Grandpa

Grandpa came for a visit recently and was the mystery reader for my class.  It was great.  He read "Cactus Hotel" and told us all about the Saguaro cactus since he lives in Arizona.

This is a classic picture I've been taking with Grandpa my whole life.

Grandpa with all the kids.  Jonah is in a season of not liking being in pictures, so that's why he's a bit off to the side.  Right after this picture he ran off the couch to go play.  We did have quite an adventure while Grandpa was here, as he ended up being admitted to the hospital because he had some difficulty breathing.  After a few days in the hospital there was no clear diagnosis, but they let him go home.  The only hospital visit we expected was to see mummy & Julia, but we're always up for a hospital adventure!

Trick Treat

Julia wasn't such a fan of Halloween, even though she was a sweet strawberry.

This year for Halloween Noah and I were firefighters.  I couldn't manage to say trick-or-treat, but did a reasonable job with "trick treat" and was rewarded lots of candy.

Anna was Minnie Mouse again, I was a firefighter and Noah was fire chief - a good looking bunch I think.  We went trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood with some friends and walked away with 15 full size candy bars and a bunch of little ones after just an hour.  Our new neighborhood could be a goldmine in years to come if only we could get mummy to let us eat all of our candy!

The fire staff.

Minnie's thumbs up!

Pumpkins

Yesterday we finally got to carve our pumpkins.  I was much more interested in the pumpkin carving this year than last year, but I really loved the pumpkins guts most of all.  Here Anna is showing off some pumpkin guts.

Noah, demonstrating how to get pumpkin guts out.

Although when daddy first started taking the pumpkin guts out I freaked out a bit, I really got the hang of it.  After my pumpkin was carved, I tried to put the guts back inside to "feed" him.

Daddy helped Anna carve a cat into her pumpkin.  He actually helped everyone with the carving part, something about kids and sharp objects......

This was my classic carving picture - holding a handful of pumpkin guts yelling "cheese" for the camera.

As you'll see, I wasn't joking about stuffing my pumpkin full.  He was a hungry pumpkin so I had to keep feeding him.

Our final products.  Mine is a giant face, Noah's is a haunted house with bats and Anna's is a cat.  Daddy did, I mean, we did a nice job huh?

Family Fall Fest

This weekend, at school, we had a family fall fest.  There were lots of activities and lots of fun.  There was a giant tractor, crafts, hotdogs, apples & hot caramel dip, games and lots more.  Here I'm decorating a plate which will become a photo frame.

Jonah spent most of his time running from one activity to the next.

Anna gave a try and the pumpkin throw.  Who wouldn't love throwing a little pumpkin into a pumpkin bucket?

Jonah skipped the bean bag toss in favor of playing with the wheelbarrow.

I not only made the plate frame, I also made a scarecrow head.  I'm not usually so into crafts, but it was fun.  I also played a little soccer with Braden and ran around making the rounds with all of my friends.

Crabtree

I had my first field trip for school this week to the Crabtree Nature Center.  It was a beautiful day and it was a lot of fun to learn about nature.  Here I am checking out the nature.

Jonah came to Crabtree with me.  Because there was a chance it was going to be muddy, Jonah had to wear an old set of my boots.  He didn't notice that they were pink and was happy to be along for the adventure.

Liz is a new addition to our family.  Since Julia has arrived, mummy and daddy don't have enough hands, and Liz has been invaluable to us.  As an example, she took us to Crabtree.  She doesn't like to be in pictures, but I was able to take 1 that she conceded to sharing.

Walking the plank at Crabtree with Camryn.  I'm not sure how Jonah ended up in the lead.

Friend

Small group is going to be a great place for me!  I have a friend, Joshua, who was born 1 week before me (in this picture) and a friend, Samantha, born 1 week & 1 day after me.  Three kids in three weeks, brings us up to 22 kids in small group.  With so many kids, we're actually our own small group!

Demo

Demo has begun - we're tearing the house down today.  I got to leave school early today to watch the action and it was well worth it!