The beautiful drumset

This morning when we came downstairs for breakfast, Sebby looked out the window, gasped, and said, "Oh, yooooooook, Mommy!!! Yook at the beautiful drumset!!"

It was the sunrise.
a.k.a. "the sunset."
a.k.a. "the drumset."

And it was, indeed, beautiful. :)

Spooky jack-o-lanterns

We carved our jack-o-lanterns last night. Abey and Sebby drew faces on their pumpkins and Sam carved them out. (And I roasted the pumpkin seeds.) Spooky!

A trip to the pumpkin farm

A trip to our favorite pumpkin farm: Southridge Farms in Santaquin.

Donuts---enjoyed immediately

(Cider brought home for later. Mmm.)

Hayride to the pumpkin patch

"So many of us! So many of us!"

Pleased with our selection

Happy boys

Back along the country lane (pulled by a tractor)

Moonrise over the Red Barn

Ghost stories and spooky songs on the drive home
BOO!

Sebby loves tiny things

We went over to our poor garden to save what we could after the frost and snow. The bottom of the basil plants were okay, and we had lots of tomatoes, and then there were these tiny, tiny zucchini that I wasn't sure would survive, so we picked those too. Sebby wanted to give them to his Monkey and Baby Monkey. He kept saying, "They're soooo cute, I wish I could just hug 'em!"

Halloweeny Witches

Here is the next installment in the Father-Son collaborative picture series (see monkey and train). Abe drew this witch and Sam colored her. (Sam's commentary, and a bonus witch, here)

Now we are six

Sunday.

Abraham's Birthday. Just the way he liked it:

French toast with raspberries. Vanilla syrup (lots of it). Cocoa (for a cold day!).

His present: a carwash:

Lots of parts. Moveable, flappable, workable, re-arrangeable (on wooden dowels)

Dessert: volcano cakes

"Mommy, if you want to ask me what kind of cake I want next year, you can, but really you can just count on me wanting volcano cakes, because they're my favorite."

"I'll ask you anyway, in case you change your mind."

"All right, and I suppose that sometimes I might have something else, but often, I'll have volcano cakes."

Poof!

And . . . one more thing . . .

A new bike bell (purple for Abey---gold for Honey). Ding-ding!

Happy Birthday to our sweet SIX-year-old!!

Fee Waver

Malachi loves to wave these days. If you open the front door, if you walk towards the front door, if you say "bye-bye," or if you say "wave" (even in the midst of other conversation), he starts up his waving arm vigorously, grinning all the while as if he is quite proud of himself.

Sometimes he stands up in his high chair (he's so tiny, the buckles don't really hold him in) and I say, "sit down"---while doing the sign for "down" (which is just pointing your finger down). He thinks I'm waving at him. So he grins and waves back. (Very pleased to be communicating.)

He waves whenever you ask him to. And often when you don't.

Today he was bundled up for our walk in a furry suit. It didn't let his hands or feet be free--which made him a little prone to tipping over. He didn't mind, though.

He just waved happily while falling.

Bye-bye, Ky-guy!

Work, work, work

The lot next door to us has been sold (sorry, none of you were quick enough to snatch it up) and we've been watching the work with great interest. They dug so close to our fence, and the grade was so steep, that the dirt started falling away from beneath the fence, so they took several panels out ("it wasn't . . . planned, but we'll replace them," the guy assured me) and put up this seasonally festive yellow CAUTION tape instead. Do you think that will keep our boys out of the hole?

Today I came upstairs to find Sebby shouting out the window at the construction workers, "Hi!! What are you doing?? What are you building?? Are you making the foundation? I LOVE YOU!!"

Services Fair

We had a good time, as always, at the City Services Fair. Seb didn't want to hold the fire hose last year, but this year he was very serious and intent on it.



The boys' favorite thing, though, was riding up in the bucket truck. I love how excitedly Seb just stood right up on the step and looked over the edge. He was not scared AT ALL. I could see him waving happily down at Malachi and me the whole time they were up in the air. Abe loved it, too, but most of these pictures only show the top of his head peering over.



The boys also loved going around to the different booths and collecting pieces of candy. My mom was unwrapping a snickers bar while holding Malachi, and he just leaned right over and BIT it out of her hand. Yum! He also enjoyed pieces of my popcorn (and would certainly have had more of everything, if he could have gotten it).

Yook, Mommy, a monkey!

Here is another father-son art collaboration. Sebastian drew the monkey and Sam colored it. (I'm sorry that the monkey is so . . . disturbing. Sebby insisted that all four of those circles were his ears.)

Why bathing three boys at the same time doesn't really save you as much time as you think it will

We [heart] nature. And big machinery, of course.

We went on a drive out west the other day to see some leaves. The colors are lovely, if muted, this year. We can see some really bright patches of leaves on the mountains from our house, but they don't appear to be drive-by-able. Anyway, we explored some new roads, got some great views, and discovered an unexpected bonus:

A vacant backhoe. We let the boys sit inside and "drive."

Before we left, Sebby said, "I yuuuuv this backhoe, Mommy! I just wish I could HUG it!!"

"Hug away," said I.

So he did.