Halloween 2015

 It was another banner year for Halloween in our house!  We got to wear our costumes 4 separate times, which was an added bonus.  On Friday night we went around the corner to a friend's Halloween barn party.  The kids had a blast running around in the dark, making s'mores in the fire and eating lots of halloween goodies.

Saturday morning we got dressed up, again, to go to story time at the library. Is there anything better than hunting for candy amongst library books?  Last night Ben was resistant to put on his cookie costume, so this morning he went down to our dress up box and decided to be Mr. Incredible instead... I think that people repeatedly coming up to him last weekend and telling him that they wanted to eat him may have been a bit too much;)

When we got home from the library, with Grandpa as supervisor we burned our brush pile. Gabe was on call, so having another adult was helpful.  Dad tended the fire, I hauled wood with the kids and Gabe continued to cut down trees in between phone calls.

We went out trick or treating and enjoyed walking the neighborhood in such mild temperatures!  I was hoping that because we went to a Halloween party the night before we could skip the party that we usually have before we go out tick or treating, but the kids weren't going to let that slide.  So, after candy treats we bobbed for apples, ate donuts, played bingo and had a scavenger hunt.  We tried for a new game this year that involved sucking jello through a straw, but no one could get it going even a little, so we will bag that for future parties;)  Happy Halloween!

James' First 5K!

Both boys have been working to train for the Turkey Trot 5K in November, but when the Fit Girls race came up, they were both on board. I was skeptical since James had only ran 3 miles once around the track at the gym, and Noah has never run in a race solo. Noah did such a nice job pacing and pushing himself that he came in 15th place overall at 26:33.  I was so excited for him because this was not an easy course with several hills and he did it all himself without me running next to him, pulling him up the hills.  James was equally impressive coming in 41st place overall (out of 125) with a time of 35:29.  He ran the entire race without walking, even on the hills, which he had never done before.  As it turns out it should have worried about myself more than them;)  I hadn't run pushing Ben and Audrey in the stroller in over 6 months and their combined 80 lbs. plus the weight of the stroller made the hills a bit more of a challenge than I remembered... In the end all three of us were pretty tired, but proud!

After the race finished we headed north for the afternoon to visit with Jacob, who was home from college for a long weekend.  The kids spent most of their time outside playing on the tractor, admiring the tree house and driving the four wheeler.  I thought for sure they would be exhausted by the time we left at bedtime that they would fall asleep instantly, but no luck... Next week is fall back time though, so maybe we will celebrate a week ahead of time and embrace this new later schedule:)  

Leaf Pile:)

Poor James has been out back trying to rake enough leaves to jump into for several weeks now.  Every morning he runs out back to see if more have fallen to rake into a pile.  Today there were finally enough and with Gabe on call, we got some time to play in the leaves!

While Gabe's Away...

While Gabe was away for a few nights hunting birds they kids and I were able to keep busy;)  On Saturday my dad and sister came with my niece and nephew.  We forced the kids to play outside, but since Grandpa didn't really leave the couch watching Andy Griffith, they seemed to prefer that choice... They are still whistling that theme song... 

After church on Sunday the kids and I headed to Portland for the Portland Symphony Orchestra's Discovery Concert for Halloween.  We met the Bennett's there and we took a zone approach to corralling the kids in the crowd;)  The kids all wore their costumes and really enjoyed the instrument petting zoo before the concert. Noah was a Navy fighter pilot, James is a villain, Ben is a chocolate chip cookie and Audrey is "Cloudette", a rain cloud character from one of our favorite books by Tom Lichtenheld. Noah was a celebrity with many grown men coming up to him saying, "that is my favorite movie!".  More than one asked to take a picture of Noah. Noah felt so cool, but had no idea what they were talking about (Top Gun).  The kids got to go up on stage partway through the show to parade their costumes and everyone, except Ben, was so excited about that!  The kids did really well during the actual concert being enthralled with the halloween songs as well as the theme songs from both Harry Potter and Star Wars... I thought they were going to fall over when Princess Leila and Darth Vader both appeared... It was a wonderful concert that is specifically designed for the younger crowed. Even though the older three loved the concert, Audrey wasn't quite as entertained, but given that everyone else's kids were talking and moving, no one cared... at least I don't think they did:)

Gabe's Fall Adventures

Gabe has gotten to take advantage of fall this year in a more "adult" way:)  He spent one day golfing with friends at the gorgeous Sunday River course, which was timed perfectly with the foliage.  The next weekend he spent a few nights with his childhood friend, Dave, roughing it without heat, electricity or running water at Dave's family hunting camp... too bad for them that it was very cold (it obviously snowed) and they came up dry in the bird department.  It sounds like a good time was had by all regardless:)