Are you kidding me?!?!?!

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you'll remember this story. For newcomers, check it out, you'll enjoy it.
Well, today we have a life lesson revisited. Aidyn & Nolan picked up some Halloween coloring contest pictures recently at our local drug store. Aidyn worked on hers diligently until it was just to her liking. Nolan marked on his page a few times and then Aidyn took over and 'helped' him finish. We turned them into the drug store and hoped for the best. Well, they called this morning. Can you see where this is going??
Guess what? Nolan won the coloring contest. AHHHHH!!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! Not wanting to relive the drama of the last contest, I chose to embellish the truth this time.

Me: Guess what kids? The drug store called and they said you both did such a good job on your coloring contest pictures that they have a prize for you to share!
Aidyn: We won?
Me: Yes, WE won!
Both kids: Yippee!!!
Me (in my head): Please don't let me get caught in this embellishment...

Wish me luck.

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins the other night in preparation for Halloween.

The kids were brave this year and stuck their arms in to pluck out the guts.

Aidyn's pumpkin was a scary 2-sided little number. Nolan's is much more abstract.

Jeff carved a pumpkin too. They are having a pumpkin carving contest at work. 10 bonus points if you can guess what his carving goal was with this pumpkin.

Gymnastics

Aidyn and Nolan finished their first session of gymnastics last week, the new session starts tomorrow. Not much of a break, but whatever.

They both really enjoyed it and were so proud of the ribbons they received. Aidyn told me that she now has more medals and ribbons than that swimming guy from the Olympics. He only won 8 medals and she has 10 now. Good for you Aidyn! And you too Nolan!

The Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch a week or so ago to pick out their prize pumpkins. Aidyn gave the pumpkins the 'sit on them' test.
Nolan gave the pumpkins the 'run over them with the wagon' test. If you look closely, you can see there is a large pumpkin under the wagon. He was a bit high-centered.

Then he gave them the 'I'm going to carry you by the stem and drop you a few dozen times' test. Needless to say, the pumpkins we came home with are very resilient.

A Challenge

UPDATE!! Ty has accepted the challenge!! Check it out!!

This weekend Shirley & the kids came to visit (Troy was apparently too ill to make the trip.) Any-hoo, as we were channel surfing, we came across the National FFA Convention being broadcast on TV. I'm sure it got HUGE ratings. We started discussing those flattering blue corduroy jackets we used to wear and pondering whether or not we would still be able to fit into them. We called Troy & he was convinced he would be able to get his both on AND zipped up. Well, check out his blog to see those results. I haven't talked to him this morning to see if he was able to get out of bed after throwing out his back straining to get that thing zipped up.
I knew exactly where my jacket was located and figured if Troy can do it, so can I. Shirley agreed to be the photographer and I tried my best not to pee my pants while we were taking these pictures. By the way, the flag background was Shirley's idea. I think it adds a whole new level of class to the photo. Here I am in all my FFA glory. Take it in people....

So here's the challenge to the rest of you out there. Find your FFA jacket, put it on AND get it zipped up (zipper exception for Laurel-she's knocked up) and post a picture of it on your blog or your spouses blog. This is going to hee-haw-larious!! You can do it people, don't make me call you out by name. Because I will. I was President, I know how to get things done.

Views

OK, I know this isn't the best picture with all the cars & parking signs in the background, but just look how pretty these leaves are! This is at the kids' school and the views out of their classroom windows are all like this. So pretty, I love fall!

Farm Fieldtrip

Last week Nolan had his first field trip of the year. They went to a farm to check out the animals and the garden. First we visited the sheep...the kids loved it, I felt bad for the sheep. They were obviously used to having kids milling around but I suspect the sheep prefer eating the hay rather than being slathered in it.

Look! Chickens!!!
They got to try their hand at milking a 'cow'. In this instance, the term 'cow' is applied to a 4 foot contraption covered in Holstein fabric with some sort of magical milk machine hooked up to its teats. (Yep, I just said teats!) It was an interesting creature.

The kids spent quite a bit of time tasting the garden. Nolan was not afraid to grab something as he walked by it and take a bite. Therefore he got to taste: lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, beets, broccoli, tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage, mint (they grow that for the mojitos they provide for the chaperones) and some weird spicy lettuce that our guide referred to as 'spicy lettuce'.

He seemed to have a fun time exploring. Afterwards, I asked what his favorite part of the field trip was...the bus ride. Imagine that.

What a pretty little monkey

Fuzz

Last weekend a little fuzzy caterpillar made its way into our house and our hearts. Nolan took to him immediately and named him Fuzz. He lived in a lovely glass jar on our countertop. Everyday we provided him with fresh leaves. Sadly, a glass jar & green leaves were apparently not the optimum environment for a caterpillar. Fuzz found his way to that great cocoon in the sky the other day. And Nolan...he didn't care. Such a sensitive little boy.

Rescue Effort

Enjoying my new camera

It has some fun features like this hi-speed shooting...(please disregard the fact that I cut off their heads a few times, I'm still learning)