Everybody wants to be a cat

Train Ride

 The long awaited day has arrived!  Tonight we headed to the Heber Valley Railroad for a pumpkin festival and a train ride.

 Our kids had so much fun!  They had a spooky train car parked to the side.  The kids were really nervous going though but it was mostly smoke, lights and some hanging sheets.  When we were through the kids were ready to go again.

 We each got to pick a pumpkin.  Max found a really good one and Kendall seemed happy with whatever we picked up.

 Max was so excited to get on the train, we had to pace back and forth until they would let us on.  We were totally the first to board.

 Kendall liked the train as long as we were moving.  He was a little restless when we were stopped.

Max was so happy!  he even let a girl paint a bat on his face.  Grandma, Grandpa, Kenton, Angie, Jeremiah, Isaac and Emma came too.  Right before we ported to get off, Curtis took Max to the dining cart to see what it looked like.  Turns out they were selling hot dogs.  We totally could have had dinner on the train.  Next time.

FREEDOM

Max and Kendall were busy playing and watching a movie so I thought it would be a good time to shower.  After a quick rinse I came to check on the boys only to find my front door wide open and no sign of the boys.  I couldn't run out in a bathrobe so I threw on some quick sweats and ran into the cul-de-sac screaming for Max.
Max usually heads for the school so I went in that direction.  Everyone who has been to our house knows we have a lady who sits on her porch ALL the time.  I asked her if she had seen two little boys about 4 and a year and a half.  She observed the empty neighborhood and then pointed up the street, "Those two?"
I looked up to see Max and Kendall running home with huge similes on their faces.
I was still shaking a half hour after the event.
I have no idea how long they had been outside.  There was a big semi at the end of the street dropping off shingles.  I guess they wanted to investigate.  I'm so glad Kendall stayed with Max.  When we go outside Kendall always goes straight for the road.
Thank goodness for quick answer to prayer and a neighborhood watchman.

Hay Ride

 For family night we thought it would be fun/festive to go to the big red barn in Santaquin.  They offer a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where they have 2 big slides, a maze, a big sandbox and a lot of pumpkins.

 Max really loved our ride out and totally ditched us to get to the slide first.  He loved it!

 They had this fun old truck out in a field.  Max wanted to drive, but Kendall just wanted out.

 We found the maze (I'm sorry we didn't take any pictures of it).  It was made out of old wooden apple boxes.  Curtis and I could see over the top but the little boys had no idea.  Max lead the way.  It was amazing, he never missed a corner and took us all the way to the end without any mistakes.

 At the end if the maze, there was this tractor so Max climbed on.

 We were going to spend some time in the pumpkin patch, but as soon as Max saw the hay wagon he climbed on.

On the way back, they drove through the apple orchards.  It was beautiful!  I love spending this time with Max and Kendall....Curtis too.

4 years old

Max is turning 4! Max loves Trains but we did a train party last year. One of his favorite songs is dinosaur train (PBS show). We decided we would go along with the dinosaur theme.

 I found these awesome hats at the dollar store last month.  They were a big hit.

 We served dino nuggets (Chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs), hot dogs, chips, veggies and mangos.  After lunch we had a dinosaur egg hunt.

 The kids had a lot of fun finding the eggs.  We had stuffed a few with candy but most had little plastic dinosaurs in the.

 Once we found all the eggs, the kids emptied the prizes and put the eggs in a dinosaur nest.

 Curtis headed up the next activity.  He had hid some dinosaurs in some sawdust. 

 I Originally found this fun kit on line.  It is a brick of clay and sand but there are plastic pieces of a t-rex skeleton inside. The kids took turns hammering out the pieces.

We ended up buying this kit at costco.  It came with 2 other kits.  One was a volcano and the other was Triops.  Triops are ugly water creatures you do not want in your house.  I know this because we grew them in our house for two weeks.

 I totally forgot to get some candles for the cake but max was a good sport and still blew when we finished the birthday song.

Thanks to all of our friends who came to help celebrate!

We ended the party with the volcano.  Sadly, it was a bit of a let down.  Oh well, the rest of the party had been a lot of fun.

Kendall had fallen asleep at the beginning of the party so Claire kindly put him on a bed in grandma's house.  We are not sure when he woke up but Curtis found him wandering the house crying about halfway through the party.  It was really sad.

After the party was over, we were cleaning up.  Curtis had put the balloons in the car but I thought they would pop from the heat so I opened a door. I was standing right next to the car talking to Claire when Kennedy came running from the back yard telling us the balloons got away.  We looked to the sky and there they were 10 feet above our heads. Max's reaction was great.  Curtis showed him the balloons floating away and he immediately looked to where they had been tied for the party, then back to the sky.  "Uh-oh!"

The special dentist

 Max had a few cavities that needed to be filled.  The Dr decided we should take him to the surgical center and have him go under general anesthetist.  We were able to work it so Max was the fist of Dr Bowers patience's for the day.  We had to be in Orem at 6:15 this morning. He couldn't eat anything after 7pm.  It was really sad when he asked for milk and we had to tell him no.  He would just say, "uh oh".

Kendall got to sleep at grandma Kizzy's so we wouldn't need to worry about him.  He is really picky about sleeping in his bed so...we took his mattress and bedding to grandmas and got him really tired so he would care a little less.  He slept through the night!  Way to go Kendall.

Max was great to get up early and didn't complain too much.  When we arrived there was some paper work to fill out but Max found the kids nook and read some books.  I think he memorized "brown bear brown bear".  When they called him back they gave him a t-shirt to wear.  So glad it had a brown bear on it.

After talking to the Dr's, they brought around a wagon and Max left with them.  

Curtis and I were having a hard time staying awake in the peaceful lobby so he left to get us some breakfast. They have a sign that says no food or drink in the surgical center.  Good rule cause if I had to go with out food for 12 hours and someone was eating in front of me...well I might get irritable.

Curtis ate in the car then came to switch me places.  When I was out eating, I saw Curtis signal me in. 

Max was finished and was starting to wake up.  We had another meeting with the Dr and I could hear Max start to cry.  It took them a minute but they wheeled him over to us.  He cried for about a half hour before they let us go home. 

He cried the whole way home and then was happy after the thew up and dad made him a bed on the couch.  He was back asleep in less than 15 minutes.  So was I.

Curtis left to get Kendall and Max's meds.  Max woke up just after 11 and was back to our being our happy little boy.  He is curious about his new teeth and sticks his finger in his mouth regularly to check them out.  His bite must be a little off because he keeps testing it.

I'm really relieved to be done with today.   Max did great, and Kendall had his first night without his mom.

A few more party photos