Punkin Carving

Another one of our busy family weekends is here! Last night the kids and I went to our school's Homecoming football game. Our guys are undefeated this year and in 6 games have only allowed 1 touchdown against them. I knew that Goober would really enjoy it and I figured Ribbit and I could have some good cuddle time.....DEAD WRONG. Goober acted as if he was 16 years old and ran around that stadium with his pack of friends from the minute we got there until the minute I corralled him to leave. Ribbit is wayyyy to popular to sit with me as well. She sat with her friend Tristen for about 30 minutes...they played horsey to the amusement of eveyone sitting around us. Then she sat with her friend Jack for about 30 minutes and they argued over whether if the B I B L E was for Ribbit or Jack since the song does say " yes thats the book for me" and Ribbit takes everything literally :). Then she sat with her friend Jordyn, one of mommies students and "ballyball gurls" and was sang too, sang with, took lots of pictures, got drinks and food, played with her puppy and got loved on. It was still fun, I got to have some good girl time with lots of my students parents and fellow teachers!

This morning we headed to Arlington for a 4 hour adoption class .....one that we have been in twice already....one that we could probably teach ourselves. BUT, if this is what it takes to wrap up Baby Boy's adoption then bring it on! They had childcare provided but with all the adoptive families there the 2 workers looked a little overwhelmed......(us adoption families are HUGE). So, Baby Boy stayed with us and got lots of holding time with momma and dada...and lots of crawling around on the floor time...he did super. After the class we headed to Target to get lots of things for all the parties we have coming up...birthday, halloween and reformation day. We also got about 5 Christmas presents...wasn't expecting to but we found great deals. We aren't doing a normal Christmas this year. Last year disgusted me, meaning I was disgusted with myself. I read the book "Kisses from Katie" and immediately decided that my children were not going to have the typical American lifestyle that consisted of buying tons of crap just to fill up our house and make ourselves feel good for about 20 minutes. Therefore for their birthdays this year they asked for donations to Katie's ministry instead of presents. We have also been talking to them about being satisfied and thankful for what we have and about a different christmas. They are asking for one thing they want, one thing they need (clothes) and then Santa is going to fill their stocking. I was shocked at how much they got last year (not angered or offended at all, just shocked.....and thankful:)...but even more shocked at how long it took them to break it, get bored with it, ask for yet another toy at the store or be ungrateful about it. I hope I don't come off as self righteous to anyone this year when we explain our christmas but I bet if you read that book you will find yourself wishing you could give everything you have away and go live a REAL life like Katie Davis in her book.

So anyways, that was a long explanation for why we bought christmas presents today....they were a good price, they are going to mean something to the recipient and they are small...just something to say we love you......without going broke or indulging in the materialistic side Christmas can sometimes have.


After Target we stopped at a local Farmers Market and bought pumpkins. The lady there was smitten with Goober and gave her a free pumpkin and was so impressed with Goober's manners (that handsome little heartbreaker) that she let him pick out the largest pumpkin he wanted and then charged him 1/2 of the price she had written on it. We now have 10 pumpkins....its a little extreme. We carved out 3 tonight with the two older kids on the front porch, put candles in them and made plans to finish them all tomorrow. The best part was hearing them both say "ewwwwwww" everytime we would reach our hands in and grab pumpkin guts....like they were both seriously disgusted. Goober would run in and wash his hands everytime he got a little gooey :). An older man that lives in our neighborhood walked by and just smiled and smiled and waved at us and finally yelled out " those kids will remember this moment for forever". I sure do hope so.....it was a fun thing to do together!!!

Speaking of pumpkins here are some pictures from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch with my parents last weekend.

This cute little pumpkin patch was perfect for pictures!

 More pictures with CC and Papa.

 Into the corn maze we went!

 This is the face we would make when we got to a dead end....there is no denying who their Daddy is :)

 This was Baby Boy's preferred mode of transportation. He just clung to my dad's head and rode around...I'm not sure who liked it more...Baby Boy or Papa?

 AH, Another dead end!

 Ribbit, Goober, CC and Adam found the exit to the corn maze. Papa, Baby Boy and Mommy got distracted and ended up coming back out the entrance. Now many jokes could be made here since both Papa and Mommy are artists....we tried really hard to get out of that thing but in the end we took one for Baby Boy...he was getting hungry and needed a bottle. We could have found the exit. That's our story and we are sticking to it :)

 They had this neat old truck there and the let the kids crawl all in it.

 She had to concentrate so hard to climb up on to that tractor, thus the tongue was out!

Riding on the "wittle chapters".

 Petting baby goats with Papa.

 Enjoying looking at the baby piggies and playing with Mommy's cup.

 Sweet Sweet scarecrows!....no one told her to pose like that :)