We had a beautiful weekend here in Virginia. Perfect to be outside enjoying our neighborhood Fall Festival, Pumpkin carving, and an epic hike/exploration trip behind the neighborhood. I hope we have a few more of these weekends. Love fall and my Boyd who shares in all these adventures.

 Boyd does not love sensory activities which are slimy like "pumpkin pulp".  He had to correct me after I said pumpkin guts.  We improvized with some baggies on his hands.

 Pumpkin head

 First year getting to use the pumpkin carving knife independently.

 Boyd and Mr. Noggin

 He loves that the nose looks like a fork.

 Afternoon exploration. Boyd found a 25 pound rock to throw in the pond.

 The pond.

The creek and rugged path were exciting but so was the discovery of this leaf being red on one side and almost white on the other.  Here he is giving us all the lesson.

 Boyd was overjoyed to see a log down over the creek.  The drop was bigger than it looks be he said he was an Marine and Marines never quit so...

 Success!!!! And he made it back.  His friends all celebrated his success with him and then we discovered a new way back. An awesome crew and outdoors group.

 Boyd loves October for many reasons. One of them being breast cancer awareness month.  He was elated when I brought him home a breast cancer ribbon cookie.

 Boyd made a surprise for me while I was in the shower.  I came down to this.  I love all his pumpkin face creations.  I was only allowed to glue one for now (the bottom middle) because he wants to send it to Great Grandma so she feels better.  The middle is the leaf pile (he was very excited about it)

 Well...this is from Thursday morning which just so happened to be school picture day.  I fully believe in letting Boyd figure out his own sense of style and this was the outfit he came up with.  While holding them up on one hanger together I said, "Oh do you think this goes together or do you maybe just want to wear your white shirt?" He responded, "That looks amazing."  Here he is posing/practicing for pictures at school. In the comment section to the photographer I wrote "Good luck and have fun. Just go with it." I can't wait to see how they turn out.  After school Boyd said, "Mom, some of my friends just wore their regular clothes for pictures." haha

Antiques

A few nights ago Boyd was in the tub and said, "Mom remember when I was a baby and I would pee in the tub?" I laughed and said, "Yes, then I'd have to drain your little whale tub and start over." Boyd: I remember my whale tub. Where is that?
Me: I think I gave it to aunt Emily for Miles.
Boyd: Awe, but I wanted  to keep it for an antique.
Me: While laughing- what is an antique
Boyd: Something old, fancy and special

 Boyd looks like his cousin Tyler here (Maybe it's the hand me down shirt)

 This picture he looks like his cousin Andrew (minus the ice-cream face)

 Building letters.  Love that he can do so many new things these days.

 Boyd: Mom do you know what I made? Me: The sun Boyd: No mom, it's the star that lead to Jesus.

 True pumpkin patch. BIG PUMPKINS!!!

 Running through the corn maze. Nice stride.

 Big Boyd on a little tractor.

Hayride!

Cool Cats

Last night a childhood song came into my head.  It was one my sister Emily, cousin Megan, and I made up as kids.  We would always get wild and crazy dancing around at night (sometimes in sunglasses) singing this song before we had to say goodbye.  The song was "Cool Cats" and goes a little something like this, "Cool cats, cool cats, da na na na na na na na cool cats".  Deep and very creative I know. Instead of keeping the song in my head I sang it out loud and naturally Boyd picked it right up and got it stuck in his head.  As it continued to resonate in my brain while I made dinner Boyd continued to sing and hum the tune.  As I wrapped up cooking Boyd said to me, "Mom, if you still did that song today, you would have been famous."

The things Boyd says.  Well, if you've been waiting for some more Boyd one liners here it goes.  Yesterday Boyd woke up and the first thing he said was, "I need something." I responded with, "What do you need" assuming it would be his usual answer of "breakfast". Today I received an unexpected answer, "A girl friend". I'm not sure where he was going with this answer so I just said, "Well, you have a lot of friends who are girls so you are in luck."  He shrugged my answer off and I didn't pursue further.  After school Boyd got really busy dressing up like a construction worker and creating a blue print plan to work on with me later with blocks.  I had wandered into the kitchen for something and a minute later he came walking in.  Very matter of fact he stated, "Phew, I'm doing more thinking about this (his construction plan) than I do at school, because at school, I pretty much know everything." Stay humble my son.  It was really fun to watch him plan, build, re-plan and restructure, measure, problem solve and more.  

 Boyd has also been very into drawing and writing, as well as doing school related tasks.  He likes to create question of the days, etc.  Below he brought home his morning message.  He proceeded to read it to us, ask us the question of the day, change the tally count, write letters to circle in the message and circle these letters.  It was the first time he played school.

 Always in costume.  Boyd as Captain America. He is so excited for Halloween festivities.

 As I said he is getting into art and writing.  This is new and I am so excited.  Last night he worked on this fire truck.  He added so much detail and worked very hard.  It's certainly frame worthy.  When he was done I asked him to write his name on it and then I'd write the date. He replied, "Oh I can write the date" and without any prompting wrote the correct date.  Way to go B!

 Later we played with friends in the unfinished part of the neighborhood (always good for a dirt pile and whatever else they felt like leaving around). Today was a gold mine. Actual blueprints, basin type buckets, dirt, and plumbing tubes.  Anyone want to hire this crew to build your next house?

Playing with Words

Boyd has been playing with words in an unexpected way. The other day he told me, "I didn't poop at school but I did pee. Because I had PE (Physical education/gym). Get in mom P.E. Laughter.

Yesterday in the car I was checking in with my dad and telling him about our day when Boyd chimed in from the backseat, "I lied."  I was about to go  into another sermon about lies and the truth when he followed up with, "get it mom I lied because I went to the li-brary-hahaha." Oh Boyd, you are a funny one.

Highlights and Clarks Farm

Highlights Magazine is a new magazine for Boyd.  Some of the articles and stories are a little above his age but the majority of the content he enjoyed in his first issue.  My favorite part was the quiz.  Boyd's class does class interviews but he has not has the opportunity to be interviewed by his peers yet. Therefore, he was very excited by the quiz. His responses did not disappoint.

1. How would you spend the day if the power went out?
B: Play hide and seek

2. What would you like to be famous for doing?
B: Playing baseball

3. What nickname would you choose?
B: Brock Backer

4. What's your middle name?
B: Christopher

5. What's your favorite singer?
B: Katy Perry

6. How would your friends describe you?
B: In a good way

7. A place you would like to visit?
B GiGi's house

8. Your favorite team?
B: Nationals

9. Your favorite food?
B: Pizza

10. Your favorite thing to wear?
B: Tie dye t-shirt

11. Something you do to make your friends laugh?
B: Slap my head

12. Something you are really good at?
B:Almost hitting a ball over a dogs fence

13. Your favorite book?
B: Tickle Tree

14. Something that scares other people but not you?
B: Skeletons

15. Your favorite thing to do outdoors?
B: Bike

16. Your favorite color?
B: Blue

17. Where do you go when you want to be alone?
B: With you Mommy

18. What are you afraid of?
B: Vampires

19. What superpower do you wish you had?
B: To be everywhere at once

20. Something you've always wanted?
B: You


Yes, he is an excellent person to interview.  Friday we also drove a mile down the road to a small Nursery/Farm to check out their Fall Festivities. We were the only ones there but it was a cute little place for a Friday afternoon.

                                               He will be taller than me before I know it.

                                           Pumpkin bowling. This was a lot of fun.

                                                       Running through the maze

                                                          Playing in the castle

                                                             Post face painting

                                           Finding a pumpkin to carve later in the season

                                                            The perfect Pumpkins