Friday, April 20, 2012

Bonfire and Halloween

Headed out to the farmhouse for the annual bonfire, hayride, hot dogs and s'mores. Oh, and hot apple cider...yum! This is one of those family traditions that we all look forward to. The kids talk about it all year long and just absolutely love the entire night with Grandma and Pa.


 W and cousin M
 E and her best friend L
 The family gathers.
 Devouring donuts.
 Hayride
This year we saw giant purple bats blinking in the trees! Very cool...the kids loved it.

 Trick-or-treating with friends.
Short and sweet. We only visited about half the houses in the neighborhood before calling it quits.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Fall Catch Up

*post from the fall*
E loved her very first field trip as a Kindergartener. The class went to the farm we visited I think two years ago. The farm with the corn maze, hay ride, animals, and the bouncing pillow. So fun. I wanted to go with her to experience this milestone together, but being 8 months pregnant, I didn't feel up for it. E and Daddy had a great time, despite the cold.
Hay bails to climb.
Shooting corn out of an airgun.
It was too loud for her. Surprised?
Giant spiderwebs to crawl across.
The bouncing pillow...so, so fun.

I volunteered for E's Halloween activities and party. I was surprised to learn that the entire event fell into my lap. I planned five stations for the class to rotate through before the party. I was a little stressed to begin with, but then it escalated when the class was running behind before I even got there. As a result, the stations were on fast forward. I really wanted pictures of the entire event, but this is the only one I got- E at my spider hat station.
The family picture at the church Halloween party. A told me I was not allowed to sew costumes this year (boo) and to take it a step farther, he decided on our costumes. So, we had an umpire, two baseball players, a softball player, and a baseball. We won an award for the 5th year in a row. Suh-weet!
We naturally have the trunk or treat in the parking lot with our cars, but it was raining. We moved the festivities inside the church building. Our game was, of course, baseball. A pitched to the older kids and the younger ones used the t-ball stand.O was making sure everything was running smoothly.
Our softball girl. She had a 6 on the back of her shirt, and surprisingly, she  never complained about the chilly weather. She also invited our neighbor (who happens to be a fellow kindergartener) to come along. He showed up at our house in costume ready to go. We were surprised and a little confused. Then we were shocked to be given an envelope containing a sucker and a note of thanks, which turned out to be more of a love note for E. A didn't think he would have to fight the boys back at six years old!
W and O had a 3 on the back of their shirts. 
I tried to keep everyone together, but it was nearly impossible. O was the hardest to keep track of throughout the night. I continuously found him trying to sneak past the games and go right for the candy bowls. He was successful most of the time. W loved the games and if he loved the prizes, he would stand in line for the same game over and over.