Primary Program 2007

Matthew had a part in his very first Primary program. He did so good! His speaking part was, "Faith is trust. I trust in Jesus Christ." He said it loud and clear. What a cute boy! I think his favorite part was singing Scripture Power. He loves that song, we sing it all the time at home.

It was so fun to see him so grown up.

It's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

We had an early Halloween party at Martha and Ted's house tonight.

We were told to come dressed up and we had a ghoulish meal.

My family dressed up from Spider-Man. As you can see, Matthew is Spidey (and I honestly think that when he puts the costume on, he believes he is Spider-Man), Tim is Peter Parker (he's way more good looking than ol' Tobey), James is J. Jonah Jameson (the boss at the newspaper), and I am Betty Brant, the secretary (in the comic book, she and Peter Parker had a thing. Scandalous!). We had lots of fun dressing up.

Kristen is a deranged bride and Donavon is Melaleuca Man.
Amy is Sleepy Girl and Colin is a preppy Frat boy.
Ted is a newspaper printer and Martha and her tiny pooch are "Best in Show."
Here is a close up of J. Jonah Jameson. We colored in his eyebrows and drew on a mustache. Unfortunately, he slobbers a lot and has a runny nose, so the mustache was slowly fading away. They don't show that in the movies.

We love Summer...Wait, isn't it Fall?

We went to play in the water fountain today with Matthew and James' cousin, Colin. He's visiting from smoky California (they came here to get away from the fire, fortunately they and their house are safe). We had so much fun. And contrary to the pictures, we do feed Matthew, he just has the metabolism I wish I had.

New York, New York!

My parents went to New England a while back and sent us these fun New York shirts. Matthew loved his, especially because his grandma sent it to him. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!

Charge It!

Whenever I get junk mail, I let Matthew open it. He likes to get mail. I got a credit card offer in the mail the other day, and it had one of those paper credit cards in it. Well, Matthew was so excited the mailman had left it for him. He knows just how to use it and what to use it for.

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch at Schnepf's Farm. It was so much fun. We went with our friends Tyler and Kristen and their two kids, Cooper and Ella. First we went on the giant bumble bee ride. And I think if that was the only thing we did, the kids would have been fine. It was the one thing that they all talked about over and over. In this picture, if you look really close, you can see Tim and James in another bee.
Matthew and Cooper loved the airplane rides. They went on it a few times. I think they really thought they were flying the plane.
Tim and Tyler raced in the road rally. Tim won!
Then the whole fam got to go on the carts. I kept forgetting to help Tim pedal. I was too busy making sure our kids wouldn't fall out or that Tim wouldn't get us too close to the low branches.
They also had pig races at the farm. It was so funny. This isn't a great picture, but you get the idea.
Matthew was handpicked as a Junior Pig Leader. He was paid in plastic cow (he thinks it's a pig, which would make more sense, if you think about it).
Matthew loves riding horses.

Here are the handsome boys in the petting zoo.

You can't really see in this picture, but just moments before, Matthew clocked Tim just below his eyebrow with his club. It was gushing blood. Poor Tim. I wasn't any help to Tim at all. I just laughed at him. And he still loves me. Amazing.

Matthew and Cooper had a lot of fun together. Look at all those dust particles in the air. We are sure feeling all the dust inhalation today.

Here's the cute Blood family. Look at all that dust. We were covered in it.

Here is the one casualty from the pumpkin patch. Matthew's checking it out like it was the first time he had seen it. It really disturbed him.

I might be a little biased, but I think those are the cutest boys ever.

And by the end of the night, the kids were done. They didn't want to walk anymore, so they all piled into the stroller and minutes later were sound asleep in their cars.

We had so much fun. When you live in Arizona, you have to do activities that remind you it's Fall, like going to the pumpkin patch. Even then it can be hard, especially when it's 95 out.

Halloween and Pumpkin Patches from the Past...

Pumpkin Patch 2004

Our first visit to a pumpkin patch, and we've been going ever since. Halloween 2005

"Git along lil' doggies" I can't believe how little he was! What a cutie!

Pumpkin Patch 2005

We ended up in the hospital later that night. Matthew was coming down with pneumonia and a temp of 106 (YIKES). After a blessing and a few tests and a big shot, he was good by the next day.

Halloween 2006

I am Angelina Jolie holding Zahara, James (in vitro) is Shiloh (we didn't know what we were having yet, but then again, that wouldn't have mattered anyway), Matthew is Maddox dressed as a white pirate, and Tim is Brad Pitt.

Pumpkin Patch 2006

Matthew loved his pumpkins. Note the small green pumpkin. We made him get the other one. And here I am pregnant with James.
Stay tuned for our 2007 Edition!

I Can't Take This Anymore!

Yesterday, while getting out of the car all by himself, Matthew fell. He landed on his hands and knees, scraping his knee a little bit. But he such a big boy that he didn't even cry. When we got home I told him I needed to clean all the germs out of his "owie." He didn't cry again. I was so proud. And then the band aids were put on. For some reason this made walking diificult. After a few moments, Matthew began crying, "I can't take this anymore!" Here are pictures of the offending bandages.

Ewww...Gross!

This is pretty cute. We have AWFUL lighting in our family room, so please excuse the darkness. I hope you can see the video clearly enough. Matthew's reaction is priceless.

Pumpkin Patch Kids

We went to a pumpkin patch with Martha. We met Martha's sister-in-law, Gail, and her grandkids, Betsy and Cannon. They are such cute little kids. We had lots of fun seeing them. Matthew and Betsy always have a good time when they get together.

Matthew LOVES green, tiny pumpkins. Every year we go on a family outing to a pumpkin patch and we send him off to find the perfect pumpkin. He always comes back with the smallest, greenest pumpkin. And don't even try to talk him into anything else. His mom can be a little over-the-top when it comes to things being done a certain way, but even I have learned to embrace the green pumpkin. Just look how happy it makes him. Awwww.
He got to decorate his pumpkin at the farm. How fun.
This is Betsy. Isn't she cute? I love the flowers in her pigtails. She's a sassy little thing.
Matthew's workin' it lounge singer-style. That's cute little Cannon on Betsy's lap.