A Lovely Evening.

Last night our family and friends came over for our annual pumpkin carving party.

I love having this party every year. 

To me it feels like the kick off party to the holiday season.
Plus it gets me in the Fall mood, even if the weather disagrees (it's been warm here).

We ate yummy food, spent time with one another, and of course, carved.

We had a great time, as always.

A lovely evening indeed!

How He Rolls.

Because he's cool like that.

Friday 5: Pumpkins.

Two posts in 1 day...say what?

A new blogging buddy started a Friday 5 linky party and I wanted to share.

So, these are 5 things pumpkin that I love this Friday.

Pretty much anything pumpkin from anywhere makes me happy, but these items from Trader Joe's are awesome. 

Especially the ice cream, to die for!

 Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

Who doesn't love one of these?

 Little pumpkins in all shapes and colors placed around the house.

 I love these jolly little pumpkins.

I love Halloween but I don't like anything scary, so these are perfect.

 This little pumpkin.

How has 3 years already gone by? 

I wish so badly I could put him in this little pumpkin costume again.

And I think we're headed to the pumpkin patch tonight.

Have you gone yet?

InstaFriday.

Here's my cell phone photos from the week.

The boys enjoying an afternoon snack as the dog keeps a watchful eye.

 Ethan was banned from the front yard due to him running away from me and around the block. 

He sadly sat by the front window watching the neighborhood kids play.

It was hard to not let him out but I stuck to my guns.

 Ethan and I made snickerdoodles.

Oh so good!

 Jacob has decided he wants to feed himself.

He makes more of a mess eating now than he did as an infant. 

And my floors have seen better days thanks to him.

I could mop everyday, but I don't.

 My quick and sneaky little fella climbed up to my desk while I was making coffee one morning.

 This was my lunch one day.

I had not eaten chili cheese fries in I don't know how long and they were so good.

 It was red day at school this week and this is what Ethan wore.

It's my favorite shirt he has at the moment.

 I was driving the kids around hoping they would fall asleep for naps and came across this donut shop.

The sign is amazing AND it's a drive-thru.

Why didn't I know about this place sooner?

 And one out of two asleep isn't too bad.

Happy Friday Everyone!!

I'm linking up here...

Pictures of My Boys {or lack thereof}.

I haven't been taking many pictures of the boys lately.

I didn't even realize it until I picked up the camera today.

These are the last photos I took of them.

It hasn't rained in two weeks.

I'm usually pretty snap-happy when it comes to the boys so I'm not sure why my camera just been sitting on the desk. Life gets busy I guess.

So while we were outside playing I took a few photos of them.

I didn't get very many but the few I did capture what is happening right now with my boys.

Jacob has a new love for putting anything and everything into whatever container or bag he can find. 

I love watching him fill a bucket with something, bend down to pick up more, only to have what he just picked up fall out. 

Surprisingly he doesn't get very frustrated and just continues on.

 We bought our Halloween costumes yesterday.

No Ethan is not going to be a football player but we couldn't pass up this steal of a costume for only $10. 

It's made a great addition to our dress up clothes and he has worn it ever since we got it home.

Well, not to bed and to school but you get the idea.

 And his blue eyes and wispy red hair makes me melt. 

Can he please just stay small forever?

Have you taken pictures of your people lately? 

Don't forget, because time is flying by.

Lovely Succulents.

Before I show you the my lovely freshly planted pots I have to get something off my chest.

I hate the word succulents.

It makes me cringe to say it, it makes me cringe to even write it.

I can't tell you why, but I just do.

Some words are just like that for me.

Am I the only one? Please tell me I'm not alone.

Now that we got that out of the way, let me show you what I've got on my front porch.

For about 2 years I have had these pots right next to my front door.

I love them.

Some of you might even have them since they were at Ikea, which means they were a steal.

I've had the toughest time keeping anything alive in them.

I tried picking out plants and flowers on my own, they died.

I tried asking the plant and flower experts, they died.

I am usually pretty good at keeping things alive so this has been frustrating for me. 

Plus, I was not happy with the waste of money. It gets expensive after a while. 

I finally decided to go for succulents.

I know I'm a little late to jump on the succulent bandwagon, but to be honest, I was kind of over seeing them everywhere.

But I figured this was my last shot to keep something alive.

So I took the boys with me to Home Depot (we have a gift card, yay!) and I let Ethan do most of the choosing.

I didn't realize there were so many different succulents out there in so many different shades of green.

Beautiful!

While the boys were napping I headed outside and planted away. 

I really enjoyed getting creative with the sizes, colors and variations.

I am really happy with how turned out and they make me smile when I walk through the front door.

The succulents have won me over.

Now if I could just come up with a better name?

InstaFriday on a Lovely Monday.

I meant to post my cell phone photos on Friday, but I didn't.

Then I was going to on Saturday and then on Sunday, but I didn't.

So I am today.

An evening bike ride.

 We're getting ready for halloween.

 My little dare devil.

 Me and the boys.

 While it was raining last week Ethan built this tower. Then knocked it down 2 minutes later.

Boys are funny that way.

If a girl would have built this she probably would have pretended it was a castle where her princess barbie lives and she would have played with it for hours.

Not boys.

One of my all time favorite books in a very pretty cover, which I resisted purchasing.

I actually walked out of Barnes and Noble with out making a purchase at all. 

That never happens.

  Jacob is loving the big pumpkin.

 This is just the sweetest.

 We locked ourselves out of the house while taking a walk. 

Thank goodness for small boys and dog doors.

Have a wonderful week. 

I'm linking up here...

and here...