Pumpkin Patch: Take 1

Oh, yes. That time of year is here again. There is just something about pumpkin season that jump starts that need in me to snap the perfect picture, the one that captures the very essence of each of my kids while they are sitting still and smiling handsomely, all while dressed in coordinating outfits. (And this is just the beginning...Christmas card photo season is just around the corner!)

So settle in for A LOT of pictures. You'll get the drift of how the pumpkin patch pictures went today.

We're off to a good start!

We were in a group of eight amazing Boys! Here, we paused to inspect a caterpillar parade!

So this is the best of the nearly 50 pictures I took of my kids together. Most of them looked more like this:

All I can say is, it's a good thing pumpkin patch season is just beginning!

Sweet, cooperative Owie

King of the mountain!

Nosy finally decided maybe pumpkins were kind of fun after all.

Two of the other cuties that joined us today, Ben and Luke.

Our Guys take advantage of any wide open space for RUNNING!

Jumping off of hay bales is tons of fun!

Three guesses who came back from this excursion more than slightly damp. If you guessed Nosy Posy, you win the prize! Crazy Boy!

One pumpkin had broken open. We took full advantage of the opportunity to poke around in pumpkin innards.

We'll be back next week to try again!

Cupcakes from Yaya

Today was my Happy Half Birthday.

Since this is not a widely recognized holiday, it slips away mostly unnoticed...except by my Mom, an enthusiastic happy half birthday celebrator. She always remembers, and surprises me in the sweetest little ways, different every year. This year she dropped off delectable goodies from the Central Market bakery! My mouth is watering just typing about it.

For me: a hearty slice of scrumptious carrot cake slathered with rich cream cheese frosting. You had better believe I polished off every last crumb of yumminess!

She came bearing treats for the Boys, too! Chocolate cupcakes topped with blue footballs. "Hutt, hutt! Hutt, hutt!" Noah hollered until I let him taste his.

Owie devoured his cupcake without dropping a morsel, and, after licking his fingers, did not even require a napkin.

He even licked his cupcake liner clean. Such a neat Boy!

Check out Baby Bro, who approached his cupcake with a whole different eating strategy: cramming the entire cupcake in his mouth at once.

It seemed to work for him!

He even tried to eat the plastic container! We headed straight to the tub after he was through!

Thank you, Mom, for making my day extra special!! Love you!

Rain Date

We had made wonderful plans with the best of friends: a Teddy Bear Picnic at the Arboretum. What fun! Teddies were laid out and ready to go. Small Boys were pumped up with excitement. Alas, a picnic is not as much fun in the pouring rain. And so plans changed. Yummy snacks were pooled and Boys were notified that all was not lost. The result: a super fun day at Chrys's, accompanied by the best guac and salsa ever, applesauce muffins still warm from the oven, and a chunk of yummy sugar cookie dough, just waiting to be made into delish cookies.

After the Boys had played and played and the Girls had chatted to our hearts' content, we gathered in Chrys's oh-so-cheerful, perfect shade of green kitchen to roll out some dough. The Boys were not too interested at first, so captivated were they by Oliver's amazing toys. Pretty soon, the tiniest guy wandered over to check it out.

Love that darling face!

Before long, an eager crowd had gathered. These Boys are pros with a cookie cutter! Their favorite cookie to cut out? The letter "O," for Owen and Oliver, of course!

Oliver had me cracking up as he hauled off the center of the "O" cookies with his beloved Mater.

Such great friends, O and O. The two littles didn't want to miss out on a second of the action. See them in my arms at the far left. Sweet Guys!

Owen and Oliver broke into a spontaneous concert. They performed a very emotional version of "Twinkle, Twinkle" as they cut out star cookies.

Owie's pretty good with a rolling pin. (No Truetts got damaged in the rolling out of this dough.)

My favorite memory from our day: Just the perfect number of cooks in our kitchen. These are the four sweetest hineys I've ever seen!

Thanks, sweet friends, for your generous hospitality!

Check It Out!

The Springs Church has a billboard up on 544 in Murphy to advertise our upcoming, amazing Fall event. We are going to break the World Record for the most number of people carving a pumpkin at the same time. We need 1000 people to break that record! No problemo! Check out the link for all the details and come carve with us!

Batter Down (the Hatch)

Nothing tastes better in the morning than a bowl of muffin batter shared with your favorite Brother!

