The Amazing Pumpkin!

This is the Amazing Pumpkin in all it's orange glory! In the spring I planted 6 Pumpkin plants, I watered them all summer long. The plants we're everywhere, taking over. Beautiful green vines with beautiful yellow flowers. I was truly amazed by what I had accomplished. These 6 plants yielded a whole 3 pumpkin! I was disappointed, but at least I had 3. Then in September we got frost and the once beautiful pumpkin patch turned black and one small pumpkin remained. It grew and grew and grew to a whole 6 inches! I brought it inside and it slowly turned orange. And that my friends is the story of The Amazing Pumpkin! Maybe I didn't inherit my Mothers green thumb. I did learn one lesson though, I will never ever, ever grow pumpkins again.

 

The Halloween party...

Here we are decked out in our Halloween attire! Patrick is a pirate, Logan is Peter Pan, and Brooklynn and I are Autumn Fairies! I think the costumes turned out pretty good! I was excited that Patrick consented to dress up this year. Last year he was a firefighter, regular attire for him. Logan couldn't stand his hat and he was ready for bed the start of the party. Brooklynn's Tutu dress turned out cuter than expected, if only she would have stood still for a better pic. And our fairy wings are my favorite part, the pictures do them no justice!

Logan's eyes aren't closed, he's just overly smiling!

I think Logan just likes our new camera, he smiles most everytime I pull it out. Maybe it's the big red flash that he thinks is pretty funny! 

This is Brooklynn's new look, the crooked mouth thing. She's been doing it for a few days now, a lot and it's not so cute! On the flip side, her fairy costume is!

Funny boy!

This is how his pacifier is supposed to go...

And this is sometimes how it ends up! It doesn't work so well this way but he doesn't seem to really care! 

Lately when I tell him to 'smile' for the camera, he does, it's so cute!

A Tribute to our TJ

TJ is Patrick's oldest brother. Tj was born healthy and at the age of 6 got viral encephalitis, leaving him permanently brain damaged and functioning at the level of a 6 yr old. At 40 years old he was living on his own with daily help from caregivers. He had a great love for the Calgary Flames hockey and the Calgary Stampeders Football. He collected all the paraphernalia, including; lighters, flags, figurines, jerseys, games, pins, pens and just about anything else. TJ had to have the daily Calgary Herald, unwrinkled and unripped, no matter to what extent it took to find one, just for the sports section! TJ had a great love for his family and enjoyed big family get togethers, especially if there was good food! TJ passed away on Tuesday the 14th due to head trauma. He had fallen the evening before in the road and sustained major head injury, leaving him unconscious. TJ's passing was sudden, he was prone to seizures but otherwise very healthy. It was his time to go, his work here on this earth was done. I only knew TJ for 4 1/2 years. In that small amount of time TJ taught me patients, persistence, and a love for the handicapped . TJ was full of fire at times, thats when patience was learned or when he would call at 2 am to ask us to fix his DVD player, or what teams are playing tomorrow. We will miss TJ dearly. He always wanted a wife and to be like his siblings. TJ, now is your time, you have completed your mission on this earth, you have fought a good fight, and we have all benefited greatly from knowing you. Thank you for your sacrifice on this earth on our behalf!

McNabb life update:

We're moving...again. I'm sure it isn't much of a surprise to most of you. We move a lot and when we're not, we're still thinking about it most all the time. So I am filling boxes and totes like crazy. We are moving to good ol' Rexburg, Idaho. Patrick is starting school in January and will be getting his RN. We're super excited for a change. Life just isn't progressing here in Cardston. I will miss this place though, especially our wicked cheap rent. Most of all we all will miss being so close to the McNabb family. So, yes back to packing and selling what we don't need. All the while Logan has had a very cranky week, turns out he has an ear infection, a cold, a horrible rash on his tummy and he just cut 2 more teeth. So it's been crazy here. And it's freezing outside, supposed to snow tonight. They all say it's even colder in Rexburg, bring on the sweatshirts and hot cocoa!

How, I wonder...

This is how I found Logan yesterday morning. I just can't figure out how he could have done this. He's a funny sleeper, every time I get him he's always sideways, usually kicking the bars.

It's nice to have visitors every once in a while

We had visitors; Grandma Mary, Papa Randy and Uncle Zac. They we're only here for a few days, but it was fun and eventful! Brooklynn was so excited that someone was coming to her house. 

We spent a day hiking in Glacier National Park. We we're so excited to show everyone the beauty of Logan's pass, but to our disappointment it was closed due to road construction. So we hiked to some falls and it was still beautiful! Logan loves to play in the water, in the shower he sticks his tongue out and tries to catch the water in his mouth. In the above picture we are just above the falls, I think Logan thought that he was close enough to taste it!

This picture is the best of many family pics taken that day, Brooklynn wasn't the most cooperative, and I am blocking the falls. The camera captured us well!

So the pictures are really out of order... here is Zac with Brooklynn. Zac thought his name would look very nice from the air so he chalked it out in bright blue and eventually filled it in with hot pink. Grandma Mary is looking very smart in her glasses. Logan is accepting the fact that he has to wear his toque! (and for all you who are probably wondering what a toque is, it's a winter hat, I have converted over to some of the Canuck language!)

Yes, Logan sits and he does it quite well. He will just sit and play for a very long time. Today was exciting, he actually got up on his hands and knees. I know your all saying to not encourage him, but I actually want my 8 1/2 month old to start crawling. As if I don't have enough excitement in my life :)

Here's a picture of Logan doing his favorite thing, eating! He eats anything and everything. His favorites being sweet potatoes, squash and bananas, he even likes steak! And to heck with baby food, he won't even look at it.  He just got his 4th tooth and they are all barely poking through. No one ever said you needed teeth to eat steak.

I took this picture from high above Patrick and Brooklynn. Patrick took Brooklynn down a steep rock so they could touch the cold water below the falls. The funny part was when Patrick tried to get back up and struggled. We'll just say he's um outta shape. He ended up with a nice scrape on his leg.

Brooklynn loves playing games lately. Everything is a game to her, no matter how serious mom is. Here is Papa Randy playing tag with her and below she is playing hide and seek. It's by far her favorite game. She is always hiding. She likes the counting part and counts all the way to 14 and then all the numbers after that are also 14. We're working on it!

Uncle Zac found this cool car for Logan, he loves it. I searched far and wide for one of these. This is the same kind of car Zac had when he was Logan's age.