The 13 days of Halloween (Days 1-6)

I decided this year we were going to enjoy Halloween and try and do a few fun activities. We invented our 13 days of Halloween. Each day Braiden finds the pumpkin puzzle piece and puts it on his door. We then read on the back of the puzzle piece to find what we are to do for the day. Each day is something exciting and new.

DAY 1
Make a decoration for your room! We got foam papers and google eyes to make our project. We love hanging things from the lights and watching them twirl. We made a bat, pumpkin, candy corn, and ghost with google eyes. That is the boys favorite part. We then hung it up in the boys room from the light. They love swinging it and watching the eyes move!


DAY 2
Read Halloween Stories


We had a lot of fun finding all of our Halloween books and reading them. We have read them over and over and over again. It is great that the boys love to listen to stories!

DAY 3
Make caramel apples.
We melted the caramel and just drizzled it over our apples and then put sprinkles on top as well. Yum, Yum Yum!

DAY 4
Watch a Halloween movie!
We really didn't have one and so we watched SLEEPING BEAUTY! Maleficent is pretty scary:)

DAY 5
Carve a pumpkin

Braiden wasn't so sure about sticking his hands inside the pumpkin, but he finally did it and loved it. JT and Braiden did all the dirty work while Gavin and I watched. We decided to carve a scary face. JT did a great job on making our pumpkin scary. We then decided to pose and make a scary face with our pumpkin. Gav wasn't so scary. I am sure he tried hard though! We had so much fun being together as a family:)





DAY 6
Go to the Corn Maze!
We decided to take the boys to HEE-HAWS. They have a ton of fun things for kids to do in the courtyard that we didn't even take them in the corn maze. We had so much fun just going around to the different places they had set up. We went through our own little hay maze, Braiden got to ride a pony, pushed a button and shot corn, rode on the tractor train, rode the swings, saw the big pig, jumped on the hay tramp, lassoed a bull, rode go-carts, saw chickens and goats, and had so much fun!





I love this picture of Gavin!

We are having so much fun and can hardly wait to finish our 13 days of Halloween!

Are you kidding?

Gavin is going all over like crazy! I thought Braiden was busy at this age. Gavin will not sit still for two seconds. He is crawling and climbing and trying to walk. He can stand up by himself and stand for about 10 seconds at a time right now. The other night was no exception. I got him standing by himself in front of JT. He is acting so old. My baby is not a baby anymore! This is what happens after the 10 seconds. Falling down to the ground! What an adorable little mover!

Drumroll please.....

For the letter D, we learned about all sorts of fun things. D is for DOG, DINOSAUR, and DRUM! Braiden made his very own drum. I know I was asking for it, but he loves it. So does Gavin (to eat it anyway). He grabs to wooden spoons, slaps them together in the air and then goes to town. It is beautiful music, let me tell you. We have had so much fun with the drum. We then colored DINOSAURS and made a dinosaur flannel board story. My flannel board isn't done and so we just taped it to the door for now. We had so much fun learning about the letter D. We are taking a break from the alphabet for a couple of weeks. We are going to be doing the 13 days of Halloween. Stay tuned for all the fun:)

Superman!

Braiden is so so lucky. His aunt Katie was in the mood to sew and made Edward, Gus and Braiden Superman capes! Is that so adorable:) Thanks Katie! Braiden loves it so much. He loves running around and pretending he is a super hero. I love kids and their imaginations!

What starts with C?

A week or so ago we enjoyed learning about the letter C. Braiden made a CAT mask. He then helped me make sugar COOKIES. He loved using the Cookie Cutters. He got to choose and we made all sorts of fun shapes. We ended the week by making a CAR. He loved driving it around, until the steering wheel fell off. Oh well. We still need to fix it. He colored the tires and the steering wheel. He thought it was so cool to make a car. It was a fun week learning about the letter C.

This week is the Letter B!

The past two week we have learned about the Letter B. It was a busy couple of weeks. First we went on a BIKE ride to look for BUGS. All we found was a worm. We really wanted some potato bugs to put in a jar, but we were unsuccessful. We colored pages and read books all about the Letter B. Boats, bugs, the beach and the body were just a few. We then had Cortlynn and Maddox come over. We traced the kids' bodies and let the kids color them. We then wrote the different body parts on the paper and hung it on the boys door. They had fun, although it didn't turn out as I had hoped. Oh well! On to the letter C!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last year I posted about making chocolate chip cookies, but I never posted the recipe. I made them again the other night and they turned out fabulous! This is the only recipe that I can get to work. There is just enough flour that they don't run or burn (of course unless you leave them in too long). The recipe is from The Essential Mormon Cookbook. Just make sure to get all of the flour mixed in really good. One time I didn't, and they ran and burned a little bit.

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 (12 oz) bag of chocolate chips

Cream together butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Bake 350* for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen!

Happy Cookie Baking:)

Fabulous Fun Finds

I don't know if you have heard of this blog site, but it is great! You enter to win different items, and I won! I was so excited. I won this fabulous diaper bag from a company called Pyknyk. On the side of my blog is a link, you should check it out to see what you could win!

I know this Church is true...

The other day we came home from church and Braiden was a little upset. I asked him why, and he said, "I didn't get to tell everyone the church is true!" He was so sad. We let him stand in a special spot and share his testimony with us. He then said, "Mom, can you tell me that the church is true?" and he then did the same for J.T. We had our own little family testimony meeting. It was so sweet. It is good to have a little three year old around to remind you how important it is to share your testimony!

Crayons and Yogurt?

I loved when Braiden said this the other day, Mom this looks like my peach yogurt! I love how he recognizes colors and is associating them with other things! What a sweet boy.

We are ... SF!

The other night, we took the boys to the football game. Spanish was playing Salem! A new rivalry:) I had to go and cheer for my DONS! We all wore red and gray, even the boys! We sat with my mother and father-in-law on the Salem side. (Yes, that is who they were cheering for!) The game was a lot closer than the score. Spanish scored a couple of touchdowns in the last few minutes to blow it open. They won 60 something to 40 something.(We had to leave a few minutes early so we missed those touchdowns!) The boys loved the game and all of the excitement. We were so excited that our team won! Salem did put up a good fight, but better luck next year!

It's Fall Y'all!

I love everything about fall! It is my favorite time of year. I love sweaters, the smell of fall in the air, leaves changing, warm soups, football on Saturdays, candles burning, and the fun decorations I get to put up! This year I was so excited to decorate for fall. This is my family room. I just had to show some of the decorations and the new furniture we just got:) We really needed it! I love FALL:)