Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Carving is just one of those things that Mitch loves to do. He does it with the girls every year. Even when Leah was just a few months old, he sat her in her exersaucer and carved a pumpkin with her. Then of course we put her in the pumpkin, ha! He's always all about picking the perfect pumpkins.

The weather was crazy warm...like 80 degrees. We took the pumpkins out to our yard. Which was a first. Leah and Kiersten got to work right away cleaning them out. Hattie wanted no part of it. We will just say she "supervised". After they were cleaned out Mitch sat on the deck and went to work. The girls both picked out what they wanted. Leah picked the ghost and Kiersten picked the Owl. I suppose next year Hattie will get to pick out a third pattern for a third pumpkin. It will take Mitch all day!!! Anyway, the girls were thrilled with how they turned out.

Boo and the Zoo, 2014!

 So the tradition continues! October proves to be such a busy time for us, year after year. But to be honest...I don't think I would have it any other way. The day will come when the girls don't care about going to the pumpkin patch, when they can't be bothered to dress up in costumes and certainly when they could care less about "BOO at the ZOO." So I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.

This was our third year attending Boo at the Zoo. And I think each year the girls love it more and more. It probably helps that we always go with friends. I tried to get Cynthia to bring Macy, Colby and Jackson up this year, but Jackson was fighting an ear infection and Matt was working so the timing just wasn't right. But that's okay because we were able to go with Denise, Camryn and Cayde. The girls hadn't played together in a few weeks so they were certainly excited to dress up and go to the zoo together. And they looked so cute too!

We started at our house and had pizza for dinner. Then we loaded up and headed to Scovill. We got compliments right off the bat for our Wizard of Oz themed costumes. I wish Mitch and I had done a tin man and a scarecrow, but I didn't want to spend the money for something we would wear for two hours. Oh well! Then before we even got started we ran into Henry Samples, one of Kiersten's classmates from last year.

The carved pumpkins are always a big hit. There are tons of them and they are always amazing. Of course, the girls loved OLAF. AFter we collected all of our treats, we jumped on the train. The girls did great and weren't too scared. It was a haunted house themed train ride, but they kept it pretty PG for the kids. It was just enough to get them excited but no one had nightmares, thankfully. I think we are already ready to do it again next year!

Grandkids!

These pictures have been in the works for quite some time! It's been two years since Gigi got her last Grandkids picture. We normally do one every Fall. But last Fall Jackson was itty-bitty brand new and Laura had just let everyone know that she was expecting so we figured we may as well wait. Well, these pictures were worth the wait. It was tough going there for a bit. Someone didn't want to cooperate (Colby James), but in the end we ended up getting the perfect shot. Mom loves them and says she has never seen Papa smile so much in a picture...its a keeper for sure. A big thanks to J&P Photography for being patient with our crew to capture theses beautiful images!

Firestation #1

Kiersten's preschool class had a field trip this week to the fire station. I wasn't sure how Mrs. Kurecki felt about younger siblings tagging along so I told her I could help but that Hattie would be in tow. She said no problem so we were excited to spend the day together. The Fire station did a wonderful job entertaining the kids. Apparently Fire Marshall Lyle is quite the entertainer. He started the morning with a ventriloquist show. The kids loved it! Then we moved out to the garage area...Sparky the Fire Dog came down the pole and took pictures with the kids. After that the kids all got to spray the hose. Hattie loved that part she sat watching each preschooler intently, taking their turn.

After that the kids got to slide down the practice pole. Kiersten said that was her favorite part. She loved it. Then we went back into the station house. Fire Marshall Lyle did a puppet show with Sparky and Elmo. Then he did a magic show. The kids ooh'ed and aah'ed. Hattie kept saying "Fun Day" so I think it was a hit. Bug loved having her little sister along and now I'm looking forward to helping with more field trips!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

The Pumpkin Patch is Mitch's favorite Fall activity with the girls. He is such an amazing dad...he loves hunting for the perfect pumpkin with his little ladies. Almost as much as he loves carving them. It's a tradition that he wants to continue for many years. I can already see it now...when they are teenagers they will be rolling their eyes as he drags them through the field, ha! But really I love to stand back and watch him play with the girls. They do the maze, he educates them on the train ride and he loves making animal noises with them! This year he even got Leah to go in the spooky house, well...she stepped in, but didn't last long. Maybe next year.

Normally we get pumpkin ice cream, but it was a chilly morning. The homestead bakery in Arthur is so yummy. We got pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, and grabbed a loaf of their pumpkin bread for breakfast. It was a hit. Now they keep asking when we can carve the pumpkins. They don't understand that we need to wait until closer to Halloween. Being patient is hard when you are a kid!

Homecoming Happenings

This past Friday, Papa, my dad was receiving an award from the Excellence in Education Foundation in Charleston, IL. Part of receiving the award meant he had to make an appearance and be introduced on the field Friday night for the Trojans homecoming game. I don't think I've been back to Trojan Hill since I was in High School. It was strange. Different but also very much the same. And to make it even better, the Trojans were playing Mt. Zion. I joked on facebook that we were a family divided...2 Trojans and 3 little Braves. Leah was cracking me up. She couldn't decide who she should cheer for so she came up with the 50/50 thumbs up. She wanted to cheer for her school, but also wanted to cheer for Papa's team. Tough call...I told her it's totally okay for her to cheer for Mt. Zion.

Anyway, the whole reason we went to support Papa at the game was because Gigi was out of town. We wanted someone to be there to cheer when they introduced him. I'm glad we went and the girls sure had fun. They thought the marching band was amazing. I'm always proud of my dad and all the ways he continues to give back to the community. He really is a very giving and loving guy. Yeah, I said it...he's pretty cool. But I was especially moved by the actions of my new community. Recently two Charleston Trojan football players were diagnosed with cancer. One is bad enough, but two has been devastating to the town of Charleston. Mt. Zion rallied and presented a $1000 check to the families at Friday nights game. A true act of sportsmanship. It brought tears to my eyes. So cheers to Mt. Zion for being SO AWESOME...and cheers to our Papa for being pretty awesome too!