Happy Halloween!!

Friday night was our ward Halloween Carnival. Hoyt asked all day if it was time to put on his costume and go....I told him he could get ready after his nap. I think it was the first time in forever that he actually wanted to go down for his nap!! We had a great time at the carnival - I spent most of my time overseeing the cake-walk, but I did get to make the rounds with Hoyt and Ryon to some of the booths so I could take some pictures!

The pirate and the pregnant witch.....NICE!! The witch hat is pretty much my standard costume - one of these days I will get creative and do something different!

Same can be said for Ryon and his "hunter attire". But....at least we try!

Hoyt making the rounds on the cake-walk. He won a great plate of mom's cupcakes.

Donut-on-a-string. Look at that concentration!




Sweeping the spiders under the witch hat




Playing pin-the-face on the jack-o-lantern




At the coloring table with dad - we have enough Halloween art to last us a LONG time!




The witch at 31...almost 32 weeks!!




On Saturday night we headed out to do some trick-or-treating. (I guess that's one of the perks of living in Idaho; trick-or-treating the day before because Halloween falls on a Sunday!)




This was the first year that Hoyt enjoyed going up to the door, knocking, and saying trick-or-treat. After every house he couldn't wait to go to the next. He also kept saying, "Look at how much candy I have - my bucket is heavy!"




The pirate's booty (that is now safely hidden in a cupboard!)

Sneak Peek

On Wednesday we went to the library for Halloween story time. All of the children wore their costumes, they listened to Halloween stories and sang songs, did a Halloween craft, and then got to trick-or-treat around the library. The sweet ladies that run the program plan such fun things for the children and Hoyt loves to go. Here is a "sneak peek" of our little Halloween pirate!

Aaaaaaargh!!

Listening intently to story-time....if mom would stop taking pictures!

Coloring his craft

I think I have the cutest pirate around - we are really excited for Halloween!!

(Hoyt hadn't seen his costume until the day before we went to the library. He had been telling me for months that he wanted to be a pirate, so I had slowly been collecting items for his costume. When he would ask me if we had his costume I would just say, "I'm working on it," because I knew if he saw it he would want to wear it everyday and it wouldn't make it to Halloween! Well, the day before the library Halloween party I decided to try it on him to make sure it fit. Just as I suspected, when I asked him to take it off we had the meltdown of the century. I finally convinced him to take the clothes off, but he has kept the hat and hook on 24/7 for the last few days. He has even slept with his hook on. You have to love a three-year-old who loves to dress up!!)

Jack-O-Lantern!

For Family Home Evening on Monday we had our own little pumpkin carving party. Hoyt had been asking for about three weeks when we would be able to carve a jack-o-lantern. He was so excited and couldn't wait to help carve....scoop out the goop....and put a candle in it. Ryon did most of the help with the carving, while I was in charge of scooping out the insides. (Why do I always get the dirty job??)

At the end of the night we had a great looking jack-o-lantern and one very happy little boy. After placing it on the front porch with the rest of our pumpkins we had apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Sounds like a perfect October FHE to me!

The boy and his jack-o-lantern!

We had to get a picture of dad carving - I love the look on Hoyt's face. I think he is definitely enjoying himself!

This is what I get when I ask Hoyt to "smile" these days. What a funny boy!

Hoyt helps me turn on all the decorations and light the pumpkin every night. I think he'll be sad when Halloween is over!

Just a shot of baby brudder too - 30 weeks and counting!

Photo Shoot

Every year since Hoyt has been born we have taken family pictures, and Hoyt's birthday pictures, in August. It makes sense...kind of kill two birds with one stone. However, this year things were complicated. Nothing like packing a house and moving that puts pictures on the bottom of the "to do" list.

I decided that family photos will have to happen after the baby is born, so I took Hoyt outside one afternoon and we had our own little photo shoot. We spent a good hour and a half snapping photos and Hoyt was a trooper. I think I got a few good ones....

GQ Hoyt

I think I took about 80 shots - and only got a few where he was actually looking at the camera and smiling!

I LOVE this one!

I'm not sure what this look is all about, but he sure is cute

This was pretty much every shot....Hoyt acting like a goof, and giving me his idea of a great smile!!

Now...for a few fall colors

By this time of the photo shoot he was ready to stop taking pictures!

Another one of my favorites - where did my little 9 lb. baby go??

Picnics and Pumpkins!

We decided to have a "family day" last week, so one afternoon we took a picnic lunch down to the Snake River and afterwards headed to a pumpkin patch to pick a few pumpkins for the front porch. The weather was perfect (not too hot and not too cold), and PB&J sandwiches never tasted so good!! Hoyt and Ryon entertained themselves by throwing lots of rocks into the river and looking for fish, and I enjoyed sitting and taking pictures!

Hoyt had to carry the picnic basket by "himself"!

The only place we could find to sit was on the little boat dock. Not the most comfortable spot, but it worked!

With dad out on the rocks...

and with mom, who didn't really want to go out on the rocks!




Looking for fish




Hoyt's favorite thing to do these days is to give "baby brudder" kisses and hugs. He will do this at least five to ten times a day - I think he's getting pretty excited for the little guy to make an appearance! Today he asked me if it was Christmas and I explained that we had to have Halloween and Thanksgiving and then it would be Christmas. He then replied, "Baby brudder comes out at Christmas." He's definitely thinking a lot about it!

After our picnic, we headed to a little family-owned pumpkin patch about 10 minutes from our house. They have large fields filled with pumpkins, and Hoyt could have been there all day searching for just the perfect one. Luckily he had mom and dad's help in locating three prefect pumpkins...and it only took 45 minutes!

Hoyt thought he was a pretty good pumpkin picker when he found this one!

This one was more his size

Hoyt asked if we could carve them into jack-o-lanterns as soon as we got home. I had to break the news that we had to wait until it got closer to Halloween

With mom and all the pumpkins!




This is the only pumpkin patch I have ever been to where you are "on your honor" to pay. Only in Idaho!!



Hoyt thought the money box was great and had to help put in our "dollars" to pay for the pumpkins!

Double Trouble...

Aunt Noelle, cousin Landon and new baby Ava came to visit for a few days this week. Hoyt couldn't wait until they got here and promised me that he was going to be a "good sharer" with Landon. While the sharing wasn't exactly what Hoyt had promised (he was sent to time out a few times for his inability to let Landon play with his toys!), we had lots of fun playing outside on the cars and swing set and inside running around the house.

When Ryon returned home from a trip he asked Hoyt if had shared with Landon and Hoyt's response was, "not quite dad...not quite!" We still have some work to do in that area! Perhaps a new little brother in the house will help with that.

Hoyt loved to drive Landon around in the jeep - when Landon wanted to drive it himself...well that's where we had some "sharing" issues!

The boys after nap time - in my bed watching a show

Baby Ava was an angel...of course!

Hoyt was very interested in Ava and wanted to give her lots of kisses. It was a good opportunity for me to prep. him for baby brother's arrival.

Now, this looks like double trouble to me. What are those boys up to??

What I Did Today

Found a farm stand that has the best peaches, bought a 25 pound box, and made 25 jars of peach jam....Ryon's favorite. I think we have our year's supply of freezer jam!!