twenty-one {pun'kins}

tonight we picked our pumpkins.

sean had each kid walk along our pumpkin patch and select their favorite one as theirs.

MAGIC.

then they decided to find the smallest one and declare it for baby man chase.

we lined them up one by one as we scoured our patch. 

brennan counted them over and over and over again.

max followed behind him repeating the numbers he called out.

she is his shadow.

so cute.

then they started doing tricks over the line of pumpkins we made across the grass.

until brennan fell on one of the stems,

scraped his tummy,

and pouted that he couldn't do any "cool tricks." {see above picture}

chase sat in his seat and watched it all.

6 months old today--i adore him.

his red/blonde hair,

bright blue eyes,

and dimpled cheeks over his smile.

i swoooooon over that baby man chase ray:)

we found a watermelon and a pumpkin that appeared to be getting frisky together under the leaves.

a pumpkin that wanted to be a christmas ornament hanging on my burning bush tree,

and two tiny pumpkin buds that there just won't be enough time to let grow.

21 in all {23 if you count the baby buds}.

my porch is surely the happiest it's ever been.

me too:)

how 'bout them apples

last night i took the kids over to sean's grandma's house.

she called sean last week and said she had apples for us.

we came running.

we picked through bags and bags she had racked up throughout the week,

piled them into our trunk,

and carted them home.

we were so excited to have them that we dumped them all out on the front lawn at 7pm BEFORE we ate dinner {MISTAKE!!!}, washed them, dried them, and rebagged them.

they are now happily waiting for me in the garage.

this friday i will be making sean's favorite apple sauce.

secret ingredient: RED HOTS.

the in between

yesterday we got out all of our halloween decorations and watched hocus pocus.

while sean was taking a nap i put up some old decorations up together in a new place.

and then made sean guess what new decorations i put out while he napping.

after half an hour he finally found them.

and swore he'd already guessed that the first guess.

no.way.

that's what i said to him.

{it was my witches broom and hat from last year.

i put it above our back door,

so it hangs under the window below the full moon.

spooooooky,

i know!!!}

after dinner i made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies,

and we all decided it officially feels like the halloween season.

this morning i piled all three of my kids into the stroller for some good old fashioned exercise.

there are two pumpkin patches along the path we go,

and the leaves were all changing to yellow.

we've reached the in between, 

where the colors and smells of fall are here,

but the warm sunny days of shorts and t-shirts are still a necessity on some days too.

where one day we will wear long sleeves and jeans.

and the next flip flops and shorts.

with my legs and arms feeling the burn of pushing my three kids in the stroller, 

i looked around at how beautiful utah is right now.

the mountains painted in oranges, reds, and now more yellows among the evergreens.

orange pumpkins and skeletons popping up on people's porches.

and it all just made me feel euphorically happy.

the crickets chirped at us from the sides of the walking path,

and we stopped to watch a black beetle cross in front of us.

brennan asked me if beetles bite humans.

i told him i didn't know if they bit humans, 

but i know they like our giant sunflower's leaves in the backyard.

he thought about it for a minute and decided that 

yes, beetles must bite humans.

and that was that.

i told my kids three times how much i loved them,

and how happy the three of them and daddy make me.

how as long as i have all of them in my life i will be the happiest lady ever.

b/c i'm sappy like that.

and pushing my kids in the stroller on the first day of october just puts me in the best of best moods.

welcome

welcome

october:)

{the cutting of our pun'kins tonight!!!}

p.s.

i need me a spooky candle holder.

with drippy wax.
......
pumpkin 
chocolate chip cookie 
recipe 
2 c brown sugar
2 c pumpkin
1 c oil
3 tsp vanilla
4 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
2 c chocolate chips
*mix all together, 
bake at 350 on a greased cookie sheet. 
for 12 or 13 min.
you're welcome:)

butter works.

butter gets pine tree sap out of hair.

in case you were wondering.

