Petting Zoo

Seriously, who doesn't love a bunch of soft, cuddly, baby animals? 

Jensen's Mother's Day Out program had a petting zoo come to the school today and his teacher invited Mason and I to come back and enjoy the animals with them. I was glad I decided to pop back over to the school, because it was adorable.

 Those little pigs were really cute, but they were hard to catch! Mason kept walking up to the animals and saying, "Hi!"

 He was finally able to get his hands on this soft duck, who just wanted to get a drink.

 The bunnies were pretty easy to catch. They were also SUPER soft and very cute. I was amazed at how docile the animals were. Little children aren't always the most gentle. :)

 I love this picture. Jensen had so much fun catching animals, petting them and feeding them. Plus, he's just a handsome little guy.

We Like Blue

We know how to do the boy thing. So we're just going to stay on the blue path.

Jensen was the first to get his blue balloon. (He totally thought we were having a party for him.:))

 Carson got his blue balloon at school. (They wouldn't let me take it to his class, since balloons aren't allowed in the school, but they were nice enough to call him to the front lobby for me.)

 Mason got his blue balloon after he woke up from his nap. At first he didn't like it. I think he was still a little sleepy.

 I'm rather relieved that I don't have to re-do this nursery. It has been perfect for all of my boys.

Can't wait to meet you little guy.

Halloween Festivities!

Our Halloween would not be complete without our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party. In fact, it pretty much IS our purpose for Halloween. More than once we have chosen costumes due to what we wanted to wear to the Trunk-or-Treat. This year, such was the case.

Dustin has wanted to be a team of Harlem Globetrotters for several years now, and the stars aligned this Halloween. My job was to make the shorts and shirts, and Dustin found the headbands, wristbands, and the wigs. I'm not going to lie, I got the hardest job. But seriously, when you look this good, it makes it all worth it!

Mason refused to wear his wig. He wouldn't even put it on his head. Even for a picture. (I should have known better than to even buy him one.) But the other boys look awesome in their afro wigs! We did win the Best Costume award for a family or group, and I really think the wigs put us at the top. :)

 Good pictures of multiple children are hard to come by these days. It's a good thing I love them.

 The kids of course had a great time getting candy. They got so much, that we took part of their haul and used it to give out on Halloween. (I'm a total Re-Gifter!)

 It was too warm on Halloween to wear the wigs, so they just looked cute, instead of over the top hilarious. It was funny to hear people when the boys would come up to the door. "Oh, cool, you're a Harlem Globetrotter! Oh, look, here's another one. Wait, a third!" (Then upon seeing Dustin and I with the kids) "Hey, it's a whole team!"

 The candy getting was good this year. Plus, when you have several kids, and they all stay out for an hour and a half, and you live in a neighborhood like ours, then, yeah, it's a lot of sugar.

This holiday alone may destroy all hope of me having a normal pregnancy weight gain. (And I was doing so well!) I might have to go to drastic measures in order to save myself. 

And speaking of baby, we get to have our 20 week ultrasound NEXT WEEK! I think all my friends and family might be more anxious than either Dustin or I are about what we're having. :)

Pumpkin Carving 2013

Our attempt to carve a pumpkin went a little better this year. Last year I made the mistake of doing it a week or so before Halloween, forgetting that I live in Texas, where we have very warm Halloweens. That pumpkin rotted pretty quickly. This year we waited, and thanks to a cool front (we don't actually get very many "cold fronts") I think this little guy will last just fine for a couple of days.

The boys remembered pulling out the pumpkin guts last year. I was a little surprised they were much more willing to do it this time around!

 The big boys helped pick out the face I carved. Jensen liked him because of his "angry eyebrows."

 The boys were also thrilled that I put an actual candle inside the pumpkin. Mason kept singing "Happy Birthday to You" when I was lighting it. :) Even though I did the vast majority of the work, I'm still glad that the boys had fun "helping" to carve our family pumpkin.

I HATE Fire Ants

Why, why, why do these darn fire ants like Mason so much?

And perhaps the more important question is why can't he learn to stay away from these darn ant piles?!! (Seriously this thing is an ant metropolis in our back yard- complete with a couple of suburbs!) Of course I warned them about this one and gave very specific instructions to the boys about not playing anywhere near it, but you know how that played out.

Time to call the pest control guys out again.

It's Off!

 Today we finally got rid of the cast. It was a long month of a stinky, itchy, dirty arm. Having never broken a bone myself, I was interested in how they put the cast on and took it off. I love Jensen's face in this picture. He was laughing rather hysterically when she started sawing through the cast. I think the vibration of the saw (which kind of tickled), plus the excitement of it finally coming off, added in with his nervousness about being cut, made him laugh harder than he needed to. The nurse was very patient and stopped when he stared to feel too scared. But we eventually got it off. And boy was that arm yucky! I was very thankful I had brought along my nail clippers, because as soon as his hand was kind of washed off, I made sure to trim those nails back down to an appropriate length!

For the next couple of weeks Jensen has to wear these two little bands called "Buddy Bands." These will help him to keep the finger protected, but also allow him the mobility and flexibility needed to help his fingers to regain strength. He's been cracking me up all afternoon because he still acts like he can't use that hand at all. 

While Jensen really never complained of any pain in his hand, or even about any of his discomfort, it was clear that he felt very restricted and upset about having that arm in a cast. He often had a hard time controlling himself, whether he was excited or mad. The temper that we said goodbye to a long time ago reappeared, which was difficult for all of us to deal with. But I'm really hoping that the loss of the uncomfortable cast will help our happy Jensen come back.

Soccer For Carson

We have been looking forward to this fall for the boys to be able to play soccer. Especially Jensen. Unfortunately for him, he broke that pinkie right before the season started, so we thought it best for him to sit out and not play, so as not to re-injure himself, or injure another player with his cast. But we have enjoyed watching Carson play and improve his skills as a soccer player and a team mate. There he is- number 44.

 He's gotten much more aggressive since playing as a 5 year old. We really like his coach, who is an elementary school teacher. She really works well with the kids, and they have fun playing with her.

Carson has only had two games so far (since one of his games got rained out) and he's been able to score a goal in each game. In his first game he made the only goal for his team, scoring from about mid-field. During his game today he was able to block a kick near the goal and then kick it right in. His finger got a little jammed during the body block, and he got a little teary, but he was still excited (and he wasn't hurt- thank goodness!)

 And even though I was really nervous about doing the mid-week practices, so far, it hasn't been too bad. Luckily for me, I got a new calling at church, so I now don't have to go to Mutual Activities on Wednesday nights, which is when Carson has his practices. Plus, he really enjoys the time spent with his team learning how to better play.