"Roter-tillers"

That's what the boys call these contraptions. They sure make a loud "vvvv"-ing noise!

Several Sebs

I like all his different expressions. :) And his curly, sleepy hair.

Leaf-lubbers

Grandma let the boys use her leaf piles the other day. We couldn't really get Seb to play in them; all he was interested in was using the rake. Abe pretended he was an erupting volcano.

Halloween Panda Bears

Here are our cute little pandas getting reading for trick-or-treating. Grandma made their darling suits for them. They wanted dark eyes and noses drawn on, which you can see in the middle picture, but I think they looked cutest just with their own little faces peeking out. :)

Sebastian said all the right things at each house: "Tick-oh-teet," "Day-do!" (that's "thank you") and "Happy How-een!" With his shrill little voice, he sounded like one of those little laughing stuffed ghosts that Grandma puts out at Halloween time.

"Hee-hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee-hee! Happy Halloween!"

Burning bush

Pumpkin Farm

Last week we drove down to a farm in Santaquin where you can go on a hayride behind a tractor out to the pumpkin patch. The boys loved riding behind the tractor in the big trailer full of hay. (Even though Sebby fell off as we were climbing out--you can see his bloody lip in the second picture) :(

It was so pretty to look out over the fields and orchards as the sun went down. Afterwards we had apple cider donuts--the best we've ever eaten!--at the farm's Red Barn. Mmmm!

Nice October Sunday

A few more pictures: Abraham looking grown-up, me looking pregnant, and all of us looking happy at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Playing dress-up

We got out some old Halloween costumes to try on the other day. Abe's wearing his Bear costume, minus its hood, from last year---as you can see, he's gotten lots taller. And Seb was swallowed up in this Leopard Suit, but he didn't want to be left out of dressing up just because nothing fit him! Grandma is making their real costumes this year, but I can't tell what they are because Abey wants it to be a surprise! (Hint: Sebby is not going to be, as I had originally planned, a Blue Ghost.)

Abraham Turns 5

Abraham turned 5 last week, and had his first "friend" Birthday Party, with his friends Adam, Lincoln, and Asher. They went to the Tumbling Gym and then had lunch and brownies afterwards. Here is Abraham holding his new "Cars" flashlight, under the decorations he helped me put up.

Blowing out the candles (or candle--unfortunately I could only find 4! So we just put 1 on, since the cake was small anyway) on his birthday cake. Abe's birthday dinner request was for Leek Soup, Muffins, and Volcano Cakes. He and Sebby helped me make everything on the menu!

Blowing on "lizard tongues" (as Abe calls them)

We gave Abe his own real camera for his birthday (i.e., our old one which was dropped about a year ago, and would have cost too much to get fixed. It doesn't focus very well, and only one of the settings works, but it does still take pictures---perfect for Abraham). He loves taking pictures of everyone and everything. And this made it possible for Abe's old toy camera to be passed down to Sebby, which made Sebby very happy. (Seb thinks you hold it up to your mouth to take pictures, for some reason. And he always smiles for himself , too.)

City Services Fair

It was a cold, rainy, windy day, but it was worth it, because we got to go up in bucket trucks!! They went up 55 feet, which felt very high to me--especially in the wind. It was kind of scary to be waaaay up there in such a little bucket. Fun, though--I've always wanted to go up in a bucket truck! Abe and I liked it, but Sebby really liked it--the moment he got out, he said to Grandma, "Do again? Do again?"

There were also riding lawnmowers that the boys got to sit on--

And Abe got to hold the fire hose and try to knock over a bucket with the spray. ("Was it hard to hold?" I asked him. "No, it wasn't hard at all," he said. So the fireman helping him must have been pretty strong.) :)

Here the boys are at home afterwards, wearing their new hard hats and Sheriff stickers. We also got some other good things, like yo-yos, frisbees, and a tiny backpack/keychain which Abey gave to his bear (Blueberry).

Haircut time again

Sebby was really good during his haircut this time. Usually he's so wiggly it's almost impossible, but this time I told him if he held still, I'd let him push the switch to turn on the hair clippers. Worked like magic. :)

Funniest recent exchange between Abey and Sebby

Sebby: (pointing) "Mommy's hair . . . Abey's hair . . . Sebby's hair . . . where's Daddy's hair?"
Abey: "Daddy's hair is at work, with his head!"

"Yuh, Mommy! Moo!"

Sebby's latest phrase is "Look, Mommy!" (It sounds like "Yuh, Mommy!") He wants me to look at everything, so he says it all day long. "Look, Mommy, two fans on!" "Look, Mommy, Sebby drew hot air balloon!" "Look, Mommy; brown garbage truck!" etc.

This morning very early he came into our room saying excitedly, "Look, Mommy! Come look! See out window! Big moon! Pretty!" I got up and he pulled me out to the back door so I could look at it--the beautiful full moon. It did look really big and pretty (but of course the pictures never do it justice).

Squaw Peak

We took our usual Fall drive up to the Squaw Peak overlook to see the leaves the other night. We'd had a few days of rain and cold (snow on not just Timpanogos, but Y Mountain too), so the colors weren't as bright as they sometimes are. But they were really pretty in the twilight--hard to see in the pictures, but the reds really glowed. Sebby and Abey liked looking down at the view, and Seb keeps talking about it: "Remember? Saw BYU? Saw temple? Saw whole city?"

Growing Butterflies

Nancy's family gave us the idea of getting some caterpillars and watching them turn into butterflies. She lent us their butterfly "habitat" and we ordered some larvae (those are caterpillars) from a science store online. (They aren't expensive--about $12 for a kit of 5, although we got 6 for some reason.) They came in a little container with their food in it. At first they were quite small.

They just crawled around in their little cup for a week or so, and ate their food, and grew. Sebby loved to watch them (he loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar book) and talk about how they were getting "bigger and bigger."

Then one morning we saw them all hanging from the top of the cup. As the day went on, they turned from spiky little caterpillars into smooth-looking, shell-like . . . chrysali? chrysalae? . . . or, as we preferred to call them, cocoons. :) You're supposed to wait 24 hours for them to harden, and then tape them (attached to the paper top of the cup) to the butterfly habitat.

After about another week, one day Abraham noticed that some butterflies had emerged! They left their papery cocoons behind, and almost immediately started flapping their wings to make them stronger. ("Came out cocoons!" said Sebby excitedly.)

This part was very interesting to watch! 3 butterflies came out one day, and 3 the next. Unfortunately we could never catch them in the act of emerging, but we did watch them as their wings got stronger and they began to fly around instead of just hang there. (I like this picture of Sebby peering up at the butterflies.)

The butterflies were so beautiful! Abraham and Sebastian loved watching them fly around in their habitat. We fed them with sugar water. We just soaked paper towels with the water and put the towels in the habitat, and the butterflies landed on them and sipped up the nectar.

We waited for a nice sunny day, and then let them fly away. It was fun to watch them go up into the sky. Sebby said, "Butterflies! Flew away!" And Abe said, "If I were a butterfly, I'd want to be out in the big world! And if anybody ever sees a butterfly sipping from a nice flower, maybe it will be one of ours!"