Family night at the Pumpkin Patch...

We are now down to the last few days before Halloween and we finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch last night with the entire family.  The boys and I made a visit on Saturday to see the rabbits but we didn't pick out pumpkins.  We had planned to go on Monday but Ethan was running a fever by the time we made it home.  So... last night, we were finally able to make it out there.  We had a great time and there were definitely too many pumpkins to choose from (especially when the boys insist on perfect pumpkins).

                      Aiden had to pick up all the pumpkins to show us how strong he is.

                                     My job was to hold their final selections. 

                                                       See... He is strong!

                                                     He still can't decide

                                                       He likes this one too!

                                        My boys.  (Ethan was still a little out of it)

We also got a quick lesson on cooking everything you could think of with pumpkins and even got a free pumpkin to take home and try the new recipes.  Needless to say... she didn't know who she was talking to.  I am not the best cook so that pumpkin is still in the back of my car. 

More weekend pictures...

Friday night we went to the Niceville football game. 

Then after our long day of soccer, pumpkin patch and brithday parties, we meet up with Daddy at the boy's favorite restaurant- Olive Garden.  Then we stopped by the Commons for some playtime.

                                                     Aiden relaxing

On Sunday, the boys wanted to get all dressed up for church.  Aiden had to wear his worker clothes and even tuck in his shirt like his Daddy does for work.  They requested that their hair be combed to look like how Daddy used to wear his hair.  Not sure I liked their hair like this but as you can tell... I didn't have much say in the matter.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday I took the boys to the pumpkin patch so they could see the animals.  We are going as a family tonight to actually pick out our pumpkins to decorate and hopefully get some more pictures.

 His shirt says- Voted most likely to squish things.  This is very fitting seeing how he is holding the rabbit.

                                                         A little better.

                                                     Dinner time.

Just a little brotherly love...

This is what happens when we get all 4 cousins together over at Nana and Papa's... a wrestling match gone bad!

Yep... someone ends up getting hurt and for some reason they are usually my kids.  I am not saying they are wimps or anything but maybe they just don't know when to stop when they are ahead.  So last night, Ethan had a bloody nose and Aiden ended up with a bruised face (and Ryan even ended up with a busted toe).  When will the boys learn... Mikayla is 11 so she can handle herself and Ian is 3 but a powerhouse.  I swear he needs to be playing football with the big kids.  Every time all of the cousins are together, they all want to wrestle so I am sure we will see more fat lips and bloody noses again soon.  Oh... the memories they will have!

Weekend full of fun

Friday night started off pretty slow.  Ryan was not feeling well most of the weekend so the boys and I watched a movie and tried to keep quiet so Daddy could sleep.  On Saturday, we had Aiden's 5th birthday party.  We had a lot of fun and he loved all of his gifts.  Of course, we had to start opening everything up as soon as we got home.  After a little resting, the boys and I went to the Mullet Festival for a little bit.  We have not been in years and I don't think we have been missing anything.  For those who don't know what this festival is, Mullet is a fish.  (we did see a few mullet hairstyles around which I thought had gone out of style a while ago.)  The boys did get to ride a few rides so that made them very happy.

                                                  The boys on the Ferris wheel

                                                    Aiden holding a snake

                                       Aiden loved the sweet corn.  Can you tell?

After the Mullet Festival, we decided to eat at Wendy's and guess who we saw??? Yeah... I had to ask to.  It's Joe Nichols (Country singer).  He was the singer for Saturday night's concert.  He was very nice and does have a great voice.  (he sang Happy Birthday to a girl standing in line).  Aiden could have cared less about him.  He was more interested in the cop that was his escort.  Aiden talked his ear off for about 5 minutes but he did learn everything he could about him. (you can actually see him behind Joe Nichols in the gray hoodie and the cop is now bent down talking to him).

 So... do you see a difference in Ethan??

He is the big boy that had his first sleep over on Saturday night at a friend's house.  He did great! We didn't even get a call at bedtime to pick him up.  Then, he came home on Sunday and poured himself a big glass of  milk all by himself!  This may not seem like a big milestone to most folks but this is a first and I am so very proud.  My boys still ask us if they can go to the bathroom at our house.  Is this normal???  I am thinking not but we are trying to get them to be a little more independent these days and this is a first big step towards the right direction.

On Sunday, we went to church and then off to another birthday party at Fat Daddy's.  We are becoming regulars at this place and will visit again this coming Saturday.  I have about reached my max of the arcades but the boys love it. 

Aiden checking out the gators

                                                        Ethan being silly

                                                      Now it is Aiden's turn

Sunday night, the boys and I stayed up late and watch Home Alone 2.  They think these movies are hilarious.  I love to sit and listen to them laugh. We stayed up way past our bedtime and now I am exhausted and having a hard time keeping my eyes open.  I hope they are doing a better job of concentrating at school then I am at work.

Happy Birthday Aiden!!

