jollypotato.com Blog

5 Nov 2008

A weeklong Halloween.

Filed under: Evan, Seth — kimberly @ 7:52
I really enjoy Halloween, and the boys seem to as well.  They have been so excited for candy and trick-or-treating since we got out the Halloween decorations in the beginning of October.  Evan decided he wanted to be a spider.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a pattern for one and I couldn’t find one to buy that would fit him.  Thankfully, grandma offered to make him the costume with some extra black fabric she had around the house.  It turned out great and Evan was so excited.  He loved showing everyone all his legs and everyone was so impressed with the costume.  We got tons of compliments on it.  Seth didn’t really have an idea, but I decided to buy him a costume since I didn’t want to worry about making one this year with a new baby.  I took him to the store to pick one out and he wanted the pink poodle.  After convincing him that wouldn’t be a good idea, he didn’t want any of the others.  But Aunt Kiwi was with us and convinced him to try on the monkey costume and look at it in the mirror.  He loved it and decided to be a monkey.  He especially liked the banana in his pocket.  Thanks to Aunt Kiwi for making that work out for everyone.  Levi didn’t have an elaborate costume – just a Halloween outfit.  I let Evan pick it out, which worked out great because it was the one I wanted also. 

 

The boys kept asking when it would be time for Halloween until finally it was.  And this year the Halloween activities just kept coming.  First, we had a Halloween party and Trunk-or-Treat at church on the Saturday before Halloween.  There was a chili cookoff, a Fear Factor activity with the Elder’s Quorum presidencies from our ward and Laguna Hills 3rd that did the activity with us (we won of course) and some fun games for the kids to play.  Then the kids trunk-or-treated out of the back of the cars.  They had a blast, and it was a great time to try out the costumes. 

Over the weekend we made some sugar cookies.  We made pumpkins, ghosts, bats and cats.  Evan also rolled some of the dough to spell out “Boo”. 

 

 

Then on Tuesday we went to the pumpkin patch with a bunch of friends.  We got to pet the farm animals (mostly goats), ride in the wagon that a tractor pulls around the farm, pick vegetables, find our way around the corn maze, and finally pick out pumpkins.  It was really hot and we were all tired by the end of the day, but we all had a good time. 

Evan and Seth trying to feed a goat. 

Picking carrots (we also got to pick green beans, onions and radishes) 

Squinting in the hot sun before we pick out pumpkins. 

 

Then on Wednesday it was time for Evan’s preschool Halloween party.  I got to go give out candy at the trick-or-treating station.  They also got to pick pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch in the backyard and decorate them, play Halloween games (a ring toss and beanbag toss) and make a witch craft. 

Evan with his decorated pumpkin.  It had two faces. 

 

On Thursday night we finally carved our pumpkins.  Evan drew his own face and cut out the jack-o-lantern all by himself (well, almost).  It was fun to watch him scoop out the seeds and carve the face.  Seth didn’t like scooping the insides out and waited for me to do it for him.  But he really liked drawing the face and cutting it out (with a lot of help from mommy).  They we so happy to put candles in the pumpkins and light them up outside. 

The final products. 

Jack-o-lanterns all lit up on the porch. 

 

Finally on Friday it was time for Halloween.  They looked so adorable in their costumes.  The pictures don’t really do them justice.  We went to grandma and papa’s house, got the costumes on and went in search of candy.  This was Seth’s first year trick-or-treating and he was so excited.  Last  year I offered to let him go and he wanted nothing to do with it, but this year he was not shy at all and kept asking to go to more houses. Between the two of them, they sounded like a broken record – let’s go, let’s go…can we go to more houses?  They got a bunch of candy and liked laying it out on the floor afterwards to check out their loot. 

Two kids ready to head out in search of candy. 

All the Pearson boys dressed and ready to go. 

Even Levi got into the spirit. 

Getting a little post trick-or-treat candy fix. 

 

As much as I love Halloween, I am a little glad it’s over until next year. 

24 Oct 2008

Silly boys.

Filed under: Evan, Seth — kimberly @ 12:22

Call it a cry for attention or the boys just acting normal, but they have been pretty silly lately.  I’ve tried to capture a few of their antics on film.  They are particularly excited about Halloween and have been playing with some of the decorations.  Every day they ask when it will be Halloween.  They just can’t wait.

These are their Halloween “chef” hats.

23 Oct 2008

Let’s go fly a kite.

Filed under: Evan — kimberly @ 13:33

It has been pretty windy some days lately with the Santa Ana winds blowing a couple days a week.  Last weekend I decided to take the boys to the park to fly kites.  It sure was a gorgeous day.  They were both excited, but when we got there Seth was far more interested in playing at the park than flying kites.  He just ran off and would only come over occasionally to check on our progress.  Evan wanted to get his kite in the air, but wasn’t really patient enough.  He was content to run around the park with the kite flying behind him.  Although I couldn’t get the kites to stay in the air very well either.  It seems like it was much easier to fly them when I was a kid.  What has changed?  I’m not sure, but if anyone has a thought, let me know.

10 Sep 2008

Preschool Time.

Filed under: Evan — kimberly @ 10:05

Evan just started the fall semester of preschool.  He was able to go for a couple weeks this summer and get used to the idea, but now he gets to go full time (well, MWF afternoons) for the whole school year.  He just loves it, and is learning so many things.  His favorite “job” is to be the weather helper.  He gets to look outside and help the teacher put up the weather signs for the day.  He also gets to dress Mr. Quackers, the weather duck.  He has new stories to tell me everyday.  They also get lunch at preschool, which is turning out to be good for me because he’s actually trying some new things and expanding his tastes a little.  Who knew he would love egg salad sandwiches, which he says, “Actually, they are eggs and don’t have any salad in it.”  I think we’re in for an exciting year.

