Pumpkin Patch

We went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch with Jack's preschool class. It was his first field trip. He was excited to go and excited that Mackenzie, Jordan, and I were coming too.

They played in corn. Jordan wouldn't go in though.

Jumping in.

Kenzie enjoyed the field trip from the stroller.JordanThis is what he did while Jack played in the corn. He loved splashing in the mud. It's the first he's ever splashed in a puddle like that, without me stopping him and trying to get him to avoid walking in the puddle. So he was pretty happy.

Jordan going down the slide in the hay area.

Jackson on the hayride that didn't actually move, which I was happy about. I don't really like hayrides. They seem like they could tip over so easily...
Thanks Miss Ashlee for taking us to the farm :)

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins this week. The boys and I shared one and Doug did his own. That works out well since the boys don't really like to do the actual carving.

Taking out the insides.

The finished product. The littler pumpkins are from Jack's' pumpkin patch field trip. We carved before the field trip and didn't want to do it again.

Bentley the Dog

We went to my sister's house this weekend. We had a blast. There are no pictures, because I thought I didn't have my camera. But it turns out it was in my diaper bag the whole time. My sister and I went to a consignment sale and I got a lot of shoes for my kids along with some other stuff. Super-Doug stayed home with the 5 kids and walked them all to the park where we met him. We went to a fun kid play place called Out of This World and hung out at Michelle's house.

Michelle had a little dog named Bentley. Jordan was terrified of him. He was better the long we were there, but on the first day when we got there Bentley ran out of the house towards us and Jordan started running around the yard screaming. And there were several other times when he would scream and run to Doug or me when Bentley was around. I found out why Jordan was scared of him when he told me "I don't want Bentley to eat me." And at the table Jordan was pretty funny. He didn't want to put his feet down under the table since Bentley was always under there and he didn't want Bentley to eat his toes. He also said "I don't want Bentley to eat my bum." I love that little boy. He makes me smile.

Jordan and the Potty

Remember awhile ago Jordan was potty trained and then he unpottytrained him self? Well I decided to do it again 3 or 4 weeks ago and he did great. After the first 3 or 4 days he only had 1 accident in the next week or 2. Then he started to have accidents again. Then this weekend I realized that he's not telling us again when he needs to go. He'll go when we ask him to go, but he hasn't been telling us very much. As I've been thinking about it I've realized he's also stopped asking for candy when he goes potty. So my theory is that if there's no reward he doesn't see the point of going potty in the toilet. It doesn't seem to bother him if he has an accident. He doesn't tell us he's had one. We just find him that way. I know he knows when he has to go and I know that he can go in the potty. He's not scared or anything. He even likes wearing his underwear and is excited when he goes potty in the toilet. He's just a little lazy about it. So I started trying a new technique today hoping it will help him get back to telling us when he has to go and stop having accidents. I made him a sticker chart and every time he goes potty he gets to put a sticker up. This has helped some today and hopefully it keeps working. When his chart is all filled up he'll get a special surprise. I'm not sure yet. (I tried to ask him and he just said a sticker. So I think he just wanted to put another sticker on his chart.) Then I'm planning on starting a new chart that he puts a sticker on only when he keeps his underwear dry all day. I'm hoping that these charts will get him in the habit of just going since they'll probably take awhile.

Jordan's been throwing off my potty training theory. I've thought (since potty training Jack) that you don't really need to wait until kids show the signs that they're ready to potty train them. Once they're able to communicate there needs well enough with you they can be potty trained. I do think it can be a little harder when they're younger, but I don't think it should take longer. I really don't think my boys would have showed interest in potty training for a long time. They were perfectly happy in the diapers. But maybe I'm wrong about the signs are that they're ready. What do you guys look for in the those signs? And while you answer that question you should answer this question too: how do you get your kids to sleep through the night without needing a diaper or pull up on? My kids have never woken up dry on their own. If I take them potty a couple times or they get out of bed several times before they fall asleep (and then I take them before I go to bed) then they have woken up dry a few times (and for Jordan I think it only happened once.) My sister and I think it must be in our jeans though because it seems to be a common problem on my side of them family...

As a side note, Jack also wanted a potty chart for him. I told that since he's so good at going potty already we could make him another one. He wanted a reading chart, but since I was so sure how to go about that one we decided on a listening chart. He's pretty excited about it.

Bunk beds

Doug set up the bunk beds awhile ago and Jordan wanted to sleep on the bottom bunk tonight so we were going to let him. (But he ended up losing that privilege by getting out of bed way to many times.) Jack's been sleeping on the top for awhile and loves it. I'm glad we bought the bunk beds. Even if they didn't come with all the parts we needed to put them together. My great husband made it work.

Hockey Game

We went to a hockey game a few weekends ago with some of our friends. It was our first one and we enjoyed it. It would have been more enjoyable if we wouldn't brought Kenzie, or if we at least would have had water in her cup at all times. She was happy when she was drinking. The boys still talk about it sometimes.

The kids got these free hats.

Jordan wanted to take a picture of the game.

Kenzie happily drinking. (see mom I do give her water :))

Zoo Boo

We went to the zoo a couple weekends ago for Zoo Boo. The kids got to wear their costumes and got some healthy organic treats instead of candy. There were also some activities for them to do. And we looked at some animals. We didn't look at all of them because the kids were all pretty grumpy since they'd had a late night the night before when grandma and grandpa watched them :)

The vampire and pirate. Jack wasn't excited to wear his vampire costume. He had said he wanted to be one, but after we got it he decided he wanted to be a pirate. But I wasn't going to buy another costume and he realized a pirate wasn't so bad. He did refuse to wear the fangs and face paint though.

Doing an activity. I'm not really sure what though.

Our hula girl.

Jack getting his face painted. He did great at holding still.

Jordan getting his face painted. He didn't so well at holding still so I helped him.

This is Jordan's new mad face. We were trying to take a picture of face paint, but I guess he wasn't too happy about it. (he does this face kind of a lot and sometimes will say "I'm mad at you." And I think it's adorable.)

Jordan's tiger and Jack's octopus. Jackson got an octopus last year too, but it was purple. Weird huh?

Jordan and Jackson afraid of being eaten by the giant shark.

Close up of their scared faces.

Doug was a scared too.

Jordan running out of the cave.

Hula girl Kenzie.

The boys got these masks.

Jordan loved this slide. He down it over and over and over again.

Jackson also loved the slide and also went down it over and over and over again. He also requested I take this picture of him which is why he's smiling and looking at the camera so perfectly.

Doug and I were thee too.

Jordan, the boy who loves hats, didn't want to wear his cool pirate hat during Zoo Boo. But then he wore it on the way home.