Halloween 2010!

This year I handmade all the boys costumes. Alex's was very easy as it was Mario with a regular red t-shirt, I just had to make the hat.

Jacob was a little alien.

Jonathan wanted to be a red alligator but I could only find a dragon pattern. He was perfectly happy with the trade.

We went to our 3rd Halloween parade through Wilmington.

Here is Jacob in the full gear.

We also went to our moms club halloween party to do crafts and decorate cupcakes.

Jacob had a blast.

We spent time the day of Halloween decorating the biggest pumpkin. It was nicely rotten inside so it disappeared shortly after trick or treating.

And here are all the pumpkins we dealt with this year. Lots of paintings. We had a great Halloween season.

Pumpkin Patch and Apple Picking

We were very fortunate to have Adam with us on our annual apple picking and pumpkin patch outing. I am not sure how I would have done it alone with all 3 boys. First we hit the hay maze. This is always great because there is so much running involved that it gets out that first bit of excited energy before they need to listen more to us.

The apples were gorgeous this year.

And so were my boys.

After we picked about 20 pounds of apples we grabbed a wagon and headed off to the pumpkin patch.

Can you believe that I got this shot on the first take?

We found out pumpkins pretty quickly. The boys were pretty easy to make happy. I just picked one I liked and said "Hey, how about this one?" Done.

We had a great time and can't wait to be running after Jacob in the patch next year.

Jumpy Thing

I have to start with a cute pic of Alex and Jacob.

The boys have spent the last couple of weeks saving their change for a ride on the Jumpy Thing in the Nashua mall. This ride is about 5min long and costs $7 so we were reluctant to just let them go whenever. They performed odd jobs around the house to earn dimes and quarters until each of them had enough. I was very worried that they would pay their money and the freak out once on the machine. But I was very wrong.

Here is Alex waiting, barely able to contain himself.

Jonathan was told to stand on a square and he did not budge until it was his turn.

They both got hooked in. They were so small compared to the usual riders that the operator had to switch around all the harnesses.

Alex really caught some airtime.

Jonathan did pretty good. He had a hard time pushing off hard enough. The operator kept going over to him, grabbing his leg and slingshooting him up. It was very cool.

And as you can see they had a great time.

All smiles on these boys.

Day at the Farm

The Stoney Brook Farm, where we went on a dairy tour last spring, had a family fun day this weekend. There was pony rides, hay rides and lots of smelly animals to enjoy.

It was a beautiful day.

There was a mini farm set up where the boys could be the animals.

We had a blast on the hay ride.

Jacob even enjoyed it.

We were rather chilly near the end so Adam loaned Jonathan his sweatshirt. He is so cute.

Alex was able to get some really amazing smiles out of Jacob.

Thank you Great-Aunt Janice!

Adam's Aunt Janice has made a blanket for each of our boys and we recently received Jonathan's. She actually won a blue ribbon at a fair for this one and we agree that it is gorgeous.

Here is the one she made Alex.

And Jonathan.

And of course, Jacob.

Thank you Great-Aunt Janice, we love your gifts.

Paint Ourselves!

Every Kindergarten class starts out with a unit on " All about me". So I started doing various activities with Alex to emulate this unit. This Saturday I told the boys that they were going to paint themselves. Jonathan took this very literally. I was thinking a nice self portrait but when Jonathan started to strip his clothes off and slowly paint red everywhere the day took a turn. The boys had loads of fun. Everything ended with a shower that looked like someone had been murdered.

Soccer game #2

Alex's second soccer game fell on a Friday evening. We packed up the crew and headed out.

Here is Alex getting all set. We got him really excited to play and at the start he seemed ready to go.

Alex played every time it was his turn. He even got to take a turn as goalie. I was so proud as he blocked every shot.

Jacob loved watching his big bro play. This was a much better game. Alex left very happy and excited for the next one. I was also really excited.