30 Aug 2008

Our last summer beach day.

Filed under: Evan, Kimberly, Seth — kimberly @ 16:35

With the school year approaching and summer winding down, I decided to take the boys to the beach for one last beach day.  It was an unusually cool summer this year with only a couple weeks of high temps in the upper 90’s or above.  There were also a lot of overcast days and they all seemed to be on the days that we went to the beach.  So even though it was plenty warm to go, we never got a good, sunny beach day, only lots of gray days.  That didn’t really deter the boys though.  They love the beach and playing in the sand.

On this trip we went to the beach with big waves, so Evan wasn’t very interested in spending much time in the water.  But Seth kept wanting to go and play in the waves.  Just as I would sit down, he would tell me he wanted to go by himself and off he would run.  Of course, since he can’t swim I had to go charging after him since he kept geting knocked over.  He would just keep walking deeper and deeper into the water with no fear.  I was proud of him and terrified for him at the same time.  So we held hands a lot and I helped him jump over the waves.  He had a blast.  Even when he was cold and shivering, he wanted to keep going back in.  All in all, it was a great last beach day.

Evan showing us his feathers.

They love digging a big hole.

20 Aug 2008

Summer train ride.

Filed under: Evan, Seth — kimberly @ 20:26

Since the boys love trains so much we went with some friends to Irvine Regional Park to ride the Irvine Railroad.  They really enjoyed riding the train, although they complained the whistle was a little too loud.  After the train we ate lunch by the lake, watched the ducks and looked for turtles, then walked over to the Orange County Zoo at the other end of the park.  Since they also like animals so much, this is really a great outing for them because it combines two things they love.  They saw owls, a mountain lion, some farm animals and a bunch of other local creatures.  Their favorite was the “american” eagle, which is their name for a bald eagle.  Evan was very excited and wanted to tell anyone that would listen about the eagle. 

While we were there we got a flier for the pumpkin patch that will be at the park later this fall, and Evan is already asking to go ride the train again and look for pumpkins when the time comes in a couple months.

11 Aug 2008

The words every mother waits to hear.

Filed under: Evan, Kimberly — kimberly @ 15:41

We were driving home this afternoon after picking up Evan from preschool when I got a little hot from the sun shining directly on me – or maybe it was the 8 pound bowling ball in my belly, I’m not sure which.  Since I didn’t wear a ponytail today (I know, it’s a shocker!) I decided to put my hair up behind me over the headrest of my seat.  Evan proceeded to ask me why my hair was spread out and I told him it was because I was hot.  Since Evan loves my hair down (I think I’ve addressed this before on the blog) he told me that he loves it when I spread my hair out.  When I asked him why his reply was, “because you are so beautiful when your hair is spread out.”  I know I should have stopped there.  But silly me, what mother wouldn’t want to fish for a compliment from their 4 year old?  So I asked him if he thought I was beautiful when my hair wasn’t spread out.  His reply was, “no, you are not beautiful.”

28 Jul 2008

Our Noah’s Ark outing.

Filed under: Evan, Seth — kimberly @ 7:24

For those in the area, I would highly recommend visiting the Noah’s Ark exhibit at the Skirball Museum.  We went last Friday with some friends and the boys had a great time.  It’s an interactive exhibit with a lot for the kids to do.  You can make all kinds of storm sounds, put animals up the ramp and into the ark 2 by 2, make food for the animals, climb up into the ark rafters, color animal pictures to make an ark to take home and several other things.  There are all kinds of animals to see that the artist created out of recycled and re-used items.  They are really unique and fun to figure out what they are made of.  Even with the drive into Los Angeles, it was worth it.

Seth and a friend “D” sending the animals into the ark.

Evan waiting for the animals to come back out and send them up again.

Evan climbing up the rope ladder into the ark rafters.

Evan climbing in the ark.

Evan coming out of the ark.

Seth loves to help clean up.

The boys making their ark to take home.

Boys building an ark.

 

18 Jul 2008

Future dancers?

Filed under: Evan, Seth — kimberly @ 7:49

I’ve mentioned before that Evan loves to watch reruns of The Lawrence Welk Show that come on our local PBS station (yes, we have our TiVo programmed to record them).  I know, how many 4 year olds like old 70’s variety shows?  He likes the dancing and the music.  I’m sure there are worse things he could enjoy watching.

Well there is an episode that came on recently with a very lively musical number, complete with an accordian being the featured instrument (which is Jonny’s favorite instrument, by the way).  It’s upbeat and perfect for dancing.  So when Evan heard it, he couldn’t help but want to dance around the room.  Of course, once Seth saw this he wanted to join in as well.  So now they keep asking to watch the episode every day and play that song over and over.  It tires me out just watching them.  So for a taste of their dancing prowess, you can watch at the link below.  I’m not sure if either will be a professional dancer in the future, but they sure have fun doing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12XJHxIi_a4

14 Jul 2008

Happy Birthday Papa.

Filed under: Evan, Extended Family, Seth — kimberly @ 19:29

Happy Birthday Papa!  We love you and are so thankful for all you do for our family.

We celebrated Papa’s birthday yesterday with a yummy steak dinner.  The favorite part for the boys was blowing out the candles on the cake, ah, I mean pie (key lime pie is one of his favorites).  They were also very excited to give Papa the birthday cards they made on Saturday.  We got out the construction paper and the “sparkles” and had a great time with a little craft project.  Seth drew a picture on his, but Evan wanted to write a birthday message.  He wrote “Happy Birthday Papa, Love Evan” all by himself.  He was very excited.  I think we all had a lovely birthday evening.

Some helpful boys getting ready to blow out candles.

The birthday cards the boys made for papa.

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