Pumpkin Carving

It's pumpkin carving time! Brooklyn was way into this - she was pulling pumpkin guts out like a wild woman with no thought to them getting all over her and everything else. Jack on the other hand took one look in there and said, "Ewww, gross!" There was no convincing him to even think about going in there.



Happy 1st Halloween Bradley! (We really could have used a bigger pumpkin!)



Here's my man carving away!



The finished product! (Dave seems to be giving his best impression of a Jack-o-lantern) :)

This is just a random picture from a family home evening we had a couple of weeks ago about listening to the Spirit. I just think the picture is pretty funny. We have a thing for ears around here.

Bradley's Blessing

I know I am probably overwhelming you with all these posts in one day, but I am trying to catch up and since Dave is gone to a fireside and the kids are all asleep - I can just blog away.

On October 12th, 2008 our sweet little baby boy Bradley Skoy Bowen was blessed. Isn't he the cutest little thing? It's a good thing we didn't wait any longer to bless him - he barely fit in that blessing outfit - I had to put a onesie on underneath to keep his big ol' belly from hanging out.


I will spare the details here, but here are a few pictures of all the family that came to support us. My mom, 2 sisters and Lindsey my best friend from high school came from Idaho. My grandma and grandpa SKOY (hence the middle name) came from Utah and Dave's parents came up from Newbury Park, CA. It was so fun to have everyone there with us! (I know it's a weird picture - we were having some trouble with the tripod - I'm working on getting a better one from my mom.)

Here's our little family - I won't say "Happy little family" because 2 out of the 5 were not very happy and so we really didn't get a very good picture. Oh well.

Jack refused to be in anymore pictures, so just pretend that he is in this cute picture.

Ok, I know this is gross, but I worried all week about what would happen if he "blew out" of his diaper all over his blessing clothes. What would I do? Send him up there in a diaper? Well, being the good baby he is, he waited until after the blessing and the pictures to do his business. (Sorry Bradley, this might be really embarrassing later.)

We love this little boy! He has been an absolute angel - it really does always amaze me that you can just keep loving them all-no matter how many you have! I love these babies!!

Preschool Fieldtrip

What a big day - Brooklyn's first ever school field trip. She got to go to the Pumpkin patch (yes, it is the same one we already went to, but since I couldn't go on the field trip :( I had to take her before.) Luckily, Kevin Ryan was able to go with the kids and take some fun pictures - which I just swiped off of their blog - thanks guys!
Highlight #1 for Brooklyn was that she got to ride the school bus! Pretty exciting. When she got home she told me all about the rules of the bus.
Highlight #2 was that she got to check the place out with her good buddy Logan. As seen below, they are quite the pair - Logan loves to drag her around and show her everything. (we aren't really sure what Logan was really pointing at, but as Stephanie pointed out, it looks like the woman in front of them is getting a little poke in the bottom. Gosh Stephanie - why did you have to point that out? Now that's all I see when I look at this picture. Now I guess that is what everyone else will see too. :)



Here they are on the hayride - thanks for actually looking at the camera Logan. What a cute boy!

Here is the Gettysburg Elementary Pre-K a.m. class with teacher Mrs. Herman

So, Stephanie and I think that secretly Kevin is planning the future wedding of our 2 children - how else do you explain him taking engagement looking pictures of them?

Brooklyn had a great time on her first field trip. I REALLY wanted to go with her, but a couple of weeks before Mrs. Herman announced that no siblings would be allowed to go due to it being too crowded. So, since I have a nursing baby - I had to stay home. But thanks again to Kevin for taking lots of pictures of the kids!

Congratulations Julie & Stephanie!

Way to go Julie and Stephanie for winning the Name That Baby Game! I labeled the pictures if you are interested in who's who.

A serious problem at our house

What do you do when your kids come bounding into your room at 5 am ready to go for the day?? Well, I will tell you what I do and what you shouldn't do. I sleepily tell them to go build towers and play cars in Jack's room. Bad idea. Building towers and playing cars would be way too boring for unsupervised time. So what do they do instead?

