Pumpkin Painting Family Night

Three or four years ago, I bought several pumpkin carving kits on clearance after Halloween.  They ALL have yet to be opened.  Each year, I ask Morgan and Sadie if they would like to carve or paint their pumpkins.  And, each year, they paint them.  Good thing the kits don't have an expiration date!  Maybe Carson will want to carve a pumpkin when he gets old enough!  

Here are the pictures from our pumpkin painting activity:

 Yes, that's drool on his chin.  Carson has discovered how to chew on his fingers, binky, blanket...whatever he can get close to his mouth.  

"Make a silly pumpkin face!"

I Did It!

They're all asleep!  At the same time!  And it's not the middle of the night!

Brian had to work in the LA office today, so he was up at 4:30, hoping to beat traffic.  No such luck--it took him almost 3 hours from here to there.

Anyway, mom and dad have been on a trip and just got home this afternoon.  Long story short, they're going to go to dinner tonight.  We could come along, IF the girls took a "sleeping nap".  We're in luck!

Plus, with all the kids sleeping, I got a quick nap in, too!  Now, I'm off to do the dishes!

Something's Missing...

Morgan lost her first tooth on Friday night.  Her adult tooth is starting to come in just behind it, so the dentist recommended we encourage Morgan to wiggle the baby tooth loose.  She's been pretty reluctant to wiggle it, but it started to loosen on its own. 

Friday, with her baby tooth hanging by just a little thread, Grandma sent Morgan out to pick an apple off the tree.  Morgan brought an apple in, but wasn't so sure about biting into it.  So, just as she was about to take a bite, her tooth just popped out!  

To celebrate, she picked where we went for dinner!  (Actually, she succumbed to peer pressure and we went to Olive Garden for Daddy!)  Sadie wanted to lose a tooth too, so she tried and tried to wiggle her teeth all the way to dinner, with no luck.  Maybe in a few years...

Later, the tooth fairy came along to leave a surprise for Morgan!

Morgan's favorite part about her missing tooth: she can fit her finger in the tooth spot!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Glad as I can be!  

As a Primary child, I enjoyed singing this song.  It has a catchy little tune and actions to go with it.  Now, as a mom, I really do "Clap my hands and Shout for joy!" when Daddy comes home! 

Here's how Brian usually finds the kids when he comes home.

Carson in the bumbo:

 and the girls on the swing, singing Taylor Swift's "Mean":

(Song from the Primary Children's Songbook, Daddy's Homecoming, #210)

The Pumpkin Patch

A few moms at Morgan's school organized a field trip out to Bates Nut Farm last week.  I was hesitant to go, not knowing anyone, so I talked Alie into coming with me.  But, she had to bail at the last minute and I had already promised the girls a trip to the pumpkin patch, so we went anyway.  We had a really great time!  There's definitely a lot more there than when I was a kid!

It's kind of funny because I don't think I've been in almost 20 years!  But, driving up, it all looked so familiar.  For instance, there's still the farm animal area by the parking lot.  Sadie liked the ducks and geese.

Here's the girls on the hay bales, posing for a group picture.  Call me strange, but I don't see why we all had to stand there (I guess the kids sat) and take like 20 million pictures.  Most everyone I met didn't know anyone, either.  So, basically, we all came together in a school group, but as strangers.

For the school groups, they have a short presentation about the life of a pumpkin.  Out of about 40 kids,  both Morgan and Sadie were picked.  It must be the adorable jackets!  (Thanks, Mom!)

There was a corn maze and the kids had to go through the maze and find 8 different stamp stations to mark on their paper.  At the end, the girls wanted to put their "work" in the mailbox so the scarecrow could grade it.  (Really, I didn't want to keep track of their papers.)

Funny.  I have a picture just like this from 3 years ago, out in Colorado, only Sadie was the baby in the front pack!  The girls loved the hay ride!

This picture is for our friend, Jack, in Colorado.  He loves John  Deere tractors.

