Pumpkin Carving

Monday night for FHE we went over to the Denison's home and carved our pumpkin. It was so much fun. The Denison's had a very creative FHE treasure hunt for the kids where they had the kids search all over the house for clues that led to worldly treasure which was a box with money on the outside and nothing on the inside and then led them to an eternal treasure which was a box of pictures of the family, the temple and Jesus Christ. It was so well done and Drew loved it. He just followed everyone and at the end when he had our family photo in his hand and was asked why his family was important, he answered, "because of my mommy and daddy." Too cute. I can't wait to hear him add "and my sister" to that! :)
We then carved pumpkins and this year we chose to do the bats on our pumpkin. David wanted to do the simple ghost but with Drew's fear of ghosts lately, maybe we'll do that one next year.

Ring Toss Video

Drew probably needs some practice with the ring toss but it's too cute his reaction when he finally makes it! :)

Pumpkin Patch

Drew's preschool did a small pumpkin patch yesterday, and I went to capture it all. It was fun to see him with his classmates and his teachers. Again, I was the only parent there for the occasion. Where I realize this is not a huge event, I think any event is special when it comes to Drew. In addition, this is the luxury I have as a stay-at-home mom - getting to be anywhere he is at anytime!
So, Drew and his schoolmates did a bean bag toss, ring toss, played with hoola-hoops, and got to pick out their own small pumpkin to keep. They also went inside to read Halloween stories and pose for a picture in the wooden cutouts of a scarecrow. It was fun to see him at school and he enjoyed me being there. He actually did much better when I left, simply waving to me and saying, "Goodbye, Mommy!" We are excited about his Halloween Parade, sing-a-long and party at his school on Friday!!!

Trunk or Treat

Last night was our ward's Trunk or Treat activity. We had a good time with so many friends and David and I were talking again today how much we really like our ward here. We had some great chili and cornbread to start off the activity and then we all went outside for candy and fun. At first, Drew just wanted to be with his friends and kept telling me he had enough candy, even though he had like 3 pieces. So, we had to warm up to going to car to car to say, "trick or treat," and "thank you" for the candy. But he did pretty well. Then, David took over and went with Drew and Drew was saying he had enough candy again! But he did do a few cars with David and we called it a night. Surprisingly, we ended up running out of candy as I didn't know the older kids come around several times! So, next year we'll know only to give out one piece of candy at a time. Anyway, what fun we had with everyone and such a nice night!

Tagged!!

My friend, Laura H., tagged me (by the way, I think tags are a lot of fun!) so here are 7 weird/interesting things about me or that have happened to me:

1. David and I have never had a Christmas tree is the almost 8 years we have been married, nor have we ever spent a Christmas at our own house. We are always at our family's home for the holidays which is what we prefer.
2. I was a drill instructor in the band my senior year of high school - yes, I taught freshman how to march and play their clarinets at the same time!
3. I always played "school" when I was little. I loved that my grandmother worked at an actual school and gave Keely and I all her extra supplies like real tardy slips, attendance sheets, etc. My mom said I loved playing 'teacher' and she saw that I wanted to become a teacher and steered me away from that because they didn't make enough money (my mom was a teacher for years). Little did she know, I'd become a therapist and let's be honest, some teachers make more $ than what I got offered coming out of graduate school.
4. I played on an intramural flag football team in college and then David and I played on a team with both our brothers (and my sister's boyfriend at the time) right after we got married.
5. Everyone was in the room with me when Drew was born - the list includes David, my mom, my sister, my mother-in-law, my grandmother and yes, even my Dad! It was such an amazing experience that hopefully, we can have a repeat when this little girl is born.
6. At the age of 27 (and david being 25) we purchased our very own burial plots - I think that is kind of strange! We may not own much but we do have two very nice pieces of land in a cemetery in Texas.
7. I never like to see a movie twice - it's totally boring to me if I know what's going to happen next. So, we never buy movies (except for Drew of course) but rarely see movies either.