THIS

Please notice the pink and black spots in Jack's hair. I didn't get any pictures of Brooklyn - or the front of Jack, (his bellybutton was nicely done) but I am sure you have no trouble picturing it. Lucky for me there were no permanent writing utensils used, but still...no good.

So - we tried this:

Problem?

They think it's fun.

So now that you have given an empathetic gasp of horror or are laughing you head off...please help me. This started about 3 days ago and they have done it every day since - I keep finding new "masterpieces" all over the house and their bodies. I know Brooklyn is the one instigating it all and Jack is just following suit. They have always been good about entertaining themselves which has been great - but now that I am preoccupied nursing a baby and as in the earlier story, sleeping - they have gone wild. Most of it is no big deal - I can handle dumping out the toy box or jumping on the bed - but this drawing on the walls has got to stop. So does anyone have any brilliant ideas for me besides tying them to chairs, blowing up all their art supplies, or covering the walls in art paper?

Oh - by the way - the art supplies are on a high shelf but I think they are stashing markers and crayons somewhere waiting for the perfect opportunity. There is so much marker ink on their skin I don't think it will ever come off. washable?..... more like slowly fadeable.

Has anyone else's child ever had a chronic problem with coloring on themselves and the walls? Someone please help me before I have to re-paint the whole house and my children turn completely blue.

Pumpkin Patch

Since all the family was here for Bradley’s blessing, we took everyone out to the Pumpkin Patch in Reedley. What a pumpkin patch! The best part…free admission! They had a little corn maze, hiking trails, pedal tractors, and opening weekend only - a train! Jack was totally into the trains so Dave took the kids on a train ride…courtesy of Gramps. Thanks! Here they are waving as they go by.

This was a little electric train that they got to ride for free. Dave's mom told Brooklyn to hold onto Jack so he wouldn’t fall off. How cute are they?!

We are at the pumpkin patch right? So it wouldn’t suprise anyone that we would want a pumpkin to take home. Well, apparently it would suprise someone…Dave couldn’t believe that I wanted 2 pumpkins for $6. Student budget you know. ha ha He is so funny - but, like a good father, he purchased 2 pumpkins for his kids to take home - we couldn’t resist taking a picture of him sitting over there with his purchases. Just wait until we have to have 3 pumpkins!

Here are a few pictures of the kids - they had so much fun!

Don't you just want to squeeze Bradley's chubby little cheeks?

Motherhood

Do you ever have one of those days where you read something that makes you feel so empowered that you think you could just run off and change the world? Well, today I finally read the blog that everyone's been talking about (thanks Erynn) and it did just that. If you don't know what I am talking about then check it out. http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com and http://blog.cjanerun.com/ I can't explain exactly why it made me feel the way it did - but it had me laughing, crying, and everything in between. The blogger loves to write about motherhood and the simple things in life. It made me feel like motherhood truly is the best job in the world. I already knew that of course, but I always love a reminder and a little push to do better. Motherhood is rarely a glamorous job, but, with the right perspective it can be very magical and of course, the most important and worthwhile job there is. I know all you mothers out there know what I mean - but I also know that you also have those times where you wonder..."Is this really what I always wanted to do??" "Did I really choose to be puked, pooped, and slobbered on?" "To rarely sleep, hardly ever get to eat a hot meal, change 15 diapers a day, clean up the same room over and over again only to find it a mess again, and find it quite an accomplishment to actually get to use the bathroom alone?" Well you know what - that is the reality - that all happens - and happens often. But, on the flipside, you get the privledge of giving life to someone who is absolutely perfect and who loves you despite your faults. You constantly get paid in hugs, kisses, laughter, smiles and much more. I can honestly say that there really is absolutely nothing better I could be doing. So today, I renewed my commitment (again) to slow down just a little bit, let a few things go, and just enjoy the chance to relive childhood through the eyes of my kids.