Halloween 2012

 Again this year Kaeryn and Tristan were with their mom on Halloween so it was just Jaxen, Jaden, and Ron and I. We did have a fun night. Jaden is our cute little lion. I joked afterward that I should have made a maroon and gold scarf to make him a Griffendore lion. But alas I didn't think of that till later. He was still just as adorable as ever.

 Jaxen decided to be Captain America this year. I think mainly because of the shield. He looked great in his costume though. He had fun posing for his pictures.

 It hadn't started raining yet like the weather man said it would so we did go trick or treating around the neighborhood. First we went to the Cosumnes River College. They had said they were going to have a family thing there. I think we got there to late. There wasn't much going on when we got there. But that was fine. We still had time to go around our neighborhood.

 Jaden loved that he got to be in the stroller. He loves being outside. Jaxen was really cute, he would trick or treat for himself and then ask for his little brother. He was so helpful since I was pushing the stroller.  I look forward to seeing how Jaden will react to all the celebrating next year. 

 It really was a beautiful night. It was supposed to be really stormy. It wasn't until right before we came in that we felt the first sprinkles of rain.

 I'm glad the weather held out so that we could all enjoy this wonderful time. It was a lot of fun. I hope everyone else had just as much fun on Halloween as we did. Now til January is my favorite time of year. It's always so happy and I love it. Our holiday season of 2012 has begun and I am so excited. Lots of fun awaits us!

Happy Halloween everyone! I do hope it was fun and safe and the rest of the year brings only happiness!

Jaxen's First School Award!

 October 28th Jaxen's school had an assembly. Each class honored students for various things. Jaxen was honored for academic achievement in math and reading. His teacher says he is doing really well and is one of the students at the top of the class. He can sound out words that some of the other students were not able to do yet and he can skim through his sight words and read double what he is required. He is also doing really well in math. When we do homework together at home is at the point where I don't have to sit there with him and go over every problem with him. He simply does his work and then brings it to me and we go over it then. It makes it nice that I can get dinner on time now :). We are so proud of you Jaxen. You are one amazing boy!

Pumpkin Decorating!

 So at our house we don't actually carve our pumpkins. We decorate them. The kids won't touch the slimy goopy stuff on the insides of the pumpkins. So we just decorate them instead. I love to see the creativity in action.

 Jaden still doesn't get the idea of drawing with crayons or painting with a paintbrush. He just throws them down. So he had some snacks and sat with us while we decorated. The kids came to the craft store with me and I let them choose their supplies.

The finished product! Jaxen made the big zombie slime, I made the big King Metal Slime( a character from one of our favorite video games, dragon quest), Tristan made Two Face( a character from Batman), Ron painted metal slimes on the front and back, Kaeryn made a fancy grenade and for Jaden's I just sponged 3 different colors on his and added big google eyes. I think they turned out pretty awesome! Makes me excited to see what we do next year. I did put some glow sticks around the pumpkins so on Halloween night they did have an eery glow. It looked great! Fun memories!

Pumpkin Patch!

On the out skirts of town is a farm that does an annual pumpkin patch. We've tried out several different ones since we've lived here and decided that this one was our favorite. The family is very friendly and it's clear that they love what they do.

They bring some of their animals out for people to enjoy. Right up front they had a tub a baby chicks that they were eager to share with the kids. Letting them hold or pet them. They had 2 newborn calves. They were so sweet.

Jaden had fun looking at the different animals. I was amazed that he didn't shy from the horse and mule. He didn't seem to know quite what to do or make of it, but he kept going back and forth looking at them.

A very happy highlight for the boys is that at the farm they set up hay stacks to climb on and they have a big sand box with toys perfect for digging in the dirt open to the kids. This is Jaxen's favorite part. Jaden finally decided that he wanted to explore the possibility of playing in the dirt.

They also brought different ride on toys for all the kids to play with. Jaxen liked this tractor.

I think he makes a cute little farmer.

Eventually he made his way back to the dirt. He really does love to play and has no problems getting dirty. It's his happy place!

Jaden decided getting dirty was actually fun too! He still doesn't get how to play with cars and trucks but after seeing big brother dump sand all over them Jaden realized he can do that to and have a blast as well. I love my little dirt boys.

When you are ready to go the patch you can walk but they set up a hayride to take you there. Of course that's the way to go. It's always such fun. We have a rule that the kids can choose what ever pumpkin they like but they have to carry it out. We've had some funny moments watching them try and carry the biggest pumpkins they can. Jaxen did find his perfect pumpkin. It did take him a couple try's to find his balance and way to carry his giant pumpkin. But he did find a way to do it and he did carry it out of the patch.

