Our Pumpkins in the Pumpkin Patch

It was a beautiful weekend, so we decided to take the family to the local pumpkin patch. The hay ride through the pumpkin fields was fun. Olivia could easily spot all the orange pumpkins and gourds throughout the fields, while Soren on the other hand loved the tractor and said, "Tac-tor" about 30 times. The hay ride was so peaceful until we heard a loud bang. They had a huge 'pumpkinator' that shot pumpkins at the targeted school bus. Needless to say, the bus was pretty banged up and covered in pumpkin goo. Our kids were a little skeptical of that loud noise, so we tried to warn them when there was going to be a loud bang. In the petting zoo section, Olivia showed some improvement in her fear of animals, I don't think she screamed once, but we still didn't manage to get her to actually touch any. Soren loved every animal and wanted to touch them all. Olivia surprised us again...She normally hates paints and temporary tattoos on her face, but she decided she would like to get her face painted. She looked the choices over carefully. There was an adorable pumpkin, but I decided not to say anything and let her choose...hmm, she chose the skeleton. Erik and I just looked at each like, really? But the hit of the day was the tower of hay bales that had 6 different slides coming out, they played on these slides for about an hour! Well, you may be thinking, what about the pumpkins? They were, unfortunately quite expensive, and after paying an admission fee just to get in to have the privilege of buying their pumpkins, we decided to take the kids to Fareway grocery store where all the pumpkins were $3.49. Now that's more like it. The kids were so excited to carve the pumpkins. Olivia wanted hers to look like it was laughing, all I can say is, I tried my best.

Our little Jumping bean

For the past 3-4 months, Soren has been trying desperately to jump like his big sister. He would bend his knees and thrust his weight up, trying so hard to get his feet off the ground. His feet always looked like they were glued to the floor, until recently that is. The past few weeks he has actually been able to get both feet off the ground. I have been meaning to get a video of this so tonight when we got home from Olivia's dance lesson he was jumping around, so I grabbed the camera. Olivia, not to be outdone by her brother, also does a new little trick that she made up on the spot, something she named 'under cat bridge.' :-) Enjoy our little monkeys!

Cousin Nathan turns 2!

On Sunday we went to Stewartville to celebrate our nephew's second birthday. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day with temperatures around 70, amazing! The party was held at a gorgeous park and the leaves were so vibrant. I was able to get some good pictures of Soren in the leaves, I was so sad that Olivia was so defiant and wouldn't cooperate with my "fall photo shoot." I guess that's what I get for letting her stay up late the night before dancing the night away.

Nathan LOVED his Elmo cake!

Olivia must have forgotten to brush her teeth

Nathan and his cousins

My brother's family

Soren, as always, on the run!

This is what we call the "Grandpa face" because it looks just like my Dad when he is concentrating.

Playing in leaves is fun!

Dancing Queen

This past weekend we went back to Spring Grove to attend one of my classmate's wedding. Olivia could hardly wait for the dance to begin. The wedding ceremony finished at 4:00 and we had a little time before the dinner was going to be served, so we went back to my parents' house to change Soren's diaper and regroup. Olivia was beside me the whole time saying, "Mommy, we need to go, the party is starting." She was so excited to dance, and I think part of it was also staying up past her bedtime. As soon as the music started, she got her groove on and hit the dance floor. Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Olivia was even giving dancing lessons!

Soren's first Haircut

This past weekend I had an appointment to get my haircut. After getting there and taking a look at Soren's hair that was beginning to curl over the tops of his ears, and their sign stating that babies first haircuts are free, I thought, let's go for it! We were able to give him a lollipop to hold him still for a few minutes, but then he soon got bored of that. So, I told him to feed Mommy, so then in continued to stick it in and then pull it out... a hairy grape sucker, yum! But soon, that too got boring for him, so he was passed off to Daddy where he proceeded to do the same thing. Phew! She was finally able to finish! He looks like such a big boy!

Do whatever you want, just as long as I have this sucker!

Stop, Drop, and Roll

We have had a great time learn all about Fire Prevention both at preschool and through the community this week. Instead of the normal story time this week at the library, we had the opportunity to take a field trip to the local fire station. The best part was the mode of transportation to get to the station...we got to ride on TOP of the fire engines! The kids loved it, well, at least the ride. Once we got to the station, we watched a fire fighter get dressed and then they wanted each kid to give her a high five. Well, Olivia, understandably, was very nervous of all her apparatuses and masks and thus spent the rest of her time with her head buried in my legs and shoulders. Soren on the other hand, wanted to get in every emergency vehicle and push as many buttons as he could.

Here is our little button pusher.