Batter Up!

Saturday morning was crisp and cool, sunny and bright...perfect weather to cheer for Clayton at his T-ball game. The Boys were super excited to see their "friend cousin" (as O fondly refers to all of his cousins) in all his glory.

Clayton did not disappoint his fans, getting to base three times and scoring two runs. (I am not allowed to refer to them as "points." I was politely corrected amidst manly chuckles. How was I to know?)

Number 5 is ready to spring into action.

Bringing it home to roaring applause.

Batting practice with Dad between innings. Check out that form!

So how did my Guys enjoy the game?

Aside from a sweet snuggle time with Papa, Nosy spent almost the entire game at the fence, face pressed against chain link, getting as close to the game as possible.

At one point, he ventured close enough to sneak a hand inside the dugout. He just wanted to stroke a helmet, see what real baseball gear feels like. I think it's called "sporting equipment envy." Do I have a future ball player on my hands? I think I do!

Owie really had fun watching Clayton and cheering for him,

but after a bit, he tired of the game...

...choosing instead to play on the bleachers

and dig in the really great baseball field sand.

There was no shortage of high fives when Clayton's team tied with their opponent. O was so proud of his cousin (as were we all!).

Thanks for letting us see you in action, Clayton! Love you!

Walking

The Boys and I went on a walk tonight to enjoy the coolness...my favorite kind of walk with no ulterior motive of sneaking in a workout. All three of us just sauntered along, seeing what we could see.

Nosy persistently pointed to this sliver of moon, gesturing frantically. "Nak-nak! NAK-NAK!!" "Honey, I didn't bring any snacks with me," I told him over and over again. Finally, I had a revelation. "Banana, No-nos? Banana in the sky?" "YEAH! Na-na." Now I get it...

I spied a gorgeous stack of pumpkins on a neighbor's porch.

"Hey, O! Come look at these great pumpkins!" I yelled ahead. He came sprinting right over with a huge, excited grin. After examining them for a minute, he turned to me with the most dejected look on his face.

"Didn't you like the pumpkins?"

"Yeah, but I thought you said they were accordions."

Interesting.

Sous Chef for a Day

That's me!

Jeremy's all-time favorite cookie is peanut butter. O and I decided (a couple of weeks ago--wow, his hair has grown fast!) to whip some up to top off our dinner.

Because the recipe was all in pictures (skipped the from-scratch version this time!), I let O be the boss of the kitchen. And I? I was the sous chef. I had fun fetching and cleaning up, doing O's bidding.

O has cracked many an egg before. I have total faith in his egg-cracking ability. He also is learning to separate eggs, which we have done quite a bit recently. So when he questioned, "Do I put the white part in too?" I assumed he meant the egg white.

Funny Boy. We went fishing for egg shell! No harm done.

This Chef loves to cook!

It's got to have a bit of chocolate!

Decorating the cookies with trademark criss crosses.

Daddy and O enjoy the fruit of O's labor. He did such a great job!!

Leviticus 19:18 and I John 4:7

"...Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Lev 19:18)

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." (I John 4:7)

We are attempting to inscribe this concept on our hearts in very practical, meaningful ways. How does it hit home in The House of Halpin? One way is with Gummy Vites, of course!

Let me explain.
Vitamin time is a very favorite, anticipated time in our day. The Boys LOVE these delish bits of sweetness that just happen to be packed full of nutrients for their little bodies. We have two types that are taken each day, with two lids to top two bottles. These lids double as serving platters for the delectable vitamins. So to instill in our kids a bit of self-control and putting Brother above himself, one Boy each day plates the vitamins and serves his Brother before chowing down himself. This was challenging at first, especially for little Noah. But now they both cheerfully and willingly place the vitamins on a plate/lid and trot it over to serve Brother prior to indulging in their first bite.

Here's what it looks like:

Noah setting out Owie's vites

Passing out the yummy bites

O gets Nosy's vitamins ready

Serving No-nos

Noah is so grateful! (signing "Thank you!")

So at least this is a start towards one Brother putting the other above himself. We have a long way to go with much harder issues ahead, I am sure. But they are learning, and they make me so proud.

Favorite Nosy "Nak"

Cheese with a side of Cheerios.

Stir it all up and shovel it in with the trusty spatula!

Yum, yum!