School Fall Party

Since this is Dylan's first year at an elementary school, we haven't had quite as many parties.  The kids do celebrate, but parents aren't always encouraged to come as they work in their celebration with their lesson plans.  However, they did have a little special "fall party"  notice not Halloween (what happened to dressing up and going to school).  I was a rebel and sent Dylan wearing his skeleton shirt still :) 

The kids enjoyed an all orange themed special snack.  

They did their normal centers with a fall twist.  At the sensory table, it was all about corn.  Dylan talks about the sensory table more than anything. He always has to tell me what's in it every week.

They played with play doh like stuff that smelled good enough to eat.

and raked leaves.  This was so cute. 

by the time Dylan got to his last center, it was already pretty much finished.  Paint everywhere and he really isn't find of getting messy  (notice the brave teacher wearing white pants so close to the paint)

Halloween Party

My friend Andrea invited us to her house for a spook-tacular night.  Dylan started off the night as SpiderMan, but got super hot from all the running around and playing.

 Andrea had fun games for the kids, like pairing up and wrapping each other up a mummies.  Dylan and his partner where doing great. Until they got to the head at which point, Dylan decided he didn't care for that very much and bailed on the game.

 Even Natalie wanted to be mummified.

 Of course, a party isn't complete without bobbing for apples.  Dylan picked one up, by the stem.  They ruled it as cheating, ha.

 It was a great time to spend with friends and enjoy some chili, sweets and halloween fun.

Family Photos with Kirsten Reed

My friend, Kirsten Reed, is so amazingly talented in so many ways.  One of Kirsten's gifts is photography.  I asked her to take pictures of our family, and of course, she did :)  

Here are some of my favorites.  

Fall is Best of All

The weather this October has been fabulous.  The kids have enjoyed playing in it to.  There's something special about a little "creek" that runs behind our house, that makes it like a magnet to kids.  Dylan loves to play with the neighbors kids, and today was no exception. Fishing for stuff in the creek is fun too.

Especially when you catch something. Check it out. 

I don't even know what it is, a craw dad maybe?

Jumping the creek can be fun and dangerous, especially when mom says not to get your feet wet. 

What you don't want to catch is a snake.  The kids swore they saw one, me, if I saw it, I wouldn't have been around to snap their curious faces.

Natalie even wanted to get in on the action. 

After creek time, I rounded up the kids and rakes up some leaves for a good ole leave fight.

The kids were all about trying to shove them down each other's backs. 

Can't come over in our yard without racing down the hill and back up again.  Dylan likes to cheat and only go half way to the fence and turn around.

Natalie enjoys watching all the fun from her own private viewing area.

We played late into the afternoon until a thunderstorm approached. Ah, that explains the nice weather.

Lucky Ladd Farm

We love Lucky Ladd Farm. Last year, it was a little hidden gem that not a lot of people knew about. This year, it was a different story.  The place was packed.  Our weekends have been super busy, so we were not able to go on a Saturday with Damien, but I wanted to go back with Dylan and Natalie.  We went ahead without him and tried to enjoy our time as much as possible  :)

We had a blast.

 The animals were a hit, as always.  The kids could not feed them enough.  Natalie would just giggle with delight whenever a goat ate out of her hand.

 There's always so much to do.  I feel like we never have enough time. I am sure next year we can spend the whole day there because naps may be easier to navigate without.

 A huge hit is the slide.  Dylan would run up the hill and go down it so fast. I could barely keep track of him.

 Natalie and I decided to give it a try. I was worried that she would be scared, but as soon as we reached the bottom she started signing more.  If I didn't go back up, grunting and screaming would begin.

 The kids had a lot of fun in the corn pit.  Don't worry we brought some home too.

 The Weavers had a fabulous day at Lucky Ladd and we are counting down the days until we go back.

Fall Soccer

I have to admit it.  Soccer was brutal this season. Spring soccer, we had such a great experience.  Maybe because Dylan was one of the older kids on the team or they were all the same age, but when we moved up to the next age bracket, it was harder. Dylan didn't understand why he didn't score 7 goals each game. Honestly, I don't think he only scored 1 goal the whole season.  He really beat himself up that he wasn't the star player like he was the year before.  We had lots of friends on the team and had a great time, you can't win them all, right?

 Natalie was Dylan's cheerleader

 and his water girl