Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you had a fun filled day. We know we sure did! ;-)

Love,

Popeye,

Woody,

and Jeff Gordon!

Pumpkin Painting!

First, today Mr. Jack is 19 months old. Whoa. How can that be?!

~~~

You know what they say about the best laid plans going array? Sigh.

I had grand plans for today. We were going to paint pumpkins!

The boys were going to love it!

I was going to get out of messy pumpkin carving!

It was going to be great!

I didn't have inflated expectations at all, right? lol.

They started out jazzed about painting.

So you want me to do something with this thing?

Okay! I'm game!

I'm going to paint something right here.

Hurry up, mom! I'm ready to start!

And they're off!

I don't know if I like this.

Hm. Is this how I do it?

What about this? Hey, give that back to me, mom!
Jack decided he was over the whole painting pumpkin thing.

Jason carefully selected his colors.

Shawn was a bit more, how should we say...um, carefree about his
color selection and placement. ;-)

He was totally digging it, though.

Wait! Maybe I should try another technique.

Yes! The finger painting technique is MUCH better!

Mom, I've got it on my hands. Get it off, please.

Beautiful work, buddy!

Shawn decided on a whole "dark cloud" theme.
Or, maybe it was just that all his colors mixed together. Ahem.
Also, notice the nice paint patch in his hair!

It needs more right here.

It was at this point when things took a turn.
"I want this face carved into my pumpkin, mom!"

Yes! Let me fix this part here first.

Jason's on the left; Shawn's in the center; Jack's (mommy's) on the right.

See my happiness about the carving part? Plus I had to field questions
like, "Why are the seeds all slimy?" and "Can we go plant this now?" and
"Mom, why does Nick Mom always come on?" Sigh.

 
They weren't so jazzed when I wouldn't let them wield knives and actually carve pumpkins on their own. The visions of jabbed eyes and sliced fingers was enough to make me paranoid. I am such a mean mother. (I did get a "I'm never going to help you ever again!" during this part, but he was back 5 minutes later. He couldn't have been too upset.)

They were happy with the final products, and my title as the Best Mommy in the World was restored when they saw their pumpkins.

Ta dah!

Ta dah #2!
It was hard to carve this sucker. I remembered too late that
I should not add pumpkin carver to my resume.

 

So as usual, in practice things didn't work out exactly as I planned them, but thankfully I think the boys had fun overall. :-)

Monday Memories - Pumpkin Patch

This year, we ended up going to two pumpkin patches. The first place we went, there weren't many pumpkins to choose from and the patch itself was just overall disappointing. We left the patch without any pumpkins.

I did manage to get a few pictures, though. ;-)

No one cooperates when I try to get group photos.

Jack checking out a pumpkin.
He was not impressed. He promptly took himself
over to the stroller and tried to get in. lol.

No, Shawn, that's not a pumpkin. That's a dirt clod.

I told Jason he could get whichever pumpkin he wanted,
he just had to be able to carry it. This is what happened with that idea...
I think he almost gave himself a hernia!

Today we went to a differnt pumpkin patch, and the boys had a blast! It was such a fun afternoon!

Daddy and his little men

Hey, Jack! Here's some Hay!

Peek a boo sheep

My three pumpkins with some pumpkins...

Plotting what they were going to do next.
After this picture, they were off in different directions!

Shawn's explaining to his brothers all about the important
features of pumpkins.

Shawn picking out his favorite one.

Clearly Jack's favorite part of the day! He loved the
wheelbarrow ride!

Take these pumpkins out so I can go for another ride!

Jason's found his pick.

He couldn't resist and had to take him around on the wheelbarrow, too!

Next up, tomorrow we're going to paint and carve pumpkins. Yea!

Our Wish

Our wish for you, Shawn and Jason...



Such a fun year! Can't wait to see what year 6 brings us!

Happy Birthday, Shawn and Jason!

Today the dynamic duo turned 5.

FIVE!

This morning they both got into bed with us for a little snuggle time. I asked them if they felt any different today, now that they are FIVE. Shawn gave me a dismissive "uh huh," but Jason thought about it for a minute before he answered.

"I feel bigger," he said.

Oh, how right he was.

I'm not sure how it happened, but my little preemies are bigger now.

They are more of everything now.

These two pound miracles are stronger, more determined, smarter, funnier, sweeter...

more amazing than I could have ever dreamed possible.

They've brought so much light into our lives, changed us in so many wonderful ways. We are incredibly lucky to be their parents.

I can't wait to see what our future holds with these boys and their brother in it!

 

Shawn - 5 years old!

Jason - 5 years old!

Shawn's giving us the high 5!

It's a 5 for Jay, too!

Happy 5th Birthday, Shawn and Jason!