Halloween Crafts and Pumpkins Oh My!

Wednesday night was full of yet more craftiness and pumpkin carving! My mom came over and did the cutest project with Seth. She painted his foot to make bat wings. Check it out!

"It tickles Grandma!"

You can't forget the googly eyes!

Finished project... Seth's Ticklish Bat

After a little rest and some dinner we were on to our next project...the carving of the family pumpkin!

"Do I HAVE to put my hand in this pumpkin?" Seth was not exactly dying to dig into what he later named Angelica!

I had to take over and show the little man how it was done!

Introducing Angelica Charlton (I have NO idea where he got the name.)

Leah did not know what the heck was going on, but she is always our smiley, go with the flow girl!

As always we had a ton of fun carving our pumpkin together as a FAMILY!

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Proof!

Check out our little smarty pants! We are so proud!

Crafty Projects

As the days grow darker and we are unable to go outside as much we have to try and find things to do inside so that means that I have to put on my creative hat! For this project we took a leaf walk, then flattened the leaves in a book and finally made a leaf wreath!
You'd be proud, I didn't even freak with all the glue all over the place. I let Seth have free reign to be creative!

We added some glitter at the end, but I forgot to take the absolute finished product picture!

Check it Out!

If you really want to blog stalk me you can check out my new classroom website! I hope that parents will check it to see all of the fun we are having in reading every day!

http://readingatthousandislandrockss.blogspot.com/

Our Visit With the Nagraj's

Saturday we took a drive to SYR to visit our dear friends the Nagraj's. We haven't seen them since August so we were thrilled to make the trip down!

Leah and Mariana are only 6 weeks apart in age!

Seth and Lucy have been buds since they were 4 months old.A smile to melt your heart!

Leah was in heaven with all the new toys and now that she is fully mobile she was able to explore the house!

Seth and Lucy played dress up, but I wasn't quick enough to snap a pic of Lucy in her Cowboys cheer leading outfit.

It was such a great afternoon filled with so much good food and great company!

Walking for the Ta Ta's

My son is proud to wear pink and walk for breast cancer awareness!

Don't mind me in the background unshowered on a Saturday morning! YUCK!

Filled with Joy

Our weeks are now filled with learning and exploring and our fridge is beaming with pride! Seth has come home and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, The Our Father and The Hail Mary and he has explained hibernation and migration to us. We just look at him with amazement! We are more than proud!

That Time of Year Again!

Now that the days are getting shorter and darker we spend more time in the house and we tend to break out the Wii more often. Last night Justin came over for dinner for the first time in months and after dinner we broke out the Wii for the boys to play.Justin and Seth played the Cars Racing Game
He isn't totally naked, but I still don't know why he stripped down to his undies at 7pm.

Nothing else is new. Leah's ears seem to be finally healing after over 2 wks. Seth is now going to a new babysitter who is certified, provides meals, takes them outside and does all sorts of crafts. He is in heaven and the happiest I have seen him in a long time. Life has gotten far less stressful in our house. The only drawback is that we now have 2 drop offs and 2 pick ups per day. Oh, well they are both happy so we are happy and roll with it. I also officially started Christmas shopping and I think that we have Seth done and Leah started. I want to enjoy the season and not be rushing around shopping when that time comes!

Life is AMAZING!

Last night I was able to experience the most amazing event of my entire life. It is no secret that I have delivered two beautiful babies in the past three years, but delivering a baby yourself and getting to be a part of an actual birth are two very different experiences. I am so fortunate to have such a close friend as Kristen who let me be a part of my god daughters birth. Going through the ups and downs of labor and then the actual delivery were absolutely breathtaking and for me, a once and a lifetime experience. I am so proud of my friend. She was a rockstar! She never yelled or swore. She breathed through the pain and now we all have a brand new little girl in our lives. We welcomed Miss Lindsey Marie Castana last night. She weighed in at 7lbs. 11oz. 20 1/2 inches long AND she has 10x more hair than her BFF Leah. She is perfectly beautiful and she and mom are doing great! I was officially called the director of communications during the delivery. In between contractions I was texting everyone with updates and taking pictures through the entire evening. I won't share any racy pics, just ones that will make you say oooh and aaah! Lee was surrounded by women the entire evening from the midwife to the nurse to Kristen, Jen Voss, myself and finally Miss Lindsey!

