FHE: pumpkin-carving night

They're not going to win any beauty contests or prizes for creativity, but the boys' pumpkins look exactly the way they wanted them to and they're happy, so that's all that really matters.

This may have been the first year that the boys rolled up their sleeves and got in there, scraping out the pumpkin guts themselves.

Aaron showed off his mad artistic skillz with some super creepy pumpkin faces.

This is Hank modeling how he wanted his pumpkin face to look.

Ta-Da!

Family Photos - October, 2012

Pretend it was your birthday, and that it fell on Christmas Day, and that you hold the winning jackpot lottery ticket, discovered a four-leaf clover, and found a lucky penny....that's kind of how ridiculously and absurdly lucky I feel to be in a family with these five handsome boys.

Shut-out, not Shut-down

Except for the fact that we didn't catch a single fish, this was our most successful fishing trip yet! We managed to load up all our fishing poles and gear, camping chairs, two strollers, snacks/bottles, and four little people and safely "fish" at a local pond without any major meltdowns or temper tantrums. Forget the fish, that, my friends, is a huge victory!

Weekend Do-Over

When we learned that Hank's school had a fall break in the middle of October, we brainstormed all of the fun things that we could do together as a family to capitalize on the five-day vacation. We tossed around the idea of taking a quick trip to Disneyland or San Diego, thought about spending the weekend in Park City, but, in the end, decided, "nah...let's just stay home and share the flu, instead." Worst. Weekend. Ever. After we had all recovered from the stomach bug, we decided that we deserved a weekend-do-over. Aaron took Monday off of work and we took the boys to the pumpkin patch. Actually, Cornbelly's is less of a pumpkin patch and more of a pumpkin amusement park. Anyways, it was fun and helped us feel like the fall break wasn't a total loss.

No, these are not the boys' costumes...these are the "fighter pilot" hoodies that they wear every day. Pretty cool, right?

The boys climbed in, on, and around a plethora of farm vehicles.

Quite often, I will call Aaron on my way to or from some appointment, half-lost and confused, asking for directions to my destination. Impatiently, Aaron will direct me to "take the exit north, head west, then turn east five blocks south of center street." I admit, I have zero directional sense whatsoever, which is why I found it so amusing that Aaron couldn't find his way out of a corn maze! After walking in circles and only getting ourselves deeper into the maze, Aaron decided to just charge the stroller and plow through the corn stalks back the way we came.

My Little Punkin'