School Parties

Here are the kids in their traditional Halloween outfits before school. Avery was unable to wear her costume to school (for some reason at her school Halloween parties have to be "Fall/Harvest" parties. Very strange....)

Carson at his preschool party (he's the Ninja Turtle) with Gavin the pirate, Zach the Hulk, and Ansel the Pterodactyl.

I helped organize Avery's "fall/harvest" party where we decorated cookies, painted pumpkins, played games, and read stories about, what else..."fall" since no Halloween things could be included. Yes, I am a bit annoyed with that whole thing. Several of the other nearby elementary schools had parades and all kinds of Halloween activities. It's hard to explain to 1st graders why Halloween has to be ignored at school! Above is Avery painting her pumpkin.

Carson came along for Avery's party and had a great time. Here he is with our neighbor Tommy playing wrap the pumpkin. Avery had her turn too.....

So much fun!

Halloween Cookies and Pumpkins

Thursday night the kids and I made several dozen sugar cookies for decorating at their school parties. It's nice to have help in the kitchen!

Pumpkin carving is another tradition we love. Carson and Tim made this Frankenstein carrying a body and Avery and I made the witch.

Spooky!

Carson's Preschool Field Trip

Friday was a beautiful (but cold) fall day and Carson's preschool class had a field trip to pick pumpkins. We took a hay ride (above), that's Carson in the 2nd row with the brown/red hat and his friends Isaac, Aeden, and Seth.

We watched apple cider being made...

And sampled by Carson and Seth...

Here's Carson, Seth, and Jack showing off their pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

Sunday was a beautiful fall day and the kids and I took my brother Paul and sis-in-law Lisa to a local farm for pumpkins, a corn maze, and everyone's favorite fall food- caramel apples.
The kids thought Uncle Paul was super great since he bought them each a cut up apple with caramel and M&M's. What a mess!
Here's the kids with their pumpkins. We will be carving them next week.

More pumpkins and corn maze

The cart was so heavy that Carson needed help pushing it. So Avery decided to push him pushing the cart. He wasn't exactly thrilled!
The kids kept asking if this was a real person's feet sticking up from the ground. It certainly fooled them!
The kids with Uncle Paul and Aunt Lisa

House Painted

We just got our house painted and decided to change not only the main color but the trim as well. Here is the house last winter (the only one I can find with the blue).
Here is the house now..... Quite a difference!

No more training wheels, finally!

Avery is finally riding without training wheels and is doing great! She likes one of us to be near, just in case.
Great job!