Pumpkin Patch

A week and a half ago, we took advantage of the nice, dry weather and headed to Lee Farms for their pumpkin patch.  My parents were in town while my dad attended a foreign language conference, so they were able to come along.  They had pumpkins, animals, a big balloon pillow thing to jump on (no clue what it’s called), a hay maze, a hay ride, a slide, and delicious cider and pumpkin donuts.  I think the boys liked the animals the best.  Can you see Davis’s big smile just petting the dog ?  I think he was a little nervous going down the slide, if you can see his face in that picture, but he loved looking at all the animals.  Landon looks pretty happy in his picture jumping on the watcha-ma-call-it, but just after that, three other kids came and got on, at which point he started crying and wouldn’t jump anymore because he was scared the kids would push him off.  Luckily the guy taking tickets let Shane get on for free to help Landon.  I think Shane secretly begged Landon to do this so he could have some fun too.  :)   We had one ticket left, and Landon didn’t want to go on the big slide with grandma, so she took Davis, and he LOVED it! 

  

Getting Crafty

Okay, so I’m not actually getting too crafty, but with the help from my mom, I have this nice little pumpkin decoration on my table now!  My mom came up to visit the other week, and she brought some cute ribbon and a pumpkin to do this project she had seen in a magazine.  It turned out so cute that I took a picture and want to do it every year!  I thought I’d share so you can make one too.  We put black pins in the top near the stem to keep the ribbon in place, and one or two pins in the bottom at the end to keep them from sliding around too much.  Happy Crafting!  :)

 

P.S.  Stay tuned for several more October blog posts – pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, and preschool field trip to name a few!

Grandma Malan

   This last week, we were lucky enough to have Shane’s mom here with us for UEA weekend.  She flew in on Wednesday night and stayed through Monday evening.  We had a great time while she was here.                       

The Children’s Museum

The first thing Thursday morning, we drove up to the Children’s Museum to spend the morning.  The boys had a lot of fun playing in the water, digging in the dig pit, brushing the alligator’s teeth, and most of all, playing in the “night room.”  I was very glad Christie was there – I don’t think I could do it by myself!  It’s hard to run after each kid, and they each want to do different things, so part of the time we ran a man-on-man defense and each took one of the boys where they wanted to go.

 

 

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Fun at Home

The boys had fun just hanging around the house with grandma.  Thursday night, Christie watched the kids while we went to the temple for our stake temple night (we’ve made it two months in a row to the chapel session thanks to timely visits by the grandparents!).  Friday morning, Christie stayed home and played with Davis while Landon was at preschool and I ran a bunch of errands.  I was beginning to feel a little weird going to all those places with no kids in tow!

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Little People’s Park

While Shane was at the Priesthood session, we went and explored a new park in Beaverton.  It wasn’t too big, but the leaves falling from the trees were beautiful.  Landon and Davis had fun going down the slide, climbing over the bridge, and best of all, chasing grandma all around until she was exhausted!  :)  We even enjoyed a beautiful rainbow at the end.

       

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Watching Conference

We spent a lot of time just relaxing around the house watching conference.  Landon liked being extra silly to get Grandma to laugh!  I think there was enough sitting and listening too that he just had to get all his craziness out!

 

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Pirate ship park

And of course, a visit isn’t a visit without a trip to pirate ship park to meet Shane for lunch.  It was a bit foggy in the morning, but the sun came through just in time for a gorgeous picnic and some fun times playing on the pirate ship.  I especially like Davis’s tongue out in concentration as he gets ready to go down the slide.

 

Thanks Christie for coming to visit us!  We had a great time as always, and can’t wait to do it again!