The rule at our house growing up was you had to be able to carry your own pumpkin.  I instituted that rule again at the Boring house because I couldn't carry two pumpkins, a baby, and hold two girls' hands.  Here are their selections.

Morgan:

Sadie:

We had to take the pumpkins about 200 yards from the patch to the car.  Here are the girls just entering the parking lot.  We had to take several rests along our journey from the patch.

Oh, how I love Fall!  

Carson's Blessing

We blessed Carson this past Sunday afternoon.  We had some of Brian's family, some of my family, and a few friends join us for a nice occasion.  However, despite the craziness of the afternoon, we don't have a family picture (Sadie was napping), we didn't get one with grandparents, and the ones of just Carson are on my sister's camera.  But, I did take a couple of snapshots.  Oh, and he's in a romper that my Grandma Miller made.

Carson Ginos Boring and his Great-Grandma, Ina Ginos (my grandma).  I think this is such a sweet picture:

The Boring family that came out:

Sadie's new favorite is Debbie.  She finds her at church, at home, wherever we are with Debbie, Sadie (and Morgan, too, for that matter) finds her Debbie.

Thank you to all our friends and family that came to support us!

Siblings???

Sometimes, it's hard to see the resemblance between my own kids because I look at them every day and they are different ages.  But, every now and then, I look at each of them and think, "Wow!  You look a lot like your brother/sister!"  

Here's a picture of each of the kids at about 2 months old.

Morgan

 Sadie

 Carson

Yeah, they're definitely related!

2 Month Stats

Carson's actually 2 1/2 months old now, and he went to the doctor for his 2 month check 2 weeks ago.  These pictures are actually only a few days old.  

Height: 22 1/2" (32%)

Weight: 13 lbs, 0.8 oz (82%)

So much for that skinny newborn we used to know.  This little guy is filling out nicely.  He's almost outgrown his 0-3 month clothes and I remember them being too big when he came home from the hospital!  

All of my kids have been born with excellent head and neck control.  Carson's is so good, he hangs out in the bumbo seat a lot.  He loves to look around and see what we're all up to.  Plus, this really helps his torticollis.

Carson Highlights:

*He loves to smile and coo at everyone.
*He's starting to giggle.
*He sleeps 10 hours minimum at night, and has been since 3 weeks old!
*He doesn't like his space invaded, so Grandpa coined the phrase, "Stay out of Carson's bubble!" The girls don't always listen, but it helps.
*He flips over onto his back consistently during tummy time.
*His favorite person is still mommy and his favorite place to be when he's not eating is the front pack.

We love you, Carson Dude!  Can you please stop growing up so fast?

Dis-Lee-Land!

I don't remember which one of us kids called it this as kids, but Brian took the girls to the Happiest Place on Earth this week and they had a blast!  The girls are both already planning their next trip!

Here they are just before they left.  (For the record, Brian got everyone dressed. I didn't even think about having the girls--and him!--match.  Smart!)

What's a trip without meeting Minnie Mouse?  I guess they also got to say hello to Mickey, too.

Ask anyone who came with us what the girls thought of the Haunted Mansion when we went in February and they'll tell you they HATED it!  Maybe it was that we went after dark?  Anyway, the tried it again and, according to Daddy, they really liked it this time.  It must be the Nightmare Before Christmas decorations....

What little girl doesn't want to grow up to be a princess??  The girls loved seeing them all in the parade!

Chickens Flew the Coop!

You thought I would have a hilarious story about runaway chickens.  Not in real life, but in Morgan's imagination!

Here's Morgan's story from about a month ago.  She and Alie wrote it while Brian and I drove a moving truck.  I think they had much more fun than we did.  Enjoy!

Chickens and Their Adventure to Denver
By Morgan Boring

One day, four medium chickens named Granny, Ginger, and the Twins packed up their eggs and flew to Denver in their coop.  Ginger was scared because they could not pick the coop up.  Everybody else was excited.  Once Morgan, Sadie, Alie and Tyler came out, Ginger said, "Help up pick up our coop."  Tyler, Alie, Morgan and Sadie lift it up.  All the chickens flew away.  The end.