Halloween Fun

The kids started off wearing their costumes to breakfast and coffee this morning at 8 am... a good start to the day! They had a lot of fun at our church's harvest festival tonight playing games, winning prizes and EATING EATING EATING! Afterwards we all went over to my sisters for more food and some trick-or-treating around the block. Jack definitely held his own this year and liked getting candy in his pumpkin, he just wanted to grab it himself!

Coops was half asleep by the time we pulled into our neighborhood and saw that it was apparently the place to be for a trick-or-treater and to top it all off, we had no candy! I guess our plan on going to the church and my sisters house didn't factor in coming home to the treats were packed with kids! We had two options: #1 be the crazy couple who hands out Top-Ramen Noodles and Granola bars or #2 turn out all the lights and hope no one rang our bell...we are in the basement watching the world series and hoping for the best!

Sean, Austin and Charlotte right before heading out to get loot.

Most of the bunch posing (or tring to escape) for a quick picture - we have tinkerbell, a dalmation, a kitty, a gorilla (or king kong) and rival football players.

David and Jack taking a break from candy and tackeling.

Getting their game on at the church lawn...

Cooper and Aubrey playing

Hours of fun today in the box that our new TV stand came in....its a boat, a cave, a plane...

robbing the cradle

Flo turned 29 today, which officially means that I am only 1 year older than him again (those brief 2 months where I am 2 years older technically are tough, and he never lets me live it down!) I know, I know...I robbed the cradle I guess. He worked all day but we had a relaxing family night with a homemade cake (watch out Cake Boss!) dinner and some Wii Rock band after the kids went down. I think a great day in all for Flo since the Yankees tied up the world series on his birthday (even though my family refers to them a the evil empire). He definitely deserved the extra hugs and kisses he got throughout the day from the little ones as well. He is the such a good dad and husband.

Happy Birthday!

Never Say Never

Lots of changes going on around our house...Cooper is not only walking up picking up the pace to a trot and can change direction with one sniff of food in the air....Jack is working on potty training (or Mommy is working at it and Jack is along for the ride) and picked up the basics pretty fast: 1 M&M for potty, M&M's for poo. No need to know anything else for now...and last but not least, we are the proud owners of a mini-van.

I honestly can recall at least a half dozen times where we said we would "never ever" own a mini-van and now look at us, driving it and enjoying the ease of getting the two powerhouses in and out of their car seats with every trip. So needless to say, recently I have been called on a few of my NEVER comments by God (We were never going to move back to Spokane, never going to rent again, never going to drive a mini-van) so I am laying off any planning for the time being and letting him have a go! I might just go around and start saying "I will never win that darned lottery."

#1 and #2 in the bubble bath having some fun after a long rainy day. We are so blessed!

Greenbluff Take-2

We went back up to Greenbluff for Octoberfest today - but this time we went to two different orchards and we went as of the 4 of us. It was a really fun family filled day.

This was the pumpkin canon or pumpkin chucker that we saw in action twice today, the huge contraption launched the pumpkins over 1500 feet away!

Jack and Cooper all smiles after tons of Kettle corn and running around the hay maze.

Jack on his pony ride with me as his escort.

Jack and Flo posing for a quick picture right before we all went on the horse drawn hay ride.

twacta wide

I took the boys up to Greenbluff today with our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group to enjoy the fall festivities before the weather got too cold and we had a blast! The kids had a great time doing the corn maze, getting apples, picking pumpkins, eating pumpkin doughnuts and cider and last but definitely not least the tractor ride around the orchard. Jack couldn't stop talking about the amazing "twacta wide" and couldn't wait to tell Daddy when he got home from out of town. It was the highlight of our day and after asking Daddy if he wanted to go on a "twacta wide" with him, he agreed and I think we might be headed back to Greenbluff tomorrow to partake in more tractor fun!

Jack's final choice - which found a home on our front steps.

Our group's attempt a group photo!

Enjoying the pumpkin patch!

The Boys Florence enoying the great outdoors.

Rain Rain go away...

With all the cold and wet weather a mom has to search for things to keep the wee ones amused. It was a good thing Jack's Halloween costume happened to arrive in the mail today and he decided to take it for a little test run with Daddy. We had a really fun day playing with David, Uncle John and little cousin Aubrey too. Jack and David got their wrestling on and were a good match for each other. I think Jack found his energy match in David!

Post game picture for Mom.

Coops playing the the tunnel system in the basement.

Little Red Barron ready to go out to the grocery store with me.

Reading books yesterday...Jack's Denise the Menace Face

David and Jack posing after the big throw-down!

Jack and Cooper have loved spending a little extra time with Big Grandma (Jack refers to her as this - all 5'2"of her! But I guess she is a little taller than Ardella!) She has to go back to North Dakota tomorrow and I know Jack is going to miss playing in his forts with her and taking little special trips because he will talk about them for days afterward. We will miss you Grandma!

50th Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate Little Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary with them along with family and friends. It was a full family weekend complete with quality time with Grandma and Grandpa who flew in from North Dakota, a little street football, LOTS of good food and laughs. It was a blessing to be able to celebrate two people who capture what a great marriage is all about. Flo and I are fortunate enough to have them as role models for us. Happy 50th!

Wearing a mask he made at Aunt Bissy's house.

Little maestro playing with Grandma.

Playing at the anniversary dinner...

Reading books with Uncle Kenny.

The boys' game of street football.

A big group of people posing at the party.

Nature Walk

I decided that our days for playing outside without snow pants in the near future are numbered so we loaded up all the kids with my sisters and headed to Camp Carroll today to go on a nature walk with the kids. They had a blast playing on the toys and then going on our little hike...collecting pine cones, flowers and sticks and looking for bears, moose, horses and I think bugs. They were funny, making up stories about where they lived and decided that they were sleeping but they wanted to go find them and poke them with sticks to wake them up. I told them next time. The mini-hike worked though - a solid 3 hour nap later and a kid who is already asleep in bed was the proof in the pudding.

I am thinking we might have to do a few more of those!

First day of October so Coops is officially 10 months old today and I am just bewildered that my little baby all of a sudden has decided to brave the world of walking and has been taking one and two steps between objects that he is holding onto. We are going to have a walker on our hands in no time!

This was a log "that a beaver chewed on" that we decided to take a little break on...

We all took turns holding Mr. Tug boat on the hike (which was the real workout!)

The classic sun in the eyes picture.

Summer is over when you sport the fake ugg boots and vest due to the balmy 57 degree high today!

"Dare Devil Maddie" showing "I'll try anything Jack" a new slide maneuver.