Pumpkins and . . . Snow?

Happy Halloween Everyone!  The spooky festivities are underway here!  This week we carved our pumpkins and started making the trick-or-treat rounds! With LOTS of pumpkins this year - thanks to the always great prices at Anderson's - we did LOTS of carving, even some unconventional kind!  Once again Riley was a little cautious about sticking his hand into the pumpkin goo, but we finally convinced him it was ok and he could wash his hands afterwards.  Daddy went for the typical scary jack-o-lantern, and Mommy decided to try something new.  It started out as "etching" not carving all the way through, however, since she chose a white pumpkin (with thicker flesh) it wasn't working to were you could see the light through the flesh.  So she just ended up carving it like all the rest.  Jayce's resembles him slightly: happy 2-toothed grin, and then we also made some extras!

Mommy was really excited to try some "vampire" pumpkins, but her Favorite thing she saw was this baby pumpkin!! 

The one she originally picked out for herself to carve ended up being the perfect size to put Jayce in!  He didn't even seem to mind it too much and started trying to eat the pumpkin a little bit into the photoshoot.  But this was just too cute to pass up!

We had to bring all our pumpkins inside last Tuesday night so that we could carve them.  Otherwise it would have been very difficult to do.  See, that's because Northern Colorado got a HUGE snowstorm last Tuesday and Wednesday.  We got around 10 inches of snow, wet heavy snow.  It did a number on all the trees around here.  Thankfully none of ours were heavily damaged - the perk of having all saplings!  Our Aspen tree had a few broken branches, and we definitely won't be using our russian sage for "winter landscape" this year, but other than that we made it out nearly unscathed. 

It was Jayce's first time to "play" in the snow - and he wasn't too thrilled about it.  I tried to keep him contained Wed. morning so I could shovel some of the 9 inches off the driveway.  I put him in the sled, which was fine for a while.  Then he decided he wanted to climb out of sled.  That didn't go so well, considering the sled was "floating" on 9 inches of soft snow.  As soon as he put one hand down it plunged through and face-first he went into the snow!!! 

He was done after that!!  So back into the house we went.  We tried again later with better success.  Greg came over and the boys (well, mostly Daddy) made a snowman.  It was great snowman snow! 

The snow is already starting to melt away, but it sounds like we are supposed to get more again this week.  Two more storms are coming (wed. and Sat.) and those combined will give us more snow than this last one.  Guess it's time to buy some snowpants for the boys! 

Friday Night we had our first Halloween Outing.  It was Trunk-or-Treat at Cam's church so we had a good time dressing up and practicing our "trick-or-treats".  Riley got a lot of candy, and had a blast dancing to all the halloween music.  And Jayce the tiger won best costume for the 0-5 age group!  YAY!!  He did look SO ADORABLE!! 

Then yesterday we went trick-or-treating around Windsor businesses.  That was a little crowded, but still fun.  Jayce was matching Riley in his skeleton costume this time, and they looked so cute!  I may have to do matching or "themed" costumes more often - too cute!   Today we took a break from the Halloween activities, although we were planning to go to a carnival type event at Centerra.  But it's back at it again tomorrow for Trick-or-Treat in Old Town, and then the Real Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood.  Hopefully Riley will let me paint on his skeleton face for those events!  So look for more pics next week!!! 

One more thing - Most of you have probably been watching Facebook, but I thought I would mention it anyways.  My Mom had major surgery last week and is in the hospital for a few weeks recovering.  Things went really well with the surgery, but she now has MRSA, a sometimes difficult to treat staph infection.  So she's in an isolated room - she can still have visitors, they just have to wear a robe and gloves.  But Recovery is long for her so it will be at least another week that she's in the hospital.  So please pray for her, and visit if you can, I know she gets bored easily in the hospital!  Thanks!  Have a Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Another Pumpkin Patch and Costumes

Well, fall is in the air!  It has been very chilly and windy this week.  But we still went to ANOTHER pumpkin patch yesterday.  Some friends from MOPS invited us, and we thought it would be a good chance to get together and hang out.  This one had a lot of fun activities, but with the wind it was very cold so we didn't stay very long.  We did manage to find a couple more small pumpkins though.  And Riley had a blast climbing on the hay like at Anderson's.  Here's some pictures from that trip. 

