Halloween

Halloween was a marathon holiday once again. I guess it's good that they get a lot of use out of their costumes. I have a bin full of costumes that we raided for most of the costumes. But for the first year one of my children was adamant about what they wanted to be for Halloween. I tried and tried to convince Dylan to be tigger but he only wanted to be scooby doo. He was so excited and wore the costume constantly when I brought it home. Gavin was a nerd (a good one I might add), Madison was a vampire queen, and Camryn was a princess and piglet depending on how cold it was. Our Halloween festivities included the trunk or treat, class parties, and the Halloween parade. I was in charge of Madison's party and I sent Mark to Gavin's. They both had a lot of fun and Mark came home telling me their party was better than our party. On Halloween night we went to the parade where the kids got more candy than they knew what to do with.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking this fall at Mills Apple Farm. They have a little playground that the kids loved. They had a maze that was like a big chicken coop. Mark was in his element and dreamed of owning his own tractor and farm. We rode the wagon to pick apples and boy did we enjoy the apples. They told us to make sure and taste them before we picked them and my kids took that quite literally. Gavin ate five or six apples while the rest of us picked.

Scarecrow Contest

Our little town has a scarecow contest and we love to go look at them all. People are so creative. We always choose our favorite scarecrow and snap a picture with it. Madison's was the cheerleader, Camryn's the x-ray scarecow, Dylan's was the fireman and policeman, and Gavin's was the sheriff.

Madison's Birthday

Madison had her first sleepover for her birthday. We invited a couple of her friends from church and it went surprisingly well. I thought for sure I would be calling parents in the middle of the night to come and get their kids. They had lots of treats and watched an American Girl movie with their dolls. They are such a cute bunch of girls. But we made sure they new this was a special treat and wasn't going to happen every weekend. They must have had enough fun to last awhile because they haven't asked to do it again.

Merry go round

A trip tp Grants Farm wouldn't be complete without riding the merry go round. I volunteered Mark to go on the ride with the kids. Those rides make me sick now (I must be getting old). Everyone had fun (especially Gavin) and can't wait to go back again!

Rat Race

While we were at Grants Farm Madison got chosen to do the rat race during the bird show. I was shocked because this girl is so afraid of spiders and bees. I never thought she would have volunteered. They had two teams and you had to hook arms and have the rat race across one arm over your neck and down the other arm. It gives me the creeps just writing about it. But she did it and her rat lost the race because it just stayed on her arm and didn't go any further. It was pretty funny. She is definitely braver than I am!

Grants Farm

We went with the Hawk family to Grants Farm. It started out a little rough when Camryn threw up in the van on the way there. She must have been car sick because she felt better when we got there. Dylan and Camryn were amazed at all the animals. They loved feeding and brushing the goats. We watched the elephant show and the bird show. It was such a fun trip I love watching Dylan and Camryn enjoy these new things. Camryn asked me for a solid two weeks when we would go to Grants farm again.

Cardinals game

Were were able to get tickets to the Cardinals game. We left Dylan and Camryn at home so we could actually enjoy the game. It was so much fun! Gavin is really into baseball specifically the Cardinals and Albert Pujols. So it was fun to see his excitement. It made it even more fun that the Cardinals won the World Series. It must have been pretty intense at our house during the world series because I still hear Camryn randomly chanting let's go cardinals.

Park

It has been so fun spending some time with these two. They are so much fun and make me laugh constantly! My mom has tried to convince me to write a book about all their shenanigans. They are really full of it. But we sure have a lot of fun!

First day of school

We were reaaly excited for school to start this year! Gavin started 4th grade and Madison started 1st grade. As you can see from the pictures Gavin is getting a little too old for his mom to take pictures of him at school. Madison was more than happy to let me take all the pictures I wanted.