First Day of School

The first day of school is always an exciting time. It is different having 2 kids in Elementary now, and it has been fun watching them get excited for a new year. Ben is very excited about being the 2nd grade and is thrilled with his new teacher because she gives play money for good behavior and you get to use it every Friday at her store. Rewards work great for him. Alec is my big afternoon Kindergartener and is learning how to make new friends. My sweet sensitive boy feels a little overwhelmed sometimes, but overall is doing great. Ty started his preschool playgroup today for his first day. He gets to go once a week with some friends rotating to different houses where the mothers take turn teaching. I think he was most excited to finally get to be in school. Hetakes it very seriously and had a great time today. He was a little disturbed when he got home to find that his brothers had still not returned home, but I think overall he is going to love this year with friends. I really love the fall time, and with it all the new beginnings you get to share with your kids.

October

The older my kids get, the more excited they get about Halloween. Here is a snapshot of our Halloween this year. Ben really wanted to be a Vampire, and I was surprised he even knew what one was. They don't allow kids to dress up at school here, but he loved looking scary for the trunk or treat. Alec is my snake fanatic right now, and he wanted to be a King Snake which he read about, so we turned Ben's old costume into a King snake by adding the stripes. Someone asked if he was a German Flag, but he was happy with how it turned out so I guess that is all that matters. Ty was loving the candy and had fun playing in his Frog costume and a few others all month. Violet was our sweet little Penguin oblivious to all the excitement. This Halloween we have done some fun things even though we missed the actual Trick-or-Treating on Sunday. Luke and I threw a dress-up Halloween party for couples, which was a tone of fun. I couldn't remember the last time I had dressed up. Luke and I were "Jack and Jill" and to be honest we were the worst costumes. I was so impressed with everyone's creativity. We had lots of different gathering for the kids with friends, it was a fun week.

Pumpkin Picking

The Berry Ranch Pumpkin Picking and Hay Ride

Last night for family night, our little family went to a farm to pick our pumpkins for the season. The pumpkins in our garden failed miserably this year, so we had to go elsewhere. It was nice to be in the country though with a fun farm atmosphere. The pumpkin patch was huge, and had the biggest pumpkins I've seen in along time. Ty really loved the little petting zoo with the sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep. However the animals were so dirty it was more of a looking zoo then a petting zoo. The smell brought back quick memories of growing up on a farm. There are somethings not missed, and other things I hate living without.

Here is Ben in one of the old tractors they had displayed.

The kids had to be able to carry the pumpkin they picked. It was difficult though to find one small enough for Alec to carry. We finally resorted to just being able to pick it up for a short time.

Ty spent more time climbing on pumpkins or laying on the ground from tripping on the vines, then he did standing. He loved the farm!! From animals to throwing hay, it was his perfect little place.

Fall Fun

We have had a fun Halloween season!!!  My boys loved trick-or-treating around our little neighbor, and we had a good time watching their excitement.  Alec became quite the talker at each house, making sure he introduced everyone.

Alec-"Froggie", Ty-Spider, & Ben-Spiderman

We had a fun time carving pumpkins this year.  Ben will still have nothing to do with the insides of a pumpkin, but Alec, on the other hand, loved playing side the pumpkin goo.  We lined the pumpkins up when we were finished and had Ty crawl towards them as the judge--Alec was the winner.

Our two trees in the front yard gave us a lot of leaves to play in this fall.  We played in them almost everyday last week, and one day we had our fun cousins over to join the fun.

Even Ty loved playing in the leaves!!  Surprisingly enough he didn't mind when the boys surrounded him with leaves.  Our only problem was keeping the leaves on the ground and out of his mouth.  He is such a happy little guy!!

Pumpkin Picking

Ben's preschool took a little field trip to Linder Farms, and I came along with Alec and Ty.  We got to go on a hayride, pick pumpkins, go on a straw and corn maze, and color.  The kids loved it, and now we will have some fun pumpkins to carve.  Ben loves his little preschool class he goes to 2 times a week.  He is getting so big too fast, I can hardly believe it.