pumpkin face

Both James and William took field trips to the local pumpkin patch.  I took the little boys to meet up with James' class.  It is always fun to observe my boys in a different setting.  (I had planned on meeting William's class there as well but it was just too cold and wet for the little boys today.  Drat.)

James was very sweet with Alex--put his arm around him, shared his snack, and introduced Alex to his friends.

While we were there James' class recited this little poem.  I thought it was just too cute and had to share it.

Jolly, jolly pumpkin face

You're grinning, tell me why

"I'm glad I am a pumpkin face

And not a pumpkin pie!"

Date Night

Friday was date night. After the kids were in bed Rich and I had a low-key date together, but since William was gone at a party and Alex was tired and ready for bed Rich suggested that I take James on a date.  So after dinner James and I had a little date night of our own.  He had been begging to go to the park by our house all day so we walked over there together.  He talked the entire time over there... and I don't think he stopped talking the entire date!  He said some pretty hilarious things too!

(Here's a little sampling of James on our date... As we were walking we saw that they had made quite a bit of progress on the house being built next to the playground.  James exclaimed, "Oh my!  They are awesome builders!  I don't want them to give up!"  He then went on and on about what a great house it was going to be.)

He was so excited to show me all of his tricks on the playground.  It was really fun to spend some one-on-one time with him. 

"I'm a pretty good rock wall climber!"

"I was like a Master in China!"

As part of our special night out we brought along some rice crispie treats that we had made earlier.  It was fun to sit on our secret picnic table and share a little treat.

I'm so glad that Rich suggested this date night!  I'll have to do this more often with each of my boys.

Alexander

Alex is such a big helper around the house when his big brothers are at school! He is usually willing to help with little things around the house and he loves to help with the dishwasher... even if it's not his "dish duty" for the week.  He is great at emptying and loading the dishwasher.  Hopefully he keeps this great attitude when he gets a little older!

He also loves to imitate anything that his brothers do.  Lately he has taken after James and started picking flowers for me.  I just have the sweetest boys.

And the funniest thing about Alexander lately is his random naps.  He doesn't really take naps now (even though he still needs them).

I don't know how in the world he falls asleep like this... but I find him this way at least once a week!

Alexander is certainly a fun boy to have around!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Monday we went to the pumpkin patch for our Family Night activity.  It's one of our favorite traditions in October.  Every year I take a picture of the boys sitting on this bench.  I think they might just outgrow it soon!

Take 1

Take 2

These boys are crazy... and so much fun!

Happy Fall! 

I was working at the desk one day and when I turned around our silly James had decorated little Henry's face with stickers!  Henry is such a good sport to put up with his crazy brothers!

More Conference Prep

I've blogged about our General Conference prep before (here and here).  It seems that every year we do things slightly different.  This year we had fun prepping for conference.  One night, since President Uchtdorf was a pilot, we made paper airplanes and flew them from our stairs.  It was a fun, easy night.

Another night, because President Monson loves to fish, we went fishing for General Authorities.  I hooked paper clips to cards of the Apostles and First Presidency.  When we caught each one we would name them and state a fact about that man.  It was a lot of fun!

And as always, when listening to conference, when the boys recognize a speaker they hang the picture up on the wall.

What fun things do you do to prep for conference or to keep your kids busy during the meetings?

James: Mo-om!  I got you some flowers!  I'm going to set them right here.
Me: Thanks James!  I love them!
James: I'm a good boy.


James is always picking flowers for me.  It is so sweet!  I love it.

superhero

 This little boy loves superheroes more than anyone I know.  He always is sporting superhero jammies, shirts, and costumes.  It's hard to get him dressed in anything else!

School Carnival

A few weeks ago we went to the annual school carnival.  The boys had a great time!  We jumped on the bouncy houses,

played games (although James didn't really want to play for some reason),

won prizes,

got orange polka-dotted hair,

and ran into friends.  These boys have been friends since preK.  It's always fun to run into them!

It was a fun way to spend a Friday evening with the family!

Wonderful Weekend

There was no school on Friday so I decided to take the boys to the zoo.  I was a little nervous about taking all 4 of them by myself but they were all so good.  The weather was perfect and the crowds were not bad at all.

checking out the fish and turtles

we love the spider monkeys

being little monkeys

this lorakeet was on William's arm... but I didn't grab my camera before he hopped off

aren't these boys super cute?

 Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed listening to General Conference... when we weren't breaking up fights :)  The boys did as well as could be expected both days.  Too bad this scene didn't last longer than 5 minutes.

My many distractions didn't work quite as well as I had hoped but overall it went well and the boys even payed attention to what was being said for a little while... but mostly I think they love the treats we have during conference weekend!

Dance!

Alexander loves to dance.  Whenever he hears music he can't help but moving his body.  Tonight while Rich was gone to the Priesthood session of General Conference we were watching Phineas and Ferb (while eating Phineas and Ferb mac & cheese).  Alex started dancing and I was lucky enough to catch some of it on video.  Enjoy!