Halloween Night

The progression of silliness..... (and this was before candy)

Trick-or-treating next door with Mr. Greg.

Halloween festivities

We've had a lot of Halloween festivities this week. On Thursday we went over to the Dunn's home for a little party with our ABF. Today Will had his school party and we went over to the Hicks's house for a lunch get together. It's been a busy day.

Will and Lauren playing at Canaan and Sarai's house on Thursday.

Will making his pretzel. Gabriel is enjoying his already.

Will's school costume parade.


Will's always with the girls. He's such a sweetie.

Fishing for pumpkins (or punkies as Lauren was crying as Will was fishing. I think she wanted to try.)

Snack at school. Ice cream and cookies at 9:40 am.

Lauren took charge of rolling the dough when I went to get my camera. She's very confident in the kitchen.

Will added the food coloring and mixed the frosting for me. He's getting to be more of a help in the kitchen these days.

Frosting our cookies.
Lauren did a great job this year. She really enjoyed frosting her cookie (and eating them)

Will's pumpkins looked like pumpkins this year. He frosted them all by himself - orange with green stems! Great job, buddy!

Okay - I forgot my camera this afternoon at Scott and Raegan's house - but we had a great time. Will, Jackson, and Benjamin had a ball playing outside at their new house and Lauren, Heidi, Mason, and Josiah enjoyed hanging out inside with the mommies.

Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin carving night! Joe took the day off of work today to spend some time with the kids. He took Will to school, went to gymnastics with Lauren and me, did some Christmas shopping with the girls, picked Will up from school, went to Krispy Kreme, watched the kids while I did some grocery shopping, and carved pumpkins. It's been a GREAT day and we've enjoyed having Daddy around on a weekday.

Will cleaning out his pumpkin. This didn't last too long, but he cleaned out more than he did last year.

Lauren checking out the inside of her pumpkin. She was SO excited and she kept saying, "punkie, punkie!"
Getting a closer look...
Easting Krispy Kreme doughnuts. When I was little, we would always eat sprinkled doughnuts when we carved our pumpkins. It's always the little things that you remember!

Taking a big bite of that doughnut! MMMMMLauren's finished pumpkin. We decided to make a simple face for Lauren's pumpkin. The girls worked on this pumpkin.

She loves that her pumpkin has eyes, nose and a mouth. It's the little things in life that are so special.Joe carving the pirate pumpkin for Will. He's really been into pirates since Grandpa got him a pirate playmobil set. ARRRG

Will with his pirate pumpkin. He LOVES it!

The "Jack-O-Lantern" as Will calls it....

update

Lauren has really grown up over the past month. Her vocabulary has really taken off and there's nothing that she can't say. As her vocabulary increases we're learning about how much she knows. She pulled me into the playroom a couple of weeks ago and pointed to a circle and said, "shirshle." She says the colors blue (her favorite), yellow, and pink. She points to body parts and says their names (like back and knees - not just the typical eyes, nose, etc). We are amazed at our sweet little girl - she's really growing up. She's been into completing little puzzles and games and it's so amazing to watch her do these. You'd think that it wouldn't be as amazing the second time around, but it's almost more amazing. Our little baby has really grown up! She continues to nurture her baby dolls, play with trains and cars, and she's finally conquered going up and down the stairs (no more gates)!! She absolutely loves gymnastics and she's learned a lot about being part of a group and following directions from her teacher. She's learning to do things with her body after you ask her to. For instance, she'll do an arabesque, walk on her tippie toes, do a straddle, do a pike, etc. It's really neat to see the wheels turning in her little mind. I've enjoyed getting to know Lauren a little more one on one and she is just a joyful child.

Will has really matured in the past six weeks. He's learning a ton at school and he's really developing friendships more this year. We've had a couple of his school friends over to play and it's neat to watch them interact. He's made some good choices with his friends and I'm proud of him. He's starting to get control of his emotions a little bit more (that is a constant struggle with him) and I've accepted that he's an emotional boy and that's just how God made him. The world is such a competitive place and it really starts at birth.... I just want him to be secure in the person that God made him to be and to know that we love him totally and completely.

We took him to Build a Bear this week to make a dinosaur. About two months ago Joe took him to play golf and I took Lauren to Build a Bear. (Lauren made a bunny named Hop.) Will's been wanting to go to Build a Bear since Lauren got to go. We took him this week to make Dyno the Dinosaur (he came up with the name, Joe came up with the spelling) and that little trip meant the world to him. He LOVED the experience and he has slept with Dyno every night since then. He also eats breakfast with Dyno and his request for breakfast is now, "Nothing messy because I don't want to get Dyno dirty."

Keeneland

Every year they have a Military Family Day at Keeneland and Joe is always a part of the celebration. This year the brass quintet played the National Anthem in The Winner's Circle before the races. It was broadcast in Iraq and we could see the soldiers cheering them on. It was a very special moment and I was so glad that the kids were able to see Daddy involved in something so important. Watching Daddy play the National Anthem.One of the Color Guard soldiers let Will hold his gun! It was really heavy!

The people at Keeneland are always so appreciative of the band and they treat us so well! Last year they gave us a box to watch the races, but this year we just sat with the rest of the military. We usually don't stay long because the races don't start until 1:10 and that is nap time! This year they had a free breakfast for everyone, some coloring books for Will and Lauren, some great Keeneland tumblers, and lunch food vouchers. It's basically a free day at Keeneland and the kids have a great time!

Lauren LOVED the "neigh-neighs" and she was so excited to see them. Will loved watching them race and he picked #4 to win (because he's four). The #4 horse got 4th place, which made him happy - more 4's!

Bi-Water Farm

We took the kids to Bi-Water farm today to pick their pumpkins. We met the Hicks family there this morning so the kids could share in the fun together. We started in the petting zoo. They had baby bunnies and baby chicks. Lauren and Will got to pet a bunny and they enjoyed watching the chicks eat and climb all over each other. We then went to the petting zoo where Will loved making friends with all the animals. We discovered that the goats will lick your hands and the kids just loved going from goat to goat getting their hands licked (we obviously washed hands extremely well after getting licked!). Lauren kept saying "goat" and she loved petting them. We saw cows, pigs, sheep, llamas, chickens, and all other types of farm animals. I was pleased that Lauren knew most of the animals and their sounds. She's really starting to talk more and we're learning about how much she knows. After the petting zoo we went to the bike path. Will was tall enough to ride a couple of the trikes and he had a great time zooming around the path. Lauren even tried to ride a bike, but I ended up pushing her around the path. She really enjoyed being out there with Jackson and Will.

After the bikes, we took them to the little playground so that they could play. They didn't play too much because they were getting hungry and tired. It was a little past twelve, so we decided to take the hayride out to the pumpkins. The kids enjoyed the hayride and Will and Jackson loved throwing the hay off of the tractor.

The patch was wonderful - lots of pumpkins on the vines for picking. It took Lauren a bit to figure this whole thing out, but once she realized that she could run around and find her favorite pumpkin, she really enjoyed herself. Will knew what to do right away and he was off in search of the best pumpkin on the patch. He ran around looking at all the pumpkins and then he disappeared behind some higher bushes. He appeared through those bushes with the most perfect pumpkin in the whole world! He was carrying it and it was a bit heavy for him, but it was HIS pumpkin. Lauren and Daddy found a great pumpkin for Lauren and she loved to sit on it. We bought their pumpkins and headed out for lunch and home. It was a great day.