a little pumpkin carving.

Going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin has become a yearly thing for us. Last year, Cayden picked out a pumpkin that wasn't quite large enough to carve, but this year, the boy's picked two beasts out.

And then the pumpkin carving party began. We had tons of options to choose from thanks to our Pumpkin Masters Kits. Cayden had to flip through all of the books before he decided on a spooky ghost. And while we don't necessarily condone the use of knives for four year olds, Cayden really, really wanted to help cut his shape out. We let him try it for a few seconds, but mostly he just supervised me cutting out his pumpkin. Which was fine by me because again, four year olds and sharp pointy objects...

Sawyer was mostly interested in helping to scoop out the guts. And y'all, to me that is the absolute worst part, so by all means child, jump in and scoop those guts out. I think he thought the insides were funny?

Either way, picking out our template was easy enough. And after tracing it onto the pumpkin, it really was as easy as playing connect the dots. The ghost cut out pretty easily (except for one small part where I ripped his tail off; Cayden assured me it was ok) and the effect with the light on is pretty cool. Cayden confidently let us know that the light was his favorite part. Pumpkin Masters sent strobe lights for inside. I have to admit that I'd never thought about using a strobe in there, but it was downright awesome.

Well, here, you guys see for yourself the fun we had!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

because it's been raining here.

Get out and enjoy some puddles yourself. Swear, if it's raining, this is Sawyer's absolute favorite thing to do. He actually cries when we make him go inside. Saddest and cutest thing ever all at the same time. Also? Check out that height he's getting. Jumping is also his favorite. All. The. Time.

Oh, and also? Filmed with the new iPhone's fancy slow mo filter. So um, unless you want his voice to scare you at the end, it's best to listen to this one on mute. Just... believe me.

cayden's first soccer game.

It was technically the third week of games, but their first game was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts, their second cancelled due to stormy weather. But their third game? Their third game was glorious. The day was beautiful and the game was early before it got too hot (which still didn't stop this silly fair-skinned girl from getting sun burned on one half of her body).

If I told you that Cayden was a natural at soccer, I wouldn't entirely be lying. Truth is, he's awesome when it's just him and his ball. Tell him to kick, dribble, kick, shoot–and he does. But y'all, get this boy in a game and it's just pure entertainment! I don't know if he's afraid to get in the middle of it, but he'll literally swing WIDE around everyone else. He's still running. And he's still kind of generally following the direction of the ball. But get close to kicking it? He does not.

We actually had one of their makeup games last night. And after witnessing the "orbiting" (as Pop calls it), Jeremy walked over, bribed Cayden with a cookie if he'd just please kick the ball and amazingly enough, he got in there, kicked the ball once and proclaimed "Cookie!" And then pretty much back to orbiting. Like I said, so not short on entertainment... but as a parent who might get a little competitive, I really just want him to get in there and really kick the poop outta that ball. Maybe by the final game? Here's hoping.

(Oh, and P.S., near the end of the game, Sawyer got in my face and seriously said, "Take piture mommy." And well, I couldn't resist. Crooked smile and all.)

taco melts.

Sometimes getting dinner ready on time is an adventure in our house. Especially now that Cayden has soccer practice twice a week at 6. That doesn't really give us enough time to eat before (and I mean, do I really want my four year old running around at soccer with a full belly?). So we need something quick for after.

These taco melts (while not the prettiest thing I've ever made), certainly help when in a time crunch. Add in the fact that you use Pillsbury Grands Biscuits, and it's even faster! I'm talking 30 minutes from start to finish. Another bonus? The boys like them. With sometimes picky eaters, trying a new recipe can be a huge fail. But thankfully, they both love biscuits, so that made this a huge success!

We don't eat a lot of red meat in our house, so I was easily able to adapt this recipe to use a veggie crumble in place of the beef. I was also out of salsa, and while I think I would have loved it in the melts, those little picky eaters of mine might have objected to chunks of tomato in theirs. And maybe I'm not the most talented in the kitchen, but you can see from the photos above that there is no way I could keep my biscuits mashed together. I also had a ton of meat leftover...

So while they're not the prettiest, I did decide that next time the boys could help me make these. I'm sure they'd love squishing out the biscuits into big circles. And getting to choose how much cheese went into each melt? They'd be in heaven for sure.

Do you need some fast recipes for those crazy nights? Check out this Pillsbury recipe booklet with tons of new ideas for you to try. Let me know what your favorite is!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills. Compensation was provided by General Mills via Clever Girls Collective.

cayden beatboxes.

Y'all, I completely forgot about this video that we took of Cayden on our way to Tenneessee back in mid-August. Jeremy will break out beatboxing on occasion, and now Cayden does it too. So, we captured it on video while in a moving vehicle. It could possibly make you sick, so just close your eyes and take a listen. It's good stuff. Promise.