Whee!

Last week we went on Brennan's first school field trip.  (Nice, huh, he's in school two weeks and it's field trip time already.)  We went to a local pumpkin patch.  Brennan was kind of over the whole pumpkin field thing, but they did have a huge farmer's market, a petting zoo, and an awesome play area.


Brennan loves slides!  This one was huge, but he had no fear going down.  I love his little feet in the air.

We also got to see a pig race.  Let's just say if you've seen one pig race, you've seen enough.


The pigs were running for animal crackers.  No wonder they weren't in any hurry.  Maybe some Oreos would have been better?


After that we just stuck to the slides.  The tunnel was Brennan's favorite.


That evening he was out like a light.

I think he had a good day.
 

Halloween at Our House

I just realized that I never shared the pictures I took of all our Halloween decorations!  I thought I better get on that today before it's too late.  (The wheels are already spinning on Thanksgiving decor. : ) )

As a prelude to Halloween decor, I would like to take a moment to talk about Halloween candy.  As in "Why in the heck did we buy it and open it this soon before Oct. 31!!  There's not going to be any left by the time the trick-or-treaters get here!!"  Yep, I made that mistake.  And of course, I just had to buy candy we like, so it's constantly calling out to be devoured.  Mmmm...Milk Duds, and Reese's Cups, and Almond Joys.

This also happens.


You didn't think Jason and I hog all the candy, do you?  We share with the little man, too.  Sometimes. 

Alrighty, enough about the sweets, now on to the decorations.

I mentioned earlier in the month that I made some new Halloween decorations this year. 

Here's the grand unveiling:


Ta Da!!  It's a Halloween tree for the dining room table.  I just painted a terracotta pot, added some branches from the yard, and spray painted the lot with some black paint.  I found the vintage Halloween postcards on the internet, and resized and printed those on the printer.  Add some moss and some spooky skeletons from the Dollar Tree, and you have a Halloween tree. 


More goodies on the mantel.  I made the trick or treat banner, again just some card stock and ribbon.  More moss and skeleton heads, and a crow from the Dollar Tree.  The cat and the bats are just construction paper.  And some pumpkins, gotta have them.  Super cheap and easy.


Fall Leaves.  When I first put the decorations up, I had leaves EVERYWHERE.  It was way too much, so I had to take some away.


More pumpkins.  And it wouldn't be fall without some good smellin' Pumpkin Pie candles.


The chalkboard in our kitchen.  Jason wrote the message.  Isn't he the sweetest? : )  And yes, my cell phone and sunglasses "belong" on the shelf.  It's high enough that little hands can't get to them, and small enough that nobody else can fill it up with their stuff.  The perfect mommy shelf.


The cabinet in our foyer.  More pumpkins, leaves, and a big pine cone we picked up this summer in California.


The front door.  I love my moss wreath!  Every season I just put something new in the center, and it works perfectly.  This is my old faithful Halloween cat.  I think I've had him for almost 15 years.  This year he got a makeover.  Some glue, some paint, and some sealer and he's like brand new again.


The mirror in the foyer.  More of my Halloween postcards, some more skeletons, and some indian corn.  The John Deere hat isn't part of the decor, but, it, or one of it's cousins are usually hanging there when they're not on their owner's head.  Just keepin' it real. : )


I don't have a good picture of the outside of the house because it's been raining, but we put up spider webs, and the scarecrow and the jack-o-lanterns are out there.  Jason told me he wants to put up a graveyard, but I think we'll have to save that project for next year.


Brennan's decorations.  We love the Dollar Spot at Target.  I got two packs of gummy clings and the little man has had the best time moving them around.  (And ripping arms and wings off by the look of it.)


More of Brennan's decorations.  We have a pumpkin patch in the kitchen!

We'll that about covers it.  Nothing too scary, but you can definitely tell it's Halloween time.



Besides, I have these guys, and they're all the scary I need.

Just a Drowned Worms Kind of Weekend

I would love to say we did something really exciting this weekend...

but we didn't. 

It rained and was cold and was gearing up to snow all weekend.  Snow?  Yes, really.  The forecast says it will be snowing early this week.  I was hoping it would wait until at least after Halloween.  We were going to go up the canyon on Sunday to take a family picture, but the weather kept us at home.

Sooo, we had a good old, long overdue, plain old, weekend at home. 

