Say it ain't so

Corbin's clothes have been moved from the kid hangers to real adult hangers.

Tonight I looked down at his new shoes on the floor and my first thought was "who's HUGE shoes are those?"

When I hugged him today, I didn't even have to bend over.

I think my baby is growing up.  :(

tomatoes

So yesterday, I finally pulled up my garden and found a huge batch of perfectly ripe, protected-from-the-frost tomatoes.  Yay!  But unfortunately my kids also discovered them.  As I was pulling out the 8ft plants, green and red tomatoes were falling everywhere.  So what do little boys do with them?  Exactly.  Throw them, squish them, put them on sticks, bounce them on the trampoline.  So today, when I looked out and saw what a mess my patio was after I just cleaned the yard, I told Cody to figure out a way to clean up his mess (because of course he is the main culprit).  So I check back a few minutes later and he is out their scooping them up with the kids snow shovel and I thought, "wow, what a good kid."  But here's how it went down after that...

Cody - "Mom, I can't do this, it's going to make me throw up."
Mom - "Too bad, you shouldn't have made such a mess."

And since I promised myself I would never make my kids clean up their own vomit - I guess the joke's on me.  Maybe I should have just cleaned up the tomatoes.

HaLLoWeeN 2010

CoRbIn - The Mummy.  Costume hand-sewn by Dad with first aid gauze. Head wrap and face paint my Mom.  Butterfly bandage (yes, it's real) from getting hit by a door at school.

CoDy - The Ninja.  Black shirt and pants from DI, weapons $5 at Walmart.  The rest of the costume, including the mask, silver stripes and velcro chinese stars sewn by Dad. 

CoLtOn - The Frog.  Costume hand-me down from big brother.  He was a little cranky for pics because he had just woken from a nap, but he was the best little hopper ever.  When anyone asked him what he was going to be for Halloween, he would hop and say "ribbit, ribbit."

And the festivities included . . .

Corbin's party at school.  Colton helped me with the game station.  Then we got to watch all the kids parade through the school and around the black top.  That was fun.

Visiting Grandma Sharee at her school.  Corbin actually had Friday off, so we went to see Despicable Me at the dollar movie and then to see Grandma in her cute farm girl costume.

Fire Dept Halloween Party.  Chili cook-off, cake walk, pinatas, pumpkin bowling (by moi), trunk or treat and lots of fun.  And Corbin won 1st place for best costume.  It was a great night.

On Saturday, Main Street trick or treat while daddy & Colton took a nap.  It's fun to see the scarecrows and to see everyone's costumes in the daylight.  But it's getting more and more crowded every year, it was fun, but I don't think we'll be doing it again.

And of course, the traditional trick or treating on Halloween (which actually occurs on Saturday in Utah when Halloween falls on the Sabbath).  This picture was actually taken the night before.  Which was good.  I got NO pictures of the actual Halloween, because it was rainy and yucky and the first time Russ and the kids attempted to go out, they actually got hailed on.  Luckily they were still in our cul-de-sac, but they had to make a run for it and that was a bit frightening.  But after about an hour it cleared and then the whole neighborhood was out.  It turned out not too bad, although you couldn't really see anyone's costume's because they were all covered with coats, gloves and hats.  Oh well, the kids had fun, that's all that counts.  We ended the night with a scary Scooby Doo movie and popcorn.  It was a good night.

In Mourning

For Fall.  Oh how I will miss it.  I am not ready for this dreary, rainy, cold weather.  We have had such lovely, warm sunshine for almost two months.  It almost felt like we got to extend summer fun for just a little bit.  Mother Nature was so good to us, so I really can't complain, but I am never ready to let it go.  I love the leaves and the sun with cool breezes.  But alas, we must say goodbye.  Luckily we did get to get out and enjoy the beauty of the earth during this most wonderful season...

Hiking up Santaquin Canyon with Grandma & Grandpa while Dad was gone hunting:

Hiking up Diamond Fork WITH Daddy:

 

Goodbye Autumn.  We grieve and await your return.  :(

Still Growing Strong

Last week this is what my garden looked like:

And it was still producing:

And now, what to do with ALL this:

Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE having a garden, but I think I need to work on a little variety next year.  We have been eating squash and zucchini way too much lately.  And since I'm the only one who eats tomatoes, that is getting old too.  (Although I did find a really yummy zucchini soup recipe that I have made several times and even my kids eat it.)  We did have ONE cantaloupe that I babied all summer, and then it got plucked by one un-named two year old and left on the lawn too long. :(

But I am already excited for next year - any tips for not having my beans and peas die?  Oh, and I think I will plant lots of pumpkins.  Those are fun.

The end of a tradition?

So ever since Corbin was ONE, we have been going to this place called HEE HAWS every fall. It is your typical fall festival/pumpkin gathering type place and I have always thought it to be a fun family outing until . . . (a) for the second year in a row, I felt sorry for the penned up animals (and I don't even like animals that much) and (b) all of my kids were wheezing, hacking and having crappy allergies all night long after. So that night I am thinking - why would I take my poor asthmatic/allergic-to-everything kids to a place with hay and dust and animals? Who knows. But I will probably forget by next year and take them again anyway. And we did have a dang good time despite it all.