Halloween!

This year for Halloween, we went to a friend's (Joel and Ana Schraeder) neighborhood to trick or treat. The kids had a blast and we were lucky to have great friends to go with!

Lincoln as Spider-man, Oli as a mermaid, Isa as a cow, Emmersyn as a ladybug, and Riley as Rapunzel (Tangled).

By the end of the night the kids were wiped out...

Riley's First School Halloween Party

Even though I was dreading taking all the kids with me to Riley's school for her Halloween party, I wasn't going to miss it for anything, so I dragged them out, put Emmersyn in the Moby wrap and prayed that it would go smoothly. I got to her school, helped her get dressed in her costume, watched the kids pull the pinata strings, and eat lots of treats. Towards the end they went in the gym for lots of fun games and at the very end they had a cute parade where they sang songs and did all the little motions. She was so cute and I cannot believe I'm already going to her school functions. Seems surreal that she's old enough to be in school...

Pinata

Riley's class

Riley and her buddy, Ethan

Riley's whole class+the two year class!

Happy Halloween!!

For Halloween this year we were planning on taking the kids trunk-or-treating and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, but since I ended up in the ER the night of trick-or-treating we just took the kids to our church for trunk-or-treat! We had a great time and it was a beautiful night. In fact, I'm pretty sure the kids were sweating with all the layers I had on them (it was probably at least 60 degrees that night.) I guess I'm still used to Michigan Halloween's!

Riley was "Jessie" from Toy Story 3. However, you may notice that she actually has on the Woody costume. Well, I looked for WEEKS for the Jessie costume in her size and couldn't find it anywhere except on Ebay and since I wasn't about to pay $100 or more on a costume she chose to wear the Woody costume and I braided her hair like Jessie's :)! Good enough for me!

Lincoln was Buzz, along with every other little boy out there. But that's what he chose so that's what he got. He was, however, the cutest Buzz Lightyear out there!

Emmersyn was suppose to be the cute toy Alien from Toy Story 3, however, I wasn't anticipating her being SO big and when I tried it on her it didn't fit anymore :)! So, she got to be a cow instead...kinda fitting if you think about it :)!

Even though the kids' outfits didn't exactly turn out how I was anticipating they didn't care and had fun anyways. They got lots of candy, which I have completely consumed!

Gritt's Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch this weekend to pick out a pumpkin to carve. We had a great time and love taking the kids to new places! The best part about the day was that it was October 23rd and 85 degrees!! We were all sweating in our long sleeves, I wasn't anticipating it being so warm (not that I'm complaining though!).

My three mini pumpkins!! To get all three kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time is near impossible. Here's our best shot :)! 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right??

Happy Halloween!

I just realized I forgot to publish this post...

We're not huge Halloween people, but we do enjoy many of the fall festivities. The kids (well Riley at least) love to dress up so this year I decided they were going to be Tinkerbell and Peter Pan! I'm definitely not against trick-or-treating, but at this age we just decide to take them to the Richland Township square where our church and many other businesses participate. They have a petting zoo, bounce houses, lots of games and their own version of trick or treating. Last year we had a blast and this year we had fun too, but it was so cold we didn't stay long. Riley wanted to stay longer, but she was literally shaking. Lincoln was very bundled up, you couldn't even tell that he had a costume on. He ended up falling asleep in the stroller too while we were "trick or treating". We walked by the bank and it said it was 37 degrees out and it was SO windy!

We had a great time and once we left we stopped by Big B's and got hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. I have to admit though, when I got home, I was a bit disappointed in the candy this year. Not the kind of of candy, but the amount...it's definitely not going to last very long :). Good thing the kids have completely forgotten about it and now it's all mine :)!

Carving Time!

We left Pumpkin carving to the last minute this year (the night before Halloween) and since we only got 2 pumpkins instead of 4 we only carved one of them this year. It was just easier that way because the kids really needed to get to bed. I was shocked that Riley and Lincoln both stuck their arms in and pulled out the guts. AND they didn't mind either. Riley said "it's yucky" at first, but then kept going, so I wasn't going to stop her. Lincoln enjoyed stirring the guts more than pulling them out though...can't say I blame him!

Everytime I tell Lincoln to smile he screams instead, this time Riley followed suit.

Here it is again "Ahhh...this is the good life"...Riley's signature saying right now.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Gull Meadow Farms is a very popular place during the fall and especially around Halloween time (hence the reason we usually make multiple trips during the season, this time we brought Daddy with us). We took the kids to play in pumpkin lane, pick out pumpkins and have cider and donuts. I would love to tell you all how much fun we had and how the kids were so good, but to be honest the kids were horrible. We ended up leaving early with only 2 pumpkins instead of 4, no donuts/cider and timeouts times 2! Neither of the kids got a nap and Riley especially cannot handle herself without a nap. That's another post, though, at another time...I'm sure soon :). Anyways, if the kids are smiling in these pictures they were probably faking it! Our fun family outing ended in a lot of frustration, on both ends. We live literally 2 minutes away and both kids were asleep before we got home!

Out of all of the pumpkins, this small one is the one she just had to have...

Daddy with both kids going down...

FINALLY after 2 years we got Riley to go down the slide!! Lincoln was so excited to go down and Riley, once again, wanted nothing to do with it....but then she saw Lincoln do it and wanted to also. They LOVED it and were not happy when they shut it down.

Lincoln and I went down the slide together--definitely not good when you have a healing tailbone! (Yes, it still hurts...bad!)

Riley literally sat down on the bench, put her hands behind her head and said "Ahhh...this is the good life..." We were cracking up but have no clue where she got that one from.

Checking out the pumpkin heads. I love to see what new "scenes" they have each year!

Family picture, at least most of us are happy.

Riding the bus together!

The real 96 lb. pumpkin!

Halloween Party

We had a really great Halloween playgroup party for the kids last week, although I can take no credit for it. Erin did everything--all I did was help frost cupcakes. She went all out, from the snacks to the decorations to the fun games. The kids had a blast, got all dressed up and ate a bunch of junkfood! Lincoln stayed home with Daddy since he was sleeping which, to be honest, was kind of nice. Every once in a while it's great to just have one child to focus all of your attention on! Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment :). Riley dressed up as Tinkerbell and Lincoln is going to be Peter Pan.

I'm pretty sure they really were holding hands while "bobbing for apples"...they love each other!

Bean bag toss. She's cheating, that's my girl...find a way to win :)!

Feeling the brains or some other body part!

Bobbing for apples again, this time with Lydia!

Mandy, Erin and I decorated these. They turned out cute. Erin is so creative.

Big kids' table.