Mommy and Lindsey
Daddy and Lindsey
A very proud family minus Jacob who was home sleeping!
The proud godmother
The newest picture taken this morning!

Welcome to our crazy lives Lindsey, we love you very much!

Boo at the Zoo

Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo for the first time and it was so much fun. I will say that it is a good thing we went right when they opened because by the time we were done the line to get in was all the way to the parking lot. The kids had a blast dressing up, seeing people in costumes and of course getting candy. I am not sure if they actually paid any attention to the actual animals though. They had fun and that is all that matters!

Introducing Jacob the Spaceman and Seth the Pittsburgh Steeler!
Leah just took it all in and watched all the crazy dressed up people!
You are getting there Seth!
BFFs
Tell me you don't want to kiss those cheeks!!

The rest of the weekend involved Christmas Shopping, Baptism shopping, dinner out at Ryan's Lookout, church, golfing and Sunday night dinner! It was another GREAT weekend!

Photobooth Flashbacks

If you know us at all you know that we are huge suckers for photo booths and ever since Seth turned one we have been going to a photo booth on his birthday every single year. I came across some old pics so I had to post them for you all to laugh at and see how much our boy has changed. Leah only has 20 weeks until her first birthday photo booth picture. Actually she will be in Seth's 4th birthday photo booth pic so that will be even earlier!

Seth's 1st Birthday!

Seth's 2nd Birthday!

Seth's 3rd Birthday!

A random photo booth in Vermont when we vacationed with our friends The Gilbert's!

Waiting

We are anxiously waiting for Miss Lindsey Castana to be born. Kristen called yesterday and she was thinking it was going to happen last night, but she isn't quite ready to make her appearance. So we are waiting and checking in with her every few hours. I will keep you all posted. Roland and I are ready to meet our goddaughter!

Columbus Day Tradition

Every Columbus Day heat or frost we head to Old McDonald's Farm for the morning. We have been there years when we have worn shorts and t-shirts and years like this one where we had to wear a hat and mittens, but either way we make the most of it and have a blast!

If you keep up with this blog you know that Seth LOVES to golf right now so we spent a good chunk of time at the mini golf section of OMF!

Had to bundle the little peanut up for the hay ride.
We have been on this hayride dozens of times, but on this particular day Seth really took it all in. He truly enjoyed every minute of it.
Our very favorite part of going to OMF in the fall is the corn maze. Seth thinks it is the best thing and my Mom and I reminisce about watching the movie Children of the Corn.
We had a fabulous morning followed by even better naps all afternoon long!

Final Party

Today was the final party for the weekend and Seth had a blast! Seth's friend Annabelle turned 4 and had her party at the YMCA. All the kids got to swim for an hour in the pool.

I wasn't sure how Seth would do in the pool on his own, but all my worries were for nothing. He can swim like a fish with that vest on and he has no fear. I am so proud of him!
He used the noodle for a bit and then ditched it!
After an hour in the pool he was starving and ate just about everything except the table cloth!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

We also celebrated Tommy AKA Poppy's birthday on Saturday. It was party number 2 for Seth for the day and he was still going strong. We even got quite the dance routine from him that I will try to upload later.

The rain finally stopped long enough to get outside and run!

Seth couldn't understand why it was called cake if it wasn't really cake. He was disappointed as he has finally taken a liking to cake now and not just the frosting. We also hadn't seen Justin in FOREVER! So we enjoyed our time with him for the evening!

Happy Birthday Poppy, we all love you!