My New Scrapbooking Blog

I started a new blog for my scrapbooking projects. So if you would like to see what I have been working on lately, drop on by. I have really gotten into digital scrapbooking and I am loving this new creative outlet. Hopefully you'll be able to tell as my designs get better and better. The address is www.scrapmommaof3.blogspot.com .

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight for Family Home Evening we invited the Marostica Family over to carve the pumpkins we picked a couple of weeks ago.

The kids enjoyed taking the guts out of the pumpkins.

Yummy!

The Marostica family includes 2 parents, a set of twin 2 year old girls, and a new baby boy.

Here are the guts from the 4 pumpkins.

Landon was waiting for his turn to help carve.

Cole and Dad work on a Buzz Lightyear pumpkin.

Kaleb and Dad finished the spider pumpkin. Here are all the pumpkins when they are done.

Kaleb's spider lit up.

Cole and Landon's Buzz Lightyear lit up.

We had fun carving the pumpkins and hanging out with our friends. Luckily Halloween is on Friday because I don't think they will last much longer than that.

Halloween Preview

Superman.

Batman.

Harry Potter.

We went to a Halloween Trail on Saturday night at Landon's school, so the kids got to dress up in their costumes almost a week early. They were so excited. They have a trunk-or-treat on Thursday and trick-or-treating on Friday, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures after that. Happy Halloween!

Landon's First Field Trip

Landon is in preschool now and they took their first fieldtrip to the Anasazi Heritage Center just north of town. It is a museum about the indians that used to live in this area. It has lots to hands on stuff and a hike to some ruins in the back of the building. Landon had been here before for his brothers fieldtrips, but this time he was the big kid and he was so excited.

He loved looking at the artifacts and touching everything he could.

They heard a story about the ancient puebloans and then colored a picture about it. It was about 40 degrees outside at this point, but he didn't seem to mind.

He is a good listener and loves to hear a good story.

My youngest is growing up so fast and learning so much everyday. He really wants to be as big as his brothers, but I know it will happen soon enough.

I am glad I was able to experience this time with him. What a great fieldtrip!

Our visit to the Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we went to a pumpkin patch just north of town. We go here almost every year because it is so nice and fun for the kids.
Landon says "I don't have a pumpkin!"
Cole is such a great poser.
Kaleb picked out this pumpkin for our family.
We went with a family from church, so we took turns taking pictures of each others family.

These are the 2 pumkins and 3 kids we took home when we were done.
It is just so beautiful here with the orange pumpkins against the green trees and mountains. Those mountains got snow earlier in the week but are mostly melted now.
Here is an old tractor Mr. Hauser (the farmer) had parked there with a bunch of pumpkins in the back.
Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere.
Our family had a great time playing in the pumpkin patch, picking out our pumpkins and taking pictures. Later in the month we will carve our pumpkins for family home evening. Happy Fall!

Soccer is over!

The fall soccer season is over! We have had soccer 4 nights a week for the past 6 weeks and I am glad it is over. Both boys are getting better every year, but by the middle of October it gets cold here and so I was ready for it to be over.
Kaleb has really gotten aggressive out on the field and has scored several goals this year.
Here is the team we coached, although 2 of the girls on our team are missing.
Here is Coles team with their coach Colin.
Cole has made atleast one goal in almost every game and in two games he got 3 goals each time. I am glad they both are learning how to play soccer and increasing their athletic ability. In the spring, soccer and tee ball overlap, so we may try tee ball instead. We will wait and see.

Lessons Learned

It seemed strange yesterday to not be taking pictures and writing things down like I did last week. It took some time to do these things, but I am glad I did. I learned several lessons from this activity. First, I do get lots of things accomplished during the week, but usually they are things that get undone almost as soon as I do them (like cleaning, laundry, dinner). Second, it made me slow down and appreciate the little things going on around me (like the kids catching bugs outside or playing nicely together). Lastly, I learned that I had better appreciate what is going on in this time of my life now because I may look back in 5 years and wonder how they grew up so fast ("you're gonna miss this"). I will make a scrapbook for this project, but since most of you won't see that part, just know that I enjoyed the process.

