Pumpkin Barn

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin barn down the road to pick up some pumpkins.
We've done the whole hay ride to the pumpkin patch a couple of times too, but this barn is something we pass by every single day, so as soon as the signs come out, the kids are itching to go.

There is something about the fall colors that always seems to make such warm, pretty pictures...

Signs of Fall

It is 47 degrees outside right now and we had a big wind storm the other day that pretty much knocked down all of the leaves off the trees... So, I figured I better do my picture post of signs of fall before it quickly becomes winter!!

I can get my kids to go on walks more often in the fall by convincing them that we need to find all the signs of fall we can along the walk! I just wanted to share some with you, too... This is a picture post of leaves, basically, so just skip if that's boring:)

Before the leaves, though... Our backyard is a nature preserve and any time anyone comes into the house, they always ask if we ever see deer out the back windows... Forever, the answer was just one time. But, the other day, we looked out and this guy was in our yard!! By the time I got the camera and came back, he had started on his way already...
The foreground is our yard where he actually was just a second before this!


Moving on...

I love the one red tree here. I meant to take this same shot on a weekly basis and kept forgetting my camera... bummer.




And, I love pictures with blue sky behind the golden leaves...


Check this out... This tree on the side of a little cliff...


An old cemetary we drove by that reminded me of all the old ones we saw living in Boston... not exactly a sign of fall.. but maybe on the Halloween theme???




Love this leaf...


Up next... our trip to the pumpkin barn... we are off to watch "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

Wordless Wednesday

The Halloween Preview Edition

Money, Money, Money, Money

**Max was watching a show about money the other day and it was talking about interest. It said you could earn a dollar, and spend it, or put it in the bank and a year from now, it would be worth $1.05. And then it took a different amount of money (like $100) and said how much interest it would earn in a year, in ten years, and then in 25 years. I was sitting in the kitchen with Zoey and sort of chuckled and said to myself, not these days. Zoey looked up and said, "yeah, because the economy isn't so good, huh?"

**Zoey has a coin bank that she keeps in her room, and the other day, Max got a hold of it. I walked by and noticed that he was separating all the like coins into piles and just counting up the money. I walked away not thinking anything more of it. Later, Ross was talking to him about what he had been doing and he told him that he counted up Zoey's money and then put it all into his own bank! The thing about Max is... he is a counter and has a pretty darn good memory, so all we had to do was ask... how many quarters did you count? and how many nickels?... Hours later he could still tell us exactly what he took, so all was well in the end!

Pupply Play

Zoey got a new game (Hedbandz) for her birthday. When I saw it in the store, I thought it would be a perfect game for all of us to play. I guess I didn't quite look at it right, though, because it turned out to be a little different than I thought. There are head bands that you wear and stick a card in facing out to the others. You don't know what your card is. I thought that other people acted out what was on your card and you guessed it, but actually you have to ask yes and no questions and people answer and then you try and guess. My kids won't deviate from the rules of the game and they follow the "suggested questions" in order every time. Sometimes the suggested questions just don't lead you in the right direction and makes guessing that you are a bottle of ketchup very difficult! Anyway, that was way too long for this picture...

Max decided that the game is easier to play with puppies anyway, when he could be the voice of them all. He would ask a question, and then answer it, and then guess correctly every time! This kid could make a game out of anything... and he usually does.

Jumpin' and Silhouettes

The other day we went up the road to some hay bales by our house for some fun jumping! We were there long enough that I actually got some neat silhouette pictures as the sun was beginning to set.













This is Ross doing his "Joe America" pose... It is sort of a family joke. On a trip to England some lady said he was the perfect American stereotype (she meant that as a complement), and thus got the nickname of "Joe America" and we have him in this pose in so many different locations around the country and with other people too... My sister also calls it the "everyman pose" and her kids do it in pictures too! So here it is in silhouette...


Here he is with the kids:



And some jumping silhouettes... which is hard to do! Goodness, trying to get the light behind them just right... Ross jumped a lot for me, and still didn't get it quite right;)







I LOVE this one, though... I love that it is a silhouette and that it captures the kids cute little profiles. And I crack up when I look at it because it looks like we told them to stand at attention!! So funny!



And little smoochy-smoochy pic taken by Zoey:) The cute one about this is that I was being silly and put one of my feet up like in the movies or something, but Zoey focused on our faces!

Cuteness

I always love when I come across something Zoey or Max have written or worked on by themselves...

Birthday Party at Gymquest

Zoey wanted to have a birthday party at a local gymnastics place this year. The kids got to have some free play jumping on trampolines, jumping into the foam pit, walking on beams, and all kinds of stuff.







Zoey used to take gymnastics classes here, and for her, one of the highlights was being able to do the rope climb (a lot of kids can't, so she was proud of herself)

She can still do it...





The best part (well, for Ross and me) is that the parents get to play too!





He made it to the top too. I tried it, too. It was hard! I only made it halfway! Those two show-offs!

Here's the cake! Soccer style... (with very manly girl players, I might add. I bet they could do the rope climb)


And here it is with soccer ball candles! Sweet.



Singing Happy Birthday!


blowing out candles.


Hope you had a fun party day!!

Birthday Balloons!!

A couple of birthday posts! Here is Zoey with her bouquet of balloons. We've been doing this with her for a while, and it is always so fun to see her expression when she sees them in the house for the first time~