Aiden is 5 years old!  I can't believe how fast he is growing up.  Aiden is our talker. He is very outgoing and likes to be the center of attention.  He keeps us laughing and has the heart of gold.  On the rare occasion when he can't think of anything to say, he stops and says "Mommy/Daddy, I love you".  He melts my heart. 

He had a great birthday party on Saturday with his friends at Lincoln Park. The weather was beautiful!

Aiden's allergy update

This morning Ryan took Aiden to his annual skin test appointment with his allergist.  He had to get 24 pricks on his back to test numerous environmental and food allergies.  He did very well but he felt the pricks a little more than he used to.  When he was younger, he would laugh because he thought it tickled.  Today... not so much.  He still was a trooper and sat through the itching so we could get the results. 
Here he is coloring while waiting for the results.  As you can see... some are already showing highly allergic.  Poor baby!
                        
We weren't able to mark anything off of his list of allergies this time and we only have to add dust mites, so that isn't too bad.  He is still allergic to the following:  peas, peanuts, chicken, turkey, eggs, cats, dogs and now dust mites.  We are hoping that some of these disappear as he gets older.  It would be nice if we could mark some of these off before school next year so I won't be as nervous.  He is very good at knowing what he can have and is not afraid to tell you if you are about to feed him something he knows will make him sick but Mommy still worries.
We learned today why he is having the nose bleeds so often.  It seems his little nose is raw.  Ouch!! So the Dr. explained how to fix this problem so we will get right on that starting today.
We are also learning that some restaurants use different types of oil to fry their food which is also a reason he gets sick with foods we know he can eat.  (Just to make things a little more difficult for us) Example:  He isn't allowed to eat at Dairy Queen because he gets sick every time he goes there.  We order the popcorn shrimp which we know he can eat.  I was thinking that they might be frying the chicken in the same oil as the popcorn shrimp and this was making him sick.  The doctor seems to think that they might be using peanut oil and since he is allergic to peanuts, this is the problem.  He knows that Chick-fil-a uses peanut oil so other restaurants might as well.  We end up staying away from Chick-fil-a since Ryan and Aiden are both allergic to chicken so I would have never known.
The doctor would like us to set up a food challenge with either chicken and/or turkey to see if he does have any reactions when eating these foods.  I know that this would open up a lot more options of things he can eat but I know that he gets sick when he accidentally eats these things.  Right now, I am having a hard time thinking about giving him something on purpose that I know will make him sick just to see what type of reaction he might have.  Trust me... I have been thrown up on numerous times due to these allergies.  At this point, I am not sure I want to test him but we will see. 
Aiden will go back in 6 months for his next appointment.  At that time, the doctor will re-evaluate his inhalers to see if we can eliminate or lessen any of his dosages.

Sasser Reunion 2010

                               

After the soccer game on Saturday, we headed up to Chipley for the annual Sasser Reunion (Nana's side).  The boys love going to Chipley because they get to fish and play outside all day long. 

 As soon as we got there, we tried some fishing but that lasted about 5 minutes with the boys.  The fish were sleeping so they could have cared less. At least this year Aiden tried.  Last year... he would have nothing to do with it.

And then they were off to play.- Aiden and Ian

After dinner, they had set up an activity for the kids called ductagomi.  They had to make something out of duct tape.  (In honor of our Grandpa who used duct tape for everything) We joked that he would roll over in his grave if he knew we were wasting all of that duct tape.  Ryan even participated in the activity and here are some of the final creations.

Getting started with their ductagomi

                 

                  This is Ryan's creation.  It took him about an hour.  Stephanie helped with the accessories.

This is Ethan's final creation.  A watch- again Stephanie helped with the accessories.

and this... is Aiden's speed boat.

Then we made homemade ice cream and there were 9 different flavors.  I think we tried them all!

On Sunday morning, the boys got up early for the fishing contest.  Mommy got to rest and eat some good breakfast at Aunt Gloria's. 

Ethan still didn't catch any fish but he had fun trying.  They were each given an award for their participation.  Aiden received an award for best supervisor.  He made sure everyone had everything they needed.  Before lunch we took a ride on the 4 wheeler.  This is a first for us so we all enjoyed ourselves (even Mommy). 
                                           Daddy getting his first lesson...

                                     

                                     
Here are the boys getting their awards for either the fishing tournament or the ductagomi. Notice... they are made out of duct tape.
                                                    
                                                    
We have been talking a lot about duct tape so of course there was an incident with Aiden and his gag reflex.  On Sunday morning, we started with a nose bleed.  Then later in the day, he comes running over to us saying he needs to go to Aunt Gloria's house.  We explained that no one is at the house and at that point he started gagging as he mentioned something was on his shoe.  Ryan pulled the grass off of his shoe and he immediately started throwing up!  I ran him to the trash can and in between gagging and throwing up he finally was able to explain that there was some jelly on his shoe.  I removed his shoe and Ryan took it to clean it off.  Nope... it wasn't jelly.  It was red duct tape!  Hopefully he grows out of this very soon.
We had a great time visiting with family that we haven't seen in a while and the boys played until they couldn't play anymore.