October happenings

Here are some of the things that have been happening around our house lately.

Kiwi has decided she loves pre-school. She goes two afternoons a week for two and a half hours to a teacher who does it from her house just down the road from us. I had went back and forth about putting her in since she just turned three in August, but she really wanted to. I thought it would be good for her to have something to do two days a week when Little Man was gone to kindergarten. Naps are a thing of the long gone past with her and I knew she'd be missing her brother. I also thought it would be good for her to be around kids her own age. Anyways, we decided to do it and for a couple weeks there I thought it may have been the wrong decision. She was saying she didn't want to go and getting nervous every time I dropped her off. After I left the teacher said she was fine, but I still started worrying that maybe this was too soon for her and we should just wait until next year. But now she loves to go and the balance of three afternoons home with me and two at preschool seems to fit her perfectly. Her favorite days are Thursdays when she gets to do show and tell and Skittle Math. The other day she told me, "Mommy, I feel nervous when you drop me off, but then I feel better." I was so proud of her. She can be an emotional little girl and we definitely are still in the stage of tantrums, so I love it when she accurately expresses how she is feeling with her words.

A couple Saturdays ago, we visited a pumpkin patch. They had a corn maze that was just right for our kids. At the beginning, they handed each person a picture of a hat and then it had mailboxes throughout where you got stickers to fill up the hat. Our kids loved it.

It was a cute place with lots to do, but almost everything cost money. We paid for the corn maze and then because we had bought twenty tickets we got two free so the kids were able to go in the bouncy house also. Everything else we just looked at. It even cost money to shoot this little bean bag thing at a wooden ghost.

On our way out, we spotted these tractors that the kids climbed on. I kept expecting someone to come up and charge us 1.00, but I think we succeeded in finding the only free thing to do there.

Even though I feel like pumpkin patches seem to be getting really commercialized and expensive (at least the ones around us), it was still a fun afternoon and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

A couple of days later, Mason, Kiwi and I went to a different pumpkin patch with her pre-school class. Again, we enjoyed perfect fall weather and were able to play in the children's courtyard, see some animals, go on a hayride and pick out a mini pumpkin.

This little cowboy turned three months old and I can hardly believe how big he is getting. He lost that brand new look this last month and now looks like an "older" baby. He is still a sweet, sweet baby and for the most part, just goes along with the flow of the rest of the family. He is usually only up once a night to eat, which I am so grateful for. He also goes to bed easier then both of the two older ones (whenever he is being fussy I flashback to fall of three years ago when at this point we were trying every trick in the book with Kiwi for hours every night while she cried and I am thankful).

I feel like he might be turning a little bit into a mama's boy although he seems young to me for that. Because it's easier for Mike to help care for the older ones and because I nurse Mason, I am almost never without him. I don't mind most of the time, but sometimes it seems like when he is fussing I am the only one who can calm him. I guess I could take that as a compliment, but it can get tiring sometimes.

Overall, he is just a joy to have in our family. His brother and sister adore him (although Kiwi can not be left alone with him) and we are definitely to the stage where I can hardly remember what life was like before he came along. He is talking and smiling and even though I feel sadness that his newborn stage is ending, I am so excited to see his little personality start to emerge as he continues to grow and develop.

I didn't get any pictures of Mason on his blessing outfit on his blessing day because we ran out of time before church and then he blew out his outfit and blanket after the blessing. Luckily, I was able to get the stains out, so the next week I dressed him all up again to snap some pictures. He was absolutely not cooperating. He was fussy and tired, but I needed these pictures. After a few shots I resigned myself to the fact that he was just going to be unhappy in all of the shots. I then removed the bonnet to take a couple. Below is the first shot I got without the bonnet. No joke.

I guess I know what his vote would have been.

Little Man played soccer this year for the first time and I am embarrassed to admit that I did not take a single picture of it. The camera even made it to a couple of games, but somehow no shots were snapped. Luckily we have the professional ones. Anyways, he LOVED it. He said he likes it better then t-ball because in t-ball there is so much waiting; you have to wait to go to bat and wait in the field, but in soccer he just gets to run. They sub in and out every two minutes so the most he ever had to stay on the sidelines was two minutes.

It is so fun to watch him play. I love how he waves to us from the field and his excitement whenever anyone on his team scored a goal. And then when he scored he would always do this jumping thing down the field. He actually made quite a few goals (one game he even scored five...and if you saw him the week after that he probably told you about it) and by the end of the season was starting to grasp a lot of the basic concepts of the game. I have to say I enjoy watching it a lot more then t-ball also.

Carving pumpkins. Both "big" kids were really excited about this family night event. Once the pumpkins were cut open and it was time to pull out the guts, however, Kiwi changed her tune. Little Man loved getting all slimy, but Kiwi refused to do it. She wanted a scary face pumpkin that looked like her scary face (which she's showing in the bottom right picture), but she just didn't want to have any part in doing it.

Little Man drew his own picture on his pumpkin and then Mike carved it for him and I was in charge of Kiwi's scary face one. Mason's just has a face drawn on the little one Kiwi got from the pumpkin patch.

I can't believe that October is already done. When we flipped the calendar on Monday, I was showing the kids what day Thanksgiving was and telling them how the day after Thanksgiving is when we get out the Christmas decorations (which to me is like it's own holiday) and they started jumping up and down and cheering. I tried to tell them that Christmas is still a ways away (because in their little world it is), but I am also getting excited for the holidays!