Thanksgiving

Not sure where all the time goes, but it sure does go! I've fallen off the blog wagon lately and am going to attempt to get back on track. Until then I'm going to do some fast-forward pictures to get up to speed.

A Thanksgiving visit from Grandma and Grandpa Pomeroy! Making some clove apples.

Brendan teaching them to play his new Star Wars game.
Aiden VERY busy cutting out pictures for his 'wish list' for Santa.
Getting some hugs!
Off to the Mall of America - crazy place on Black Friday.

Amazingly enough, no line to see Santa.
Santa going over the HUGE list of items Aiden was wishing for.

Being silly.

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Last Halloween we hosted a neighborhood party at our house. We invited the families around us and some we've met through daycare, preschool, and elementary school as well. Lots of people helped out with games, goodie bags, etc and it was a huge success. For weeks afterwards, Aiden wanted a Halloween themed birthday party!

This year we decided to do it outside in the cul-de-sac and fortunately the weather mostly cooperated. No rain, sunny skies, but some pretty cool temperatures and a steady wind - it could have been worse. Not only did we have a bunch of games for the kids to play, there was a popcorn machine, a hot dog machine, a cookie decorating table and a small bounce house - a kids paradise!

Brendan in the center as General Grievous and friends. I love coming up with the games for the party - so fun! This was our spiderweb challenge, like my homemade spider web? It was definitely a challenge to make! The kids tried to throw stuffed bugs through the web.
Our neighbor girl and her friend did face painting for the kids, another very popular activity.
Brendan standing in the background watching his friend do the witches hat toss.
Like our Indian corn ring toss? Harder than it appears to be...
My graveyard cookie - very easy and very yummy.
The candy corn pizza... not so yummy. It was too crunchy and just not that good. I will definitely modify the recipe to make it again; I already have a better tasting plan in place.
Okay, Wellyn did an outstanding job on our pumpkin bowling lanes. We had some extra carpet left over from when we had the basement play area done and were planning to just cut it up and toss it. When we decided to do the party outdoors, pumpkin bowling sounded like a fun game, but I was afraid the pumpkins would just get pulverized on the road after a few tosses down the lane. So, why not repurpose the carpet we were getting rid of?!? Wellyn took it a few steps farther and spray painted the 'gutters' and 'Pumpkin Bowl' on them - they looked awesome! We decided to save them for next year... one less thing heading toward the landfill. :)

Next day, the real Halloween. Unfortunately Aiden ended up with the stomach flu early in the day, but was doing good enough at night to go get some candy.

Halloween Happiness

I don't know why, but I love Halloween and fall-themed decorations. Love breaking out the totes of decorations with all the golds, oranges and reds, although I can do without the rain, wind and sudden drops in temperature. I'm not opposed to having extra chocolate in the house (for the trick-or-treaters!) either.

The boys carving the pumpkins from all our previous trips. They both drew their own faces (Aiden with a little help from Daddy) on the pumpkins and then carved them - true originals.

Done!
Making a face to match his pumpkin.
Brendan working hard at marking the lines he drew.
And let the carving begin.
Such cute pumpkins, all four of them.
Spooky!
Making their scary faces - a must when doing pumpkins, or anything related to Halloween.

Our friend Chrissy invited our family to their house for a Halloween party with her daycare families. We met them through preschool when Brendan and her son Mason attended together and became best buds. Now we play soccer together and I give rides to a couple of her daycare kids to preschool as well. Fun kids, fun families.

Wellyn, I mean, Mr. Incredible and Aiden working on a pumpkin decoration craft.
Brendan and best bud Mason - too bad they don't attend the same school.

The finished work of art.
Brendan discovering why caped crusaders don't use bicycles to get around - because their capes get stuck in the wheel! His General Grievous (Star Wars) costume came with an attached cape, so it caused a few issues when he got it caught in the bike at the party. Out came the tools, and mom to photo document the event :)
The piñata... thankfully no one was injured and 10lbs of candy was later scattered all over.
Check out those muscles - the gym has really been paying off ;)
Our adorable hostess, Chrissy, bring out some more sugar for the kiddos.

Medals All Around

End of October brings the end of fall soccer. With each kid having practice once a week (on different days) and games every weekend (different days/times) it is a bittersweet ending. Aiden really loved playing on his first 'real' team and they did awesome all season. Their coaches worked hard with them and it showed on the field. The last game Aiden scored two goals!

A very proud Aiden with the rest of his team. He made some great friends on this team!

The very enthusiastic coaches who volunteered their time to work with the kids.
A little pizza celebration afterwards... everyone loves pizza!
Brendan with some of his teammates after their last game.
The two number 2s... man they are cute.

Daddy's Day Out

Fall at preschool can mean only one thing - the big bus trip to the pumpkin patch! It is a much anticipated field trip due to riding on a 'real school bus' and getting to take a parent with you. It looked like Wellyn wasn't going to be able to make the trip due to an overload at work, but an ambush call from Aiden to basically beg him and it was a done deal. He really wanted his Daddy to go with him since they went together last year and had so much fun! :)

Loading up on the wagons to head out to the pumpkin patch.
Finding the 'perfect' pumpkin to take home.
Loading up to ride back.
Walking through the corn field and selecting some Indian corn to take home.
Using the corn as a light saber - of course!

Taking a break to eat lunch and relax.

A few games...Posing for some cute photos...

and the day is over... lots of fun memories were made.

Kids vs. Parents

For Brendan's last soccer practice of the season it was parents against kids. It isn't hard to see where some of these children get their competitive spirit from! It was an all out battle the entire time. There weren't any periods or substitutions - just a ton of kids and parents going all out. Some of the kids kind of got taken out by accident... all in fun though and no one was hurt. All the parents said it was harder to play against kids since they were smaller and kind of like a swarm around their legs ;)

Here's Brendan toward the beginning with one huge grin on his face!
Hustling to get the ball before our friend Janet gets to it.

I can't look at this photo without laughing - Brendan totally ducking for cover as another parent kicks the ball.
Brendan threw the ball in and a teammate had a fancy heat butt; Aiden cheering everyone on...
And then Aiden joined the action... a lot smaller than the other kids, wearing flip flops, but he went all out too!

Yep, Aiden getting right in the middle of it all - giving me anxiety he was going to get broken!!

Taking a water break and showing off his 'sweat Mohawk'... his terminology.

A group photo post-game.