Knives and Fire

Look how tired these kids look!  They were exhausted after carving these great pumpkins!  

The cutest pumpkin of them all!

Brody designed this pumpkin all by himself.  He even helped Jeremy carve it after he drew the face on it!

All Case wanted to do was use the knife!  He couldn't stop sneaking the knife from Jeremy.

Berkley slept through most of the pumpkin carving night!  She is so cute and sweet!

On Thursday night, we invited Sugar, Jim, H, Nicole and Presley over for dinner and pumpkin carving.  The night before, we went to the pumpkin patch to let the boys pick out the perfect pumpkins.  The weather was windy and cold which made it even more fun being at the pumpkin patch.  I keep calling it a pumpkin patch but the truth is, it was a pumpkin parking lot.  You know the ones where a family sets up their trailer for the month and sells pumpkins on the side of the road in the parking lot.  I didn't care.  I had Berkley in the Baby Bjorn and the other three were snug and warm in sweatshirts!  It was perfect.  So here is how it went down.  Case walked in and picked the first pumpkin.  Ledger walked in and picked out the smallest pumpkin he could carry all by himself.  Brody walked in and carefully examined each pumpkin deciding which side would work well for carving the perfect face.  He then couldn't decide which would be the best pumpkin for him because, "They are all so nice!"  Finally we had to politely explain that if he didn't quickly pick a pumpkin, he wouldn't get one!!  He went for the biggest, heaviest, most expensive pumpkin on the lot.  

So why is it that carving pumpkins seems like it will be so much fun until you get started and none of the kids want to clean out the pumpkin.  None of the kids want to draw a face on the pumpkin cause they don't think it will be good enough, and none of the kids can stick around long enough to see the end result?  They all start out excited and then quickly loose interest.  Around here they all want to use the super sharp knife to cut, but since Jeremy and I are too afraid they will cut off a finger or two, we won't let them.   Then they turn their attention to the candle.  OOOOOO FIRE!!  What is it about boys and fire?  They are all to young for fire still, so there goes that.  Jeremy and I look at each other wondering how we got stuck carving the pumpkins why everyone else is playing in the playroom and watching movies.  Not exactly how we imagined the night to go!  The pumpkins turned out great and the night was wonderful!  I love this time of year!  

Parades and Parties!

Is this the cutest Bat Man you've ever seen?

Commander Fox waving to us at the Halloween parade.

Bat Man and Fancy Nancy (Isabella Mendoza) at the halloween parade.

Spiderman (Jefferson), Batman, and Ledger the Cowboy!

WOW!  Is it Halloween yet?  It sure feels like it with all the partying we've been doing!  This morning, we headed over to Brody's school for his parade.  It was super fun watching all the kids walk around the school showing off their costumes.  Brody was Commander Fox from Star Wars.  He loves his costume!  After his parade, I headed over to Case's school to help with his Halloween festivities.  He has the best teachers in the whole world!  I'm not just saying that cause I know they peek at my blog every so often!  They are the BEST! Case's Halloween parade was adorable as usual!  He is the cutest Bat Man ever!  The kids at his school are just too cute!  Of course we headed over to El Charro for lunch when Case got out of school.  Sugar grabbed Brody from school to have lunch with us which leads Jeremy to think that Sugar needs to be taken off the "Allowed to leave school with..." list.  Last week she checked him out of school after grandparents day in the library.  "He had a substitute," she said!  After lunch, I headed over to Brody's class to help with his class party.  Let's just say it's a good thing Libby and I were there because the party would have been non-existent without us.  That's all I have to say about that!  Tonight we are off the Trunk Or Treat at the church.  I'm pretty partied out but am getting excited for Sugar's big party tomorrow night!  Looking forward to November. I love Thanksgiving!

Six Weeks

It's hard to believe Miss B is 6 weeks old today! She is growing so fast!  She is a great baby and a super great sleeper!  She is still eating 4 ounces every 3 hours during the day, but at night, she takes a bottle at 8:00 p.m. and sleeps until 2:00 a.m. She then wakes up again at 5:00 a.m. and starts the every 3 hour feeding from that time!  I can't say who she looks like because her looks seriously change every day.  Sometimes I think she looks like Brody, other times Case and Ledger.  It's weird! She has terrible baby acne right now which is frustrating because not one of my boys ever had it.  Wouldn't you know!  Her hair is a reddish blonde color and she still has blonde eyebrows. She is so light and fair compared to my other boys.  When I look at her I think she looks like my brother H.C. which would mean she is a "Wood" baby like Case.  I don't know, she definately has her own look! Her brothers are still crazy over her.  They get all stressed when we leave the house and she doesn't have a headband, jewelry or tutu on.  Sometimes I have to explain that we are just going to pick up Brody from school or that we are just going to the grocery store!  It's cute!  I love this sweet baby girl and still can't believe she is mine!  I stare at her during the night and realize how lucky I am!  I  love her so much!

And The Medal Goes To...

These 2 swimmers!!

Can you believe Brody and Case are still swimming?  They did the fall league at MCC and loved it!  Last night they had their championship meet at Moon Valley Country Club.  They had to choose their two favorite strokes, Brody's being freestyle and butterfly, Case's freestyle and backstroke, and then they had to choose if they wanted to do a 50 free or the IM.  Both choose the 50 free (what did you expect?).  Brody ended up with a fourth place medal in freestyle and the butterfly, along with a sixth place medal in the 50 free.  Case surprised us all and got a medal in backstroke and the 50 free. We were a little afraid watching Case swim a 50 free, but he did it and it was SUPER!!  It was an awesome night for us all!   We are so proud of these boys and can't wait for spring and summer swim!!

Case, Ashlyn Lenhart and Brody showing off their medals.  We didn't think Case got a second medal and as we were walking out of the pool, we stopped to check his time and there was his name for the 8th fastest time in the 50 free.  It was so exciting!! They were beyond tired after swimming all 3 of their races (in case you can't tell from the picture!!)

Photo Shoot

Miss Berkley had her first photo shoot on Monday with my sweet friend Ashley.  Here are a few of the pictures she got of our little cutie! Enjoy!

"She's Just So Cute!"

Brody is so in love with his new baby sister.  He feeds her, burps her, snuggles her and loves on her all day long.  His favorite thing to do is put his face next to hers and say, "She's just so cute Mom, I don't want her to grow up."  Brody is such a good big brother and I am so lucky he wants to help with Berkley.  I love these kids!!