Fall Festivities

My blog entries have been a little sporadic lately, so I will try to catch up on our October in this post. We were supposed to go to the Smoky Mountains to see the glorious fall colors and visit family, but illness kept us at home. Steve took the scheduled time off from work and got some things done around the house. Joel helped Steve. Evan went to school. I took lots of naps and hung out with the family when I wasn't sleeping. All in all, it was a nice "stay-cation".

Steve had taken the boys to the Pumpkin Patch earlier in the month to pick out their pumpkins. I was hosting a baby shower at the house, so I didn't get to go (and that also means there are no pictures from this day). They guys also went to a carnival at a local nursery (tree and plant nursery, not baby nursery) and a "spooky" party at the library. They had a very exciting day!

That Sunday we decorated the pumpkins, or at least started on them. Joel wanted to paint his as a clown. I did the eyes, but he did the rest. Today he decided that it was the Joker, but it had been a clown for the last couple of weeks. Evan wanted to make a blue panther. I could not persuade him that panthers are black, so his is blue. First, he and Steve carved it. Then he painted it. Last, I cut out ears for it. I guess it was kind of a group effort, but let's just call it Evan's.

About a week later, Joel painted a smaller pumpkin at school and then added stickers to it at home. I picked up some pumpkins at the store, but didn't decorate them. I just used them to round out the display a little.



On Halloween the boys dressed in their costumes and we started the evening's activities with a trip to Sonic. They had fifty cent corndogs, so we loaded up on them for dinner. Then it was time for our church's Kids Karnival. It was full of inflatables, games, and food ... and friends and fun!!


After we were karnivaled-out, we headed home for some trick-or-treating. The boys had been checking out a house on our street that was getting really "tricked out". They remembered this house from last year, too. Joel was determined to be brave, but found it a little intimidating in the dark and with all of the spooky noises, lights, and last-minute additions. He finally made it up to the goody table, and was glad (I think). We didn't hit a while lot of houses, but the boys found it to be a highly successful night. They both declared their bags to be too heavy and too full. Steve and I have been trying to help them with that problem.


Now we are gearing up for Joel's birthday celebration next weekend. Stay tuned for further updates on that momentous occasion. ;)

For today's news, Evan is making up jokes. Here are a few of them:

Q: What do you call a ball that gets snowed on?
A: A snowball!

Q: What is a kid that has snow on it?
A: A snowkid!

Q: What is a football player that plays tennis?
A: A kid!

And Joel is making up good excuses. He couldn't pick up because: 1. his ear hurt 2. he couldn't move any part of his body (which he said as he was walking in a circle).

He also demonstrated a newfound ability to do the twist. I didn't get any video, because he was supposed to be in the tub when he demonstrated this (read "naked").

Well, I suppose this post is long enough and Steve has the boys bathed so I better get going. Until next time!