends after getting family pictures done. We decided to run home first and grab something and this did not sit well with Clayton. He demanded that we go to our friends house first. When I didn't respond he said (in his best "mom" voice):
Mom! What did I say! Tell me mom, what did I say!
At first Justin and I just laughed, but he was so serious! The funnier we found it, the angrier he got (understandably, I'd feel the same way). Oh boy, I can feel trouble coming!

On to the other fun stuff. Here are a few things we've been doing lately:
Pajama parties with friends (this is Enoch, he's only a few weeks older than Noah - they are SO cute when they play together)!
Being just like daddy. Justin was studying last night and, when Clayton saw that, he ran to his room to get his computer so that he could do what Justin was doing. I love that he wants to be so much like his daddy! Isn't imitation supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery!?!
Still trying to get the hang of sleeping in a "big boy" bed. It's been over a week now. Every night when I go to check on the boys before I go to bed I find Noah in some crazy sleeping position with some toy that is not supposed to be slept with (notice the car garage by his head).
I guess that it hasn't been the most exciting week around the Smith house, but we are sure having fun. The weather has, thankfully, warmed up a bit and the leaves are gorgeous. I am going to leave you all with a couple of pics of fall in Vermont (try not to be too jealous)! It is seriously gorgeous out here!!!
(Okay, so I didn't take these, but you get the idea. I know that there are some pretty colors out west, but you just don't get reds like this anywhere else!) Anyone want to come visit?

Field Trip!

I feel like I am posting every day lately. It's just that we always seem to have so much going on in the fall and I don't want to forget to document any of it. Since I don't really scrapbook or anything I need to use this blog to document our happenings so that, someday, my boys will know that we did DO stuff.

Yesterday was Clayton's first field trip! His preschool class went to Lunt Farms to visit their pumpkin patch. He had a blast! As a parent, I thought it was kind of lame but Clayton had the best time! It's funny how easily entertained kids are - when do we loose that?

When we first got there the kids were supposed to look at the animals. However the only animals that were there to see were a coop of chickens, pigs, and goats. Also, the pigs SMELLED! It was so bad that we just walked by them instead of stopping to look at them. Besides, they had a playground not too far away from the animals and, once the preschoolers saw that, they had no interest in the animals.
Clayton and his friend, Saksham, playing at the playground.
They played on the playground for about an hour before we got to go on our hayride. The hayride was the highlight of the trip for Clayton. We rode for about a minute when we got to the "pumpkin patch". Really, it was just a bunch of pumpkins laying on the ground, but the kids didn't care. Clayton and I each got to choose a pumpkin (he was very excited about this). Then the hayride circled back around until we were back at the main building (it took about 5 minutes altogether).
Clayton and I on the hayride.
Clayton choosing his pumpkin.
Clayton and I with our pumpkins.
Once back at the main building, the kids got to have donuts and apple cider. This was MY favorite part! After that, the field trip was over. We only spent about half an hour doing the "pumpkin patch" activities! So, like I said, lame to me - but I couldn't wipe the smile off of Clayton's face. That made everything worth it!
Mmm, apple cider and donuts!
Clayton's excitement made it a great day. I'm really glad I was able to go on this field trip with him. It's definitley one of the perks of being a stay-at-home mom! I'm glad he had so much fun. Even though I thought that parts of this trip were a little lame, I wouldn't change anything about it!

Sunday

Yesterday was such a great day! First of all, no one is sick anymore (hooray)! Fortunately we just had 24 hour bugs so they passed quickly. Here are a couple of other things that made yesterday such an amazing day:
It's always great to hear the leaders of our church speak. I always feel so uplifted and so determined to live my life better. One of my favorite talks was the one President Monson gave at the end of the first Sunday session. He said (and I'm paraphrasing) that one day the fingerprints everywhere will be gone, the toys will not be scattered all over the floor, and there won't be any more piles of laundry all over but that we will miss it. We need to enjoy the moment we are in, not anxiously looking ahead to what is to come and wishing it were already here. I felt like he was talking just to me! I look forward to the day when all my kids will be in school, the day Justin retires and we can travel, graduating med school and moving on, etc. While I still look forward to those things, I know that I need to enjoy this time with my family right now. Clayton and Noah are at such great ages and I don't want to look back at this time with them and think, "I wish I had enjoyed it more." It goes by too fast. I took many things away from this conference, but I think that this was the lesson that really hit me hard. I am really going to try to slow down and enjoy every 'today' so that my family and I will have great memories and no regrets when we look back on our times together.

The next thing that was great about yesterday was getting to spend the whole day with the Zinkes. They are so much fun and we love it when they come over! We had a delicious brunch with pumpkin waffles (mmm, it tasted like pumpkin pie in waffle form) and bacon (a personal favorite)! Then, in between conference sessions, we made Halloween gingerbread houses! Vanessa made all the gingerbread (thanks for that)! It was perfect. Clayton even got to make a graham cracker house! They turned out so cute. They are such fun (and delicious) Halloween decorations. Here are the final results of the decorating:
Here is Clayton's graham cracker house. He is so proud of it! I love that he is old enough to get into this kind of stuff now!
Here's what mine ended up looking like:
The front
The back
Side 1
Side 2 (I really love the golden graham roof shingles - easily my favorite part of the house!)
Vanessa is such a creative person. Her house ended up looking amazing (she claimed she wasn't finished with it when she left, but it still looked awesome)! I can't wait for her to post pics so I can see what her end result looks like.

Finally, Sunday marked another milestone for my baby boy. Noah was moved into a big boy bed (a.k.a. the bottom bunk)! Justin and I didn't want to move him. He's my baby and I am not at all anxious for him to grow up! We were hoping to wait until the new year to move him into Clayton's room, but Noah had other ideas. Over the past few weeks Noah has been jumping out of bed. Seriously, jumping. He perches on the side of the crib like a little gargoyle and then just jumps! It's scary - I kept waiting for him to break something. We kept moving the crib mattress down in hopes that he'd stop jumping ship, but no luck. When he wasn't jumping out of bed, he was kicking the bars so hard that I was certain he'd crack one! Since my dad hand-made our crib, I'd be devistated if it broke. So last night was the night. We had actually put Noah in his crib, but he was kicking so hard against the bars for so long that we finally just made the decision that he needed to be out of it - NOW! Clayton was so excited to have a bunk buddy! After we put them down (the first time) we stood outside the door and heard Clayton saying things like, "you're a big boy now Noah", "you have to go to sleep Noah", and "don't be sad Noah, it's fun to sleep in a big boy bed". To which Noah always responded, "okay keekiss". Cute! Well, sleep did not come easily to my boys last night. I had to go into their room many times and put them back in bed. One of the times (around 11:00 I think) I went in there and the light was on, the toys were out, and both boys were playing away! Eventually the noises died down and both boys went to sleep (around 11:45).
Noah looks so big to me here. I really wanted to keep him in the crib as long as I could. It was probably selfish on my part, but I feel like I was in too much of a hurry for Clayton to grow out of his baby stages and become a big kid. I think I am overcompensating by trying to keep Noah a baby forever. Fortunately (or not, depending on how you see it), he keeps reminding me that he's ready to grow up whether I'm ready for it or not!
So there you have it. Yesterday was such a great day it totally made up for the yucky week we just had! I love days like that, where everything just seems to go right and everyone is happy. I can definitely say that yesterday was one of those days that we lived in the moment and enjoyed every second of!