this weekend we...

Went to a fall festival and

looked for pumpkins 

with our boys, my parents, sister and her hubby

we made fun Halloween art with stickers and glue

 looked at the cows, sheep, pigs, rabbits, llamas, goats, and bees

even Levi loved watching the animals

we snacked on cinnamon dried apples

rode stick horses

roped a steer

tried to pose both boys on the steer 

pretended to drive tractors

did a little napping 

rode a horse drawn carriage

toured the old farm house and then snacked on cookies and lemonade on the porch

enjoyed the mountain views

loving the perfect fall day temperatures

rode a barrel train

pumped water

took the kernals off the corn cob

by cranking the cob through this machine

we then took our corn to the grinder

and ended our fun day at the fall festival by feeding our ground corn to the ducks and geese

What a blessed day with family!

not me monday

Linking up with mycharmingkids.net today to share things that I certainly did NOT do this past week!

It wasn't me who was singing my son's favorite song in the shower.  I surely wouldn't have Thomas the Train's theme song stuck in my brain playing over and over.  I would not have been already on the second verse before realizing what I was singing.  No!  Not me!

I wouldn't have been working so hard at getting our bank deposit ready this morning and figuring out the cash we would need to fill our envelopes (Dave Ramsey style in this house) that I didn't take the silence from my children as a sign of trouble.  I wasn't my three year old had to jolt me from my extreme focus to ask for me to come get his baby brother.  I surely didn't find my 11 month old covered in diaper rash cream that he found in the diaper changing basket.  

It didn't leave my older son sitting in his nighttime pull-up a little too long this morning to realize that it was so full it overflowed, through his pajamas, soaking into the couch cushions.  Nope, not me!

While daddy went to a movie with some of his friends, it wasn't me who suggested we have our own movie night here at home.  I wouldn't suggest a movie so that my night would be easy and calm.  And I would never offer popcorn to my small child as incentive for him to buy into my movie night idea.  No way!  That wasn't me!  

It wouldn't be me who started a sentence in the last paragraph with and!  I learned years ago that that was not proper grammar.  It wouldn't be me who would still try pull it off and make it work.

deja vu?

Have I seen this before?  I am sure I've seen this before.  It's been awhile but I'm sure I have!  I think it's been about 3 years but I know I've seen this before.

    Levi - now                                              Nathan - 3 years ago

  

                                           Levi - now

                                            Nathan - 3 years ago

  

    Levi - now                                               Nathan - 3 years ago

   

    Levi - now                                             Nathan - 3 years ago

 

                                           Levi - now

                                           Nathan - 3 years ago

 Guess I have seen this before!  I'm NOT going crazy!  It's always good to know my brain is still functioning even after a few kids and several years of craziness.

not me monday

Today I'm linking up with "not me" Monday from MckMama's blog.  A fun way to admit the things we did not do this past week.
I definitely did not ask Nathan what he had in his mouth, only to find out he was chewing on one of our cat's fingernails.  My son knows better than to pick of things off the floor and chew on them.
I did not leave the baby gate open at the bottom of the stairs so that my 10 month old could climb the stairs by himself and play with the toilet paper in the bathroom.  I would never do something that would put my child at risk for such a large tumble.  I am a very attentive mother who would not be trying to clean the kitchen and fold laundry while my child high-tailed it upstairs only realizing he was gone because it was too quiet. 
All three of our cars have needed work in the past month so when we went to pick up the Subaru from the shop I did not agree to meet my husband there on his way home from work.  I think through things so thoroughly that I would have realized before I packed up the kids and headed half way across town that if both my hubby and I were already driving cars there was no way we could bring the 3rd car home from the shop with us.  As a quick thinker I would have seen the flaws in that from the beginning.    
After sorting out our plan to pick up the car my husband did not give into our 3 year old's screaming, call me in the Subaru, have me pull over and move him to my car.  We do not tolerate such meltdowns and we certainly do not give in to these.  There was no way I felt bummed out to lose my alone-ness in my car and have to share the radio, conversation, and quietness with my son.  I love him too much and want him by my side constantly.  A childless car ride would be too lonely for me to handle
I did not tell my son to just pee in his nighttime pull-up for the remainder of the night after getting up twice during the night to use the potty.  I would never want to discourage such potty training successes just so I could sleep and not get up with a cranky, tired boy in the middle of the night.  

no need for toys

Why is it that we spend lots of money on toys and yet our children find the basic house items just as much fun?

