Halloween 2013

Noah had a fun Halloween Party in his class on the day of Halloween and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. It was the last couple hours of school and while the kids changed into their costumes, the parents decorated the class and set up four fun different stations for the kids to do activities or crafts at. All were Halloween themed of course. I had borrowed a costume from my aunt who used to be a Kindergarten teacher, so she had a few to choose from. I ended up with Minnie Mouse, but unfortunately I did not get a picture of my costume. The party was a hit and each kid went home with some really fun Halloween treats.
This was the first Halloween at our new house, so it was fun to experience trick or treating in our new neighborhood. We've met most all of our neighbors and everyone is very nice, but keep to themselves for the most part. We only have one with kids in elementary, so there are not many trick or treaters. We went to just a few, but at each house, they were loaded up with candy. Obviously they were trying to get rid of it in on shot since we were probably the one and only visitor. After the few houses around here we brought some chili and cornbread over to Uncle Ty and Aunt Jaclyn's house for dinner and some more trick or treating around their neighborhood.
It was a fun Halloween and the boys ended up with lots of candy, most of which were my favorite kinds, which unfortunately means I've eaten most of it. :/

Pumpkin patch visits

We managed to do a couple of pumpkin patch visits this fall and lucky for Orlin, both happened to be when he was gone on hunting trips. On our first visit, Noah was actually with Daddy on the hunt, so Drew and I, and my niece Mandy went. We had heard about this monster truck ride at Thomas Family Farm in Snohomish and since Drew is really into monster trucks these days, we had to give it a go. We got there and went through the kid area, which was not all that great, but the real excitement was definitely the truck ride. All three of us went and honestly I was pretty nervous climbing the ladder getting into the bed of the truck which had a bench seat that held about 8 people. I buckled myself and Drew in and thought to myself, "what the heck have I got myself into here?" Well, we were locked and loaded and the truck was off and climbing big hills of dirt and doing doughnuts in the mud and on the concrete. Crazy stuff! Drew didn't really show much emotion, (I think he was scared like me), but in the end he said he enjoyed the ride.
The second trip to the patch was with both boys and my Mom. We went to Stocker Farms, which is so great for kids, lots of fun things for them to do. We did however make a quick stop at Thomas Family Farm so Noah and I could do a quick monster truck ride since he had heard about it and wanted to give it a try as well. Apparently one shock to the system wasn't enough for me. It was fun and we definitely got our fill of the patch this year.

Drew and Mandy all set to check out Thomas Farm.

a little put put!

Drew thought the duck races were awesome.

what's not to love about some bales of hay?

cuties.

holy moly, here we go!

climbing up and getting an awesome view.

we survived.

a little snack in the car before we leave.

Grandma and Drew did a tractor ride while Noah and I did the Monster truck ride.

Noah and I are ready for action.

headed over to Stocker Farms for some serious fun. I love the joy on his face in this pic.

such cool things for the kids to do.

perfect play area for the boys.

this boys loves him some tractors and has since he was a baby.

more duck races. Noah was quite competitive.

pumpkin carving with Uncle Ty. Aunt Jaclyn was home sick. :(

we had several pumpkins on our porch from the garden and our chickens felt like doing a little "carving" of their own. The mouth on this pumpkin was done by one of our little ladies. We were able to work with it though and it made it quite funny for the boys. All ready for Halloween now!

Early fall fun.

Still getting caught up on some late September fun, so here goes. 

Noah got to bring George home from school one Friday and he had a fun and busy weekend with us. Right after school, he was put to work in the yard. Notice the muscle shirt Noah is wearing? Orlin has a couple of shirts like this that he wears out in the yard on nice days, I know super hot right?!? Anyway, Noah of course wants to be just like Daddy, so he had me doctor up a few of his shirts so they could be twins. I must admit, he looked pretty cute.

cousin Mandy came for a sleepover and joined in on the fun adventures, which included some fun quad rides from Uncle O.

Saturday we had our friends Lacy, Olivia, and Kate down from Ferndale and were able to spend the rest of the weekend with them. The weather was awesome, so we went to lunch at the Station Pizza place and Lacy and I enjoyed a good old Rainer with our pizza. Delish! We then went to the lavender field and had some ice cream on the beautiful grounds, and then hit up Bob's Corn in Snohomish for an early pumpkin patch visit. There wasn't much going on, but they had toys to play one and a free corn maze, so we were thrilled. Later that night Lacy and I enjoyed a few yummy cocktails and got caught up. She is one of my closest and oldest friend, (like since 3rd grade old) and I love how no matter how much time passes that we just pick up where we left off and are always so comfortable just being ourselves no matter what. It's also a total bonus that our kids play really well too!

cute little crew.

Lacy and her girls.

me and my guys.



crazy kids.

Drew's first day of Preschool.

We are no longer at Shepard of the Hills Preschool in Maltby, which is a little sad because we had a wonderful experience there with Noah and also a few months with Drew last spring, but we wanted to be a little closer to home. We decided on Bellevue Christian School, which is literally a one minute drive from our house and since Noah is a one minute the other direction, we figured it was the perfect morning commute. We are usually always a little early or at least on time, which is a nice change of pace. 

We had met a few friends through Scott's Soccer Tot's last spring who raved about the school and had kids who really enjoyed preschool program there. Drew has school Mondays and Tuesdays from 8:30 to 11:00, so I have been trying to use that time to get out and do something good for myself, whether it be a long walk, an exercise class, or maybe just a coffee and a good book. As long as I am not stuck in the house cleaning or doing laundry! Such a treat to have that time to myself! I am still getting used to not having Noah around all day and I know Drew misses him too, but it's been nice to have that one on one time with Drew. We have had some fun adventures!

We had made friends with one little boy last year and had a play date over the summer to get the boys acquainted before school started, so that helped Drew feel more comfortable on his first day. He was pretty excited to be going to school just like big bro and had a great day.

all fancy for his first day. We recently got him a cute personalized tote bag to replace the ugly blue hand me down he had the first few weeks.

looking like such a big boy.

It's fun for Noah to walk Drew to class in the mornings before he starts school at 8:45.

all lined up waiting to be released to Mommy.

successful first day.

Noah's first day of Kindergarten.

I still can't believe I have a Kindergartner... but it's official, and it all began back on September 3rd, which was Noah's first day. We decided to give all day Kindergarten a go after much debate and we are so thankful we did. If you would have asked me 6 months ago if he was ready for all day, I would have been hesitant, but after talking with a few teacher friends of ours and evaluating where he was both socially and academically, we decided to go for it. It helps that he's been in preschool since he was 2 1/2 and being that he's on the older end of his peers, we figured he would be ok. We could not be more pleased with how he's doing and every day he gains more confidence and also seems more excited about his new life in school. It's a total bonus that he has an amazing teacher who we love to pieces and also that his Auntie is his PE teacher. I know that having the school so close to home and also having family at the school provides a little extra comfort for him. Love my boy and love that he's loving school!

excited and ready for his first day!

heading into class.

getting acquainted with his new class.

Jenn's wedding.

September 1st was Jenn and Phil's wedding, or "recommitment ceremony" as they called it since they have been officially married for about a year now. It was really just the celebration/party for them and of course all that attended. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was very special as well. Phil, her husband is half Jewish, so they did a combination ceremony which made it really fun and meaningful. I didn't take too many pics and my camera was not taking great pictures, but this is what I got that came out decent.

 

first dance for the bride and groom.

Father daughter dance.

Jewish tradition, so fun to witness!

love Jenn's face in this one!

my besties.

clearly having a good time.