A Lot of Loot!

Tonight was Josiah's 1st Halloween dressing up in a costume. Uncle Chris knew that Josiah loves being a pirate right now. So, he bought him a pirate costume. How sweet! He even had a pirate pail to go with it.

Here is our pirate saying "Argh!" He said that to almost everyone he came in contact with. He was ready to go & get some loot for his pail.

Once we got Josiah dressed we headed over to Westgate Chapel's Harvest Festival.

Once we got there, Josiah ran into several of his preschool friends. Here he is with his friend Bella & her older brother Luke.

Here Josiah is with Nicole from his preschool class.

Here is Josiah & Asher hanging out together.

Josiah was very excited when he started seeing his teachers. Here he is with Teacher Bonnie, the director of the preschool.

Josiah played a lot of games at the festival. He says the games were his favorite part.

There were 6 milk bottles when he started & only 2 stayed standing. Josiah really proved that he had a great arm.

Josiah & Mommy hanging out having a blast.

Josiah & Daddy having a sword fight. Josiah's sword actually makes sword fighting sounds.

Josiah pinned the tail on the donkey. He got it the first time!

Ok...this was a cow patty toss. Josiah threw better than some 9 year-olds. No one his age could throw it 2 feet off the ground. He actually threw it through the hoop twice. We were all SOOO impressed.

After the festival was over, we headed back to our neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. This was Josiah's first time ever doing this. He has handed out the candy at our house in the past, but never been a participant. He was so excited! Everyone loved his costume.

Once we got home & got comfortable, it was time for dinner. Tonight's menu was Jack-O-Lantern pizza, salad, apples & the pumpkin cookies Uncle Chris sent us.

We had dinner in the living room on our TV trays while we watched "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."

The night ended with Josiah playing with his pirate gear & prizes while eating candy. If you look closely at this picture, Josiah is eating candy with his right hand & swinging his sword with his left. He was a happy pirate!

We had such a wonderful day & night. Pirate Josiah was so happy because he had so much fun & got a lot of loot.

Making Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

After carving our pumpkin, we moved on to another fun project...roasting pumpkin seeds! Mmmm! Here Dustin & Josiah are washing & draining the pumpkin seeds.

Next, Josiah dumped the seeds onto the baking sheet.

After they were dumped, they needed to be spread out on the pan.

What are pumpkin seeds without a lot of salt?!

Here are the pumpkin seeds ready to go into the oven. As soon as they were ready, we ate some with our lunch...mmm they were good!

We have so much fun every year making roasted pumpkin seeds!

Pumpkin Carving!

Our Halloween tradition is to wait until Halloween morning to carve our pumpkin. It just feels more festive that way. So, we all got up & into our orange clothes for some pumpkin carving.

This year, Josiah was ready to give instructions on what he wanted his pumpkin to look like. He wanted 2 circles for the eyes, a triangle nose pointing down & a mouth with 3 teeth inside. How's that for details!?!?

This is Josiah giving me instructions while I draw.

I just finished drawing the face & we thought we'd give you our Halloween faces. Enjoy!

Dustin then cut open the top of the pumpkin so he could start carving. Ooh!

Josiah bravely ventured inside the pumpkin to start pulling the seeds out. Well, he wasn't brave at first, but with some pushing, he agreed.

Once he got inside it, he went right to work. We sorted the goo & the seeds into separate bowls.

Dustin & Josiah carving into that bad boy!

Here is Josiah pulling the mouth out. He had already pulled the eyes & nose out.

Dustin & Josiah then needed to show their Halloween faces with the finished jack-o-lantern.

OH NO! Where did Josiah's head go. He's now a Jack-O-Jo!

Here's the finished jack-o-lantern!

BOO!

Our front porch is ready for trick-or-treaters!

We always have a great time pumpkin carving!

Uncle Chris Spoils Yet Again!

Today a UPS truck pulled up to our house & delivered a package. We weren't expecting a package, so we were kind of curious. The package was for Josiah from Uncle Chris. We know that when a package comes from Uncle Chris it is going to be great!

We opened the package to find this cute Halloween canister inside from "Cheryl & Co." Whoa! In case you aren't familiar with "Cheryl & Co." they make finer baked goods...& oh are they finer.

We opened the canister to find 24 of their famous buttercream cut-out cookies in the shape & colors of a pumpkin. Yummy!

