A Fun Fall Weekend

We've had such a fun weekend full of lots of fall activities.

Friday was a strange weather day.

It was really warm and then in the afternoon it was sunny and thundering.  I heard later that a tornado touched down in Lancaster.  It was pouring outside after dinner, but no longer thundering and Owen wanted to play outside in the rain.  It was a really cold rain, but he had fun splashing!

Saturday morning we visited Ollie at the nursing home.

The fall decorations at Ollie's nursing home are so pretty I had to take a picture of the boys in front of them.

Owen was excited to push her in her wheelchair.  He does a really good job.  Both boys were very sweet to her, but Owen has always had a spot in his heart for Ollie.  When it was time to leave he gave her the same big hug he's given her ever since he was a baby.

Later that afternoon, while Adam was napping, Owen and I made pumpkin spice play dough.  My friend sent me the recipe.  The boys spend at least an hour a day playing play dough and now we have fresh, delicious smelling play dough!

As Mike was setting up our pumpkin carving area he noticed SOMEONE drew all over my mini van with blue chalk!!

As Mike was scolding Adam he (Mike) started cracking up.  Oh that boy!  He makes us so mad, but makes us laugh so hard too and sometimes it's really hard to keep on our "mean" face.

Once Adam was up from his nap we all carved pumpkins!

 

 

 

Feel free to leave a comment voting for your favorite pumpkin :)  Mike thinks our pumpkins kind of resemble us....?

1,2,3 or 4

Later Saturday night we all snuggled on the couch to watch It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  What a fun day!

iPhone Catch Up

I'm a little behind on my blogging and I couldn't really remember what we've been up to.  All I have to do when that happens is check my iPhone.  ha!

Mike was hunting last weekend- Thursday night thru Saturday afternoon.  Friday night the boys and I had a game night.  Playing Candy Land, Memory, and Shoots and Ladders is no small feat with Adam, but we managed and he did pretty well. 

Here are the boys last Saturday morning playing "house".  I had to take a picture because it made me laugh.  Adam is sitting in his rocking chair reading his baby a book.  Baby is asleep on the pillows.  Owen has his Ninjago guys lined up.  It was Owen's idea to play house.  It didn't last long, but I thought it was cute.

Sunday morning we went to Sunday school.  I took Adam to his Tots-n-Twos class which he loves.  I can only tell him about it Sunday morning because he gets so excited and asks every few minutes if it's time to go to "my school" yet.  He insisted on wearing his cowboy boots backwards that day.  His favorite part of "school" is free play, singing, and dancing with the instruments.

It was hard to get a clear picture since he wouldn't stand still.

This past Wednesday I took Adam to the eye doctor for a check up.  He had to get his eyes dialated too.  He did so well and barely fussed when they put "water" in his eyes.  He will tell every person he meets about how "the doctor put water in my eyes".  After a thorough examination the doctor told us that Adam no longer needed to wear his glasses.  His eyesight and astigmatism have improved enough that he does not need them.  Dr. M seemed a little surprised at the results too!  I thought he looked really cute in his glasses, but they were a big responsibility (for us).  Keeping them from getting lost, broken, and keeping them clean took a little extra time each day. 

Owen has homework every night of the week.  It doesn't take long and sometimes it's even fun... like make a pattern outside with leaves.  On this particular night he had to practice writing his full name 5 times.  For a little motivation, I told him I would take a picture of his homework once he finished and send it to Aunt Beth and Eric.  He was super excited and did his very best.  I think I'll have to use that more often.  His handwriting has really improved!

Today was Owen's Cornwalk fundraiser at school.  Mike was able to stop over and walk with Owen and Papa and Mel were there to cheer him on as well.  Mike said Owen was really embarrassed that he was there.  I think it was just out of Owen's typical routine and it threw him off a bit.  I told him to get used to it because in a couple weeks Mike is going in as a Secret Reader and a few weeks after that I am going in to read to his class.  I can't wait!

And just a little something that I want to remember about Adam...

Two weeks ago he threw a major tantrum at Owen's soccer game that I had to take him home.  He was fussy, tired, teething, and miserable to begin with and then he wanted to pee in the grass, in front of everyone.  I told him he was not allowed and that I would take him to the potty and that set him off.  So we went home.  This past Thursday I was having a talk with him about my expectations at soccer and how I wanted him to behave and have a much better time than last time and he looks a me and says, "Alwight, alwight, welax."  Yes, my two year old told me to relax.  I turned around, looked at Mike and both of us couldn't believe what we heard.  Then Mike said, "Oh my gosh, I say that.  He got that from me.  Oh no!"
Oh Adam!!  He's a trip.

