Halloween

This year for Halloween, the boys told me a long time ago what they wanted to be. They love the cartoon on Disney Junior, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so Josh choose to be Mr. Smee and Daniel wanted to be Jake. Since I figured I would not be able to find a Mr. Smee costume, I decided to make both of them. With the help of my mother-in-law, I think they turned out pretty well.

Since the boys were both pirates, I thought I would make Patrick a parrot. I added a little bandana and made him the parrot from the cartoon as well, Scully. He was pretty cute!

 In the morning, Daniel, Patrick and I attended Josh's party at school. They always do a good job of coming up with activities and games for the kids to play.

They even let Daniel participate, which helped out a lot as he did not understand the party was for Josh and not him.

 Then we headed to the parade. Daniel got to participate in this since he is in preschool at the elementary school.

It wasn't his day for school so I had to walk to entire parade with him. That was okay. Patrick was the hit of the parade.

Of course he was. Look at how cute his is!

The preschool lead the parade so when they were done, they sat in the front lobby and watched the rest of the parade so we got to see Josh walking. 

Trick or treating went well in the evening. I stayed home with Patrick to hand out candy while Joe took the big boys out. 

He said they only got scared once at a house with a loud noise, which is pretty good because Joe wanted me to go to a different house that I thought looked a little too scary. Some people get very into this holiday.

 It was a late night but we had to wake up both boys at 7:45 this morning for school so I would say it was a success!

Carving Pumpkins

The annual carving of the pumpkins. Which really means Daddy gets to spend an hour cutting open, cleaning out, and carving pumpkins. Thanks Daddy!

Daniel did help out with the cutting open. I don't know if it was because he was so excited to carve the pumpkins or he just wanted to use the knife. 

Joshua had no problem helping clean out the pumpkins. 

While Daniel was a little more worrisome. 

He did help cut out the faces while Josh was too busy watching Sunday Night Football (can we guess who's kid he is?). 

I think they turned out pretty well. 

Again, thanks Daddy!

Heritage Square

About a month ago, Joe's work had a company picnic at Heritage Square Amusement Park that included Unlimited ride passes. Unfortunately, it landed on a weekend he was out of town and that the boys had their games, so we were unable to go. Fortunately, the passes were good for any day at the park. So, a month later, we went to the park. It was the last day it was open and a little overcast, but not too cold, so we had little crowd to deal with. It was a great day.

It started with a spin around the pond in a paddle boat powered by Mom.

Dad got in on the fun with a dragon roller coster. 

The boys both had a blast on the Flying Bananas. This one was ridden many times. 

Patrick was there, too. He spent most of the time in his stroller, but I think he was still having fun.

We each took a turn on the go-cart track....

and Dad took the boys out on the bumper boats. The only scary moment of the day. They are inter-tubes with a motor in the middle of them that you use to steer. They made Daniel wear a life jacket but didn't put one on Josh. The boats did not look easy to control and the little 6 year old looked like he could flip it very easily. It made me very nervous to watch. But he got the hang of it and had a great time. They kept running into each other and ended up getting soaked!

The day ended with another trip around the pond, this time paddled by Dad. It was a great day and the boys keep asking to go back, so I think they enjoyed it, too.

Aquarium

One of my struggles as a stay at home mom is to find daily activities that don't include watching TV. I try to get Daniel out of the house as much as possible but we can only to the same park so many times. Today, I decided to take us to the Downtown Aquarium. We have been before but it has been over a year and I figured we could make a day out of it.

Patrick got to try out a new stroller (smaller and easier to take in crowded places). He was a little small for it but with some added padding behind the strap, it worked just fine. 

This is Daniel standing in front of a 250 lb grouper. It was a huge fish.

He thought the stingrays were more entertaining.

We also caught a mermaid show where we learned about keeping the ocean clean. It was also a popular day for school field trips, which made this part of the aquarium very crowded.

Daniel also got his picture taken with the mermaids. He is a little shy around the ladies now but I have a feeling that will change in the future.

It was a good day one hour spent at the aquarium. Apparently the low lighting mixed with the tight spaces was too much for this three year old. He had me carry him partway through the aquarium, which was interesting with a stroller. Of course the next day he wanted to go back to the aquarium and assured me he would not get scared anymore.

Pumpkin Patch

After our crazy sports Saturday, we spent a fun afternoon as a family at Mile High Farm's pumpkin patch/fall festival. It was great. There were barrel rides, bouncy houses, a petting zoo, a corn maze, and a hay ride. 

The barrel was big enough for two (perfect for us) and would have fit an adult, but Joe and I let the kids have all the fun.

The corn maze (or trail) was fun. We let the boys lead. Daniel loved wandering around leading everybody.

Of course, we hit the pumpkin patch. We let each boy pick out a pumpkin. They loved walking around looking for the perfect one. There were a lot of solid candidates but then new ones were found that were "much better". 

It was a fun Sunday.

Sports Saturday

With two boys in sports this fall, our Saturdays consist of running from one game to the next (with as much college football on TV as allows). This Saturday was no exception.

Josh had a flag football game in the morning. This is his forth season and (brag alert) he is getting pretty good. He ran for two touchdowns, threw for one, and caught a touchdown pass.

We are still working on defense (he tends to run along with the ball carrier rather than pulling the flags) but he is making improvements in that area as well. He didn't really get much practice this weekend as he was mostly on offense.

Daniel is in his first season of soccer. I thought this would be a good sport to start with since all you have to do is run and try to get a ball in a net. He doesn't have the natural talent or focus that Josh has when it comes to sports. He is "that kid" during the soccer game that doesn't follow the group going after the ball.

He did improve from his first game and I think we only had one somersault incident this time.

He even got in on the action a few times.

My Saturdays are busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. As my minivan shows, I am a soccer (sports) mom (although I have yet to dawn the picture button but that will come in time).

Iowa Visit

We made a visit to Iowa for some much needed relaxation over the boy's fall break. We were able to squeeze in visits with family and still had time to just hang out, which is a rarity on these trips.

The boys enjoyed beer (or cream soda, depending on age) during the Monday Night Football game...

while Patrick got some good Grandma time in.

Since two of Joe's favorite things are pizza and beer, we try to make a trip over to Backpocket for lunch when we are in Iowa. This trip was no exception. We drove over with Grandma and met Aunt Becca, Jonah, Uncle Bob, and Whitney for lunch.

Good thing it was during the afternoon on a Tuesday as we took up almost an entire table, and my kids like to run around the restaurant. I highly recommend going here for dinner. They make a really good pizza and I guess the beer is pretty good, too.

Look at this cutie pie!

I don't know if my dad is trying to tell me something as somehow Becca got mug #1 and Joe and I are in the 200's. Outta sight, outta mind? Just kidding.

We drove down to the Kolona Cheese factory after lunch. I didn't get any pictures inside as it was more of a store than a factory but I did take this fun one when we got there. Daniel managed to fall asleep during the 30 minute drive and it shows off the art he did on the way over to Iowa City. I guess he is used to color wonder markers that don't write on anything but special paper so went a little crazy when given the "real" thing.

This one isn't from our trip but it is a really cute picture of the two of them with their gorgeous blue eyes. 

Thanks for the great visit everyone!