Also, I have been crocheting again!  I got about 3 weeks ahead of schedule on my Christmas list (YAY) so I took a week off.  Then a friend of mine wanted her baby girl to be a Zebra for Halloween (to go with the Monkey and Giraffe that her older kids were going as, so I told her I would help her make the costume.  So we are going to paint a onsie and pants with black stripes and I made her a hat.  It's pink and black because we decided that a pink and black zebra is much cuter than a white and black one!!  I hope it fits her. 

And I was originally thinking about making Jayce a Tiger for Halloween this year, but decided against it after seeing everything else we had going on this month.  I had a Skeleton outfit for him like Riley's pj's so I thought it would be easier (and pretty darn cute) if they went as matching skeletons.  Well, after finishing the Zebra hat for Charley in an afternoon . . . it really took no time at all!!  I changed my mind again and decided to go with the Tiger costume for Jayce.  So, I made him a Tiger hat!!  It is SO ADORABLE!!!  He will definitely be wearing this one all winter!!  I love it!  My friend that does tie-dye is making him a onsie with orange and black stripes and I've already got the tiger babylegs.  So we're all set now!  I can't wait for Halloween this year!  I've got some really cute ideas for pumpkins, and pictures, and I'm just happy for an excuse to spoil my boys!  lol 

Speaking of Jayce, he's still not walking . . . which is surprising, but fine with me!!  He could if he wanted to - he stands by himself forever and has even taken a step before.  But I think he's just decided that crawling gets him where he wants to go so he's content.  It's hard to believe he's 10 months old already!  This year has flown by!  He still only has two teeth, but the top ones aren't far behind.  Riley is growing up fast too.  He can sing the ABC song now, although he usually leaves out E and K and the end he says "Next time you won't sing with me".  It's cute!  He really likes playing with Jayce, especially roughhousing (Ugh! - Already?) but Jayce seems to enjoy it too - most of the time!  We are working on getting a playstructure/swingset from a friend (for free - yay!!) and I'm excited to have something for him to play on in the back yard.  He always wants to play outside, but with the weather changing I'm not always up for going out (or taking Jayce out) to ride bikes, walk to the playground, or do sidewalk chalk for hours on end like we did in the summer.  This will keep him in the backyard and keep him entertained so I can stay inside with Jayce if I want to. 

Well, not much else to talk about right now.  I've got a MOPS bake sale this weekend (and some yummy recipes I want to try out!) and then a long week until Halloween.  Happy Haunting Everyone!

Anderson's Patchwork Pumpkins

Fall is Finally here!!  After such a hot summer, and hot start to the fall the cooler weather is starting to arrive.  I've been cooking comfort food all week: Sausage & Shrimp Gumbo, Chili, Meatloaf, green bean Casseroles, and tonight I'm thinking good ole' chicken pot pie!!  Yum!!  Although today was another warm day, in the 80's, I think this may be the end of the warm weather.  So, we took advantage of it today and headed to the pumpkin patch!!  There's a great one just down the road from us (one advantage of living out in BFE!!) called Anderson's Patchwork Pumpkins.  We've gone there just about every year since we've lived here and we love it!  This year Daddy went with us so we went out to the patches and picked our own pumpkins.  Riley loved seeing all the different kinds! 

Anderson's does have a patchwork of pumpkins: orange ones of all different sizes and shapes, but also more differnt kinds of gourds than you can imagine along with green pumpkins, and red ones, and white ones, and yellow ones!  It's so cool to see the variety in the patches.  I actually bought a white one this year.  I've wanted to for a long time, just haven't had the gumption to do it!  So with Cam's extra hands to help this year, I said I'm doing it!!!  And I'm so glad I did!  I can't wait to carve it!!

