Pumpkin carving

This year's Shear Harvest Day consisted of watching Monster's Inc., roasting pumpkin seeds, making pumpkin ice cream and carving pumpkins.
I thought decorating the pumpkins might be more fun for the kids, so I dug out the markers and even let Alison glue on some glitter...that was until Eli started licking it off the pumpkin.
When Eli and my kitchen floor where officially covered in glitter, we headed outside to carve.
Alison shocked us by actually participating in getting the "guts" out.

And when she stepped away, Eli scooped them all back in.
Thanks, buddy.

Alison instructed Daddy how to carve the face

And Eli climbed up and down the deck stairs.

I'm looking forward to the day when our kids are old enough to carve themselves...or at least not eat the glitter.

When the carving was done, we put a candle in it and set it on the front porch.

Just a lazy Saturday

It must be in the genes

Let me just say, we have never shown Eli how to turn on Ben's phone and unlock it. He loves electronics and anything that has buttons. This particular evening, he managed to find Ben's phone and acted like he's been making phone calls on it his whole life. I don't understand...is it just ingrained in kids now days the inner workings of iphones and ipods?

Fire House Visit

A fire house opened up down the street from us and they had a fun open house this past weekend. We took the kids to tour the house, meet some firemen and get a "tatoo".
At first Alison was scared...which I knew was coming considering her complete meltdown in the Children's Museum at the Fire Station section.

She warmed up quickly and eventually had a lot of fun.
By the time we got home she was asking when we could go back.

I think it's funny that Alison is either decked out in a dress or naked.
She's a true princess at heart.

I confess that I really enjoyed the trip too.
Turns out that our neighbor and his son are firefighters...there's something very comforting about that.

Pumpkin Patch

It was the perfect fall day,
and we had the patch all to ourselves.

We found the best pumpkins on the farm

and then picked out some "baby" pumpkins.

and to finish our perfect morning, we shared some pumpkin ice cream.

Mimi's visit

Mimi was here this last week and we had a blast!
Alison went through a sunglasses craze and was barely seen without them.
I'm not sure why she's naked here, but that seems to be how things work in our life.

I always learn a lot from Rachel, and this particular trip she enlightened me to www.pinterest.com. Before you check it out, beware that it's highly addictive.
Thus began our crafting extravaganza.

We started with pillows for the deck.
And you can see in this picture was Ben worked on while we sewed...the back yard! I know you probably don't remember, but a few short months ago, where the swingset is was all "forest".

Then we made this candle
And then a Thankful Tree.

We're hoping to start a new tradition this year. Starting November 1st, every evening at dinner, we'll each write on a leaf one thing we're thankful for and then hang it up. Then on Thanksgiving, we'll take all the leaves off and share what we wrote. I'm excited about having a time each evening to put our focus on the blessings of life and also teach our kids that being thankful doesn't just happen one day a year, but should happen everyday.

We ended the craft making with sweater pillows for the couch. I LOVE them! We found these sweaters for $0.98 at the DAV and I picked up the new shelf for $3.

We were spoiled to have Mimi here...and sad to see her go.

18 Months

Isn't he the most handsome little boy you've ever seen?
I think so!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Eli!

We had a little celebration on Eli's 1/2 birthday...okay it was more like a song and a cupcake, but it was fun.



I LOVE this stage! Eli is so fun and always making us laugh. This is his favorite toy:
it pops balls out of the top, but he thinks it's fun to blow the air at his face too. I'm so thankful for my little boy and look forward to many more half birthdays!

Monkey!

Eli LOVES Mr. Monkey! It's the highlight of his day when daddy makes him come alive. Love the simple pleasures of life!

Hog Jog 2011

Ben and I before the race.


This was a proud day for the Shear's.
We left the kids with our sweet friends and we headed to downtown Smithfield for the 10th annual Hog Jog. We saw several friends from the Y and church and then headed to the starting line. Somehow we ended up at the front with all of the little cross country runners. A man said over a microphone that only "elite" athletes should be at this point...the women next to me whispered, "Are you an elite athlete?". I said I didn't think so and she said she wasn't either, but her daughter thought she was. This is a tangent story, but I was so impressed with this mom. Her daughter was a sqrawny 10 year old, with big dreams. But she never once told her that she was silly to think she should be where she was. She supported her and encouraged her. I ran behind this little girl and her mom the entire time and she ended up winning the race. Now that's a mom I want to be. Anyway, back to the real story. I agreed to let Ben run ahead because he had a specific goal (25 minutes) that he was trying to meet and I didn't think I could keep up. I was excited that I could actually see Ben ahead of me the entire race...that was until I realized that it wasn't actually him and I was following some random guy...sorry random guy. We finished the race, grabbed some hotdogs and beer and mingled with our friends. We browsed the farmers market and by chance was in the area to hear the race results. I was SUPER proud of Ben. He exceeded his goal and finished the race in 24 minutes. He won 2nd place for his age group! And for the shocker of the morning, I ran the race in 26 minutes and won 1st place for my age group. Apparently women between 25 & 29 in Smithfield are slow.

Growing Up

I suppose I could have a million posts titled "Growing Up", but I was struck this week with how much they really are growing up.
Alison has always wanted to help me with chores around the house, but now sometimes it's actually helpful. Yesterday she asked if she could feed the cats. She's helped before but always resulted in food all over the laundry room. I was in the middle of cooking dinner so I told her to have at it. She did amazing and I just had to take a picture because I was so proud of her. Now the cats LOVE her and snuggle up to her every time she sits down to read a book.

Eli has added a few words to his small vocabulary.
Cracker was his first word (is that sad?)
Juice, nose, ear, meow and neigh were added recently.
But his most favorite word is 'up' or 'help'...they both sound they same.

Now if someone could just explain to me why this is my son's favorite spot in the house. Sittin' on the rug, with the tag of his blankie in hand and often with Smoochie...maybe because it's closest to the refrigerator?