Josiah immediately screamed, "Can I have one???" We said yes & called Uncle Chris to tell him thank you. We had the package open for less than 10 seconds & Josiah had shoved half of the cookie in his mouth. So, he thanked Uncle Chris in Foodish (Josiah's language while eating). We thanked him too, because we knew Josiah would need some help eating 24 cookies. We don't mind a bit. ;)

Thank you, Uncle Chris, for spoiling yet again!

Orange Day!

Today was "Orange Day" at Josiah's preschool. It is the last day of preschool before Halloween. With it being a Christian school, they lean more to the harvest/fall aspect than Halloween. So, we had orange day.

Josiah was so excited about orange day. He was so ready to wear orange, eat orange & play orange all day long. Teacher Nicky asked me to come & help her during the party today, so I was going to orange, too. Dustin, being the sweet & involved Daddy that he is, wore an orange shirt today even though he wasn't going to the party.

I arrived at the school to help set up for the party while the kiddos were playing in the indoor playroom. Once everything was ready for them, I snuck down to the playroom just in time to see Josiah chasing the ball through the tunnels. This is a game he always tells me about, but I've never gotten to see. He was having the best time!

After they had playtime, they all came back to the classroom for their orange picnic party. The children sat on the floor with their orange paper products & were served orange slices, carrots, candy corn, cheese doodles, cheese slices & orange juice. Yummy!

The kids were so excited they couldn't sit still long enough to eat all of the food.

Here we are enjoying our orange day picnic.

Once they finished eating, they went to a table to ice their sugar cookie with orange frosting.

The kids had a great time icing their cookies. I think more icing ended up in their mouths than on their cookies.

Here is Josiah & one of his friends, Reilly.

When they were finished with their cookies, they came over to the art table to play with orange playdoh.

I was very impressed to see how well the children shared their playdoh tools & even playdoh when someone didn't have enough.

After playdoh time, we had a orange hunt. The moms hid smiley-faced oranges all around the classroom. The kids went in a mad dash around the room trying to find all of the oranges.

Once we felt like all of the oranges had been found, Teacher Nicky said, "Ok sheep...go to your pen." The chaos of the hunt IMMEDIATELY ended & all of the children ran to the rectangular carpet & got quiet. WOW! I was very impressed. Teacher Nicky then said, "Great job listening to your shepherd." She's a fabulous teacher.

Teacher Nicky then rewarded each child with their own container of playdoh to take home.

Once each child put their playdoh in their cubby, they came to the carpet to sit in a circle. We had just a few minutes left before dismissal & Teacher Nicky decided to play a game.

Each child called out another child's name & then threw them the ball. It was a name recognition game & also a fun ball game. The ball was, of course, orange. The children LOVED this game. In this picture, Josiah is passing the ball to Isa"bella."

As they were being dismissed, they were given a cupcake to take home. Josiah was so excited & couldn't wait to tell his Daddy what a great time he had at orange day!

Wonderful Wednesdays!

Wednesdays have changed somewhat since Grady started preschool on MWF. Josiah & I still go to Storytime at the library & meet up with Amanda & Grady once she picks him up from preschool.

Some days we just go to one of our houses to play & have lunch. We aren't ever sure who has more fun the boys or us girls!

Once a month, Amanda cuts Josiah's hair on Wednesdays. She's so sweet & refuses to take payment from us for this wonderful service. So, I always take the four of us to lunch afterwards. The first time we ever did this, the boys chose to go to McDonalds for lunch. Well, as with everything else, they have to be repetitive...we go to McDonalds every time. After lunch they always have a blast playing on the McD's playground.

Josiah & I always look forward to having wonderful Wednesdays!

Let the Games Begin!

Last Christmas Dustin received an X-Box 360 from my brother. Josiah has never played it before because we figured he was too young. This week Dustin downloaded some free demos to the X-Box. One demo Dustin downloaded is "Cars." Tonight, Dustin showed Josiah how he was playing the game & Josiah wanted to give it a try.

I don't know what it is about guys & their video games, but Dustin just beamed with pride when Josiah grabbed the controller.

After a few tries, Josiah really got the hang of the game. He is so smart & such a fast learner. He had a GREAT time "Tractor Tipping!"

Let the games begin!