Week in the Life: Sunday

Everybody dressed up and in the car on the way to church.
Here we are at church.
Time to get the winter clothes out of storage and in the closet.
Cole practices his writing.

Dad with the remote watching the Cowboys game. He worked every day this week and deserves a break.

Today I:

woke up at 8:30 am
got breakfast goin'
Kyle left for work at 9 am
got in the shower
helped the kids get ready for church
go to church
3 hours later-come home from church
everybody changes out of their church clothes
we have lunch
we watch Harry Potter 1 (recorded)
check emails/blogs
talk to Kyle on the phone
let out the rabbit
make dinner
Kyle gets home
eat dinner
start fire in wood stove
switch out summer clothes for winter in closet
kids go to bed
watch Cowboy game with Kyle
write blog
work on crosstitch
watch movie with Kyle
go to bed

Week in the Life: Saturday

Today we painted the boys room. Here is the "before" shot.
I had lots of help. Here is Cole painting.
Kaleb wanted a chance to paint too.
Landon couldn't have his brothers help and not him.
With all that help, I did manage to finish the room in a couple of hours. It is a neutral color, but I think with some bright colored curtains and their bed spreads it will look great.

What I did today:
8:15 am: wake up
make breakfast
Kyle leaves for work
9 am: prepare kids room for paint
find all painting supplies
tape kids room
talk to mom on phone
10 am: begin painting
11:30: finish 1st coat
let dry
make kids lunch
clean kitchen
put dinner in crock pot
eat lunch
check emails/blogs
1 pm: start 2nd coat
finish painting
clean painting supplies
relax for a little while
watch a movie with kids
have a snack
work on digital scrapbook layout
take off tape in kids room
finish cooking dinner
7 pm: Kyle gets home
dinner
showers
kids go to bed
8 pm: start fire
watch recorded Texas/OU game with Kyle
write blog
work on crosstitch
10 pm: go to bed

Week in the Life: Friday

Cole clowning around.
Finally finished canning all my apples.

Landon "fixing" his "motorcycle" in the front yard.
I am deep into Harry Potter again.
The "after" shot of the playroom. Isn't that nice!

What I did today:

8 am: get up
make breakfast
Kaleb and Cole go to school
check emails/blogs
clean kitchen
start laundry
make chocolate chip cookies for Cole's school
take a shower
10:15 am: take cookies to Cole's class
pay bill at Landon's school
10:45 am: back at home
switch laundry/fold clothes
start on canning (apple pie filling)
Cole gets home from school
lunch
finish canning apples
make apple crisp with remaining apples
read Harry Potter while waiting for crisp and canner to finish
fold clothes
check mail
watch kids outside
put away jars of apple pie filling
4 pm: Kaleb gets home
finish cleaning playroom
make dinner
5:15 pm: Kyle gets home
eat dinner
Kyle and Landon go to local football game
The other 2 boys and I watch Harry Potter 5
work on crosstitch
time for bed

Week in the Life: Thursday

Cole playing cards.
Me and my laptop.
Cole's grasshopper named buddy.
Landon catches his grasshopper "Handsome".

It was a slow and boring day today.

7:45 am: wake up

breakfast

kids go to school

take Landon to school

9 am: make banana bread

load dishwasher

check emails/blogs

start laundry

clean kitchen

pick up around house

take shower

10:30 am: go help in Kaleb's class

walk home with Cole

lunch

go pick up Landon

1 pm: play cards with Cole

watch Dora with Landon

scrapbook downstairs

play outside helping kids catch bugs

read Harry Potter

work on computer

4 pm: Kaleb comes home

work on crosstitch

soccer

dinner

showers

bed for kids

8 pm: watch tv

write blog

work on crosstitch

10 pm: go to bed