The month of October

Guess who got a camera cord?!
 So here is our life from about the middle of October to Halloween:

 

Bennett has a lot of energy--like, a lot of energy--so I taught him to play soccer. He loves chasing the ball. I love that he is wearing himself out. We will join a team next spring. Maybe two...

 Bennett making some kind of wall around Patton. Patton is Bennett's favorite architectural component for most of his forts. Patton is just happy to be involved.

 We met Matt one weekend at our traditional pumpkin patch. Here are Matt's and Bennett's pumpkins.

 Here is the best picture of Bennett and Patton we could get. So photogenic, I know.

 Patton in the pumpkins.

Standing guard.

 Here is (a really bad picture of) me, picking out my ugly pumpkin. It was awesome and looked like a shrunken head. So Halloweenie!

Bennett pulling Patton in the tractor...

 ...Patton wasn't a fan.

 

He recovered quickly.

 Doing the corn maze.

 

Bennett inherited his mother's sense of direction. Poor kid. We will get him a GPS when he is old enough.

 Thank goodness Dad was there.

 

Bennett discovered that goats love string cheese. 

(I'm sure the goat owners did not love Bennett later that night)

Patton spits up like a maniac any time he sits in his Bumbo. It is disgusting. But we love him.

 Bennett feels the need to strip naked and slather himself in dirt and ash from the fire pit anytime he is outside unsupervised. It is disgusting. But we love him.

I do a lot of laundry.

Bennett tucked Patton in for a nap one afternoon after I left the room. What a good big brother.

 Bennett earned this move for keeping his nighttime underwear dry for a month straight, and now we watch this movie at least three times a week. Everyday is Arbor day here. But after raking up about a billion acorns from our backyard this last weekend though, I am starting to side a little more with the Once-ler. Thankfully, we just crossed the month mark again this morning, so he will be picking out a new movie that we can watch to death.

Story Time as Superman. (This was not his actual Halloween costume, but he really wanted to be Superman, so I threw this together. Because behind every Super-man, is a Super-mom with some felt and a permanent marker.)

 

This is Bennett after he pushes his "Superman button" which is located on his chest, and which transforms him into the mighty hero. Bennett has imaginary buttons all over his body, and each one has a special purpose.

 Halloween morning I made creepy pancakes. They were awesome. I ate the ghost, and Bennett ended up eating the pool of blood. We are artistic.

 

 Getting ready to carve pumpkins. (Matt did his the weekend he was home. We did ours Halloween morning. And when I say, "we" I really mean "me" as in, I carved all of our pumpkins, plus one more for a pumpkin stew. I was ready for Halloween to be over this year.)

 

I stripped the boys down before carving pumpkins. I'll let you guess why Bennett needed duct tape around his underwear line. (He thought it was pretty funny, until it was time to take it off. I think he learned his lesson.)

 

Bennett's final product. He literally told me exactly what and where to carve, and I just followed directions. The gross stuff coming out of the pumpkin's head and mouth were 100% all his idea. I was so proud :)

 

Matt's pumpkin, after Bennett got done stuffing it full of anything he could find laying around. The hammer was a nice touch...

 

 Patton's pumpkin, carved in the "First Halloween Tradition" to look just like him, complete with paci and hair cowlick.

 

My pumpkin, which was going to be awesome but ended up being thrown over the back fence instead when it decided to go all moldy on me. Something wild thought it was yummy though.

 

 My back-up pumpkin, which was actually a gourd.

 The Hargrave Pumpkin Family.

 My crafty Halloween lunch. I was just full of ideas this day.

Go team! 

Matt drove home three hours that night to go trick-or-treating with us for two hours, before driving back to his hotel another three hours to be up by five in the morning for PT (working out). What a great Dad. (As a side note, we really aren't that into football. We just like dressing up.)

 My little football player and my little football.

 Fumble!

 The coach, passing out the goods. Which, I was told later, were not that good and were gone 15 minutes into trick-or-treating. Matt said we were the loser house. Oh well, live and learn.

I took the boys down our street, and was on our way back up to trade with Matt when Bennett informed me he was done for the night. What?! That's what happens when you don't take a nap in the afternoon, Mr. Bennett. He still got a pretty good haul though.

Sorting candy into arbitrary piles and eating as much as his little heart desired. That's what Halloween is for.

So now that we have October under our belt, I only have about 75 more pictures to upload from November. Gee wiz, we live an active life. It is a great problem to have.

Yay for camera cords!

Guilt

I am feeling a little bit guilty about not updating this the way I should be, but I feel like I am treading water lately just keeping up with day-to-day life. Dishes, grocery shopping, Halloween and costumes, making dinner, going to San Antonio (unpacking from San Antonio), taking care of two sick boys, Primary calling, family pictures, laundry, laundry, laundry!

And still no camera cord.

So even when I do take cute pictures and video of Bennett and Patton playing, or of Patton making adorable baby gurgle sounds, or of our family watching redneck lawnmower races, there is no way to upload these things.

So this week I will buy a new camera cord.
And next week I will update.
And the week after that Matt will be home and life will be a little bit more normal.

For now, at least.
Because some big changes are happening around here.
Big changes.

But until then,
I will just feel guilty.