We watched a few movies, read Brennan his whole library of books, and just vegged out on the couch.  Jason caught up on some sleep, watched football, baseball, and cleaned out the garage and laundry room.  Brennan constantly reminded us he didn't much like this staying at home stuff, and kept requesting that we "ride in Daddy's truck," and to go "back outside."  I did get the umbrella out and take him for a walk in the drizzly rain Saturday afternoon.  After our walk around the neighborhood, he has a new found fascination in umbrellas, and also in the worms that drown themselves in rain puddles.  Ewww.

I did some fun stuff like laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, and scrubbing down the kitchen, but since that didn't take very long, I ending up browsing for recipes on the internet, and then, of course, I had to cook up my finds.  I ended up making beer bread and beef stew on Saturday.  On Sunday, I made whole wheat blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  I made a double batch, so I would have some to freeze.  I was so glad I did because they were really good.  For supper we had liver and onions.  That was mom's recipe though, I don't think I could find one as good as her's on the internet.

Boring post, huh? 

I try. 

On a funnier, cuter topic, Brennan's newest thing is "honking" the door bell every time he comes through the front door.  Honk, honk!

Well, I'm off to see what we can get into today.  Have a great day!

What a Difference a Year Can Make

It's hard to believe we've lived in Utah a year now.


This was Brennan last year right after we moved into our house.


And here he is now.

Where does the time go?

Carving Pumpkins

After our trip to the farm on Saturday, we had to come home and carve up our finds.  We'll we actually only carved up one of them, because carving pumpkins with a two-year-old can take awhile.  I carved up the rest of them (mostly) by myself Monday morning during Sesame Street. 


I got one of those kiddie carving sets at the Dollar Tree.  If anything, Brennan enjoyed wielding the carver like a scepter.  This set of pictures also made me reconsider growing out my bangs (again).  I actually cut them Sunday morning, but I don't have a picture of them because that would have meant me fixing my hair today.


It fits!


Daddy gets in on the action.


After our day at the farm I was feeling all Pioneer Woman-ish, so I saved all the seeds with the intention of roasting them.  I didn't realize what a pain it is to separate the seeds from the goop.  We'll see if the effort was worth it.


Brennan didn't know what to think about the pumpkin goop.


He thought he'd check out to see how tasty the top is.  (Or the "hat," as he calls it.)


I thought he needed a closer look at the pumpkin goop.


I don't think he thought that was such a good idea. : )


OK, maybe that wasn't quite so bad.


"Smile for Daddy!"  By this time Jason thought this project was taking forever and was going back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.  Hmmm, football or hour long pumpkin carving.  See the dilemma?


Brennan looks like he's ready to retreat with Daddy.


Wow!  The pumpkin got much more interesting when we started on the face.


Finally done and by the front door.


I think he was happy with the finished product.

The only bad part (besides pumpkin goop all over the kitchen)?  Brennan liked him so much he didn't want to leave him outside.  We had a big display of tears when it was time to go in.

If Brennan had his way, Mr. Pumpkin head would be sleeping in his bed next to him.

Ewww.

Fun On The Farm

Over the weekend we went to the American West Heritage Center for their Farmtastic Farm Festival.  The weather was perfect and we had a good time.


First on the agenda was a ride on the train.  Brennan wouldn't have it any other way.


"Choo Choo Whoo Whoo!"  (We heard this all the way around the track.  He wasn't excited about the train or anything.)


Awww, a new friend.


More baby goats.


A little pouty. 


An old "cool car."


A photo with the scarecrow family.


Feeding the chickens some corn.


I hung out with these horses while the boys went to see the pigs.


Driving.  He's in heaven.


One with Mommy.


Checking out the equipment.  Brennan couldn't get over that this car didn't have a "map" (GPS), or seat belts.  He was concerned about that the whole time.


They had a really cool corn maze.  Brennan decided to start a corn collection.


Pointing out a horse foot print.


Following our fearless leader.


Has anyone seen that episode of "The Middles," where Brick gets lost in the corn maze.  Yeah, that kept going through my head, especially when Brennan wanted to keep darting in the rows to pick up more corn.


We were way in the mix at the point.  I was wondering if they've ever had to send in a search party for corn maze participants, and glad that no one had to pee.


Jason decided he needed to take pictures for awhile.


We had sustenance (kettle corn) along with us since we didn't know how long we were going to be in there.  Brennan loves that stuff.  (Oh, and I did consider dropping it on the ground Hansel and Gretel style.)


We made it through!  This was Brennan's collection by the end of it.  We brought it all home to feed the birds.


Gold at the end of the rainbow.  Nope, just some pumpkins. : )


Brennan wanted to add this one to his collection.


Another ride on the train, and a failed attempt at a family portrait.


Jason wants this barn.


And another horse that decided to pose for me on the way out.

Like I said, a great fun fall day.