simple is beautiful

It seems that it is the simplest of things that bring us the most joy.  The boys and I are happiest when we are outside together.  There is a trail in south Boulder (about 10 minutes away) that is mostly flat, and beautiful.  We love to go out there and play!  The boys ride their bikes and I run with them.  We usually go out about 1.5 miles, then we stop at a beautiful stream and throw rocks and "fish" with sticks and mess around.  It is a perfect activity.  Sunshine, fresh air, space and quiet, exercise, and of course uninterrupted time together.  It sounds particularly nice on this cold snowy day!

 

Here are some phone pictures from a couple of times out there.

 

My mom has joined us a few times, too.

It always makes me want to give away most of our toys and move to a house with some land... 

More Fall

Pumpkin carving.  We ended up with quite a few pumpkins, but lost a few to the cold when I neglected to bring them in.  The boys had fun, although neither particularly liked the "guts."

 

We had lots of fun in the leaves.  Usually the wind blows them away or the snow makes them soggy before we have much of a chance to play in them at our house, but we were able to a few days this year.

We haven't had much snow yet this year, but they have loved playing in it.  Last spring Austin was pretty limited in how long he would play out in the cold, but this fall he stayed out as long as Zach (until I made them come in and warm up!).

 

Oz digging, of course!

 And Zach eating the snow and making snowballs.

 

Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween!  We had lots of chances to wear the costumes:  the ward party, a music class party, a school class party, and trick-or-treating.

Austin was a tiger ("rawr!") and Zach chose to be a knight in shining armor.  They were darling!

Hilarious.

Check out this look! 

This year we went trick-or-treating with a big group of friends.  We only anticipated going for a little bit, but ended up being out for about 2 hours!!  The boys were having fun and when we would offer to turn around, they wanted to keep going.  So we did.  They loved to trick-or-treat with their friends.  The boys generally ran ahead of the crowd and it seemed like Zach went twice as far, going back and forth.

 

 

On Halloween Zach's class had a party, and I got to go help.  He was so excited about it.

 

Sitting with his friend Liam.

Playing a fun game with his teacher Mrs. Yang.

 

It was so fun to see him at in the classroom more.



Pumpkins

We did lots of visits to pumpkin patches this year.  We tried to meet our friends the Rogers and the Galbraiths at Rock Creek Farm (tradition!), but our plan didn't go quite as well as we hoped.  They both live a ways away, so we had planned on meeting there.  The crowds were unbelievable that day and long story short, we had to just fend for ourselves, then meet at our house for some dinner.  Oh well...  At least we had planned to have them over after!

 

Consequently we were pretty quick picking out our pumpkins.

 

Searching...

The boys were mostly fascinated with the little dull knives you get to cut the pumpkins from the vines.

These knives, of course, were good for digging too.

 

The boys and I tried another day to meet friends from church at a pumpkin patch, but it was a chilly day and we hardly saw anyone.  But we had fun!

 

Almost smiles...

We had already gotten our carving pumpkins, so we chose some little ones for fun.

 

Zach also got to go on his first field trip to another pumpkin patch with school.  It was so strange to send him off for the whole day!  He had a great time and was so excited about it.

 

Fall is so fun!



Digger-men

Right now Austin is super obsessed with digging, diggers, and anything vaguely related.  And since Austin is so into it, Zach has gotten into it too.  Anytime we drive anywhere, Austin in particular is on the lookout to find "diggers," trucks, and "workermen."  When he spots one he yells, "I see a digger!!"  (or an excavator, or a dump truck...)  He will repeat this until you acknowledge that you have heard him.  I've gotten so I look for them and get excited when I see them, because I know he loves them.  I find myself excitedly finding them even when I am alone in the car.  Oh, to be the mother of boys.  :)  We have a line-up of diggers in the house, and a line-up of diggers outside.  We have lots of digger books, and lots of digger talking.  We have a digger placemat, on which plates and cups must be placed so that they don't cover up vital diggers in the picture.  We are serious here.

After the first freeze of the season, the boys and I ripped out the dead vegetable plants from the vegetable garden and then they hopped in and started digging.  They can spend hours out there, just digging.  It's fabulous. 

 In all the digging and "road making," our potatoes, onions, and carrots were dug up...  Somehow our cilantro miraculously survived both the freezes and the digging.

Austin likes to narrate what he is doing or what is going on.  For example, something like this:  "I've got my big big tough digger.  It working so hard.   Building a big road tonight.  Moving big loads.  We're working so hard...."  It is so cute and hilarious.  Sometimes he pretends that he is the excavator with his shovel.

They play surprisingly well together for a long time.  Directing each other and working hard.  It is serious work.  I'm glad it is another thing they can enjoy together.  I must say it makes me wish for more land.  I love the simple pleasures.  

It is unfortunately very dirty.  But I always say that a dirty boy is a happy boy. 

And it is so worth it.

They spend a lot of time in the sandbox, too.  Especially Austin.  He is our outside boy.  He often is begging to go play outside.  Here they are one chilly morning.  The cold didn't deter them much.

My digger-men.