Car Seat Heaven!!!

A few weeks ago we decided we were either going to need to get a new car or different car seats in order to fit all the kids into the van. We have accounts for the boys...I had never gotten around to opening one for Ella, but the money that was saved up is what we used to get them these awesome car seats. They are from Sunshine Kids and they rock! They are skinny enough you can fit 3 in on the same row in the car. They can be used until the kids are 53 inches and 80 lbs! And what sold me on them...they can fold up and can be worn like a backpack!!! We are going to go to Wyoming next summer so this is going to make traveling in the airport much easier!

I actually got the car seats online from Wal-Mart and they were on sale. They were normally $269, but were on sale for $215. They had the basic black color, but the specialty colors were the same price. I've been wanting to get Ella a girly girl car seat for a long time so I was super excited when this primrose pattern was one of the options!

Here Michael is installing them in the freshly vacuumed van. See Jack squeezing in the picture? 

I LOVE having that one captain chair out of the van! Logan sits in the black/brown car seat. I had a spare rug in the garage that I put down to cover up the metal holes that the other captain chair snaps into.

When Ella woke up from her nap I took her out to the van to show her her new seat and to see if we needed to adjust the shoulder straps. She seemed to like it just fine. The boys car seats are the metro pattern and I love them as well. I'm not much of a plain Jane kind of girl.

On Saturday night I took the kids out for their inaugural ride to their cousin's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I was thinking that Owen might be a little upset since he has been sitting in a booster seat with just a seat belt, but he really liked feeling so safe! Of course the whole set up is going to be an adjustment and I've already had to say, "Please stop bugging your sister" and "Please keep your hands to yourself" but overall it's going to be so nice! Now I just need to teach the boys to buckle themselves in!

MOPS Craft - Jack O Lantern Jars

Our last craft during the month of October was to make Jack O Lantern Jars. I have been saving jars for months!

The first step is to take labels, tape or stickers and put them on the outside of the jar. Is will cover the glass where you want to make the face. Then you put a piece of masking tape on the inside of the jar covering up the stickers on the outside...this helps so there isn't any over spray. Then take the jars outside and spray them with orange spray paint. Let them dry a bit...couple minutes and then you can peel the stickers and tape off.

Rebecca decided to get really artsy and made a leaf pattern instead of a Jack O Lantern...it's really pretty!

A couple of the ladies even made owl faces...too cute!

Since I was the designated paint sprayer this is what my hand looked like at the end. It didn't even cross my mind to wear a glove! Surprisingly I didn't get any on my clothes! It's nice that I have an ex-painter as a husband so we had paint thinner at home and it took it off really easy!

New Clothes!

Last Friday night I went to a friends house for a Pampered Chef party. Another friend Heather came with a couple bags full of clothes for us ladies with boys to go through. I got 5 shirts for Jack - one Mickey and Pluto - one shirt with a bucket that says "Do you Dig It?" - two Toy Story shirts - one Cars shirt. When he found the bag on Saturday morning he was so excited he had Daddy help him put on 4 of them at once!

What Would Have Been & What Hopefully Will Be!

October 28th 2011 was Kyan Williams due date!

I no doubt would have had him prior to his due date since I have C-Sections, but still...this was the day I was supposed to meet my baby boy! In a perfect world right? It wasn't meant to be though! The only tangible thing I have to remember Kyan by is his ultrasound picture taken when he was 9 weeks 1 day. He stopped growing at 10 weeks 4 days. But there is hope to be found even in a sad day like this...

New life is growing inside of me again!

That tiny spot inside the black circle is our newest addition! I'm currently 8 weeks 2 days and after seeing the baby last Friday for the first time I became cautiously optimistic. I don't feel nervous or relieved really...I'm just taking it day by day. I am seeing the doctor more often due to my past history so it will be nice to have those appointments and get that reassurance. I know that God's hands are on me and this pregnancy. I covet your prayers for a healthy successful pregnancy for both me and the baby!

Reading With Mommy!

Girl Hair!

Cute cheeser!

In recent days I've taken to doing Ella's hair while she sits in her highchair. It seems to keep her contained and content...most of the time! With that being said I think I need to watch some tutorials on how to do girl hair. For the boys we just buzz their heads there is no "doing" their hair at all.

I love that Ella's hair is getting long enough in the back to put in a ponytail...I just wish the hair in the front would reach, but it's just not quite there yet.

Just for fun here is a recent picture of her scar. We've been amazed at how quickly her hair has started to fill in.

And since I'm talking about girl hair I just have to include that last week I put Logan's hair up in a hair band for the first time. Her hair is so stick straight it just points straight up...it was so cute!

