Pumpkin Carving 101

Yay!! It's finally that time again...the time for trick-or-treating, jack-0-lanterns, and best of all...candy!!! What better way to mark the season than to carve a good pumpkin...or three! Yep, this year we used our creative skills on not one, but 3 pumpkins! The kids each wanted one for themselves, so we dug through the piles of pumpkins and found what Ian deemed as "perfect" pumpkins. The boys love to give us ideas on how to make the faces and their all time favorite part is scooping out the "guts". Well, they had plenty of guts to scoop this year! Ian also decided that he needed to save all the seeds...not for roasting, but for planting. He wants to grow some pumpkins for next year! What a fun idea and one that they will definitely get involved in! Here is our Jack-o-lanterns that will grace our front porch this Halloween night! Hope everyone has fun, happy, and safe Halloween!!


Nicholas thinks pumpkins are neat too!!
My little "poser" getting ready to clean his pumpkin
Trevor wanted to "stir" the pumpkins :-)
Nothing more fun than scooping out a pumpkin!

While pumpkins are fun to carve, they leave a funny smell....Ian's face says it all!! haha
Donovan's first creation...he deemed this one "Ichabod's fate" :-)
This was my creation although I had some help from Donovan...Nicholas wasn't too hip on Mommy carving pumpkins this year!
Last but not least....Ian's creation...the "OOHHHHh" pumpkin
Our masterpieces all lined up and glowing away!

The Leaves are Falling...

Which means it has to be Maple Leaf Festival time!! Yep, last weekend was the yearly Maple Leaf Festival in Carthage and we decided to brave the thousands of people that flock to it and took the boys to the parade! The Maple Leaf parade is very long, it's usually cold or raining, and there are literally thousands of people lined on the streets to catch the action. It's great! This year was absolutely beautiful weather for the parade. After walking many blocks, we finally found a good spot to watch from. Ian and Trevor loved it! Trevor could usually be found with his hands over his ears because he thought it was loud. But, when the bands would get close, the hands came down and his little booty would start shaking. He just couldn't resist the music! haha Must be the drummer in him! Ian was content to catch the candy being thrown at us, not to mention he had to taste-test it too! Nicholas was perfectly content sleeping the morning away....despite the bands, the people, the horns, and everything else. After the parade, we went to the car show (which was immensely cool) and then back to the square for a little carnival fun. We all had a great day and are looking forward to doing it all over again next year!



Nicholas peacefully snoozing away
Catching candy by the roadside is always good fun!
I'm a dancin' machine!!

Catching the parade from the best seat on the side of the road...Daddy's tall shoulders!
Lollipops for breakfast, anyone??
The tower was the only way to get to the top of the big slide!
Ian braved it and made it in record time!
What a great day we had!!
It made me very sleepy :-)

Leaps and Bounds

I'm finally blogging again...YAY!!!! It's been awhile since my last post and the boys have been eating up all my spare time these days. Nicholas is a touch colicky these days but I was able to catch a few good grins. He is growing so fast!!! He is 7 weeks old now and weighing in at almost 13lbs! His big brothers love him so much that they can't seem to let him get any peace and quiet! haha He is constantly hugged and kissed but he doesn't seem to mind that much. He really gets a kick out of his big brothers' antics these days. Here are a few pics of my little man and his very loving big brother!


Trevor is never very far from his side
I'm getting so chunky now!!! :-)
sweet little face

My favorite pic of these two....

Cheese!!!!!!!!!