fall fun...

i'm glad it's still technically fall so that i'm at least posting these pictures in the same season they originally happened!  here are the boys enjoying a fire in the fire pit.  the boys love doing this!!  ben is fascinated with the fire itself and how it all works and luke likes to poke around at things and enjoy the excitement.  (i promise we are very careful and safe during this entire process - no worries!)  we did this several times this fall and it was always a big hit!  

check out how good and cute sam was being in the stroller for a very long time!  each of my children have loved chewing on buckles and nylon straps.  as babies, they can't get enough of a carseat or stroller buckle - is this strange?  are all babies like this?  why do i buy baby toys?  i'm telling you sam was probably in this stroller chewing on that thing for 30 minutes without fussing...

but who can resist that cuteness?  not us.  so eventually we had to hold him and let him enjoy the fire too...

ben loved to (safely) mess around with the fire and see how different things caught on fire and what happened as the logs burned.  he was really fascinated...  

and both boys loved the s'mores, of course!!

back inside we've been doing lots and lots of crafts and learning activities again.  it seemed like forever when sam was first born before i was really able to play with the big boys again and do fun things with them. so now that we're back on that, we're in overdrive catching up on lost crafting time!  :)

luke now really likes to paint and glue and get messy with things (although he doesn't really like to get too messy, so i'm thankful for that!)... 

and ben still loves all this stuff and is at his best when he's really focused on making something...

we also started doing "sensory boxes" which was a super simple and genius idea i saw online.  i just fill a plastic box with beans or rice or dry pasta and add tiny animals figures and some small containers and the boys love it!!  i change it up every few weeks according to the season or holiday and the boys play with these things for a long time!  they both love pouring, mixing, sorting, dumping - anything sensory-related, and this is a huge hit. 

meanwhile, sam continues to be adorable and chubbier and is content with some toes...

gotta love it.  stay tuned again soon!  i'm determined to finish up the fall pictures soon so we can move on to a few Christmas pictures and some updates on what's really going on now.  bye!!