It Was a Great Day/Hibbert Roundup

My plan was to get up and get to the store to get rakes this morning so I had everybody ready and out the door by 8:30 but when we got in the van there were no seats and the pantry doors were still in it. Both were really heavy but I managed to move them and get the car seats in and off we went. We were gone 2 1/2 hours and all 3 boys were so good. Mikey even missed getting a nap and he was still so happy. We got home and raked leaves for a little over an hour. Conner helped for about 5 minutes but Sam went to town. I never did find little rakes so he took the big one and was just a raking and then he'd fill the garbage can. He is just the best helper. Neil told me I should just wait until they all fall but we are the only people in the neighborhood with leaves all over our yard and I couldn't stand it. I was dreading it because I hate yard work. I feel I did my time in the yard growing up. We had a 5 acre lawn with over 150 pine trees no joke. Do you know how many pinecones and pine needles fall from those trees all year long. Millions and guess who had to pick them up. I'm telling you it was slave labor. We got paid $10 maybe to mow the lawn which took 6 hours minimum. We were always raking and picking up pinecones. We wore gloves because they hurt and boy do your hands sweat in 100+ degree weather and knit gloves on. So because I was so scared from my childhood I never wanted a yard with trees, just grass. For some reason I never noticed how many trees were in the yard. I may have never bought it. Anyways, I ended up enjoying raking the leaves today. Maybe it was because Sam was so cute and totally enjoyed it. We were outside so long we only had 30 minutes for lunch so I quickly heated up some hotdogs (faster than sandwiches). I even cut up one for Mikey and boy did he gobble it down in 30 seconds flat. The boys hadn't even eaten 1/2 of theirs and he was gone. I was so surprised. I than gave him a banana and once again it was gone in less than 30 seconds. I checked the floor and his chair to see where it had gone but sure enough he had scarfed it down. I have never seen a kid eat so fast. I'm going to start timing him. Maybe I'll start my own baby eating Olympics. He comes by it naturally both Neil and I eat fast and inhale or food but he has us beat. Sam had a hard time falling asleep so only got a 30 minute nap before it was time to pick up Conner from preschool. I have been looking for a high quality side by side double stroller and found one on KSL. I bought a tandem one 2 years ago for $17 but it has about had it. It almost tipped over today with the boys in it. It's really hard to make turns. This new one is so easy to manuever. I'm so excited to use it tomorrow. It also came with a rain guard and blankets that attach to stroller which is good because I still plan on walking Conner to preschool during the winter if the side walks are clear. so I loaded up the boys and headed to Salt Lake, picked Neil up from work and got the stroller. Since we were in Salt Lake I suggested we go visit his sisters and parents. I had grabbed some cereal before heading out the door because I didn't want to eat out so first stop was Grandma and Grandpa Hibberts. Sammy had been begging to go to their house when he realized we were in SL. It was so cute. He kept saying. "Please go to Grandma Hibberts house Daddy." We visited a little and then headed on over to the Wrides. Conner loves that they have all these games. His favorite is Blockus, an adult game, that has all kinds of shapes you have to try to make them all fit on the board. He was in heaven. Tiff even gave Conner an extra one she had. He is so excited for tomorrow. Then we went to the Smarts to see there remodeled home and boy is it nice. It looks like a model home. Their kitchen is to die for. There are so many cupboards, Jerusha doesn't even have them all filled. I wish I could decorate like they do. It's just so homey. So the boys didn't really get naps today and were up until 10 so I am expecting tomorrow to be very low key and pretty much awful and most likely Thursday too.