Toilet paper fun!

   

Not only does Levi find playing with toilet paper to be extremely entertaining, his older brother loved to do the same thing when he was little too.


    
Then there is the kitchen!  A land of endless exploration and fun!

Nathan playing with the items in the stove drawer.

Levi enjoying the dishwasher.

Laundry help?

 Levi doesn't know whether or not to eat the mulch or just stick with shoes.  Hmmm.  He looks like he is trying to smoke the mulch like a cigar.

  

Nathan's going to stick with electronics - remote control and cell phone.

Levi and his friend playing with the stroller.

The old pictures of Nathan at the same age as Levi playing with these "non-toys" made me wonder if it's just this young age.  Then I remembered...the vacuum box.  

Nope, it's still fun as a 3 year old too!

not me monday

Today I'm linking up with "not me" Monday from MckMama's blog.  A fun way to admit the things we did not do this past week.
I did not let my son eat macaroni and cheese for lunch Saturday, lunch and dinner Sunday, and dinner on Monday.  I am way more concerned about my son's nutrition and giving him healthy, varied, meals that include food from all food groups.  
I did not let me son chew on his older brother's shoe.  Protecting my baby from the germs and nasties that hang out on the bottom of shoes is one of my biggest priorities.  I did not wash a pair of old Croc's in the dishwasher so said little brother could happily chew on shoes as toys are meant for chewing not shoes. 
I did not tell my husband I wanted him to take a day off of work so I could work on my projects around the house without the children interrupting me.  I would never encourage him to stay home from work just so I could have a break from the children.  I am way more productive than that even with children constantly tugging on me.  
I did not find out that my splurge on a pair of shoes for my 3 year old from the children's consignment sale left me with a pair of squeakie shoes that he will never wear.  You know the shoes that are supposed to squeak with every step they take - on purpose!  I would thoroughly check out each purchase and make sure that my money is well spent as not to end up with something that would waste my money.
Come back again next Monday to see what else I did not do this week.  


      

thomas day out

There're two, there're four, there're six, there're eight
shunting trucks and hauling freight....

Nathan sings the theme song to Thomas the Train over and over everyday.  He LOVES Thomas and his friends!  Months ago we decided to take Nathan to Thomas Day Out.  We took Levi to grandma's house for the day and off we went to spend some special time with Nathan.  What a money making deal this is!  But, it's also such a dream day for our little boy!

We were planning on surprising Nathan and not telling him where we were going except as we headed to the parking lot right out his window was Thomas puffing down the tracks!  We live next to train tracks and watch trains all day long so Nathan knows that Thomas doesn't ride the rails very often.  We told him where we were headed and I asked if he wanted to ride on Thomas to which he said "ummm...no".  Once he processed where we were going and rode the bus that played Thomas cartoons as they took us from the parking lot to the musuem (Thomas' stomping grounds for the next few weekends) he took to the idea very quickly!  You can see the excitement on his face as we rode the bus!

Thomas tattoos, train tables, Sir Topham Hatt, lots of other engines and train cars to see, small model trains running around outside, and of course, our Thomas ride, kept us busy for hours.  All that, and the trek through the gift shop as we were headed out.  Goodness, talk about Nathan's dream land!  We told him he could pick one new toy from the gift shop but poor kid couldn't decide what he wanted with hundreds of things to pick from.

Thomas!

Waving to Thomas!

All aboard!

Say "choo choo"!

What a special day!

We all loved 'Nathan's special day'!!