Pumpkin Carving

We decided that the Monday before Halloween was the perfect time for the annual pumpkin carving with the Olson cousins.
So we loaded up our pumpkins and headed over, so I could once again clean all of the pumpkins out and then carve them. (Why do we do this again? Oh yeah, TRADITION!! They will like it...some day!)
Morgan and Mason did a pretty good job on cleaning out and carving their pumpkins, thus giving my hope for the future!
Cole supervised, with his pants hiked up so he didn't get pumpkin guts on them!
Cole did enjoy designing his face. He knew exactly what he wanted it to look like. No one could persuade him to change it!
After he perfected it on the newspaper, I copied it onto the pumpkin. As you can tell from the extra lines, it took me a few times to satisfy him!
He did actually use a pumpkin carver this year and tried to carve out the eyes, so I suppose that is at least some progress, right?!
In the end, it looked pretty good. In fact, it was missing a few teeth, just like Cole! (We were trying to show the tooth that he lost earlier that day.)
Emily tried to help clean her pumpkin out, keeping her arm as far away as possible.
Then, she tried again from the same distance, but a little bit different angle!
Her spoon finally made it in the pumpkin, but the way she was holding it, there was no way she was going to be able to scoop!
Although, she couldn't quite bring herself to clean the pumpkin out, Emily did also help carve her pumpkin's eyes.
Emily and her finished product.
We managed to get Addy to at least touch the pumpkin stem. She quickly dropped it when she realized what was attached to the stem though!
She was just fine sitting on my lap as I carved! So maybe the third child is the charm and I will finally have a child who likes to help carve pumpkins! (Or she could have just been happy sitting on her Mom's lap. But, we'll pretend it was the pumpkin!)
Addy was least excited about this picture, for some reason. She did not want to sit by her pumpkin. (So, maybe it was her Mom's lap that made her happy in the previous shot!)
My kids have taught Kira well. She does not want to look at, touch, or be anywhere near the pumpkins and their insides!
We did finally find something to make them all smile. Donuts and hot chocolate to celebrate our finished products!
Even if I am more into it then they are, we did end up with some good jack-o-lanterns, and they at least tried a little more this year. So, I guess we will try again next year. After all, how can I resist these faces!!

Ready for Preschool

So apparently I missed these cute pictures of Emily on her first day of preschool. She was very excited and very ready to get to school!
Her new backpack that she found at a garage sale. She couldn't wait for school to start so she could use it!
Emily and Addy posing for a shot. Addy kind of likes the Mom and Addy time that she gets when both Emily and Cole are gone!
I'm pretty sure we'd better savor these preschool years because when kindergarten hits, she is going to catch the eye of a lot of boys!

American Pride-First Grade Style

Apparently the First Grade Program is at the beginning of the year instead of the end of the year. So for those of you who like to hear Cole sing, here are some new songs for your enjoyment!
This year the First Grade Program focused on American Pride. They began with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem (which I didn't record).
Then, they sang God Bless the USA.


They followed this with a short first-grade level history of our country.
They began with Columbus,

And the Pilgrims and the Indians.

Then, they recited some important information about our history. This is Cole's contribution.

Next, they recited and signed the Preamble, which I thought was quite impressive!

They described the flag,

And what we should do when we see the flag (This one should sound familiar!!).

They talked about some of the first Presidents.

They finished with the classic, This Land is Your Land,

and a song about the most American things of all!

As you can tell they did a great job and learned a lot about our country!

Trafalga

This year, when we renewed our Seven Peaks Passes, we also got passes to Trafalga. So one Saturday, we decided to go check it out.
We started with miniature golf,
And discovered that our golfing skills need a little bit of work!
Addy was very good at her job of retrieving the ball out of the hole though!
Although sometimes she retrieved the balls before we were finished!
By the end, we were doing much better! Cole was not swinging the club like a baseball bat,
and Emily was holding the club correctly, sort of!
After we had mastered the miniature golf course, we moved onto the batting cages. The kids thought this was great fun and they even hit a few!
Watch out Trafalga, We'll be back!!!