He climbed into the trailer and held onto his pumpkin for the ride back to the front of the farm. Once he got down from the trailer he got his pumpkin and carried it to the wagon so that we could go pay for them. I must admit I was amazed and proud of his determination to keep that pumpkin.

Normally Kaeryn and Tristan go for big pumpkins as well but this year they both settled for smaller ones. I was surprised by that but they both said that these were the ones they really wanted. And they were happy with them. They already had plotted how they wanted to decorate them and they both said these little ones would be perfect!

Jaden did wander around a bit when we were in the patch but he wasn't to fond of the vines and seemed to get overwhelmed a bit. He mainly stayed in one spot. He tried to pick up a pumpkin by the stem but did not like the way the stem felt and through it down. After that he just wanted to get out of there. He wouldn't touch another one in the pumpkin patch. So we decided to see if he would go for some of the ones they already had sitting out front. He went for these small ones sitting on the fence. The round smooth body was okay. However, he soon discovered that he could push the other pumpkins off the fence and thought that was funny. We had to quickly rescue the little pumpkins and head on our way. All in all I think we did pretty good this. We had fun and look forward to coming back next year.

Giant Pumpkin Festival!

 October 7th was the last day for the Giant Pumpkin Festival here in Elk Grove. It was just Ron and I and Jaxen and Jaden. Kaeryn and Tristan were with their mom that day. It was really cool to see these amazing pumpkins. I remember one of the years we had grown our own pumpkins as a child. My dad had a fantastic garden that year. One of the pumpkins was huge. I think it might have been taller than my knees. It was really cool and we were so excited about that pumpkin. And until this moment it was the largest pumpkin I had ever remembered seeing. These pumpkins obviously dwarfed that one of my childhood. They were more than huge. They were immense! Jaxen thought they were pretty cool. Jaden is still a little too young to appreciate them. But hopefully in the next few years he will learn to love and be fascinated by nature just like we are.

 These were the first, second and third winners. Congratulations winners and thank you for sharing them with us. They were beautiful and amazing. It's fascinating to me to realize that these beautiful giants came from a tiny seed.

 They had the giant pumpkins gated off but there was this other giant squash outside the gate for people to touch and feel and admire. Jaxen climbed right up to have some fun.

 Jaden thought it was fun for a few seconds and then he wanted to get right back down. Now that he is walking he wants to go go go! It's so fun to watch him in his little explorer mode.

 Right next to where the pumpkins were there were bales of hay lined up in rows for seats. It was where people sat during the contest while waiting to hear the weights of the pumpkins and other giant produce. Since the contest was over they left the bales of hay and the kids loved to run around and play on the bales. Jaden gets so excited when he walks around and explores. He loves his new found talent.

Jaxen is still a huge Super Mario fan. This is his mario pose. I love it! He makes me smile.

 While we were there the farmers came to move one of the pumpkins. I guess they take them to several different festivals throughout the season. It was fascinating to watch them move this pumpkin. They were so careful and meticulous throughout the process. They definitely worked as a team. I think we can all learn from that sometimes.

Of course the pumpkins were not the only thing at the festival. They had some fair games and rides and various booths. We got some tickets for Jaxen and he went crazy for this hay maze. He figured the path out real quick but decided to go again. He laughed and laughed while running through the maze. One of the times he went through there was an older boy in there who chased him around. He thought that was the best thing ever. Watching my boys smile and have fun and seeing them so happy is one of my most favorite things. One thing at the festival that we missed that we really wanted to see were the boat races. Some of the giant pumpkins were turned into boats and they raced along in the pond. When I read that they were to have these races I thought that would have been a fantastic site to see. But we weren't able to get to the fair in time. Maybe next year. They do this every year. So as long as we are here we can make it to the next one. We had a lot of fun at the festival. We didn't spend much money we just enjoyed our time there. It was a beautiful sunny day at the park. The perfect way for us to kick off the holiday season. So much fun!

They had a celebrity chef there. He makes beautiful food carvings. There were these two little girls watching him and he made them a carving for their hair bands. It was so cute. I was really inspired by his work. I love art in all of it's forms. I'm no where near a professional artist but I try and have fun doing it. I enjoy seeing other people work and maybe learning from them or get my own ideas. Chef Ray truly has a gift and I am glad that we got to see it.