The pumpkin carving party

So, as I mentioned earlier, this past weekend our house was in serious "party mode." We celebrated Bryson's birthday party at our house Saturday afternoon and then held our annual pumpkin carving party in our backyard Sunday afternoon. It was a busy, but fun, weekend. So, finally I am posting the pics form the pumpkin carving party... just in time for Halloween tomorrow!
We started doing this 2 years ago with our neighborhood gang in our backyard, carving pumpkins. This was our third year and although it has gotten a bit larger, it is still so much fun. I love getting the families together to share Halloween goodies, carve jack-o-lanterns, and bob for apples! I already have ideas "brewing" for next year's party!
Our friends joined us this year in the backyard on a very fall like afternoon, just a bit cool and a little overcast. Everyone brought pumpkins of all shapes and sizes for carving. Our family had a little fun with our pumpkin before actually carving it. Cameron and Doug removed all the "guts" of the pumpkin and then we decided to put little Noah inside the pumpkin for a little fun! He sat right in and started inspecting the bright orange "ball" he was sitting in. (We lined the inside so he did not get cold pumpkin guts all over him!)
There was quite the array of carved pumpkins... witches, smiley faces, faces with heart shaped eyes, and the traditional jack-o-lantern face! Of course, all the kids lined up after the carving for the group photo and to display all their hard work!
Then, it was time for a few Halloween treats including "mummy dogs," popcorn balls, spinach dip, Halloween chex mix, candy corn bark, Halloween shaped marshmallows, and my two favorites.... homemade gummi worm lollipops and ear wax q-tips! I thought the ear wax q-tips were too funny, but my family seemed to think they were gross! I will post the "how-to" on those if anyone is interested for their own Halloween parties next year!
The party could not end without the traditional "bobbing for apples." This year it seemed to be more of a "boy's thing" since it was a little chilly outside and the water was cold! But, in the end, everyone had fun pulling their apples out with their teeth!
Happy Halloween everyone!!!

A little more from Bryson's birthday celebration...

And these photos with the balloons were after his party was over and we took the balloons outside to release. I just liked this little series of photos... he looks so happy!

One more day until Halloween!!!

So, how do you mend a broken jack-o-lantern?

...... with a pumpkin patch!

The firetruck party!

So, over the weekend we had TWO parties at our house! Am I crazy to do this in one weekend.. YES! Was it lots of fun once the parties were actually underway??!! YES!!!
As most of you know, I love doing parties. If I had more time and lots more money I would do them all the time! But, I don't have either of those things, so, I get creative and enlist the help of others and it usually turns out ok!
Bryson's party this year I wanted to make extra special for him. I guess I still feel like the boys have gone through quite the adjustment this year with the addition of a baby brother. I often find myself at night laying down thinking "did I spend enough time with each of them tonight??? Real quality time?" And, unfortunately, I feel like the answer is often no. Life just gets so busy and I am always trying to split my time between them evenly, but with Noah only being seven months, it gets difficult. Anyway, back to the guilt feelings... I just wanted Bryson's birthday party to be special and lots of fun for him!
So, this year, per his wishes, we had a firetruck party! This all came about from Bryson becoming obsessed with the fire station he passes on the way to preschool every morning. For a while, he would actually be very upset if he missed the firetrucks on the way to preschool in the mornings. He is definitely "into" anything firetruck related.
Saturday was his party day. Not to my surprise, the weather was not the best. Actually, it was very disappointing! It was rainy, gloomy, and humid! However, you would never have known any of that by looking at Bryson's face Saturday! Bryson was very lucky to have several close friends and family members be able to attend his party. Everyone gathered in the afternoon at our house on the porch first for a "craft" activity. We used black construction paper and colored "burning" houses using chalk and/or colored pencils. Then each child was given their own "mini" fire extinguisher (like a water gun filled with water) to "put out the flames!" It turned out pretty cute. Then it was back inside for a few minutes of play time before lining up at the front door for the big surprise outside. Doug had arranged for a firetruck to come right to our front door. Opening the door and watching Bryson look outside and see a real firetruck at the house was priceless! He walked right up the firemen and said hello. They let all the kids get inside the firetruck to look around, then showed them all the equipment, and then were nice enough to let Bryson sit in the driver's seat! It was quite the site to watch his little face with his fireman hat on in the driver's seat of a firetruck! Then, before they left we took a few group photos sitting on the firetruck and a couple of photos with Bryson holding the fire hose! He said it was really heavy!!!
After that excitement, it was back inside for sweet treats, birthday cake, and one more game. The kids had chocolate birthday cake, vanilla cupcakes, red apple slices, BBQ chips (the fire theme you know!), cinnamon candy (again, the fire theme!!), red twizzlers, fire hydrant shaped PB&J sandwiches, carrot and celery cups, and homemade red and blue lollipops! So, can we say sugar high?! But it was fun!!! By the way, some of the cute tags and cupcake toppers seen in the photos of the food table are from one of my very favorite Etsy shops, Jack and Izzy.
The last game was "pin the ladder on the firetruck." That was really cute to watch! Doug did a fantastic job drawing me a fire engine on red posterboard at about 11:3o pm one night! Thank you honey!!
All in all, I think the kids had a great time. I know Bryson did.
Again, it is still hard for me to believe Bryson is actually four years old. I still have to swallow real hard when people ask the children's ages before I say, 8, 4 and 7 months. Time is just flying by way too fast! Someone please make it slow down!!!!
Happy Birthday Bryson!!!! We hope you had fun!!! And, thank you to my very sweet family that helped pull everything together!

