Friday, November 30, 2012

Fall Holiday Recap




Well, I'm hoping that Fridays from here on out will be my weekly day to blog. I say that with all good intentions, and the expectation that it probably will not happen. But one can hope!

I'm so behind on posting that I'm going to lump Halloween and Thanksgiving into one giant post. I've literally got 565 pictures from October and November that I had to sort through, so I'm just picking my favorite ones and posting them here. Lets begin, because really, this will take awhile.


Halloween 2012:

The boys wanted to be firemen, and they wanted Mason to be their fire dog. Costco had some amazing firemen costumes, and we found a cute dalmation for Mace online, so check and check again. We had a blast Halloween morning going to storytime, with the boys in their costumes, and then made a visit to daddy and papa's work to show off their costumes some more. After naptime, it was back into the costumes, this time with full make-up, and then off to trick-or-treat. Quote of the night.... Miles V: "Mommy, I want to trick-or-treat at ALL the houses." And, we pretty much did!!!

My three loves! 

Candy break

!!! 

All of their loot!!!! 

Tucson Trip: 

In between Halloween and Thanksgiving, we squeezed in a trip to visit our family in Tucson. Unfortunately  we were all battling croup, so between the boys coughing, me losing my voice for the entire trip, and my Miles battling a fever on the drive down, I would say it was still a really successful visit. Our nephew, James, is just three months younger than Max, and this was the first time all three boys (not including Mason), really played together. It was fun to watch and the kiddos keep asking when we will be going back to Aunt Amber and Uncle Charlie's house~! Here are a few pics from the visit. 

We took a trip to the zoo..... 

The boys got a ride on Uncle Charlie's tractor!

Aunt Amber got the boys some fun Christmas crafts to do on a rainy cold night! 

Everyone LOVES stickers! 


And we hit up the cool park before heading out on Sunday! 


Love our sweet Jamsey!

Thanks for having us, Amber and Charlie!!! 

Here are a few random fun fall pictures:




Its all fun and games until someone opens their mouth in the leaf pile!!!

Sweet adorable Mason 
Thanksgiving:

My in-laws hosted Thanksgiving this year, and we had a wonderful day. The boys were great, we got to see some old friends, eat some awesome food,  watch some football, look though some shopping ads, and of course play a few rousing rounds of Catch Phrase! 

Before pictures, I want to say something. I volunteered to make some appetizers and desserts. I asked my husband what he would like, and he suggested jalapeno poppers. Ok, sounded like a plan. I found a great, delicious recipe on pinterest. Wednesday night, I stripped all the seeds and ribs out, started stuffing them, and then realized that my left hand literally felt like it was on fire. I mean pain like I've never experienced in my life before. I googled solutions ,and I tried everything from soaking my hand in a bowl of sour cream, to vinegar  to rubbing alcohol  to lemon juice. Nothing worked. Running it under cold water stopped the burning, but as soon as I turned the water of the pain was back. I ended up sleeping with my hand in a bowl of ice water, and that worked after a few hours. WARNING, if you make jalapeno poppers, WEAR GLOVES!!!! Oye vey! 

Riding the horsey

We played some Zumba on the Wii... 

Mace's first Thanksgiving! 

Go Fish with Dana!!! 

Helping Geez... 

Uncle Todd

The turkey was so so so good! 

Mimi, Mason and Great Grandma Jean

Great Grandma Ann and her three sons-- Papa, Todd and Jimbo

I made Gooey Butter Cake and Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. MMMMMMM

Mason sacked out, me, and my cherry pie! 

Ok, hoping to be back next Friday with a post about all the fun Christmas stuff we have been doing!!! Thanks for stopping by! 




Thursday, November 1, 2012

Pumpkin Patch, times 2!!!!

Let me start by saying, in case you didn't know, I love fall. :) Being the fact that today is Nov 1 and I heard (gulp) CHRISTMAS music on the radio this morning, I'm clinging to the sights of those beautiful colored leaves and crisp but not cold temps for just a few more weeks. That being said, we've had a glorious fall. One of our favorite things to do in fall is go to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year, Max was too little to really understand, but Miles had a blast and I swear he asked me about once a week for the past year when we could go back. We were going to go this year to a pumpkin patch in Tucson with my sister-in-law and her family, but due to some work commitments we had to change the weekend for our visit and sadly we missed the opportunity to go with them this year. :( But, hopefully we can do it together next year when there are five kids (INCLUDING MY NEW NEICE!!!). Hurray!!!! But I digress. Anyway, two weekends ago we went to McCall's Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty  NM. It is pricey but also worth every penny. It is a pumpkin patch and so much more. Its actually like a little fall carnival and the kids LOVED it. Unfortunately, I woke up early Saturday morning with the stomach flu, and so I spent the day walking from bench to bench and trying not to barf. It was really sad but I also had a blast watching the boys have a blast!!! :) Gma and Gpa Shiver (aka 'PapaGeez') joined us for the day, and, well, lets get right down to the pictures!

Fun in the corn bin! 

Miles leading us through the corn maze

Duck races!!! 




Petting Zoo! 



Boys love slides!!!! 

At McCall's, after you do all the fun stuff, you get to take a hay ride to pick out your pumpkin. This was one of the highlights for the kids! 

So many beautiful choices! 

Mom I want this one! 
 Mace was over it :) 

Our attempt at a family picture!

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Our church supports a local organization called the Galloping Grace Youth Ranch which does wonderful things for children with disabilities. Every year, Galloping Grace hosts a FREE Pumpkin Patch, and also a Christmas Corral where they have fun things for the kiddos to do (and a Christmas tree lot)! I've heard great things about their pumpkin patch, but this is the first year we tried it out. My mom and I took the boys there on Monday, and although it is much smaller than McCall's, given the fact that it is free admission and geared for toddlers and preschoolers, they boys loved it equally as much!

More corn bin fun!!

A tractor like Papa's!!! 

The mud cafe. The boys LOVED this place and spent most of our time here 'cooking' for Mimi and I! 



This will be fun to look back on! 


"Mr. Pumpkin Head!"


More duck race fun!

Mace was over it (and in the same outfit!!)--Again!!! 


These slides were cool and kinda slow, so Max loved them, and had a blast coming down on his belly!!! 

My cuties and I going through the hay maze! 

Fun times!!! 

 Yeahaw!!!