Pumpkin Carving Fun

Sunday evening we invited Bryce's two brothers and their families over for a pumpkin party. We had yummy pumpkin stew and carved pumpkins. We had grown some big pumpkins this year in our garden and didn't need them all for ourselves. We thought it would be fun to have the cousins over to help carve them. The weather was good enough to carve outside on the deck, which was nice because then my house didn't have pumpkin guts and seeds all over. The kids had fun. All of the pumkins turned out great!! The kids had fun decorating a brownie to look like a jack-o-lantern too.

Ellie enjoying her pumpkin stew

Fun Fall Weekend

This last weekend we took the kids to Black Island Farms in Syracuse. It is a huge farm with two corn mazes, several hay bale slides, farm animals, pig races, a kiddie train, and hay rides. The weather was perfect! It was even a bit too warm. The kids seemed to have fun and I think Bryce did too. He wasn't very excited to go in the first place, but I told him you do these kinds of things for your kids. :)

Watchin' the pig races!! Tyler got picked to guess which pig would win the race and the blue one did so he got a pig nose!!

Ellie loved the big slide.

Train ride

Ellie going on the little slide with Brayden

Corn Maze Fun!! Yes, we got lost.

The shadows in the maze makes it hard to see us

Duck Hunting

Last Saturday was the Youth Duck Hunt. Tyler earned his hunter safety last year and so he was excited to go hunting. They decided to go out to the pond behind our house. Bryce didn't want to get Tyler up too early because he had baseball games so they slept in and went around 8 am. After less than an hour I saw them coming back and I figured he didn't get anything because I hadn't heard any gun shots. But as he got closer I could see he was holding a dead duck in his hands and was beaming from ear to ear. He told me it took 3 shots, but he was very excited. This was his first duck he had shot. Last year he wasn't so lucky.

His dad then showed him how to clean and get the meat from the duck. I think that grossed Tyler out just a bit. Bryce wants him to try the duck meat, but it is still just sitting in my fridge starting to stink it up. YUCK!!

Brayden was excited to tag along too. He is not quite old enough to hunt and use a gun which I am okay with. He was in charge of Drake (the dog) when Bryce and Tyler went and jumped the pond. Bryce told him to not let go of him and as soon as the shots were fired, poor Brayden, tried his best to hold on to Drake who was freaking out and wanted to go into the pond. Bryce had forgotten to tell him as soon as they shoot he could let go of Drake.

Pitching??

Tyler is still playing baseball. It is almost a year-round activity for our family. The fall season is 6 weeks long and he has two games each Saturday. We are half way through the season so far and have been lucky enough to have most of the games close to home. Last weekend he played in Plain City. At the end of the first game, his coach decided to let him pitch. Tyler hasn't pitched much on his comp. team but did for his rec. team. It definitely made me nervous. He actually did really well. He struck a couple of guys out and was able to hang on to the lead.

The next game the coach started him out pitching. I think Tyler really enjoyed it, but he did mention that he was kind of nervous too. The second game didn't go so well. Tyler gave up 4 runs in the first two innings and then his team ended up losing 17-3. Both teams we played were about a year or two older than our boys, so overall we hung with 'em pretty well.

Swing batter Swing!!

This is how Ellie enjoys the games!!

Camping Out!!

Our family is not the type who enjoys camping. I think that is because of me, but anyways, Tyler had to help pitch a tent and sleep in it for an activity badge in Cub Scouts. We decided to let the boys set up the tent on the deck one night and sleep in it. They had a lot of fun and I was able to sleep in my warm cozy bed in the house. Brayden only made it half the night before he came inside to his bed. Tyler however made it the whole night. Ellie as you can see in the picture below wanted to sleep with them but we thought that probably wasn't the best idea. Overall, it worked great and Tyler was able to earn his badge.

Flag Football

Brayden is on a flag football team this year. He had his first two games last week and did awesome! He is very aggressive and competitive. He loves to blitz the quarterback. I didn't know what that meant but he told me it is when you go after the QB right after the ball is hiked. He plays both offense and defense and has scored several touchdowns. He even got an interception last game and ran it for a TD. He told us that next year he wants to play real 'tackle' football. YIKES!! I am not sure I am ready for that. But maybe that is what he needs to get his aggression out. Then maybe he won't take it out on me or his big brother anymore. :)

Sorry about the pictures. For some reason they came out blurry.

Running for a TD

Grabbing the flag

1st day of school

Another school year has begun. Summer always seems to fly by. However, the boys were excited to start back. They were both excited about their new teachers. I am sure that we will have another good year. They both seem to enjoy school, which makes it easier on me!!

Tyler is in 5th grade this year.

Brayden is in 2nd grade.

They wouldn't let me go to the bus stop for a picture, so I had to get one as they went out the front door. My boys are both growing up. :(