Morning Snuggles!

On these chilly October mornings snuggle under a warm blanket is a must for these girls!

Kissing is totally optional!

But as you can see absolutely enjoyed!

Boys snuggling...not so much!

Big smiles though are totally in!

My days are filled with these cute little hams and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Carving Pumpkins!

Yesterday afternoon the while Ella was sleeping and Daddy was at work we decided to carve our pumpkins.

Jack's all ready!

Owen is pretty happy!

Miss Kim let us borrow this cute little book to read while we were carving our pumpkins. Well really I read it to them before we carved them since it would have been hard to read it with yuck pumpkin guts all over my hands. Basically it helps turn carving pumpkins into a lesson on how God takes all the yucky stuff out of us and then puts His light inside us.

When Ella got up she just loved taking the lids off and rubbing them on her lips!

I tried to make each of the kids have a different face. Ella's was a sad/shocked face.

Owen asked for a scary one so his has sharp pointy teeth. Jack wanted a happy one, but it ended up being more of a happy/snarly one!

Trying to get a decent picture of all three of them sitting down is ridiculous!

The pumpkins are decorating our front porch!

Here's our one big pumpkin. I decided to cut a happy face exactly like the one the farmer cut in the book we read.

Then it was time to roast seeds. I got 3 1/2 cups of seeds from our 4 pumpkins. The surprising part was the smaller pumpkins gave more seeds than the big one.

Later on when it got dark we went out to light the candles. Of course by this time Ella had no clothes on...her latest fascination is having me take her clothes off and then her putting them back on. At least she put her boots on! :)

All lit up!

Happy Harvest Everyone!

Pumpkin Pictures 2011

Last year I decided to start the tradition of sitting the kids down with the little pumpkins and taking their pictures. Click here to see their pictures from last year.

This was the best picture out of the bunch! I had to start asking them where their nose was in order to get them to say seated.

Owen Michael 4 1/2  years old!

Jackson Daniel 3 years old!

Ella Grace 20 months old and as you can see....full of attitude!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last Tuesday our MOPS group headed down to Scholz Farms in Orting to have fun at the Pumpkin Palace.

Our first order of business is always lunch...of course this only lasted so long for the big boys because they just want to get up and have fun!

The girls on the other hand take their food seriously!

My neighbor Rachael has just recently started going to MOPS so she and her girls Kendra and Lilyann came down with us. Poor Kendra had a pretty rough day though...she got stung twice by bees and then tried to push the wheelbarrow by herself, got hit in the head and knocked out for a few seconds! Scary! Thankfully she was just fine, but it scared us!

Here is Lilyann! I've been getting to watch Kendra and Lilyann on Thursdays for about an 1 1/2. It's been fun holding such a little baby!

Owen and Jack had a great time playing on the sawdust hill.

It seems like we are always so lucky when we go to the farm. Ever since we started coming in 2008 it's always been beautiful blue skies on the day we are there!

Outdoor bowling is a lot of fun!

Logan enjoyed playing in this little tunnel toy.

Then it was time to run through the corn maze. Ga-Ga joined us at the farm since she is working from home now and the farm is really close to her house. She just took her lunch hour and spent the time with us!

Logan got to ride through the maze in style!

After the maze we stopped by to see the "Mutter Cow" as Owen called her. He loves animals!

The cow wasn't so sure about all the kids coming at once though!

The kids had picked out their smaller pumpkins earlier when we were over by the sawdust hill, but I wanted to get at least one big one.

Oh look I found a cute little pumpkin!

Probably the favorite part of the whole trip for the boys....they love that tractor!

Mr Micah put Ella up there with the boys too!

Then we went over to an area of the farm we've never gone before. We got to see this donkey up close.

There were also swings to go on.

 See I was actually there!

Then it was time to put the girls in the wagon and go pay for our pumpkins. Cute story....I usually put Ella behind Logan since Logan tends to pull her hair. This time around Logan was already in the wagon so I didn't want to take her out just to put her back in so Ella got to sit in the front instead. Logan was SO happy that she patted Ella on the back and then gave her the biggest hug! Of course I couldn't capture it with the camera. These girls really do love each other and it's been so much fun watching them turn into good friends!

Ga-Ga had to go home before we were finished so there was no way I could pull the girls in the wagon and push the wheelbarrow with the pumpkins. Thankfully our friends were still there so Mr. Micah pushed our pumpkins for us. It was a fun busy day! So busy that Ella was asleep at 6:40, Jack at 7:05 and me at 9:00!