The Really DO Love Each Other;)

I was helping James and Noah with school the other day when Ben and Audrey were quiet for a little too long.  When I went into the front room to check on them, this is what I found.  Audrey was pretending to Ben's baby and he was reading her many different books:)  The last picture was one Ben requested I take when I picked him up from the nursery after church last week.  He had made a big ark and gave each animal their own room... they all had elaborate back stories.

I think that it is safe to say that we have all fallen into a nice routine being at home together most of the day.  Ben and Audrey have started playing really well together (most of the time).  Audrey cries every time we drop Noah or James off for speech or music at school and screams, "Where is my Noah?" or "Where is my James?" She has taken to referring to them in a possessive tone and whenever she refers to them collectively she calls them "my boys". Noah and James have both been enjoying school and the extra free time they get. They both have finished up basketball and are looking forward to skiing next. Ben has loved having his brothers home to play with and is working really hard at learning numbers and practicing writing letters.

Veterans' Day 2015

Once again we had a wonderful Veterans' Day celebrating with my dad at the parade in Brewer.  The weather held out from being cold and blustery until the end of the parade:)  My dad got lots of handshakes and hugs thanking him for serving and our kids continue to learn about gratefulness and respect for those who choose to serve and protect our country.  The highlight for the kids was the enormous model air craft carrier that they wished lived in our back yard;)  After the parade the kids got all of their energy out at the Bounce Zone in Brewer (I am quite sure that is not what it is actually called, but you get the general idea).  There were way too many kids to take many pictures, but I did get this one of Ben jumping off the cliff!  

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!