Getting away...

Last weekend we had to get out of the Valley. Hubby took Friday off and we went North for the day. It was a rainy and chilly day. It was so nice to get out of our normal environment and just relax and have fun. Of course as we were about to pull into town Critter fell asleep. So...we went for a little side drive to see a Lake we had not seen in ages and where Hubby had camped once or twice. By the time we were about to stop, Critter woke up. We of course had to get out of the car and get a cute picture of the kids. It just so happened that Pumpkin had taken her "class pet" home from school that week. She brought George to see the sights and take pictures with him.

Pumpkin of course remembered the chilly wind of winter, but poor Critter was caught by surprise. Luckily he got used to it pretty quick. It was raining on and off all day which was just a lovely sight.
I love this picture of the two of them. He took it very seriously whenever Pumpkin let him hold George. He held on really tight...so cute! :)

While there, I was trying to get his 2 year pictures done. He was just having so much fun running around in the puddles.

Can you tell Pumpkin is a little cold :)

We were able to stop by Hubby's brothers home and hang out for a little while. The kids do not get to see them as often as we wish. But...they LOVE seeing them. It was a lot of fun, even though it was only for an hour.

We had an awesome escape, even for a day! It made it feel like fall/winter. We hope to head back up North soon!

More bike riding...

Our lives have been crazy busy again around here. I guess that is expected this time of year. But, for some reason it surprises me each and every year! We have been trying to get Pumpkin out on her bike each week to practice riding without the training wheels. She is getting pretty good! It is hard to balance her and Critter, so we can only practice on days when Daddy is home. Here is some cute updated video of how good she is doing. There is some Daddy commentary to go along with it!

This second video is of actually starting to ride by herself! Like I said, she is getting pretty good. She can ride from the corner in our neighborhood back to our house. I am just trying to teach her how to stop :)

So proud...

I can not begin to describe how proud I am of this amazing girl. I had a moment today where I got to see my child through the eyes of a stranger. Now, that might sound strange, but sometimes it is hard for me to see all my kids do. I am there day in and day out and sometimes get caught up in the everydayness of life...yes I know I pretty much made up that word!

For Pumpkin's birthday she decided to be a generous kid. We have been helping out a charity, Andrea's Closet, through my moms club. They are a group which supplies toy closets for children in the hospital. When talking about what she wanted for her birthday, Pumpkin started talking about how much she already has. She then started talking about the kids in the hospital and how they needed toys. We figured out that asking friends and family for toys for Andrea's Closet for her birthday would be a good idea. Now...anyone who knows Pumpkin knows that if she does not want to do something there is no way to make her. This was really her idea. I could not have been more proud of her.

She ended up collecting over a dozen toys for this group. I was able to make the arrangements to bring them to the hospital today. Going into it Pumpkin knew she would not be able to give them to the kids, but that the nice lady from the hospital would be able to put them in the toy closet for her. We arrived at the hospital and the woman came out to meet us with a wagon. Both kids help put all the toys in the wagon and walk them into the hospital. She gave us a little tour of the new wing of the hospital while the kids looked around at all the really neat stuff they had.

Pumpkin was shy, but at least let me take a few pictures. The funny thing about her is that she really did not see what the big deal was about giving toys away. This lovely woman kept saying what an amazing 5 year old she was. Pumpkin just smiled, said thank you and kept playing.

It was a moment where I got to see Pumpkin for who she is and who she is becoming. She cares so deeply for others. It makes all the moments where I struggle as a mother completely worth it. I did not know I could be this proud of my child. She gives without a thought and it is normal to her. I hope we can continue this feeling of giving throughout her life and Critter's. She is an example to me of how to make sure to give and care for others.

This is the pile of toys she gave to the hospital. These are going to make quite a few kids so very happy and feel more comfortable in the hospital.

I just love these two kids. I could not be more proud of them and who they are. It is amazing to see them from an "outside" perspective. I just love them and more than ever know that my time at home with them is precious and right where I want and need to be. Now...I need to go cuddle my amazing girl!

Spooktackular day...

I hope you had a fun Halloween! We had a great time...except for the fact that Pumpkin asked about every 5 minutes all day when we were going to go trick-or-treating! :) It was a lot of fun and Daddy even made it home to take the kids to a few houses. We had fun going around our neighborhood and then the kids had an even better time handing out candy to all the people who came to our door. It was a really fun time and I am glad the kids were feeling good enough to enjoy it.

My princess and football player! He loves Sparky so much, he had to have something to do with him for Halloween! Yes...I am influencing the college choice this early on! :)
I just LOVE her look in this one...a true princess!

Her pumpkin without the stem...of course!

He looked so cute with the padding I put in this outfit. He did not even mind the black on his face...who knew football players could look this innocent and adorable :)

I even put some make-up on her for trick-or-treating....she was very proud of that!

Showing off some candy..

Every time they head someone at the door they both ran to it to see what they were. Critter was funny if there was a "scary" costume...he just said scary and then handed them candy. It was cute. It was a perfect night. Now I just have to try to not eat all their candy...