Pumpkin Carving!!

The kids have gotten a ton of pumpkins from a variety of places- so it was time to carve a few!!  They each thought long and hard about what they wanted.....  Alden decided on a traditional- and he drew the face and then asked me to cut it out.  Addie choose Hello Kitty- and helped put that design on but didn't want to cut it out!  They both did empty the pumpkin of all the guts and carefully pulled out all the seeds for their Daddy- such sweet kids!!

Ready to go- the neighbors are all excited to help!

A seed for Daddy!

He loved how gooey it was!

All done- so cool!!

Fall Fun!

We have been super busy lately- and blogging as kinda fallen to the side- my deepest apologies!!  Here are a few pics of what we have been up to!  God is good- we are all happy, healthy and busy building all kinds of wonderful memories and deepening relationships!

Al has been traveling a majority of the time- so his boss sent me this amazing arrangement of flowers as part of a thank you!   I love his company!

Yum- a good friend sharing a box of these treats with us!

Sorting!!  The kids have been doing a bunch of different kinds of sorting in school - so how better to practice than with the load of candy they gathered at the local homecoming parade!!

By color!

By shape!

 Another parade- yes, we seem to have a LOT!

Running to get candy!

You know it's a good parade when there are the zipping little cars!

Liberty Homecoming

Since we have lived in Richmond, attending the Homecoming Festivities at Liberty has become a tradition!  Usually we meet up with our college friends but this year everyone else had various things come up.  We even went with only ONE child!  Addie's best friend invited her to spend the weekend with her for her birthday- and Addie happily chose that!  Al and I enjoyed having lots of one-on-one time with Alden- and Alden loved, it too!

Starting off the day with DD!!

Sparky!!  Alden was excited to see him as we were at the bookstore!

Welcome!!

We slipped into The Vines Center- it still smelled the same!  Alden loved how huge it was!

Alden loved the Carnival- he played games and played games....

Such fun!!

We offered him 1 treat during the football game- and he picked cotton candy- and he was SO excited when the carnival had FREE cotton candy!

Catching a TON of candy at the parade- the ladies soccer team sitting next to him also gave him all the candy they got!

At the football game he got his face painted!  LU and a football!

He LOVED our seats- and even convinced a cheerleader to give him a free shirt!

Swinging his rally towel!!

We were so excited to get to spend some time with Dan and 4 of soon to be 6 kids!

At the carnival- I stood in line for an hour to get these made for free- how cool!

It was a great day- Alden was passed out within 2 min of hitting the road.  Addie had a great time, too, but I don't have pictures to share!

Pumpkin Patch

A local farm hosts an amazing Fall Festival/Pumpkin Patch.  The only hang-up is that it is extremely overpriced....  Thankfully for this year, they offered some free tickets to some local churches and we were able to get some!!  We took our neighbors and had a fantastic time!!  The weather was perfect as was the company!

My pumpkins with pumpkins!

Ready to get our pumpkins on!

Farmer Addie!

Silly Farmer Alden

Awesome!!

Off to solve the maze- which we did, thanks to Al's expert navigation!

Reading the clues- and learning a ton about honey bees!

This pile of hay was a huge hit!

Shooting corn!!

Alden- see his corn shooting on the edge of the picture?

Pig Race!!

Thumbs up for hayrides!

Family pic!!

A lady bug!!

SO happy to ride a pony!!  We surprised the kids with this and they were SO happy!

So happy, but too cool to let on...

The barrel ride!  He refused to "drive" it- he told me, "Mommy,  it didn't work- the man up front was steering!"

One happy girl!

Growing like crazy!

It was a great time- memories were made, fun was had- what a perfect way to spend a crisp Saturday!

BFFs Got Your Back

Since we have moved into this cul-de-sac, our kids have become amazing friends with "the boys" who live across the street.  Proof that they are truely amazing friends, on Saturday, Alden accidentally wore his shirt backwards.  Instead of teasing him, they all turned THEIR shirts around!!  What great friends!!

BookWorms

It appears that I may very soon be the proud Momma of TWO bookworms!!

She insisted on bringing her book into the bathroom so she could continue to read while I fixed her hair and she brushed her teeth....

A born teacher- she is helping him read his first book- House for Mouse!!

I can't blink because they will grow-up and I'll be having to buy them magazine subscriptions and helping them research cars and colleges..... For right now, I'm enjoying the world of Junie B Jones and Dr. Seuss!

Soccer Award!!

I simply love i9 sports!! I love that it's all at once- practice and then a game.  I love how kind yet firm the coaches are.  I love how learning to play the game is the most important.  I love that they keep score and that the kids learn to be gracious winners and how to deal with loosing.  All wonderful things!!  Each week the coaches focus on a different character trait- and at the end of their session, 1 player is given an award for exhibiting that trait.  This week, the trait was the importance of hustling- working hard.  Alden doesn't totally "get" soccer, but he sure does try- so I was SO proud when he won that medal!!  Way go, Buddy!!

He is a head shorter than all the other kids- but he doesn't let that stop him!

SO proud of his medal!!  And the best part?  MarMar and PopPop where there to see him earn it!