Pumpkin Carving

We've had a pumpkin sitting here for over a week but haven't had time to sit down as a family and actually carve it. So, seeing how Halloween is two days away, we decided we HAD to make it a priority and do it last night or Sam would be utterly disappointed.

As expected, he was really grossed out by the "insides" and it took us a while to get him to stick his hand inside and clean out the seeds. He kept making faces and saying how gross it was. But we finally got him to do it (and we got it on video...click here), and he was better with it than I thought he would be, seeing how he's my little scaredy-cat who hates being outside of his comfort zone and taking risks.

Josh loved it though. Of course he loved it. He's my child who loves making messes and getting dirty. We also got him on the same video sticking his hand in and smiling and gasping.

*Along with that video is another short one from Vegas last month of the boys at Circus Circus watching the juggler.

Tomorrow night is the community Halloween carnival and we are really excited to take the kids. Sam is SO excited to be a dinosaur. We will take lots of pictures.

Here are a couple pictures from last night. A lot more are posted on my facebook account if you want to see more.

A New Stage

We have hit a new level in our family life, as we will soon be a family of five (*GULP*). We are no longer a small sedan family. We are now officially a van family. And I feel so old because it was always the "old" people and my parents with the vans...and now it's us. I always swore I'd never own one either. But life happens. They are the most practical for people with ever growing kids and numbers, and instead of being "ashamed," I came to terms with it during the vehicle hunt the past couple of months. And I can honestly say now that I am excited to drive it around because it's the best vehicle I've ever owned. It's a 2009 Kia Sedona with only 17,000 miles on it and I LOVE it. After the hours and hours of research, it is the exact one I wanted that would fit in with our demands and our price all at the same time. Now we can really be ready for little Lucas James in January. I posted a pic of it (along with many other pics) on Facebook.

We've been keeping pretty busy lately. We've been out of town the last four weekends in a row (including when we van shopped) and this weekend, though we will be here, Dave will be keeping busy with the Health Fair at the community campus (since he is in charge of it). Then next weekend Dave is on call so we have to stay here; I can't even get away unless I want to take the kids with me somewhere alone (No thanks...not fond of doing that lately) because I can't leave them with him. The weekend after is Halloween and the Halloween community carnival, and I don't even know if we will be here for that; it all rests on the Stewarts' plans. Then the weekend after that Dave is on call again. Then a couple weekends later, it's COLORADO HERE WE COME!!

The last four weekends we've been gone have been spent with Tiffany and Brand Stewart and kids, and it was a real treat to be able to see them that frequently. One of the weekends (2 ago), we went to Vegas with them and had a blast--even while I was in lots of pain! We got to see Phantom, which I have wanted to do since I was a little girl, and had a blast. We love them and love spending time with them, our Arizona family, and wish the time between visits wasn't usually so long.

Josh and Sam in Vegas with their Krispy Kreme hats on:

Us and the Stewarts in front of the entrance to the Phantom Theater:

For Halloween, Sam has been adamant that he is a dinosaur, so I went to a few places, found nothing, and even ended up buying a tiger costume at Old Navy (last costume in his size there) because I was worried I wouldn't find anything anywhere else--even though Sam threw a fit because he did NOT want to be a tiger. So I finally made it to K-Mart (I always LOVE their Halloween selection) and found the PERFECT dinosaur costume for him. And now he asks every day if it's Halloween yet so he can wear it.

He also asks every day if it's Thanksgiving or Christmas because he knows we are going to Colorado for Thanksgiving and the Meyers are coming here for Christmas. :)

Grandpa Meyers was here for a day last week and Sam just loved having him here. So did Josh. I think I can truly, whole-heartedly say that Josh is finally over his attachment of me and fear of strangers. He now warms up to people really fast and loved giving Grandpa lots of hugs and smiles. He also talked to his "Auntie Jessica" on the phone today, where the only audible words were "Hi" and "Bye." But he thinks everyone can understand his mumbling. :)

Anyway, the night before Grandpa left, Sam told me, "You better not let Grandpa leave mom, or I will cry." So the next morning when he woke up and Grandpa was gone, he got teary-eyed and pouted his lip slightly and said, "I told you I would cry if you let him leave!" It broke my heart. He also said that when the Stewarts left our house a few days before that. He just hates not having his family around. Today he told me he wanted to see Grandpa again. Maybe someday we will know what it's like to live within a close driving distance to our families.

It has been WAY too hot for October, in my opinion, but I know I have said that every year since we've been in Arizona. I miss the Fall SO bad this time of year and try to be reminiscent of it by buying pumpkin spice candles and things, but it's just not the same. Hopefully Halloween won't be hot because the kids' costumes are extremely warm and insulated.

The pregnancy is going...the same. Progressing just as expected. Contractions are more frequent. Pain is more intense. Belly is stretching beyond capacity. Luke is moving more and more, taking up more and more room. And I am loving him more and more, and can't wait to meet him! I want my baby!

With everything going on lately I haven't had much "me time," so I haven't written in a long time. I explain it a little more in my other blog, but basically I think I'm taking a break from the whole dream of being published right now. Not throwing it away, but putting it in a safe place for later. For more details you can check out my writing blog.

Anyway, that's about it for now!