Halloween 2012

 This year for Halloween, along with some of our friends, we decided to dress up as skeletons. We bought some plain black sweats online and turned them into spooky skeleton outfits. I think they turned out awesome. They even glow! I hand cut a stencil and painted the bones for the boys. Then Kelly and I worked together to do our own. 

Hands down it was the best trick-or-treating year yet! Our evening began gathering with friends for pizza and some veggies prior to our candy-gathering frenzy. Jacob and Andrew friends also dressed up as skeletons, so they were a spooky little group.  They ran from house to house trick-or-treating for two hours. We even got in a hay ride and sipped hot chocolate.  The boys were so tired when all was said and done, they went right to bed. I had to wake them both up in the morning. Andrew is normally up before Kelly wakes up, but not this morning.  It was definitely a great Halloween. --Emily

Pumpkin Carving

A few days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins.

The boys loved pulling out the pumpkin guts.

There pumpkins turned out super cute. --Emily

Andrew's Birthday Week

Thursday afternoon we celebrated Andrew's Birthday with his pre-school. We sang, ate cupcakes and had a great time!

Saturday Andrew wanted to go to Red Robin so he could get some birthday ice cream!  He was so excited, he ate it all himself.

After lunch, we went home and Andrew opened his presents from the family.  Jacob had bought him a monkey from Build-a-Bear.  Emily made the monkey some fun clothes.

Andrew enjoyed all the fun gifts he got from his grandparents.

He is so cute with his monkey.

After opening presents, we ate some cupcakes, and Andrew blew out his 5 candles.

Making a wish. . . and blowing out the candles.

The next Saturday, we had Andrew's party with his friends.

Whenever we asked Andrew what he wanted the theme of his party to be, he said he wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party.  He wanted to invite his three best friends, and the four of them could each be one of the turtles.

We started the party by watching a vintage episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while the boys ate pizza
(the favorite food of the turtles).

We gave each of the boys a party pack with the mask and weapons of one of the turtles.  

Of course Andrew wanted a pinata', so Kelly made a paper mache' pinata' decorated to look like the head of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.  

The boys used their turtle weapons to break open the pinata'.

Then we opened presents.The boys all had a lot of fun.  It was a great party.

We love Andrew and we're glad he's in our family.  It was a fun week celebrating his birthday. --emily

Remlinger farm

Field trip to Remlinger Farm with Andrew's school.

Andrew loved feeding the goats

 

and the giant jumping hay pit,

with lots of jumping!

 

He enjoyed crushing corn between two rocks 

like in the olden days. 

Andrew and his friend Wyatt picking out the perfect pumpkin!

It was a fun day in the sun. --Emily

Pumpkin Patch

One of our favorite fall traditions is going to the pumpkin patch.  

The patch has an old rickety maze made of hay bales.  The boys enjoyed playing tag and running through the bales.

There were lots of great pumpkins to choose from.  The hardest part of the day was getting the boys to sit still long enough to take a picture.

 Look mom I found my pumpkin! What a jokester.

We each picked out a pumpkin to take home. Kelly chose a big one.  Andrew and I chose medium ones.  Jacob wanted a cute little one.

One of the best things about the pumpkin patch are the cinnamonie, surgery goodness of fresh hot doughnuts they sell at the patch.  

It was a fun and cold day with a titch of rain. --emily

Walk-a-thon

Jacob participated in his school's annual walk-a-thon. Each grade has its own color, and the kids were encouraged to wear the color of their grade.  Jacob is in first grade, and their color is red.  He wore his red school shirt, but we thought it would be fun to take it to the next level by spraying some red color in his hair. Jacob completed 33 laps, and had a lot of fun hanging out with his friends in the process. --Emily