Jack-o-lantern Time

If our abilities as parents were based purely on pumpkin carving, we would be a sad failure. Lucky for us there are some other criteria. Every year the boys have big creative dreams that they sketch out for us on their pumpkins, but they don't seem too disappointed when we can't always quite make their visions a reality.

(And yes, the man I married has reappeared with a lot less facial hair.)

Pumpkin Brains...

Wyatt wasn't a huge fans of the pumpkin carving, but he liked sticking his fingers in the holes.

Some of Gavin's sketching remained just a drawing. He is the biggest planner of all events at our house these days.

Big H was a pretty big fan of the H nose that Dad carved into his jack-o-lantern.

The finished product. Looked pretty cool and creepy.

Gardner Village Witches

I took my first ever trip to Gardner Village last week during fall break. They put up a big Hallloween display with witches all throughout the quaint little house that are converted to shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful day and a fun outing (Willardsen family included).

I discovered how hard it can be to get 6 kids looking at the camera and smiling all at the same time. They are pretty cute no matter what faces they make.

Dancing to the witch who was playing the piano.

They really wanted this to look like they were chained up... not quite as believable with the porch furniture behind them.

Wyatt and his babysitters, Gabby and Parker.

Handsome Josh and Henry.

Cute, even with bedhead.

Gabby washing her hair outside... maybe someday someone will want my bathtub for their yard.

The sassy moms that were nice enough to take their kids to have some fun.

Just a cool sunflower... not real, but the color are cool.

A long time coming

The day finally arrived. Yesterday at 10am, I went to a very exciting event... Caleb's Thesis Defense. By 11:30, his committee told him that he passed and I was feeling pretty good about life. I think he was too. It was pretty fun for me to go and listen to him present his research, even though I don't understand much of the technical aspects of what he has been doing for all of these years. He sounded pretty smart to me. Perhaps the long journey has been worth all of the knowledge and patience that we have all gained, both in the lab and outside of it.

Hooray for Caleb and this HUGE accomplishment. We are so proud of all you have done.

In case you missed all of the info about the next events in our life... you can refer back to that decision making process by following this link.

Thank you for all of the love and support that we have received from all of you. It has been an interesting 6 years and we look forward to the future with hope.

Pumpkins and Dodgeball

We squeezed in a bit of pumpkin painting with Bridgett before she left. Even Wyatt pretended to paint one and then ran in for the photo. We now have some very creative pumpkins helping to make our house more festive.

Caleb convinced the boys that they should go outside and play dodgeball with him on Sunday night, then he took off to make bread and left Nana and Bridge to fend for themselves. It really was a hilarious site. Nana and Henry kept taunting Gavin and were actually pretty quick to jump out of the way. Then when they would get hit with ball Gav would be nice enough to grant them "Another life" so that he could continue to throw the ball at them. What a nice guy. Just a couple of action shots.

Fun at the Park

My parents and Bridgett have arrived for the weekend. We have already been having some good times. Saturday evening, we girls took the kids to the park. It was such nice weather and since the playground was pretty crowded, the boys just wanted to wander around the river. Fine by me. What a nice night.

Wyatt refused to do much walking in the grass, but was very happy to run the sidewalks everywhere he could find one.

Some fun on the swings. Finally Wyatt isn't scared of swinging.

Henry was trying to get some "twirly-whirlies" out of the tree. He has some serious UPs.

While Nana ran into the store, the boys were entertaining themselves in the car... turning their hats inside out and then putting them on. They really do crack me up.

This guy has a very cute sleepy smile as well.

Ahhh, Watermelon.

This guy seriously loves his Watermelon. As soon as he spots a bowl of it he will yell to get some.

He's also really handy with the fork these days, which helps with the mess of all this eating.

And did I mention that he also loves to climb on the table every chance he gets... it would be helpful if he could get down by himself.