Pumpkin Carving Time

We had a busy, but fun Halloween weekend! We started Friday night carving and decorating some pumpkins with our friends the Webers. We have had this tradition now for about 5 years. Caden and daddy drew and decorated on his pumpkin, and then he helped and supervised Ryan and Layne do their pumpkins. Ryan and Jill just had their first baby about a week and a half ago, so Jack was also included in all the fun this year as well as Brynn. Here are the 2009 creatations.

Caden with his pumpkin.

What an artist!

The Weber Family carving their pumpkin.

Baby Jack getting in on all the fun.

Layne and Ryan's 2009 pumpkins--all carved and ready for Halloween.

Layne was pretty excited about his pumpkin creature--he even added hair on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Carter!

Our friends Mindy and Chris's son, Carter, turned 3 last week, so I took the kids to Mac for a carnival birthday celebration. Caden started out shy and quiet--he always has to take everything in first, but he warmed up and tried out all the games, played with Carter's fun toys, and ate some yummy birthday cake. I feel so blessed to have them close by so our kids can see each other and play together. On the way to Mac, I told Caden that we were going to Carter's party and that Carter was turning 3.
Caden said, "Carter turn 3 (pause)--already?"
--that made me laugh--too funny!
Caden is always excited to see Carter and Brynn and Asher are just too cute!

The duck pond was Caden's favorite--Mindy had no idea the kids would have more fun throwing and splashing the ducks in the pool instead of just looking for the duck with the X on it.

Brynn is staying warm and cozy with Mindy's sister Lindsay.

Giving PLINKO a try!

Bean Bag Toss

Bowling time.

Buddies!--Carter and Caden

Carter needed a mommy hug!

What amazing cakes--great job blowing out the candles Carter!

Asher and Brynn--styling hats and snuggling with Mindy's mom Pam

Back inside for some playtime--and pictures of course!

Caden is loving birthday cake!

Brotherly love for all to see!

Brynn-6 months

Here are our two munchkins at 6 months!
Brynn weighed in at 14 lbs., 13 oz. and was 25 and 1/4 inches long. She is still in the 25th% in both. Once again her big brother outdid her at 6 months--he weighed more and was longer. She sure seems big to us!
Brynn has finally started sleeping well through the night. This past month was a little rough. She was waking up once a night for awhile and then we went through a week of waking up 3-4 times a night--not fun for mommy and daddy. Then about a week ago, she slept from about 9:00-7:00 in the morning several nights in a row--hooray! So hopefully we are on the right track. She is still working on teeth--at about 5 1/2 months, one tooth popped up on the bottom row, but in the back of her mouth--we saw it for about a day and then it went back down. Her two bottom front teeth are trying hard to poke through--we can feel a few rough edges, but not quite there yet. They have really been bothering her at times, so thank goodness for Tylenol!
As for eating, she is eating cereal twice a day, and we started her on carrots. She likes them so it is off to exploring other vegetables. Her feet are still her favorite toy--when she eats, she plays with her feet, when she sits up, she plays with her feet, and about any other time she can, she plays with her feet! Brynn can sit up by herself for a while, but she always goes straight for her feet, so it is a slouchy sit. We will keep working on that! She is rolling and scooting around--we leave her in one spot, leave for awhile and come back and she is in another spot! Most of the day, she is a happy, smiley girl and enjoys playing and watching the world around her!

Wow--what a big girl in the swing--she loved it and watched Caden play for about 1/2 hour!

Every day, she eats with her feet up and in her hands and mouth--it is quite the chore to feed her trying to get hands and feet out of the way, but she does like her carrots and cereal!

Pumpkin Patch Time--Hooray!

One of our favorite activities to do every fall is go to Sunnyside Pumpkin Patch outside of Assaria. Layne works with the owner and he and his wife do a fantastic job of providing hours of fun for kids and adults, plus they add new activities every year. It was windy, but the sun was out, so we managed to spend several hours at the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. Caden and Brynn both loved it, and our friends Tamara, Steve, and Isak also got to join in on the fun! There is a lot of pictures--I had to share!

Our first stop, that lasted about 20 minutes, was the friendliest baby kitten--Caden loved petting and holding it!

Caden and I checked out the animals while Brynn drank a bottle--rabbits!

Hello Mr. Goat!

One of the highlights--a giant dirt pile with slides made from recycled milk jugs--the adults had just as much fun on these as the kids!

Caden getting ready...

And he is off--he loved going down on his tummy--I bet he did the slide about 20 times!

Posing with Mommy

Caden was done with pictures, so we had to take just a few more of this cute pumpkin!

Hayrack ride!

Chewing, Chewing, Chewing

What nice horses Mommy!

Isak is here--lets take this one home Isak!

Showing Isak the big slide.

Double Trouble!

Daddy thought Brynn needed to go down as well--I don't think we even got a reaction from her!

Steve taking the boys out to pick pumpkins.

We let Caden pick his own--here it is.

Time to load up and go home.

And there was so much more we did not even get to--good thing we can go back next year. What a fun day!

A weekend at home

This past weekend, we enjoyed some quality time at home. We have been gone the last few weekends, so it was nice to be able to be home, take naps, play, do laundry, and run errands--who would have thought I would be so excited about staying home! We were hoping to take the kids to the pumpkin patch, but the cold weather kept us home, so we will try and do the pumpkin patch trip this coming weekend. Aunt Kristi made it up for a visit, as did Grandma and Grandpa Haymond, and Aunt Nell flew in for a week long visit with us and the rest of the family. Caden has been fun interacting with Brynn lately--he loves talking to her and giving her hugs, but can still be a little rough with her. Val, our daycare provider, also said that he is protective with her at her house, so already taking his big brother role seriously. Brynn had an off week with sleeping last week--was up several times during the night, but Friday we did feel a tooth popping through, so hopefully that was the cause of the crazy nights.

Caden wanted to take a picture--with mommy's help!

Our two cute kiddos!

Fun times in Brynn's crib--she with her feet up and about as always!

Listening to music and relaxing--what good siblings :)

Last Weekend...

Brynn's Trojan outfit for her first football game--she lasted about an hour and then was done! Oh well, SES won and they have not lost a game all year!

Great photo moment by Grandma Parry's Flowers--and yes, her shirt says
"If you think I am cute, you should see my Aunt!"
Aunt Kristi bought the shirt, but Aunt Lindsey is the only"aunt" K-State Graduate.

Getting spoiled by Grandpa.

Pretty butterfly--thanks for putting it on my head daddy!

Mommy was so excited about this picture, but Caden wanted nothing to do with pictures at all!

Maybe I should just start walking...

Caden and Daddy having some 4-wheeler time--he loved it!

What does this button do daddy?

Aunt Janell and Uncle Jacob were back for the weekend--Aunt Nell got some love time!

A busy weekend last weekend. We took the kids to the Southeast Football game on Friday. Caden loved it--Brynn did ok for the first 45 minutes, then had a meltdown and finally fell asleep. At least we made it through most of the game!
Saturday took us to Clay Center to see Layne's family. We all enjoyed the pretty weather and seeing the family. Jake and Janell were back for a wedding reception, so it was great to see them.
Saturday, I did a rare thing for me--I put both my kids in K-State shirts--something that is hard for me to do, but my rule is that if some else buys them K-State stuff, they can wear it. I grew up being a KU fan, but I do try to show a little support to my brother and sister-in-law since they graduated there and Layne's family has always been K-State fans. I thought it would be a great time to get some cute pictures of Brynn and Caden with the awesome flowers and matching shirts--but you can see how well that worked out--maybe next time!