Fall Festivities

We started the Halloween festivities with Trunk or Treat at Church last night.  The weather was really bad, so the kids just collected candy going around the hallway.  The youth had put together carnival games for the kids and then we headed home.  It was short and sweet and we preferred it that way.

 

Today the kiddos had a costume parade at school followed by their class party.  It was a little crazy rotating through all 3 parties, but we made it work.  Little Guy mostly soaked up all the extra attention and food.

 (Little Man and his friend Conner)

This is about as far as my hubby would go in costume attire. 

Let There Be Light!

All of the electrical was installed in our basement bathroom today.  The weather was too cold to turn the heat off to complete the heating vent in the ceiling, but hopefully that'll happen on Friday.  It's been snowing off and on for a couple of days now.  It's exciting to see actual light in the room.  I chose the last of the fixtures today, so I'm getting excited as each step gets us closer to having a functioning bathroom.  Next week I'm picking out flooring and shower tile.

It was finally dry long enough for Joel to torch a bit more of the ivy.  It's a little more complicated now that there are a lot of fallen leaves.  The danger of spreading fire is a lot greater.  I was able to pull enough ivy to fill 2 yard waste bags before the snow started later that afternoon.  It didn't feel like a whole lot, but at least now I have a clear path to the water without fear of chiggers hiding in the ivy.  We're almost about two-thirds the way through the ivy patch.  The roots along the side of the house are definitely the thickest and will take a while to completely uproot, but it feels good to be making progress.

I was trying to keep Little Guy away from the tree, because that's where I've gotten poison ivy the last two times working in this area.  He decided he didn't care.  He said, "I love you, Mom.  You are so good at getting poison ivy.  I not get it."  He then proceeded to get his head stuck between the branches of the tree.  He has some scrapes on his face but so far no poison ivy.  We'll see if his luck (and mine) holds out.  Third time's the charm, right?  I covered myself completely except for my face, so let's hope I've avoided it this time. 

End of the Season

Today was the end of BB's Fall soccer season.  This season has definitely been the one with the most growth for him.  It's the first time he's had a legit coach who's really been teaching the boys skills.  He had an awesome game today.  He had a shot bounce off the corner post of the goal, and a couple of really great passes.  What made me happiest to see was his hustle and attack on the ball.  He used to just shadow whoever had the ball and just wait for it to come to him, but the last couple of games he's been way more actively playing.

 We really like Coach Ryan and we're excited BB will be staying on the same team in the Spring. 

 

This is BB's favorite picture, because he says it looks like he's ninja-kicking the ball:

Last week BB's game was at 8 in the morning.  It was raining and cold.  The conditions were pretty miserable, but he was still really happy.  He played most of the game, because a lot of his teammates were missing during Fall Break.  He was excited he got a goal and came really close to getting 2 more.

Daddy went to Little Guy's early morning game this week.  They got to be popsicles together.  Little Guy was excited about the sportsmanship medal he received this week.  Little Guy still has one more make-up game next week from a rained out game earlier in the month.

A Sweet Tribute

Little Man wrote the sweetest essay about his Dad. 

Hat Cuteness

Little Guy is obsessed with a winter hat he found in his closet.  He even wears it when he's sleeping.

Digging It Up

This week we took the next big step in our creation of a basement bathroom.  We had all of the rough-in plumbing done.  They had to jack hammer the basement floor to get to the pipes, and Little Guy thought that was pretty cool.  He wasn't a huge fan of the noise though.

All of the pipework is completely done for shower, toilet, and sink, and the basement sink has been reconnected.

4 Patches

Our do. Good Stitches group is limping along right now.  3 have recently had surgery and others have had some family challenges.  We've been trying to cover for each other and making sure no one has to leave the group.  This month Steph decided to do a simple block to help everyone out.  It's a simple 4 patch.  Three blocks had to be black with one block as a pop of color. 

 While I worked on the blocks Little Guy put together his Alphabet puzzle.  It was his turn to take home the Alphabet bucket from school, and he's been loving it.  He learned A-G for piano, and now he's learning all the letters in his name.  He refers to W as his "special letter" since it's the last letter in his first name.

Fall Fun

Everyone around here raves about a small family farm that makes apple cider donuts and freshly pressed apple cider.  It's only open on Saturdays and Sundays and the lines are always long.  We decided to put all the hype to the test.  It was rainy and cold, so I thought maybe the lines wouldn't be as long, but people are devoted around here, and a little bit of rain didn't stop the crowds from coming.

They practiced their Kung-Fu moves while we waited in line and watched them make the donuts. The kiddos felt the wait was worth it, but then again, they weren't the ones paying for it. I'm not much of a donut person, so I'm probably not the best judge, but I did enjoy the cider.

For our last day of Fall break we actually got to spend it with Daddy. He worked all weekend, so it was a treat to have him around. We went to a local pumpkin patch. Usually every year we go to a place that has a ton of activities, but this year I was tired. I had spent all weekend awake with a sick kid at night and we had just hosted people for the weekend, and I didn't really want to spend a ton of money on tickets. A friend suggested Schaake's Pumpkin Patch. It's completely free. You only pay for the pumpkins you buy, and they're only 50 cents a pound. The wind was whipping, so it was pretty cold, but my kids didn't care. They had a blast.

 These two were SO excited about the tractor ride.

They took off running to find the perfect pumpkin.  Little Lady wanted a pink pumpkin.  BB wanted a white one, and Little Guy fell in love with a yellow one.  I was grateful they all chose tiny pumpkins, so we didn't have a hard time getting them back to the car.

Joel jokingly told them they weren't allowed to have any fun.  This is his impression of being a Grumpy Pants.  Little Man used his dad as inspiration for his tiny green/orange pumpkin.  We have affectionately dubbed it Little Man's Grumpkin!

 2 school classes left to eat lunch, so we had the playground to ourselves.  Wahoo!

 The hay bale maze was also fun.  BB ran so he could be the first to make it to the slide in the maze.

I'm so glad we found this pumpkin patch.  The kiddos are already begging to go back again next year.  Tomorrow we're back to the daily grind, but even if I am exhausted we really did have a great Fall break.