Happy 4th Birthday Bryson!

Yesterday was Bryson's 4th birthday! It is still so hard for me to believe that Bryson is actually 4 years old!!! Sometimes, it seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with Bryson, or was that Noah??!! OK, I do get the boys a little confused sometimes... three kids, what do you expect?!
Bryson had a very special day. It started for him with a special birthday breakfast with chocolate doughnut holes and scrambled eggs and a few presents at his plate. Then, he had a special party with his preschool friends, with chocolate cookies and bananas (there is a severe peanut allergy in his classroom!). Then, we finished his day with Bryson picking his own dinner menu and a few presents. So, as you can imagine, we had ravioli, birthday cake, cookie dough (a favorite in our house!), and some M&Ms! Life is good! Happy Birthday my sweet Bryson! I love you!
The big party is tomorrow! Photos to come later!

baby Miller's first blog photo!

So, here he is... baby Miller! His first blog photo! Shown here with his mommy, who, by the way, looks great for just delivering an almost 10 pound baby!! Speaking of that.... there seems to have been some confusion at the hospital about how much baby Miller actually weighed at birth. In my previous post about his arrival, I said 10lbs, 9oz. According to updated news yesterday from Jay and Laura, the scale was "off" in the delivery room and when they weighed him again, he only weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces. Now, I say "only" 9 pounds 6 ounces, but to me that is still something Laura should be very proud of! She deserves a badge of honor for that delivery! No C-section, by the way! Nonetheless, baby Miller is absolutely precious and Jay and Laura are now the proud parents another bouncing baby boy! Our family is just full of boys!!
PS, speaking of boys, I did hear some news yesterday that my cousin who is pregnant is having a girl!!! So, baby Miller will have a girl cousin very close in age to play with at family dinners!

Baby U #2 has finally made his debut!

He's here! Jay and Laura welcomed their newest addition, a baby boy, tonight (October 18th) a little after 8 pm. Laura was scheduled to be induced this morning around 9am. However, baby #2 decided to start things off his way and she went into labor on her own around 5am. Fifteen hours later (Laura loves long labors!), Baby Miller Lestrade Upchurch was born! And before I "announce" this rest of this, let me preface by saying, mom and baby are doing just fine..... Baby Miller weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 9 ounces! Yes, you read correctly, 10 pounds, 9 ounces! Jay and Laura said the nurses weighed him twice to be sure!
I am so very excited to have another nephew to love! Welcome to the world Baby Miller! The Koehler family cannot wait to meet you!
Photos to come soon!!!!!!!

a visit to the pumpkin patch!

Every year our family takes a trip to visit a local pumpkin patch with our "neighborhood gang" friends. Our annual trip was this afternoon and this year we visited Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham. We had a fantastic family day at the pumpkin patch! Ganyard Farm had everything we could have asked for to make it a perfect afternoon.. although, it could have been a tiny bit warmer!
The boys picked their own pumpkin right off the vines in the pumpkin patch, then picked corn in the corn maze to feed the goats, slid down the tunnel slide in the hay field, picked cotton, went jumping in the "corn crib" and we finished the day with a good old fashioned hay ride! I have to admit, besides spring, fall and visits to the pumpkin patch are one of my favorite things! And it was fun this year to add our newest "little pumpkin," baby Noah, for his first pumpkin patch adventure!
Please excuse the 7 million photos I posted! I just love pumpkin patch photos like I love beach photos!! And, if it looks like we all changed clothes during the day, we did not, I just took off the children's jackets a couple of times for photos because they had on "Halloween" shirts. I had to show off Noah's Halloween "outfit," but I got nervous because it was really chilly outside. So, we put the hat and jackets back on quickly!

We are ready for Halloween.. a sneak peek!

So, as you could see from the previous post, our family went to a birthday/costume party last weekend. Of course, it forced me to be "ahead of the game" this year and have the boys' costumes together before Halloween day! And, as you may have noticed, this year Cameron will be a "jail bird!" Bryson will be the police officer! And Baby Noah and I are going to be the chef and .... the lobster in the pot!!! I am soooooooo excited about Halloween! Did I tell you how much I love Halloween?!

A costume party!!!

Our very good friend and next door neighbor, Chloe Price, turned 6 last week and to celebrate she had a birthday/costume party! It was such a cute party! Her mom, Amy (and very good friend!) did a terrific job making everything adorable and giving the kids lots to do! Besides wearing costumes and looking cute, there was a pumpkin roll, a "wrap the mummy" relay game, a make your own skeleton craft and then coloring your own pumpkin to take home. As you can see the kids had such a good time! Happy Birthday Chloe!!