Happy Halloween!

It's finally here! Trick-or-Treating! I think this is the kids' second favorite day of the year (Christmas being the best!). They just love gathering up all of that candy. Without further ado...
Skylar, the spider witch!

James the skeleton.

Kellen the pumpkin.

Brennen the gnome.

and The Lottie Monster!

The whole crew.

Enjoying the goods!

Man, this is living...

The Pumpkins are carved!

With Halloween only 3 days away, it is time to carve the pumpkins. Skylar brought over some friends and away we went. Skylar's friend, Austen, loves degutting the pumpkin, so that was her job. Kellen and Annika carved their own pumpkin (and I think did a nice job-I did not touch that one at all).

Skylar also carved her own pumpkin this year. Usually, I have to do them all, so it was nice to have a bit of help.

James helped clean out the pumpkin, but then wanted me to carve it.

Mr. I-do-it-all-by-myself had to have a go at his own pumpkin.

I am pleased with the final product! I thought Skylar was really creative with the star eyes and was really proud that Kellen actually cut the pumpkin face himself (middle pumpkin).

The kids behind their own pumpkins!

As Jack-O-Lanterns!

It's here!

The Halloween package arrived today! Skylar was really starting to panic. She actually thought that maybe David forgot and, "maybe we should call him just to make sure!" Here we are tearing into it, checking out the goods!

Everyone loves a good marshmallow pop!


I think the biggest hit was the Halloween Sushi. The kids just thought that was so cool!



They were all very proud of their new Halloween shirts and had to wear them to school the very next day! Everyone especially commented on Charlotta's outfit.

First meet of the year!

Swim season is upon us! This is going to be a hard year for Skylar. She has been to state (Midwestern's) the last two years, but now she has aged up to 9-10 and there is a big, BIG drop in times to make it to state as 9-10 year old. We have a chance, but she will have to work hard! But, at her first meet, she dropped times in everything, so it is looking good.

Walking up to the blocks.

Getting ready behind the blocks. This was the first time I have every seen her nervous behind the blocks. Usually, she is laughing and having a good time, but she was really scared, so I had to tell her to lighten up a bit (she wants to make Midwestern's so bad that she is almost scared to swim)! She did relax on her 100IM and did awesome in that race. But, starting out the year with best times in every race is pretty awesome!


James has it a bit easier this year (which is another reason Skylar wants to make it. James made it last year in his back and will definitely be going this year, so she does not want to be left out!). He is not in an age up year and has already qualified in his backstroke. He also had a really good meet though. He dropped 5 seconds in his 25 butterfly, got first place overall (woohoo-a blue ribbon!) and is 1 second away from state in that. He dropped 6 seconds in his 100IM. Always so nice to see imporvement!

On the blocks for his 25 breast. Last year he got disqualified every time he swam breast. but no DQ today, so that made us happy!


James talking with Coach Lisa before his race.

Skylar brought her friend Jessica along so that she could have a friend to play with between events!

All the parents tell me they want to steal James because he is so cute! Hard to resist those brown eyes...

Pumpkinland

Time for the annual pumpkinland trip. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun. We had to start the trip with some photo ops (please ignore the mud boots, it had been raining and it is so muddy here, I did not want to ruin shoes!)...







Brennen and Charlotta would not cooperate for some individuals of them, so it was off to pet the animals.

Brennen just loves holding the animals!


Charlotta is intrigued...

so into the cages we go!




After thoroughly enjoying the animals, the younger kids went to a puppet show and I took the older kids in the corn maze.

We had to find six mailboxes in the maze and return our paper with the correct stamps in return for a treat!


After a quick break to enjoy our treat...

It was time to go pumpkin hunting!








Brennen was so proud of his little pumpkin!



A kiss for papa, best pumpkin hunter of them all!



Then Mama heads off to the shop to buy the really cool pumpkins! The final product...