Creative Kids

Sometimes I look at what my kids are doing and have to just shake my head. They are very creative and come up with things that I don't think I would ever think of!
One day, the boys came running into the house and dug through Cole's closet looking for the Army uniforms and ran back out again before I could even question what they were doing. Then the girls came crashing in and wanted to know where the cheerleading stuff was. I finally asked what they were doing with all that stuff and they told me they were having a parade and that I needed to come watch. Sure enough, when I got outside, they were all lined up parade-style!
Emily has clearly watched too many sporting events with cheerleaders because she knew exactly what to do!
I'm a little afraid to know what they are doing here. Contemplating their next adventure, or planning their battle plan, or trying to figure out how best to torment their sisters.
Then, another day, I went to check on the girls and came upon this scene. It looked like a little more than sitting on a board in the dirt.
Sure enough, they put Addy on and turned it into a See-Saw!



At least life around here is never dull!

Are You Ready for Some Football?!?!?!?!?!

We are!
Cole was suited up and ready to go in the game if they needed him.
Thankfully they didn't need him and he can save his eligibility for a little longer. He was however, very proud of himself that he had on only blue and white, including his shoes! (He planned that all by himself!)
Only Cole actually went to the game. The other two had a much better time playing with their cousin Morgan! It was a win-win for all of us!
Good Job Cougars. Keep up the good work!

I am 2!!

Hi, Addy here! My Mom has gotten lost in the busyness of September and hasn't managed to tell you all about my very important 2nd birthday. Others might not think 2 is an important age, but I do. When else can you do something wrong and have people just say, "Oh she must be in the terrible twos!" It's a built-in excuse. How great is that! My Mom claims I hit the terrible twos shortly after learning to move around on my own. It wouldn't surprise me, I am very advanced! Especially when it comes to getting into trouble!
Anyway, about my birthday. My Dad took Cole and I to watch Mason, Carson, and Brock play football so my Mom and Emily could decorate and I could be surprised.
I was so excited when I got home and saw all the streamers and balloons!
Pretty soon, my guests showed up, including my best friend, (who also happens to be the sister of Cole's best friend and Emily's best friend! Imagine that!)
and we started playing games. We played duck, duck, goose,
Ring around the rosies,
Dogpile on Cole,
and the unscheduled game of running in and out of the streamers, which was probably my favorite!
All that game playing made us hungry, so we sat down and had a lunch of champions...pizza, Cheetos, watermelon, and grapes on Zoopals plates with Koolaid to drink!
Even the big kids liked that meal!
Then, I opened my presents. I'm not sure who was more excited for the present opening, me or my friends (and Cole's friends and Emily's friends!) They gave me lots of advice on how best to open them.
I'm pretty sure that when I opened this present, I heard my Dad say, "Another baby? How many babies do 2 girls need?" Dad, the answer to that is as many as we can get!
I was sort of nice and only threw a minor fit when my friends tried out my new toys.
The Sunglasses,
The Leapfrog letter game,
The streamer wand,
but at least they let me play with the bubble mower first. Well maybe that's because I insisted that no one touch it but me. But come on, it blows bubbles and it's pink. What more could a girl want!
After we tried out all my new toys, we had worked up an appetite again, so it was time for cake and ice cream.
I was very excited about my Elmo cake. In fact, I still get pretty excited when I see pictures of it.
As if I hadn't had enough advice on how to do things, the big boys tried to show me how to blow out my candles. Come on boys, I'm two. I can do it myself!
We ended with a duck game to fill our treat bags. We got to pull ducks out of the bowl and whatever shape the duck had on it determined which candy we got.
Or we just took a duck to my Mom and then took whichever candy we wanted, but we give her points for trying to make it fun!
Thanks Mom for the bestest 2 Year Old Birthday I've ever had!