Happy Halloween 2013

Halloween was wet and cold this year, but that didn't stop us from having a lots of fun. A few weeks before Halloween we did our annual pumpkin carving party with the neighborhood. It was pumpkin madness in our garage, and I got no pictures. There were people in our garage, in our house, in the backyard - no time for picture taking! It was fun though - the memories we're making in this neighborhood are too many to count. We also made a ghost to make our front yard extra spooky. Ellie and Emmit thought this was pretty fun =) Here are some pictures of the kids with our pumpkins and our ghost.

Ellie had black and orange day at school on Halloween day. Here's the outfit we put together =)

Trick or treating was on Halloween night. It was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop the kids from coming in packs. Our neighborhood is a destination for area trick or treating. SO MANY kids! Our gang gathered right at 4:00 and headed out. We had anywhere from 5-25 people with us at any given time as the little kids were lagging behind the big kids and the parents were having to divide and conquer! Ellie and Emmit were running most of the time. Emmit called it quits after about halfway around the neighborhood. He had a full bucket and wanted to go home with Dad to hand out candy (and eat what we had). Ellie, Sara, and I made the full loop, along with Ellie's friend Ellie ("the other Ellie" in our neighborhood) and her Mom, Katie. It was a lot of fun =)

Ellie was a cowgirl this year - she decided this a long time ago (summer) and stuck with her decision.

Emmit on the other hand, could not make up his mind. He was going to be Captain America at one point, and then he changed his mind and decided to be Hawk Man. Well I searched high and low for a Hawk Man costume (Superman, Batman, Spiderman, no...he wanted Hawk Man!) We couldn't find a costume and making costumes just isn't my gig...so what did we do...quickly divert attention to yet another Marvel character - The Flash! We found this costume, and Emmit was easily convinced that this would be a really cool costume! He liked the idea of being able to run SUPER fast with his Flash costume.

And some more shots of the group and us in action =)

October Fun

Our October was filled with some traditional Fall fun and a few extras as well. I'll save Halloween for the next post, but here's what went on in our household up until then.

Our refrigerator was filled with Fall and Halloween art projects thanks to Kimmy and the kids. Here's a cute collage she made of one of them =)

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our neighbors the Shattucks. The kids had a blast playing. We took a hay ride, picked our pumpkins, and played all before it started to rain. Perfect timing =)

Emmit got to make a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's a few days early with Auntie Shannon and Henry. Emmit and Henry had a lot of fun playing together, and 'helping' Grandma at the Feedmill =)

Watching a show at bedtime together

While Emmit was gone, Ellie and Daddy caught a movie together.

We all joined a few days later then for Grandma's 90th birthday on Oct. 17th! We had a great family gathering to celebrate the most beloved woman in our family. These are the kinds of the weekends when I just love my family so much!

Playing a little Wi

Happy Birthday Grandma!

The weekend before Halloween we went to see the Imagination Movers Live with a bunch of our neighbors. The show was GREAT! The kids absolutely loved! My pictures didn't turn out great in the dark theater, but here are a few. The Movers were so interactive with the kids - in the audience a lot. They all got to high five at least one of them, and then they stuck around a long time after and signed autographs and just visited with the kids. Very cool guys!

Emmit talked to all of them, but only wanted his picture with Rich =) The kids have a new found love with the show now after seeing them live.

Fall Coming and Going

We've had a busy Fall so far! Here's a snapshot of a 'few' of the things we've been up to =)

Emmit has really enjoyed watching football with Daddy this year. He likes to put his jersey on every Sunday =)

Emmit at our neighbor's fire pit. September was so nice...we were able to sneak in quite a few neighborhood bonfires which are always fun for the kids and adults.

Ellie modeling a new skirt that Kimmy made her.

We made a weekend trip up to Marquette in mid-Sept. to see some friends. Colin and I had a fun night out without kids in a town we love!

Ellie and Emmit having a picnic with their puppies. They've really had a lot of fun playing in their rooms lately. Emmit's room is much more "fun" with his bunk bed so they play in there a lot. Lots of imagination play in our household lately.

We got a new swingset in September as well (replacing the one that blew away in August tornadoes!) It's been a hit with the kids and will last them for many years to come.

Emmit and Eli getting spoiled with an apple-picking outing with Miss Kim =)

Grandma Donna and Papa Herb came down for a weekend, and we went and flew kites at the park. Daddy a good workout trying to keep the kites in the air as the wind was not all that cooperative!

Ellie looking cute one morning before school =)

Ellie and Sydney playing dress-up. We miss our wonderful neighbors and friends, but thankfully we still see each other a lot.

And at the park too.

The kids and I cuddling up before bedtime....I think Colin was gone on his 4-wheeling weekend when I took this pic.

I did the Color Run with some girl friends from work. It was messy and fun!

Emmit asleep on the couch at about 5:00 pm (iPod on the Black Keys most likely). We've been trying to cut out naps with him lately, but this is what happens on days that we do. He still needs one a few days a week yet, but we're working through the transition.

The first Sat. of the month is always kids day at Home Depot. We've gone a couple times, and the kids love it. In October it was Fire Safety awareness as well so they had a fire truck, police car, and lots of other fun games in addition to the normal craft project. Nothing like spending a morning at Home Depot!

Ellie and Daddy doing legos one Sunday. This was quite the project, but they did it!

Kim had some construction going on at her house with a new garage going up. So instead of being at our house, the boys got to spend a few days at Kimmy's in total awe watching the construction site =)

Colin and I ran an American Cancer Society 5K charity run with some neighbors in early Oct. We had a group of about 10 of us, all running for a little boy in our town, named Beckett, who has brain cancer.

Emmit and Eli silly in the backseat.

Ellie had a fundraiser right at the beginning of the school year. She won some prizes for her selling...a skateboard, really? I'm not sure who thought that a skateboard was a good prize for a kindergardener, but this Mom did not. Skateboard has since disappeared.