Carving Pumpkins

Last night we carved our pumpkins. Kate came over to hang out with us, and later Beth came, so that was fun to see them. Mike started out by scooping all the pumpkins, with his little helpers.

Starting to carve

Evie spent most of the time wandering around and doing her own thing

The finished pumpkins. Mike carved the two on the ends, and I carved the one in the middle.

Hehe, silly kids!

When we put the pumpkins out on the porch last night, we realized that it had snowed quite a bit! Nora looked out and said excitedly "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!". I took this picture this morning, before the snow melted.

This afternoon, it's been nice and sunny and the snow melted. I tried to get another picture of Evie since we didn't get very many with her last night. She is not a fan of posing for pictures.

Our trees are finally starting to change to their beautiful fall colors!

Here is a random picture. We pass this house when we drive Nora to preschool. The kids are always so excited to look for the "spider house".

October Silliness

I got Sam a few "helmet themed" shirts from this site. I think this one is my favorite:

A week ago, we took the kids to the dinosaur museum, and they were doing a little scavenger hunt where the kids would find, and count up little colored pumpkins that were hidden through the museum. At the end, the kids got a prize. The prize was some plastic vampire teeth, and the girls were completely baffled as to what these weird things were. We showed them how they worked, and Nora thought they were hilarious, and kept putting them in.

Sam loves to watch the fish on his swing. He is in the "tongue sticking out stage" (all my kids have gone through this), where he almost always sticks out his tongue when he smiles. This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it!

A little while ago, we got this little house, and outdoor plug-in heating pad for Brina. I put it a little ways under the back deck so it would be really protected. She curls up in there when it gets chilly, and looks so cute. I keep trying to get a picture of her in there, but as soon as she sees me, she gets up and rushes over to get attention and to get petted. Silly kitty.

Nora still loves to play with and hold Sam, and wants me to take pictures of them together. I couldn't get a real smile out of either one of them for this picture, though. Heh.

Helmet Boy!

Yesterday, I took Sam in for his helmet fitting. At his last appointment, they scanned his head, then sent that information to a place that made a helmet that would fit more snugly on the places that stick out more, and then are loose on the flat spot, and places where they would like to direct the growth. When he was there to try it on, they made a lot of adjustments so it would fit him just right, and be comfortable for him. Today has been his first day wearing it. They gave us a schedule for the first few days to ease him into wearing it full time. Today he would alternate wearing it for an hour, then taking it off for an hour. He did really well, and was a happy boy!

Trying on the helmet in the morning

When Sam was taking a nap, the girls "helped" me decorate the helmet by putting on some little stickers. When we had them positioned the way we wanted them, I painted a little Mod Podge over the top to help protect them a little more.

When Sam woke up, he got to try on his Sock Monkey helmet!

What a cute boy!

Aunt Kate came to visit, and Sam really wanted her phone!

Yay Sammy!

Sam graduated from physical therapy yesterday! That is a big milestone for him. We will continue to do the exercises and stretches with him at home, to make sure that he doesn't regress, but he doesn't need to have any more appointments with the therapist. I am very proud of him - he has come a long way in two months! They did say that if we notice him tipping his head again for more than a week, than we can make an appointment to come back, but didn't think that would happen. Hooray for Sam, and a big thanks to Kelly, the therapist who worked with us!

Fall Time Fun!

The weather has definitely been getting cooler, and we have been able to participate in some fun fall-time activities!

On Wednesday, we went to the annual ward Fall Festival. They had a chili dinner with cornbread, and lots of fun activities and games for the kids.

The fishing pole game had the longest line. The kids would cast the little fishing pole over the curtain, and then someone would tie a little prize on the end, and toss it back over. Nora and Evie both got care bears.

Playing some more games

They also got to decorate a Halloween cookie

It was tough for Evie to hold off eating the cookie long enough for a picture...

Nora's rainbow pumpkin cookie

On Thursday, we went shopping for pumpkins, and then put up our Halloween decorations.

The girls love to ride in this little car cart when we go to the grocery store, but they didn't want to stay in it for long as soon as they saw all the pumpkins!

Evie pointing to the pumpkin she chose

Mommy and Sam

Awww, such a cute little guy!

Here are some of the decorations we put up. Nora loves decorations!

Evie kind of "rearranges" the decorations everyday. It will be interesting to see what it looks like by Halloween.

Yesterday, we headed to Thanksgiving Point to attend Barnyard Boo - where you can buy a little punch card, and then they have stations set up all over Farm Country with special Halloween activities for small kids. Nora and Evie had a ball.

Here they are making a Mummy sucker

The "Booling Alley"

Evie giving it a shot

Saying hi to the alpaca

Witch ring toss

More cookie decorating

Evie's idea of a wonderful evening - eating a sucker and a cookie while watching a movie. Oh boy.

Sam's favorite activity was playing with his feet. He got to ride in the big-kid stroller.

Posing by a pumpkin. Gotta love the blue teeth!

The girls each got to pick out a Halloween design to get on their hand. I thought it would be easier for them to sit still for this than for face painting.

Nora picked a cat

Evie picked a ghost

Petting a cow

There were lots of fun decorations

Spiders - my favorite