Pumpkin Pumpkin

This weekend was all about pumpkins. We enjoyed our 6th Annual Pumpkin Carving Day and celebrated the cutest little pumpkin in the patch, Bennett Lee!

I love traditions and making memories and one of my own favorite childhood memory is carving pumpkins. I remember lining them up just so so on our porch rail in Hidalgo and lighting our candles at nightfall. Doug and I started carving pumpkins our sophomore year in college and after a little walk down memory lane, we are pretty sure this is our 12th year carving pumpkins together. No wonder we are so good at it.....I think we can officially call it a tradition! This year was my favorite year yet and its only going to get more fun.

For Emery's first Halloween I carved this tiny little pumpkin for her and put a black bow on it so it would look like her. My how things have changed! This year she wanted the biggest pumpkin we had and decided to do a spooky face instead of the usual silly one. 

The girl even got in there and helped scrape out all the pumpkin seeds and slime. A year ago this would have been a no go; I swear she becomes braver everyday. 

Doug and I are so proud of the little lady she is becoming. Recently we had our very first Parent Teacher Conference. Walking in, Doug whispered that for some reason he felt nervous and I would be lying if I said I didn't blink away a little happy tear that welled up at one point. We are such first timers haha. Em's teacher described her as being confident and always friendly (which was so nice to hear). She stays on task (new this year) and always puts an exclamation mark at the end of her name. She is proud of it I guess. And I don't blame her, I love a good exclamation mark!!

You go, girl!

August Samuel did not touch the insides of his pumpkin. No way, no how. He did however pick up and try to play with every sharp object we had on the table. Doug and I have learned that when carving pumpkins with littles, you set your expectations very low and your patience level very high. Do this and you will actually enjoy carving your kids' pumpkins. Auggie picked a super scary face (earlier this week he wanted an "Uncle Terry" pumpkin...not quite sure what that entailed) which was perfect because super scary faces are Doug's specialty. 

Auggie Boy had a fun week. He had his first field trip and his favorite person got to go, me!

I have been dying to know what he is like in class and my suspicions were correct. He has all the energy, all the answers and all the smiles. I was afraid that he was going to want to just stick with me on his field trip but I was very wrong. Instead he marched right in line and hopped in place when the class stopped to study the changing leaves on the trees. He could not contain his excitement and I don't think he stopped moving or talking the entire morning. His teacher just loves him the way he is and described him as "squirrelly" which made me laugh and really is the perfect description. 

Whenever we say our nightly prayers, I always ask the kids if they have anything to add. Emery always asks God to help her "think about good things and dream about good things." Auggie rarely has anything to add but when he does, Doug and I are either left giggling or wondering where he has heard that. The other night he prayed that "the homework would work right tomorrow" (meaning the tablet we have would actually play the farm videos he wanted to watch). Kind of a needy prayer kid! Our favorite recently was when I asked him if he had anything to pray for and he responded very seriously with "that we learn, love, laugh and play." How profound! I have since figured out that he prays that every morning at school....he didn't just come up with it. School has been really really good for him and I love that he is loving it. 

Bennett Baby, the cutest little pumpkin there is, didn't really have a choice with his pumpkin. I carve cute faces so that is what he got! He loved hanging out and watching us and at one point tried to eat some pumpkin. He was mad when I took it away so maybe he knows something we don't. 

In the picture with his pumpkin he looks pretty perky. The same cannot be said for how he looked and felt the day before, his first birthday. He started running a fever Thursday but he tends to run a low fever when he has a cold so I didn't think much of it. By my third kid, I am in no rush to ever take them to the doctor. They'll get better. Friday afternoon our babysitter called...B had taken a turn for the worse. Fine. Let's go to the doctor. And I am so glad I did. For his first birthday the kid got a double ear infection and a nasty cold. When the doctor and nurses heard that it was his birthday I thought they were going to either cry or sing "Happy Birthday". We heard "You can't be sick on your birthday" about seven times. Poor Birthday Boy.  

Saturday Bennett woke up around 8am and then took a nap from 10 to 2. Sleep was just what the doctor ordered because he was a pretty happy camper for the rest of the weekend. I know Emery and Auggie love carving pumpkins and I hope Bennett will too. With a late October birthday he better get used to celebrating with a family carving day! In the end, Em voted Bennett's as her favorite because it was cute like him and Auggie voted for his own. It is super scary.

I just love all three.

Sunday was party day!

 If you received and invitation you would have noticed that the location for the party was our house. It always is. Around 1am on Thursday, when I was up with my sick baby, I did the math in my head and counted around 45 people coming to B's party. And then I kind of panicked. Where was I going to fit 45 people in my house? At least in the summer people can go outside, and the forecast called for wind and rain on Sunday. I worried about his party until my alarm went off. Ugh. I started the morning making a mental list of all that I would need to get done before Sunday.....I quickly went from being excited about his party to feeling overwhelmed. 

 I hated that I felt that way. I wanted to enjoy our celebration. So instead of stressing, I decided to call our Parish and see if the hall was free. Not going to lie--I did a little happy dance when I was told it was! So I marked "clean house" and "get tables and chairs" off of my to-do list and breathed a sigh of relief. While I still had birthday party prep to do, we were able to enjoy our weekend together. Sunday morning Doug and the big kids went to church. B and I stayed him so he could nap while Nana and I finished a few food items up. This picture is right before our guests arrived. We were all excited to celebrate our Bennett Baby.

And this picture is about an hour later. Emery woke us up Sunday by telling us she didn't feel good. She is our healthy one and looked and acted fine....so we kind of just went on with our busy morning. When I went to grab her hand for our mealtime prayer, I realized she was burning up...and then I looked into her big sad eyes. Sorry Emery. We should have listened. Nana ran to get Tylenol and I got Em comfy on a random couch the Parish center just happens to have. About five minutes later, Douglas asks me if I have seen Auggie. Nooooo.....why? I look over to see him almost asleep in Grandma Susie's arms. Pale, dark circles, definitely a fever coming on. So this is where Emery and Auggie spent the entire party. I felt so bad for them. I hate that they are sick and I hate that they had to miss out on the fun. 

This one kept partying though. 

Not only does he not get a "Birthday Week" or a party at his own house.....Bennett Lee did not get a homemade cake either. Oh to be the third child! For his cake I had envisioned a sweet little white cake with a pumpkin on top. I make all my babies' cakes and this one was going to be one of the easier ones. At Wal-mart I threw a cake mix and some icing in my cart but while standing at the deli I spied the exact cake I was hoping to make. It was perfect and calling my name. So I put my cake mix and icing back and marked "make B's cake" off my list too. 

The best part is, he didn't care at all. He mostly just slobbered on it anyway. 

See, Bennett really has changed me. He has taught me patience and priorities. 

He loved opening all of his presents but maybe loved entertaining his crazy aunts even more.

I am thankful and grateful for everyone that helped cook (it was a very yummy day), helped clean up (perk of not having party at my house: my house is still cleanish) and helped us celebrate Bennett Lee (he clearly had a blast and could feel all the love). 

Sunday evening we opened and played with all of Bennett's new toys and books. Since the big kids missed everything during the day, it was nice to see them enjoy this moment. We snacked on leftovers and the big kids both needed medicine and a very early bedtime. Bennett Lee helped me pick up and get ready for Monday. And by help I mean make everything much, much harder.

But I had to smile when I found him like this. It feels like not too long ago that was Auggie standing up on the dishwasher. Time sure does fly with all this fun we are having.

Along with prayers for health for our household, I want to concentrate this week on giving thanks for this wonderful first year of Bennett's life and asking for guidance and good health for this next year to come.