Here's some pictures from our trip today:

This week has been another busy week for us.  A few playdates, lots of errands, and some Fun Mommy Time for ME!!  Yesterday we went to city park again with Kelty, Keen and my friend Mollie.  Riley and Kelty get along pretty well (for being 4 year old first borns of opposite gender!)  and Riley loves having a buddy to play with on the playground!  Keen is so cute!  He's only 22 mo. and complete opposite personalities from Kelty and Riley so he's really good at doing his own thing.  I think he and Jayce will get along well as they get older.  Baby Charley didn't come with us though :(, she stayed home with her Daddy to give Mommy a break.  I got to see her though and she is so beautiful!  Just over a month old.  So precious. 

On Tuesday I took Riley to a Mother's Day Out daycare at the local United Methodist Church.  He had a blast!!  He keeps calling it "4-year-old school" and I know it make him feel special to take a lunch and have a hook for his jacket, etc.  I think I'm going to be taking advantage of that more often - expecially after Jayce turns one and can go too!!!  Then on Wednesday Night I had a book club at church, so Cam watched the boys, and also on Thursday night while I ran some errands, and again on Friday Night so I could go to a 31 party!!  So the boys had LOTS of Daddy time this week, and Mommy got LOTS of "me" time.  It was great!!  I certainly won't be doing this every week, but it was nice to get some time to myself.  Thank you Daddy!!

Next week is kinda a relaxed week (at least so far) so I'm hoping we'll get to stay home and work on cleaning out the basement.  We are trying to clean it up (and eventually out) so that we can finish it.  We aren't sure if we are going to do it slowly by ourselves (well, Cameron mostly) or hire someone to do it and just get it done.  but either way we want to have it cleaned up so that we can at least get started soon and utilize the space this winter.  We've got some ideas on what we want to do, and if it works it will be a great play area for the boys (and Mommy!!)  Guess I better get some "before pictures" before we get too far on it!  hahaha 

Daddy - You Da Man!!

What a Finish!  Yesterday Cameron completed his SECOND Marathon - this time on the trails!!  We are so Proud of him for this huge accomplishment!  Especially given the horrible running conditions yesterday!  We are having a awful indian summer, and yesterdays high reached 92 degrees.  Yes, 90's in October! 

The morning started out cool, but not cold enough.  it was probably already near 60 when the race started at 7 am.  By 9:30 it was quickly creeping near 80.  By the time Cam came through the start finish line (9 miles in) he had already rolled his ankle which was slowing his progress. (Click here for a full course description and map) But, being the trooper he is he pushed through the pain and kept going where so many people would have given up at that point. 

Heading south towards Devil's Backbone he was still running close enough to his pace time that he wasn't worried, but then the heat of the day pushed temperatures on Devil's Backbone into the extremes!  For those of you not familiar with Devil's Backbone, it's an oven in any sort of warm temperatures!  The red clay hogbacks and exposed rocks cook you from the bottom while the sun is cooking you from the top.  There is perhaps 2 shade trees in the ENTIRE open space, and the rolling hills don't provide any relief except in the early morning hours.  Cameron said that in the heat it took him 40 minutes longer to finish Devil's Backbone than it did last year when he was near crawling up the rocks from his bum knees.  That's when you know you're in trouble.  He had drank nearly 7 liters of water and another at least 2 liters of energy drinks provided at the aid stations, but he still stopped sweating sometime in the middle last half of the race. 

But He FINISHED!!!  It took him 7 hours and 8 minutes, but he DID IT!!  And that's what counts.  After the results were posted we found out that he was 1 of 88 people who finished the marathon, when 123 people were registered. So nearly 30% of the people running didn't finish.  Which is why we are so proud of him for Finishing!!! 

He's not very happy with his finish time, so he's still debating whether he wants to try and better it next year.  But for now, the next races he has to focus on are the Xterra Challenge in Hawaii in Dec., and the Mini-Marathon next May in Indy.  You Rock Cam!!!!!

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