Lets Dance

So, I finally figured out how to record video with my camera and I got the cutest video of Tyler dancing. He loves to dance while listening to music! And, I finally figured out how to load the video onto the blog. And guess what? It's sideways and I can't figure out how to flip the image! So, if you want to see Tyler dancing, you have to see it sideways. Sorry about that. Now that I know, next time will be better.

Pumpkins Galore!

We decided to get out of the house and go to the pumpkin patch! And we had the perfect weather for it: not too cold and no rain. Our friends Sandi, Irvin, and Trish went with us to help out. First, we stopped at the petting zoo.

Both boys loved the animals, but Zach particularly got so excited that he would shriek and laugh each time an animal came near.

Zachary and Tyler both ran through the corn maze with no problems at all. Tyler led the way, in fact!

And the boys each found a pumpkin that they fell in love with. Notice how far we got from the road. I think they each just picked the first pumpkin they came to. Oh well, they had fun and that's all that matters.

Tyler decided to roll this pumpkin across the field. He didn't get too far though, but I was impressed that he rolled it as far as he did!

And Zach found this lovely little green pumpkin.

Tyler was fascinated with the horses

Kathryn and Tyler running around getting all muddy

Zach found this white marker pole and just thought it was the coolest ever!

Mommy, get over it!

So, now that my boys are so mobile and are into everything, I'm starting to realize that I've got to get over my dislike of dirtiness, mud, messes, etc. I'm sure that my boys are going to love to make mud pies, bury things in the garden, seek out mud puddles, and probably bring bugs into the house. (Hopefully these things will happen on Mike's days off, but.....that's probably just wishful thinking). For example, yesterday, the weather was so crummy and we were all tired of being house-bound, so as soon as there was a sun break, we headed out. And the boys found the deepest puddle of muddy water on our property. They splashed and splashed and splashed until we were all drenched and muddy, and then we came in and changed. And I survived!!! But then I had to deal with un-matching outfits because their pants were all dirty but their shirts were still clean. But I'm working on that too.

Anyhow, today I decided that I would just dive in and give the boys a spoon and bowls of yogurt. They know how to use the spoon to feed themselves once I put the food on it, but, I'm ready for them to do it themselves. Here's photos of our morning:

Yes, he's clapping with yogurt-covered hands, which sent even more yogurt flying through the kitchen.

If you look closely, you'll notice that there are no spoons being used in these pictures!!! Thats because they promptly got thrown on the floor so that they could devour the yogurt (or try anyway) with their hands!!!

Can't Get Enough Cheesecake!

So, I made cheesecake today and I thought the boys might enjoy the taste, so I gave them each a beater to suck on. Oh man, I scored major 'Awesome Mommy' points!!! They went crazy! Here's some photos of their experience:

Running Mommy Ragged

This last weekend the boys and I went to grandma and grandpa's house so that they could help me chase them around. And sure enough, the boys kept them very busy! Luckily we had some nice weather so the boys got to play outside quite a bit. Here's some photos of their adventures:

Their first wheelbarrel ride!
Zachary pretty much freaked out so it was a short ride.

The boys and grandpa playing catch. They're getting pretty good!

Zachary was trying to throw the ball back to grandpa

Tyler loves the tunnel in the play structure!

And this obviously isn't from the weekend at my parents' house, but I wanted to post it anyway. This is a picture of my friends from Willamette University that I got to see a few weekends ago. My friend Renee and one of my best buddies, Ben.

Tag, You're It

I am now tagged, thanks to Tiffany. I am now supposed to share 8 random things about myself with you. And yes, I was actually tagged 2 or 3 days ago, but have been pretending that I never read her blog so that I wouldn't have to come up with my list! But, my conscience is eating away at me.

So, here it goes.....

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1. I hate my middle name, Jane. I was named after my Aunt Dora Jane and I love her dearly, but I just don't like that my middle name sounds so country-bumpkin-ish.

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2. I despise needles (and I mean, freak out / pass out despise) and yet I got a tattoo. Where is the logic in that?

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3. I toured Europe with an Honors Choir after 10th grade. We went to 7 countries in 3 weeks. It was the most amazing trip of my life.

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4. I am so not a morning person. Although, that really changed once the boys were born and I have no choice in the matter.

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5. I so hate to exercise and I so love to eat out. Bad combo, but thankfully I am blessed with a fast metabolism.

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6. My nickname was 'Melvin' in high school.

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7. One of my absolute favorite times in high school was playing Powder Puff football. I was the wide receiver and broke 3 school records: Most Catches, Most Yards, and Most Interceptions. I got the MVP award.

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8. I am completely afraid of bugs and reptiles. I can't even stand to look at them when they are in cages. My friend Sean told me today that he may be moving to Florida and I tried to talk him out of it due to the sheer amount of bugs and reptiles there!

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All of you bloggers, you have now been tagged too!!! So, don't be like me and pretend that you never read my blog. You know you did! I'm expecting to see your 8 random tidbits very soon!

A night of lights

Tonight we ventured out to the Salem Fire Department's Open House and got to see some cool things. The boys were pretty fascinated by the lights and Kathryn got to do some activities.

Here we are with Flash the Fire Dog. Tyler thought he was totally cool; Zach only ventured to touch him once and he wasn't too sure of the fuzzy fur.
Here we are in front of the Life Flight helicopter, which took off while we were there. Too cool!

And in front of a fire truck

This makes me laugh because we were in front of a fire truck with its lights on and we could not get the boys to turn away from looking at the lights to look at the camera. They were fascinated!

And here is Mr. Zachary wearing his new fire hat!

A much needed get-away

Mike and I took the boys to the coast this week for 2 nights. Although it poured most of the trip, we were very lucky and got 2 trips in to the beach where the weather was actually really decent! We also got to swim in the pool at the hotel and do some shopping.

My Tyler is absolutely fascinated with drawers right now, and the hotel was his dream come true! We had been there not even 15 minutes and here is what he was doing.

Yes, he is in the drawer playing.
This picture is too precious. This was Tyler's first run-in with sand on the beach and he was really trying to figure out what this stuff is on his hand.

If you look closely, you can see that Tyler's nose is wrinkled up here as he is still trying to figure out how to get the sand off of his hand.

And after about 30 seconds of pondering the sand on his hand, he was off and running!!!

Zachary on the other hand was not too sure at all about the sand. He did not want to walk on it at all. After he touched it, he just sat there trying to figure out what was going on.

Here are the boys watching the birds.