REALLY WELL:)

...

as brennan was falling asleep tonight i sang him my favorite childhood song.

baby beluga.

i've sung it to him almost every night of his entire life.

sometimes he asks for twinkle twinkle little star when i'm done with baby beluga.

and then i hum the stay awake song from mary poppins as the cherry on top.

my favorite is when i get to hum that one when he is rolled off into dreamland.

i hum it b/c i can never remember all of the words.

so just as i was getting up from humming the stay awake song brennan's eyes sleepily opened.

"batman is real."

you bet he is i told him.

big smile on both of our faces.

and then with his eyes closed he very drowsily {with conviction} told me,

"i met the real spiderman, and i'm gonna tell every friend i ever meet that i met the real spiderman. yep."

and then he fell fast asleep as i walked out of the room.

{what brennan's hair looks like after he wears his spiderman beanie for 5 minutes.}

again.

it happened again.

{remember?}

at least i hadn't gotten around to washing the clothes covered in puke from last night.

or the crib sheet from max's bed that was covered from pee this morning.

now they can all wash together today!!!

two birds with one stone.

fan-freaking-tastic!

{really, that was the first thing i thought.}

.

.

.

.

p.s. max is next.

send reinforcements.

if you're gonna spew, spew into this.

my sister in law, ashlie, had her second baby last friday night.

meet ellie.

she had me swooning over her tonight.

i got to meet the little doll for the first time and bring them dinner.

while max and chase napped and brennan watched scooby doo i made enchiladas.

complete with my homemade salsa in the sauce.

and homemade peanut butter cup truffles for dessert.

they were DE-LISH.

brennan didn't think so though.

b/c after two bites he curled over and told us his stomach hurt.

we excused him to play, 

and i assumed he was just too excited to play with grandma and grandpa's toys 

and would be back to finish his dinner later.

well ten minutes went by and mount Vesuvius erupted.

the women of the house were all in a stir.

b/c brennan was spewing.

everywhere.

in a 3 foot radius around himself.

i managed to pull him to the tiled area for the bulk of it,

but the carpet was still not spared.

and neither were my feet.

the kid has a forceful spew.

my eyes got really wide, 

and my heart was panicking with my 6 day old niece sleeping on the sofa ten feet away.

with her little brother playing cars with brennan all night.

AWESOME:):):)

my mother in law went running for pots, hot water, and soap.

we banished brennan to a towel and stripped him down.

max kept saying, "yucky puke!"

i reassured brennan that he was not in trouble 

{for some reason he thought he was},

and that the hot water and soap were not to wash him down with, 

{he thought we were going to clean him with it.}

seconds after he spewed he asked for dessert, 

{so much like his mama, haha},

and then burst into tears when i told him that would not be happening.

he settled for a red otter pop instead.

while he nursed his otter pop,

i rounded up all of my cubs,

apologized a gazillion times,

and drove us home with chase crying all the way.

max and chase got to watch a show on the couch with sippy cups of apple juice,

while i put chase to bed and washed off my feet in the sink.

then sean came home from boxing and helped us all up to bed.

completed by him telling brennan one of his nightly bedtime stories. 

this time about how superhero green lantern pukes into the puke bowl 

if he has to puke in the middle of the night.

always making sure to not spill the puke bowl on the way to tell his parents he puked.

life lessons my friends, 

LIFE LESSONS!!!;)

and then i laid with him while he fell asleep.

and i fell asleep too. 

i fear this will not be the last of this.

but it may in fact get us out of doing anything productive tomorrow.

oh how i hope everyone else will be spared.

winning!

last

the tball coaches survived brennan and cade.

barely;) 

is it tball season again yet???

reunited.

today i dressed us all in long sleeves,

shoes,

and pants.

REUNITED AT LAST!!!

{thank you thank you fall weather}.

it rained all day while we ran errands.

not hard.

just enough to enjoy the sprinkle in and out of the car.

sean's birthday present.

safety and emissions for the van.

new brake pads.

turning the rotors on the back wheels.

and such.

vehicle registration.

watch battery.

cha ching cha ching cha ching.

my house is back in order.

and it's a lovely place to be:)