I am supposed to tag 7 people so I decided to tag some of my new Georgia friends who blog to find out more about them: Tiffany W., Jenise C., Laura J., Jaimee K., Shelyse D., Melissa T., and Lyn H. If you've already done this one, no worries; it's just fun!

Shopping with my boy

So, it was pretty cold all day today. For some time, it's been cold in the mornings but warm up into the most beautiful days. Today was chilly throughout, and I didn't mind it a bit. Fall is my favorite time of year (as opposed to summer when I was much younger) and we have broken out our jackets and warmer clothing.

Today, Drew and I took Beva to get groomed, went to the post office and then headed to the Avenues to go shopping. Yes, I am already feeling in the Christmas shopping mood. So, we walked around some stores and they had a cute pumpkin/scarecrow display we took a few pictures at outside. Drew is just so much fun right now - talking so much and having conversations with us. He also got to go shopping at Home Depot with dad last night while I was at a Young Women's activity.

We also had time with friends today eating lunch and playing which made it such a fun-filled day! Next week, my mom and Sam are coming for Halloween weekend to visit us. We are so excited and counting down the days...

Another new song

Drew got in the car again today singing a new song. I just love to hear him sing and be happy about it. On Wednesdays, the kids go to 'chapel' which is where they learn a Bible story and sing some songs. When we got home for lunch, I had him sing it for David and recorded it.


He is saying, "rejoice," at the end of it by the way...

More pictures from our day out with Thomas

Here are the pictures we took of our fun-filled day with Thomas!

Day out with Thomas

We had quite the adventure this weekend at the "Day out with Thomas" event we took Drew too. We ended up driving a little over 2 hours to get there and then again driving that on the way home, but it was worth it.
Drew kept asking, "Where's Thomas?," when we were driving down there and we told him Thomas was far away and it would take us a while to get to the place to meet him. He actually slept some which was great and woke up 10 minutes before we arrived.
We parked, rode a tram up to the event, and Drew jumped out and started running. It was hilarious! He even took a moment to stop in mid-run to jump up and down with excitement. He was absolutely thrilled. The look on his face when he saw Thomas was just pure awe. He loved it. He didn't care what other things they had going on, he could've stared at Thomas the rest of the day.
First, we just got in line to board Thomas and ride the train. Drew was smiling the whole time. When the ride started, he just stared out the window. Clowns came by and he didn't even care. They were playing Thomas music over the loud speaker and kids were singing. It was too much. After the ride, we went into this large tent full of Thomas stuff and souvenirs to buy. Of course, I knew the prices were outrageous so the only thing we bought was a brand new train that said, "Day out with Thomas," on it and a new Thomas book to read at bedtime. Then, we stood in line for our picture with Thomas. This is the picture we bought of our family with Thomas that will go in his Thomas-decorated room.
They also had face-painting which Drew was not interested in or the temporary tattoos, but they had an activity event to play with gobs of train tracks and trains. They also had food, kid's musical performers, a big Thomas made of legos, and some bouncy equipment. He really just loved watching Thomas pull out of the station for the next ride and pull back in. He also met Sir Topham Hat (the railroad commissioner) and went right up to him, took his picture, and even hugged him which was shocking because Drew usually is scared of characters. All in all, it was a great event - Drew waved goodbye to Thomas and told him that maybe he'd see him next year. What a fun day to be a parent! :)

Here are the rest of our pictures from such a FUN day! THOMAS

Responsibility

Drew's new chore is Beva - his job is to let Beva outside to go potty and to let her back in when she barks/cries. We have been teaching him that each of us play a role in the family and each of us do our part to help out. At first, he kept telling us that this was not his job or "you do it," but now, he seems to really like it and feel good about doing it. He says it's his chore and we praise him on how good of a job he is doing with it. I guess we've finally gotten to the part where having a pet is teaching our son responsibility - yeah, Beva!