pumpkin carving party and 12 things

 

---

This past weekend we had our family fall party. We make the effort to do something special together for most holidays, even if it means just hanging out together on our back patio.

We made chocolate, Reese’s PB cup, and Oreo popcorn, drank apple cider, and listened to music while we carved our pumpkins. I had the best time behind the scenes taking pics of everyone, especially of all their cute faces while they took out the insides of their pumpkins. 🙂 We plan to roast the seeds tomorrow and get some candles to be able to light them up on Halloween night.

I thought I’d share a few random thoughts with you all about happenings in our lives just for fun. I love reading these kinds of trivial things that one day I’ll look back on and cherish, so I thought I’d start including them on the blog every once in awhile!

1. Matt loves the show Stranger Things…but I just can’t get into it. I don’t like creepy things, like at all, so he lovingly watches it with ear buds on so I don’t even have to listen to the suspenseful music. Gives me nightmares…
2. This past week the temp here was over 100 degrees for 4 days straight. We had our box fans on and our AC could barely stand it. Matt says it felt like we were on the threshold of hell…Today I had on jeans and a sweater and was still cold…and this next week it’ll be rainy and in the low 60’s. The weather here cannot make up it’s mind…
3. I bought the kids some Legos as a fun project to work on after they finished their school work each day. It was meant to be a long term project, a little at a time. There’s a no electronics rule here during the week, so I thought building something would be another good option for free time. The Legos came in the mail on Friday night. I was just informed that they have completed the entire set just before bed tonight (Sunday)…grrrrrreeeeeeaaaaat…
4. We love to dance in the kitchen. It’s a tiny kitchen but we don’t mind. Doesn’t matter what songs, we just love it. Even the kids get into it. We crank it up loud and everyone shows off their own style…we are ALL so glad no one lives behind our house…
5. We rent a home that doesn’t allow pets. My kids want a puppy so stinkin’ badly that it’s all they talk about lately. So, my sweet neighbors have been letting us borrow their dog…for little puppy sleepovers. It’s the cutest thing ever to see the kids wrap her up like a little baby and talk to her in their best lil baby voices.
6. Speaking of dogs…Crew has been playing this game lately where he acts like he is a puppy…that hatches out of an egg…(I have NO idea how he comes up with this stuff!) and he covers himself with his favorite blanket, pokes his arms out from underneath it and “hatches” into a little puppy. It’s the cutest (and strangest) game ever. There’s so many “rules” that go along with it. He often asks me to be one with him…so I “hatch” every morning into a little puppy right along with him.
7. About 8 months ago I sold our bedroom dresser, our couches, most of our lamps, our coffee table and a whole bunch of other things thinking we would be moving soon…and then we didn’t move. So our clothes are in stacked laundry baskets, we bought used couches from craigslist just to have SOMETHING to sit on, the house is super dark now that the sun goes down so early, and the living room floor empty…is there such a thing as an ‘accidental minimalist?’
8. The four boys tried their first parkour class this past week and absolutely loved it. They now want to be little American Ninja Warriors. I think I’d better sign them up to take the actual class, otherwise I’m afraid they’ll start using the home to build their own course. I caught one of them straddling a hutch and the stairway banister trying to climb to the second story ceiling…I’m so thankful for my boys…I just didn’t do this kind of thing when I was growing up…watching them learn and grow and push themselves and try new things is so fun…and absolutely terrifying…
9. A few months ago I bought Kate some new pants. She put them on this morning and they were 3 inches too short. I am pretty sure she’s grown at least 6 inches within the last year! Does anyone else feel like this parenting thing is going too fast???
10. That little power tool pumpkin carving bit that Matt used to gut the insides of the pumpkins out was worth every penny! I’d highly recommend getting one, especially if you have a lot of kids! Makes the process so much faster!
11. Our TV broke two weeks ago. It’s the volume button that stopped working. You could turn it up but it wouldn’t stay…it’d just sliiiiide back down to zero as soon as we let go. The kids started taking turns standing right by the TV pushing the button a couple of times each second to get it to stay at the right level (so cute they kept trying to help each other)…until this past week when one kiddo accidentally broke the entire button off. So now there’s no volume at all…movie nights are now a little tricky as all 7 of us have to huddle around a laptop!
12. A man randomly showed up at our house a few weeks ago letting us know he used to live in our same house when he was little. He told us that they’d lost some family photos and asked if we’d ever seen anything in the attic. We hadn’t even been in the attic, but we took his phone number and told him that if we ever went up there and found his things we’d let him know. This past weekend we went up there and found FIVE boxes worth of stuff! The guy came by this evening to pick up the keepsakes that’d been missing for almost 30 years!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I can’t wait to get the kids all dressed up on Tuesday–we’re all going to be pirates this year!!! Yo ho!