Me and My Guys

I went to a fall retreat for Mary Kay this weekend. Part of my 'to bring list' included pictures of me and my family. As I went to gather my things for the meeting, I could not find pictures of me. So, I had Matt take one. I will have to be better in the future.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

Another fall "must do" activity for our family is our trip to the mountains for a day at the pumpkin patch. We typically have done this during a weekday when Matt has a day off for fall break. Now that Porter is in school, we opted to go on the weekend. The weather was beautiful...perfect some might say. We baked cookies and made sandwiches for our perfect picnic. As it turned out, when we got to the patch, it turns out that about 1000 other people had the same idea (complete with picnics of their own)! We all wanted to drive to the mountains for a wonderful fall outing. We still had fun. We even enjoyed our picnic...just from our car seats...the park was so full of people the park rangers were having to turn cars away before entering the park.

This picture shows you that Dixon has experienced his own growth spurt. He went from wearing 3-6 month summer clothes to these 6-9 fall clothes only for me to realize he is too long for them. I will have to get him into 9-12 month for fall to have the length long enough. In addition, these shoes are from last month....he has already outgrown them! He now has a size 4!

More pictures of our fun day in the mountains.

After we finished at the pumpkin patch, we headed to the apple orchards. We found several and chose the one we would visit. We got a 1/2 bushel of perfectly tiny fuji apples for our tiny handed little ones to enjoy. In addition, we bought a bushel of mutzu apples that we 'grade outs' and used them to make several quarts of cinnamon apple sauce.

Fall Festival Fun

My favorite time of year is Fall Festival Season. I faithfully try to attend as many of our local festivals as possible. Matt is great about the whole idea....what is not to love...great fair food and crafts at the same time!!! We have officially introduced this tradition to the boys.

Porter has been many times before but did not remember. I will bet that he will know what to look for next time! We had some yummy treats....BBQ skewers, spiral potatoes, roasted corn and curly fries for lunch! Dixon was more limited in his lunch options. He quickly claimed the roasted corn.

This picture shows him protecting his corn while I try to give him some BBQ. He loves corn and would not let it go....he worked for the rest of the day eating that corn. By the time we were ready to go, we could pry it from his fingers. Luckily, he doesn't eat butter so it really wasn't too messy.

The "HOT" ticket item for little boys were the marshmallow guns! It took much convincing to get Porter to leave the fair without one. We told him that Daddy would build them both one, that day...as soon as we left. It worked and we did! Matt was able to build 3 complete guns with pipe for a 4th for the price of 1 from the fair. Here is the picture I took of someone who had purchased one and then Matt used this to build his own.

Matt and Porter had a great time with their guns and Dixon loves the marshmallows. Porter is constantly reconstructing his gun for various new purposes and Dixon has started picking up the spare parts and trying to play with the big guys. It is really cute. He loves to mimic his big brother. I love watching them play!

Jack is ready to call the County!!

Well, Porter had another visit to the hospital for x-rays....the 2nd in two months...thus Pres. Jack Joyner teased me that if he wasn't retired he would have to report me to the County agencies for further investigations. I sure hope no one else thinks that....he is just a boy and he does crazy things.

Maddy Clanton dropped by with her Dad and Porter was running away from her and he ran smack into the door jam....with his right shoulder! We went to his Pediatrician who sent us to the hospital for x-rays. The technician told us that it was broke but the Doctor's report said there was no fracture. That makes me nuts!!! Who do you trust? I can see how swollen it is...I can see he is slumping it....I can see that he can't use it....I have had to give him pain medicine around the clock and keep him home from school. We went for another opinion.

After getting a second opinion from the Orthopedist, he has a 'green stick fracture' on his collar bone. He will have to wear a splint that looks similar to a shoulder holster for about 2-3 weeks. His age will help him heal quickly and efficiently as long as we keep the bone straight. He can even write and do some things with his right hand now that he has the splint.

Jaime....I've lost you!

Help....I need my Jaime fix!!! Email me...I know you check my blog and for some reason I can't find a email for you....my email is mjehlers91@gmail.com

Mister Long Legs

Can anyone tell he has grown since spring? It was hard to tell he had another growth spurt since he has been wearing shorts but with the weather changing he is wearing some longer pj's and now I can tell it is going to be time to get some new pjs!

Porter is sharing a story with us. He likes to tell stories or sing us a song during Family Home Evening. He loves to move around during his presentation time. It is quite amusing. We are having to work on prayers some more...last night at the dinner table, he stopped mid sentence to have a bite to eat and then continued the prayer. I guess he was just starving or maybe the soup was that great! HA! HA!

Rainy Day Amusement

We had a rare treat today....a rainy day....all day long too!!! This was Dixon's first rainy day...well his first that we realize. For most of the day, he kept going between the front door and the back door and he would just look outside then look at me and gibber. It was as if he wanted me to know that something was wrong outside and I needed to come check it out. It was so cute.

Trike-a-Thon

In an effort to raise money for field trips the Pre-K program held a county wide trike-a-thon. Here are some pictures from the fun event. In addition to riding the tricycles, the kids could participate in storytelling, singing songs, visiting a clown, playing with balls and parachutes, jumping in a jumpy thing and of course hotdogs or nachos. The down side of the day was the bathrooms were very far away and it was HOT!!! We opted out early and had lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries....what a great way to end a fun day of family fun!!


Here is Porter when it was his turn to ride the track. We just made a donation instead of asking for per lap sponsership from our friends and family. (Be sure to send your thank-yous!)

We all wanted to support Porter. We even made a poster to aid in cheering him on! Dixon did not like playing in the grass !

Porter had a blast at the trike-a-ton. We were glad to see him enjoying his new friends. Here is one of his buddies.

Dixon is walking

Wow he growing faster each day and discovering new tricks and talents along the way! He is now walking any time he chooses. He has cut his 6th tooth and is jabbering constantly. He loves to eat. That child will out eat his brother some meals. He loves bananas. He will eat them 2 at a time! He is trying to wein from nursing but he breaks out around his mouth with whole milk. I haven't nursed him for 11 months to start formula now. The peditrican tells me it isn't a 'true' allegry and only 'contact dermititus' which he will outgrow.

Happy Birthday Porter

Porter has turned 5!!! What a big kid he is now! He is the oldest in his class. I had a friend come by to babysit so that I could go over to his school to celebrate his birthday with his class. After much deliberation, Porter chose to have sprinkle cupcakes with white icing and sprinkles on scooby doo plates and fruit juice to drink. His first plan was for blueberry muffins then doughnuts then cupcakes. He had a great time! His class sang to him and he loved it. Here is a picture of him with some of his classmates and his Para-Pro.





We also got to share a party with his cousin Zachery (who has a birthday 2 days after Porter) and his cousins came for the celebration. The kids had a blast playing together. We ate pizza and played with everyone at Aunt Lisa and Uncle John's house. It was a hectic day with most everyone helping Grandma Maggie move to another apartment. With so much on my mind, I forgot to buy the Scooby Doo pinata (and goody bags) then while I was doing make-overs at my Mom's house, I left the cupcakes in the van....only to find melted vanilla frosting and sprinkles! When it came time to sing happy birthday and have sweets, he opted for Zach's cookie cake from the Mall! Elijah was the first to chime in and say he wanted a cupcake though! :) I wasn't really disappointed, I know that Porter doesn't prefer sweets and only made the cupcakes because I felt I should do something "birthday-ish". Dixon was just begging for something....anything...I did give him a nibble of the cookie.

After days of celebrating in some fashion, we are glad to be back on our schedule. We are looking forward to celebrating with Dixon next!