fun things

Siena has become very picky in what she wears. We went through her clothes and she told me if she would wear it or not. I have made her some things and then she says she doesn't want to wear it. So Sat was a yucky rainy day so Siena and I went to the fabric store while the boys stayed home. I let her pick out a fabric she wanted for a dress. It was a little risky but we came back with something that wasn't pink and sparkly. That was a big accomplishment. I was actually pretty happy with her choice. I think it turned out cute and she loves the pockets. I am sure I will find all sorts of toys in them come laundry time. (there are 2 pockets in the front) She is sad that she has to wear a shirt under it but maybe it will fit in the spring so she can wear it without a shirt then.
Ben sporting his Halloween shirt and because he is cute, and he says cheese when you get the camera out.
Daddy made brownies with the kids. They enjoyed the beaters.

We made pine cone feeders with peanut butter and bird seed. We put them out on the front tree so the kids spent a good portion of the day looking out the window trying to find the squirrels and birds eating them. It was quite exciting!

Birthday time!

I celebrated my big 30th birthday! It was a great day. Siena kept asking me what I wanted. I told her I wanted her to be nice and no whining that day. She said, no what do you want in the present. She really didn't understand that all I wanted was for a good happy day with no fits. The kids were good though and I got a good date with Dave to end the day. We went in to D.C. and ate at a Brazilian Steak house. It was delicious and wonderful not having the kids with us. Then we celebrated Sunday with some friends and played guiar hero Beatles. The kids loved playing along. Life is good and I can't believe I am so old. Siena and Dave made a cake and realized that they didn't have any 30 candles so we had a 2 a 1 and a 1 and 3 little candles. good yummy cake.

pumpkin patch

Saturday afternoon we met up with some friends at Homestead farm. We went there a couple weeks ago to go apple picking. This time we were taking a hay ride and picking pumpkins. The kids had so much fun and it was the most perfect fall day. Siena was so excited for the hay ride and loved it. She loved running around in the field and climbing on all the pumpkins. Ben hated the hay ride. I think he didn't like the feel of the hay. He liked the pumpkin patch and would run to a pumpkin, pick it up and throw it. He thought they were all balls. We finally found two good ones that the kids could carry. They have a little petting zoo. They were both really brave, much braver than last time. They wanted to feed the cow and the goats. The goats really like to be fed the clovers and Siena and Ben were very brave in holding the clovers out so the goat would take it from them. There was also this huge pile of hay to climb on and Siena didn't want to do it last time but she loved it this time. What a difference 3 weeks make I guess. She could climb up the tire and jump in the hay. She was quite adventerous today. It's such a fun tradition and we had an awesome time with our friends. Of course we all went out and took over this little restaraunt Nielsen's Frozen Custard. It was delicious!

Ben the fireman

We started off Saturday morning with a visit to the firestation. It was the yearly open house. I was excited and I thought the kids would like it. Siena hated it. She wanted to stay on the sidewalk the whole time and didn't want to go into the sheds where the trucks were. I think she thought they were going to take off with her in them. She happily ate the free cake and popcorn they were handing out and then she wanted to leave. Ben loved it!

obviously Ben loved the dog. He goes crazy whenever he sees a dog.

the firestation with all the trucks out to climb on.

you had to practice stop, drop and roll to get a fire hat. Dave pushed Benny through it the first time, then he wanted to do it himself.

exploring the fire truck.

His favorite part was driving the fire truck. I thought it was so cool to climb around on all the trucks and I was sad the kids didn't like it as much as I hoped. There was this part that had a real fire fighter with a hose hooked up to a hydrant and you could go and squirt out this pretend fire with a real working hose. It was a long line and I didn't think the kids would actually do it. So cool though. So hopefully next year we will be more cooperative.

Favorite time of the year!

I love, love this time of year. We can play outside all day and air out the house and get out our warm clothes out. We have had so much fun lately. We have been really busy. We have been to the zoo and parks (unfortunately I didn't have my camera). We started preschool. Siena loves it. We had it at our house this week and Ben loved it too. Fortunately, one kid was out of town so Ben got to do all the paperwork that the kids got to do. He is so cute trying to join in on what the big kids are doing. This past week I am finally starting to really understand Ben. He says real words now and answers when you ask him a question. We went to a pumpkin maze and bought stuff to make caramel apples. We are going to a real pumpkin farm this weekend with a hayride and everything so Siena is really excited. I have been trying my hand at canning. When we went apple picking we got tons of apples. So I have made applesauce. It is delicious but it was expensive. Home canning is not cheaper! Also I made spiced peach jam. It is delicious, mainly because it calls for 7 cups of sugar. Daves mom makes it and I finally decided I should learn how to make it too. Dave has already gone through one jar. I demolished (?) the garden today and got the last bits of tomatos out. We had homemade tomato soup and it was delicious. The kids were really helpful in the process of cleaning up the garden. Siena was really concerned that our tomato plants were leaving and she said they would come back when she was 4. Everything always revolves around her birthday. Talking about birthdays... my big one is next week!!!!!! I really don't know why I should be so excited about it, it's just like any other day when you grow up...but I am. October is the best time of the year!

Sleeping

We have this nice big bed for Siena and she refuses to use it. Instead she sleeps on a $5 Pooh Bear couch that I found at a consignment sale. So I started bribing her to sleep in her big girl bed. I told her maybe a princess blanket would appear if she starts sleeping in a big girl bed like Princess's do. Dave didn't think that was such a good idea so we agreed to let her sleep on the couch that is on top of the bed. So now she has a throne that she sleeps on. Then I go in and she has tucked her princess barbies in next to her. Too cute.