Happy Halloween!!!

We had a blast dressing up and trick or treating! It was a perfect night, no wind, and not cold. Austen was a ZEBRA and he was super excited about it!

Especially the tail!

I was a tiger and Brian was and army guy (he prefers special forces).

He went trick or treating with his cute cousins and with all his shenanigans he about gave his sweet little cousin a heart attack. He was touching everything, going in people's bushes, opening their doors, and even going in some people's houses.

They were running from house to house.

He started to get tired and not care about candy anymore. He finally had to sit down and take a rest. He kept saying it was getting hard and when I asked him what hurt he said "my brains".

He was making everyone laugh the whole time with his funny antics. I wish I could remember everything he said, but here are a few funny things he would say at the door....

"I like the big ones"

"I want more"

or

"I want that one"

He finally got so tired he was reduced to crawling.

He got way too much candy and wore himself out, but we had fun!

Needless to say, he loved Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

It was finally time to carve our pumpkins (even though Austen kept telling me he already carved them)!

First it started with the cleaning out of the guts and seeds.

Austen was facsinated with the process and the smell!

Then we got our patterns on for the transfer.

Of course my crazy boys had to play around.

Then the cutting out (don't the drill holes add something special??).

And the finished product!

Austen was so proud!

The Mayan Adeventure

Some of you know about our budget experiment we're doing, but some of you don't, so I'll briefly mention it. We put ourselves on a budget and it's pretty strict, so we rarely go out to dinner. (By rarely I mean never with the exception of birthdays.)

The other night Brian came home from work and told me to get ready because we were going out to dinner and he didn't want to hear anything about the budget. We decided to head over to Jordan Commons to visit Joe's Crab Shack, but when we got there I mentioned that Austen would probably LOVE The Mayan. We decided to go there even though the last time we went we both swore we would never go again. The food was disgusting and overpriced just like we remembered, but Austen loved it. They have a huge rock wall with waterfalls and you sit in a tree house kind of atmosphere. Every 30 minutes they have divers come out and do a show on the rock wall with drums and crazy dives into the pool below. Austen came home and immediately wanted to recreate what he had seen.

So he stripped down to his "speedo" just like the divers and dove into the "water".

Complete with head shaking and eye rubbing when he landed (to get the water out of his hair and eyes).

Four Hours AFTER The Pumpkin Patch

Don't think we're bad parents, but we let Austen play in the garage.....with tools. Sometimes even power tools. He loves it and we've never had a problem with him drilling anything other than the wood Brian has out for him. I'll preface our story with that little disclaimer.

We rushed home from the pumpkin patch because Brian's Mom was coming over and we didn't want her sitting there waiting for us too long. Brian unloaded the pumpkins and stored them safely in the garage. (No smashed pumpkins for us......although I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about that where we live. No unruly teenagers for miles! Just a bunch of old people who probably can't even pick up a pumpkin.)

Austen was off playing with Grandma Linda (this consists mostly of him bossing her around and her obliging). He loves it! When they came inside the adults got to talking and Austen headed off to the garage to play with his tools. We thought nothing of hearing the cordless drill going because it's kind of the norm around here.

In fact I wasn't aware anything untoward was even going on until Austen comes in with his pumpkin, sets it on the couch next to me, and says in his most excited voice "Mommy I carved the pumpkins". I looked at his little pumpkin and sure enough he HAD carved it.....with the drill! There were little holes everywhere. I jumped up to take it out to the garage and he went running off in front of me so excited at his handy work. (I'm sure he was thinking "No need to wait till Friday to carve these when I can do it myself right now".) I got to the garage to find that he had done this to all the pumpkins.

The pictures don't quite do his work justice.

The flash makes it hard to see all the holes, but there were a lot!

We couldn't really do anything but laugh especially because he was just so proud and excited about what he'd done.

And NO, he didn't lose his drill privileges.

The Pumkin Patch

Every year we visit the pumpkin patch to pick out our Halloween pumpkins, but this year we went to a new one and I just have to say it is the best one ever. They had so many fun things to do there like tractor rides, a corn maze, an apple slingshot, a corn cannon, and goats. Austen had a blast and best of all we found the perfect pumpkins! I have lots of pictures to prove it.

Austen on the hunt

This was his first selection, but he decided he wanted an orange one instead.

He loved this little setup!

Still trying to find the perfect pumpkin.

Once we found them, it was time to get a wheelbarrow and of course Austen wanted a ride.

I tried so hard to get him to look at me and smile, but this was the best I could do with tractor rides going on around us.

The goats.

The corn maze.

And my favorite pic of the day

And One More

They are looking at another camera, but this pic it too cute not to share.

Cute Cousins

Yesterday we ventured off to try and get some cute pictures of all the cousins.

I'll just say it's not easy trying to get 10 kids to hold still and make a cute face at the same time.

But I think we got some cute ones.

These are some that I took with my little digital camera, so I can't wait to see what my sister got with her professional camera.

(Don't mind Austen in this one....he looks special if you know what I mean.)

I Have A Silly Kid

I swear Austen comes up with this stuff on his own and I just document it with pictures.

He put his Mr. Potato Head glasses on with his raccoon beanie.....hilarious!

Brian left the juice out the other morning and I walked in the kitchen to find Austen doing this.....
He is honestly the funniest kid ever!
Lately he has been "reading signs" while we drive. Every time we pass any kind of sign he'll tell me what it says and since he can't actually read them, he comes up with some pretty funny stuff!
He keeps me laughing all day long.....
Except on the days when I hear "Mommy" and "why" three million times....those days are a little harder on my patience!

"You Say I'm A Witch Like It's A Bad Thing"

We had some nice weather, so I decided we should go see the Witches. Every year this outdoor shopping center puts up these hilarious and super creative witch displays. Austen's never been, so we invited some cousins and a grandma and were off. Prepare yourself for a ton of pictures!

See....funny and creative.

I seriously love the look on his face!

And of course, being a boy, he couldn't resist feeling her up!

Love everything about this pic......his smile, the pumpkins, everything!

He thought this one playing the piano was really funny!

And he of course loved the fireman one.

With cousins.

Riding a bike instead of a broom.

Playing baseball.

This one made us laugh too.

Cute boy! I am a little partial though.

The witch airport.

And last, but not least.....my second favorite picture!

We stopped by their old fashioned candy store afterwards and got Austen way too many jelly beans!

We had so much fun and Austen loved the Witches!