Before we get started, let me just warn you, this is the longest blog post known to man. Consider yourselves warned. That being said, you may want to grab a snack, kick off your shoes, and get comfy. Everybody ready? Alrighty then...
SEPTEMBER~ We kicked off the season with another round of Little League. Jackson played for the Yankee's this season, and loved every minute of it. He was especially proud that "his team" won the World Series this year.
This fall Jackson started 2nd grade, and Lauren is in preschool. Here is a very long over due back to school picture for a couple of Grandmas we know. Enjoy!
We've also had a few birthdays. Jackson and Dallin turned a year older. I, however, am holding steady--don't bother counting all the candles on this cake.
Dallin was sick for his birthday, poor kid, so we kept things small. He was thrilled with his new "Cars" lego set.
Jackson got to celebrate his birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Core's house. It was a fun end to a great trip. We flew home on his actual birthday, but he had a couple of new DS games to occupy him.
OCTOBER~ was full of fun trips and traditions.
For Columbus Day we took a day trip to Lancaster, PA to see the Amish country. I have been wanting to go again for a few years, and finally the stars aligned. After taking the LONG way there (bad directions from some locals) we had a really fun day seeing all the sites.
Joel makes fun of me, but I always take a picture of the laundry lines. I love to see the long lines
of shirts, dresses and long underwear hanging next to the homes.
Nothing says Amish like four pairs of black long johns.
For lunch we ate at Kitchen Kettle Village, a fun shopping center with a great restaurant. We loved their deli sandwiches, and especially the PIE!!
The kids decorated gingerbread men at the Bakery. They loved showing off and tasting their masterpieces. I loved tasting all the homemade pickles, dips and breads they were sampling.
Later that afternoon, we drove to see the Strasburg Railroad. It was fun to see the big train up close, and even climb aboard to tour the cars. We're taking a Christmas train ride in December, and after seeing the trains here, the kids can hardly wait.
This month our family also visited a pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful afternoon, and a perfect day to be outside. We had never been to this pumpkin patch before, but the kids had a blast, and all agreed we'll be back next year.
Everyone's favorite part was this bouncy thing. I'm still not sure exactly what it is--it looks like a giant hot water bottle, half-buried in the ground. Whatever it is, IT WAS FUN!!
The slides came in a close second.
Claire and Dallin came down the hard way, ending up with straw in all the usual places, and in some, well... unusual places too.
The corn crib was a favorite with the kids--not so much with the mom. You should have seen how much corn I found in my washer and dryer. Dang those carpenter pants with all their hidden pockets! :) Jackson wanted to see if it would "pop" in the dryer. Gotta love 7 year olds.
The rubber ducky race was something we had never seen before--they had two water barrels, and then hand pumps for each person. You had to pump the water into the rain gutter, and push your ducky down the pipe. Lauren was a machine. She may be small, but she can pump like a champ. I think she won every time. Check out her face--now that is focus.
And of course, no pumpkin patch would be complete without the petting zoo. This one had the typical sheep and goats, but they also had the cutest little baby piglets, and bunnies.
Later on, Lauren's preschool class visited another local pumpkin patch. Because it was just me with the kids, I didn't get as many pictures, but it was a very fun day!
I wish you all could see what happened immediately after this picture was taken. Claire, who has absolutely no fear, grabbed this poor sheep around the neck as it stuck it's head out of the fence. The sheep, obviously scared to death, tried to pull it's head back into the safety of the pen. Claire just hung on, banging against the fence two or three times before the sheep managed to get free. The farmer wants to borrow her for the peewee rodeo. :)
The kids invited some friends over for a Halloween playdate and to decorate cookies. Leave it to kids to figure out how to get that much frosting and candy on a poor little sugar cookie. It was truly impressive.
Claire's post-cookie sugar coma. She's just kicking back waiting for round two to begin. And one of our friends, Brody. He is the cutest thing! I love that kid.
HALLOWEEN! For Halloween this year we had a race car driver, Harry Potter, a lady bug, and Minnie Mouse (for the third year--that is the costume that just keeps on giving. I think it may be the best deal I've ever gotten. Plus, I'm pretty sure it will fit Claire next year. SCORE!)
Here's their action shot.
And finally, pumpkin carving, which actually came before the costumes, but anyway...
Jackson and Dad were the official gut scoopers. Claire ate more sugar cookies, and everyone else designed their carving ideas.
Here's the finished products. Notice Claire is ticked off because now Dallin is eating the sugar cookie. Are you noticing a trend here?
Wow, are you still here? You really must be our friends.
Well thanks for catching up with us. We hope you all had a fun and Happy Halloween!
This year we have so much to be thankful for--here are just a few of our favorite blessings. We are thankful for fun cousins.
We are thankful that Claire WILL eventually outgrow this phase. And thankful that we'll remember it all fondly--at least that's what people keep telling us. (I came downstairs after bathing her to get the maple syrup out of her hair, and found her elbow deep in the PB&J.)
We are thankful for fun family traditions, and good friends.
Every year we spend the day after Thanksgiving tromping through the woods in search of the perfect tree with our good friends, the Castagnettos. (And when I say woods, I mean the local Christmas tree farm. :) After the trees are chopped and loaded, we have donuts and hot chocolate. It is a favorite memory for our family.
Joel had a helper this year. You can always tell a Dad--he' s the guy who can handle using sharp instruments while being mauled by a toddler. More experiences we can't wait to remember fondly. :)
Lauren was thankful it was her turn to put the star on the tree.
Most of all we are thankful to be together.
