Pork Chops and....

Apple sauce, of course.

Ever since Connor made applesauce at school, he's been asking about making it at home.

My mom used to make it when I was a kid...and Craig's mom still makes it...so I figured what the heck

We sliced the apples int the morning...then let them cook away.

I borrowed this contraption from a friend at work.

Here Connor is explaining the process for making the applesauce.

he was really excited to get going!

We made it a family project. (okay, so Mitchell was taking a nap, but he didn't seem to mind!)

Everyone took turns doing the jobs.

The favorite job was pushing the apples through the strainer

Yum.  It smelled so good.

Pure joy!

The true test....

They all ate it...no sugar added.  Even Craig gave it the big thumbs up.

We'll do it again sometime....

That's My Story....

Okay, actaully...its their story.  Toy Story to be exact.  The boys are infatuated with it.

So, I was thrilled to be able to take them to see Toy Story 3 On Ice.  (it was free...or we wouldn't have gone)

Before the show, we got to meet Woody and Buzz and get our picture taken with them.  Too bad I had the setting on my camera fouled up and couldn't get a really good picture. 

These are a little dark, but they'll have to do.

Check out Mitchell...he was so distracted!

We also got to eat in a dining room above the ice.  Chicken fingers and carrots.  The boys couldn't have been happier.   They even had chocolate chip cookies to top things off.

The only problem...we got to our seats an hour before the show started.  UGH.   We all now the attention span for four boys under the age of 6 is about 12 seconds.  Oh, my.  We pulled out all the stops to try to entertain them before the entertainment started.

Finally....the show is about to begin.

This is Buzz and Woody on the ice.  The boys were ooh-ing and aah-ing the whole time....except Sawyer who was pretty much catatonic the whole time.  I think it was sensory overload.

So cool.  All the LGM.  The skaters were on their knees for this part. Yowch.

This is at intermission.  Sawyer sat so still.  Barely any expression the whole time.

Mitchell on the other hand, would not stop fidgeting.  We passed him back and forth a few times.  Each time he would let out a shrill squeal.  We really enjoyed having all of the people around us stare at us when that happened.  Sorry.  :)

These are the kids coming to play with the toys at the daycare.

It was really cute.

Daddy doing double duty.

The down side of all this.  The show didn't end until after 9:30.  We had some tired, fussy boys on our hands.  Connor told me he wasn't my friend a few hundred times since I wouldn't buy him a plastic Buzz Lightyear toy.  It was only $20.  Oh, well.  I think he's forgotten about it by now.  I'm sure I'll forget about the fussiness...at least until the next time we try to take the boys to a late night event.

No Tricks...all Treats

 Would you look at this group?  Our annual trick or treat clan was looking good.  Little Buzz Lightyear was hiding for this pictures...and we were joined by one of Lindsey's friends.   They were ready to taken on the town....

The boys had a great time going door to door.  They really enjoyed it...and got along great.  Everyone was in a great mood...and even said thank you at almost all the stops!

As you can see, we had two Buzz Lightyears.   At the last minute (meaning the night before Halloween)  Connor decided he wanted to be Buzz.  I had already gotten Sawyer the costume.  Well, after searching Target and WalMart in the Harrisburg area....I was going to head out Friday morning to scour the Lancaster offerings.  Thanks to PopPop who stepped in and found a Buzz costume as his third stop.  Whew!

I didn't have to worry about Mitchell though.  He was thrilled to wear the pony costume.  The fourth in a row to be the Perfect little Pony.  So cute.  He didn't fuss at all.

Since we didn't get to see Grandma Esbenshade on Halloween, we stopped at her house Saturday after choir.  We dressed the boys before we ran the bell.

Wouldn't you like to see this when you opened the door?

Jackson went for a swing.

I'm Buzz Lightyear!

Earlier in the summer, the boys and I had done the Library's Summer Reading Program.  We got free tickets to the Strasburg Rail Road.  Well, they expired October 31st.  So, Sunday afternoon, we took a little ride.

This crew loves their trains!

They did not miss a single detail...and talked the ear off of the man who came by and took our tickets.

The boys were hanging out the window to see the locomotive go passed.  I promised, we had a firm hand on Mitchell so he wouldn't go tumbling!

Here are all the boys getting a better look....too bad I can't turn it around. 

(Note to self...figure out how to edit pictures so we don't have to crane our necks :})

We started to get a little silly with the camera.

Sawyer kept asking me to take his picture...then he wanted to look at it immediately.

More sillies.

Then, the boys turend the camera around.

These are two of my favorites.

Hersheypark in the Dark

Just before Halloween, we took the boys to Hersheypark for Hersheypark in the Dark.

We weren't too sure what to expect..but wow did we have a great day.

 As part of our tickets, we got to make our candy bars.  We weren't sure how this would go.  The sign said it would take 40 minutes....we weren't sure if the boys could patiently wait that long...even for chocolate!

First, we all had to put on aprons and hair nets...

Next we had to choose what kind of candy bar to make...including what to add to the bar.

Have you ever seen a cuter hair net?

Here we are waiting for our candy bars to go through the assembly line.  As each bar went past, one of our names would light up.  That way we knew which bar was whose. 

 Check out silly Sawyer.  The hair net was over his right eye the entire time.  He didn't seem to mind a bit!

next, we had to make our wrappers.  We could choose a lot of designs...the boys did a great job decorating theirs.

 The waiting is almost over!  Sorry...I didn't get a shot of the boys getting the candy bars.  Craig had to take Mitchell outside since he kept pulling off his hair nets.  They looked great, but so far we haven't eaten them so we don't know how they taste!

 Next stop....rides.  And lots of them.  The boys changed into their costumes when we went into the park.
Warning....lots of pictures ahead....

 Love these pictures.  Sawyer and Jackson were having soooo much fun.  Can't you just see it on their faces!

 Mitchell even road a few mild rides.  He seemed to like it a lot.

 After the rides, we got to decorate some pumpkins.  Its hard to see, but i love the smiley face on Jackson's pumpkin!

 Our last stop....the train ride through the park....in the dark no less.  Spooky!