Trick-or-Treat!

Our festivities actually began last Saturday at our ward's trunk-or-treat. The boys have been on a candy high all week but have still been looking forward to today with great anticipation. Our day was full of fun. Diego and Christian both had parties at school which they said were very fun. Jose took the day off so when Diego came home from school they carved their pumpkins.

Diego and Christian giving Jose instructions

Anthony checking out the "guts" of the pumpkin.

Jose getting down to business. Diego is making sure Jose is doing it right. Diego is proud and excited about his pumpkin. Christian and his pumpkin. Here are their pumpkins lit up.

When I told Anthony I was taking a picture of the pumpkins he went and got the other little pumpkins that were in the bushes because he thought they needed to be in the picture. Anthony was our little Batman. The mask didn't even make it out the door. He sure did enjoy going to everyone's house though. At one, he held out his hand, said "Trick Tweet" and looked at the lady like "I'm holding my hand out, where's the candy?" (he couldn't carry his pumpkin anymore because it was too heavy). He was too cute.

There are two pictures here of Christian but there should actually be three. Leading up to Halloween he couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted to be. One of the consistent answers was "Ben 10" ( a cartoon where the boy, Ben, turns into different Aliens to save people). I actually found a costume of that at Toys r Us on sale (otherwise I wouldn't have paid any money for it.) He wore this costume for our wards trunk-or-treat. Then today at school they had a parade and he decided to be Spiderman. Then tonight he wanted to be Batman, with muscles. Thank goodness we have a good supply of dress up clothes.

And then there is Diego. We finished reading a book about spiders a few weeks back so he decided to be a Black Widow Spider. This had me worried because when he would carry his pumpkin he looked just like a boy dressed in black. But this beat out his earlier suggestion of being an ant. He just can't get away from the animal thing. Oh well, he was happy.

Here are the boys with their loot. We were surprised on how many people made "goody bags" that were filled with candy instead of just handing out pieces of candy. Their pumpkins were so full they each asked if we could hold their pumpkins for them. Thank goodness we had the stroller to hook them to. We were able to go around the neighborhood with our neighbors and had a great night.

Styling 101

So yesterday Christian was on a kick to cut his own hair. He kept saying "mom, just like Aunt Kelli cut your hair, that's all I want to do." He kept trying to get real hair cutting scissors to cut his hair. He doesn't have a lot of hair to cut, so I wasn't concerned about that. What I was concerned about was the sharp scissors and him poking himself. I wasn't allowed to do it. He wanted to do it himself. So after much crying and screaming (on his part) I found a pair of baby scissors (for cutting the baby fingernails) and let him use those. The following pics are of him telling me the process for his styling techniques. He is quite a kid.

Here he is with his "hair cutting scissors." I knew he couldn't do too much damage to himself since they have a blunt edge and I didn't think they would cut very well.

He was very focused and kept telling me "See mom, just like this!" How could I have doubted him!?!

Like the good little barber he is, he cleaned out the sink that actually had quite a bit of hair in it.

The next step was to wet his hair down before putting the gel on.

Now time for gel. You would have thought he had long hair like a girl for how much get he put in his hands. Just keep picturing in your head that he is telling me step by step on how this should go.."o.k. now you do this mom."

Now you carefully put the gel on. Ever so carefully making sure you pat your head and get it all over. Here is the finished product. He was very proud of himself and loved that he was just like dad.

Jose takes a hike!

sorry for the underlining on the top half of the post. I can't figure out how to fix it. Ctrl u isn't working. =( Jose is the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's Organization at our church. Most of the activities of that age group are in the scouting program. Seeing as how we have 3 boys of our own, it was only a matter of time before we had something to do with scouting. Jose really enjoys it. So about two weeks ago they decided to climb "Old Rag." This is a mountain about 1 1/2 hours away from us in the Shenandoah Mountains. They couldn't have picked a prettier time of year to go. The leaves were beginning their change of color and the weather was nice and cool.

Here they are starting their climb up. So pretty isn't it?

A couple views from along the trail.

Here is the whole group stopping for lunch. There was one adult per kid with one extra kid.

Here is our hiker. He is smiling here but the next day, he was pretty sore. But he had a great time and can't wait to take our boys there. He's thinking sometime in the near future...I think he's crazy!!

The Boys Take a Hike!

My husband is really good to me. On Saturday he took the boys for some Father/Son time for a couple hours so I could run some errands without any kids. He decided to take them hiking along a trail near the soccer fields where they play. The boys were so excited. What could be better than being in the woods on a beautiful day for boys?

Along the trail they found this tree trunk that had been hollowed out.

They boys were using their imaginations and in the pic on the left they are feeding their horses (their sticks!). The other pic is a pretty big caterpillar they found along the path. Too exciting for a bunch of bug boys!

All along the trail were fitness stations. Here Jose decided to show the boys how it's done.

Here are Christian (left) and Diego trying a station. You are suppose to lie on the board and use your upper arm strength to pull yourself up. Christian has an amazing amount of arm strength so this wasn't a problem. Diego had a little harder time.

The happy hikers! What a great dad and husband to take them out for a fun afternoon.

Backyard Campout

Jose and the boys had a campout in the backyard last night. The boys were so excited. They love camping. It is such a treat for them. I'm just glad that Jose likes to camp and is willing to do this. I was a little worried though since our neighbor had just told me that some kind of creature has been getting into their trash every night. That didn't seem to bother the boys at all. Diego had the idea of leaving their flashlights on and trying to catch it in the act. He also wanted "to make fire and roast marshmellows". Maybe in a few weeks. Now that it is a little cooler, we're thinking of a family campout in a few weeks. They survived a chilly night without any unwanted visitors! Here are Christian and Anthony ready and willing to help Jose put up the tent. Christian can't wait to use the hammer. Christian was actually really good at hitting the mark. He was very proud of himself. Here is Anthony not quite sure of what to make of the bendable sticks that keep the tent up. He enjoyed trying to make it one big stick and lifting it in the air. The boys lost interest in helping put up the tent. They thought it was more fun to run around. Anthony was pretty bummed that he didn't get to actually sleep outside. But the other two were so happy. Here they are getting ready to go to bed for the night. Can you tell Jose is so excited?!!