Happy Friday!

Favorite Crock Pot Recipes

I just realized this is my 701st post.  Wow.  That's a lot of blogging!

As I mentioned before I LOVE using my crock pot this time of year.  There's nothing better than throwing everything in a pot in the morning and being gone all day and coming home to dinner already made.

I've made quite a few crock pot dinners lately and we've loved every one of them, which is rare.

Here are some of my favorite:

1.  Crock pot Baja Pork Tacos from Cara Carroll.  I love her recipe blog (and her teaching blog too!).  She has some of the best and yummiest recipes.  Her cream cheese crock pot chicken was a hit with all 3 of my boys too!

2.   McCormick's BBQ pulled pork packet is SOOOOOOO good and it made so much that we ate it for at least three days straight for dinner.  That's always a plus.  Mike put coleslaw and fried onions on top.  Yum! (the onion part, not the coleslaw part).

  3.  I was looking for a recipe for the crockpot for shepherd's pie.  Owen said that Linda makes it and it's soooooo good and wanted me to make it.  I told him that I made it before, but he didn't remember.  I don't think I really measure up to Linda's cooking in Owen's opinion.  Anyway, did you know there's a lady out there that cooked from her slow cooker for 365 days straight?!  She blogged about it and I get a lot of good recipes from her.  She had a recipe for shepherd's pie and it was deeeelicious and super easy to make. 

Some weeks I am so organized and have every meal planned out and all the things I need already bought from the store.  Other weeks, I am flying by the seat of my pants and quickly throwing something together for dinner each night.  This was one of those weeks.  Hopefully next week I can do better!

Happy Friday!

Chuck e Cheese

I wanted to pop in for a moment to post some more pictures from our fun three day weekend!  These are all taken inside with my iPhone so they aren't the greatest quality.

Finney and Papa took all of us (including Mel) to Chuck e Cheese on Monday.  The boys had never been there.  Owen kept calling it Pizza Planet (from Toy Story). 

I haven't been there since I was little and I had heard about some fights that have broken out between parents there in the past few years.  I was a little hesitant, but I knew the boys had to experience it at least once in their life.

Since we went on a Monday it wasn't too crowded and the boys had a great time!  I thought the games were a lot of fun, even for adults. 

It's kind of addicting to play over and over again to see how many tickets pop out.

Adam wanted to ride this horse over and over and over again.

I'm pretty sure we'll be going back again sometime!  I think I had just as much fun as the kids :)

 Oh, and I took a really funny video of Adam dancing.  I'll have to try to put it on my blog.  I did post it on my wall on FB, so check it out there if you have time.  It's hilarious!

Happy almost-Thursday!

Our Weekend

I just got a text from my sister that said, "Ummmm, Blogggggg already!".  So I am.

 This weekend has been so much fun!

Mike was testing out his new GoPro camera.  It's pretty amazing!

Saturday morning a bunch of us from work met up at Risser Marvel Farm for a hayride and some pumpkin pickin'.  Thankfully the weather cooperated and the rain held off. 

They also had an area set up with kids games and activities which the boys loved. 

We decided against the corn maze.  Being lost in a cornfield with a hungry and tired two year old is about the last placed I'd want to be!  Maybe next year.  I think Owen may have liked it.

Sweet Claire lives in our neighborhood and came along with her Aunt Lisa (who I work with).

While Adam was napping Saturday, I looked outside and saw this...
 

 

Owen loves shooting the bow and I know deep down it makes Mike very happy because sooner or later he's going to have himself an archery hunting buddy.

Saturday afternoon I took Adam to a birthday party and then came home to a house full of boys.  
We watched Port and Lee for the night while their parents were away.  Owen was so excited for them to get here that he could barely sleep the night before.  They played and played and played.  Hard. 

Mike has got to be exhausted though.  He played right along side the boys since the moment they got here.  They played tag, soccer, shot bow and arrow, rode bike, wrestled, played baseball, kickball and then this morning he took them into work to play in the gym since it was raining outside. 

Mike also made a camp fire last night so we could have Smores' then he organized a Beyblade tournament. 

Phew!  It was so much fun though and the boys are such sweethearts and so polite.  We were so glad to have them for the night.

And they just left and BOTH my boys are down for naps.  I have a feeling Owen may actually sleep today.  That boy has got to be worn out!