Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Spiderman and our Lil Pumpkin! :)

The rain let up just in time for some trick or treating tonight.  The kids were excited to go - Elise was not happy that I wanted her to stand still for a photo - girlfriend wanted to get going!

We went to our "regular" stops - mostly family and friends, and it wasn't long before Elise was ready to be done.  So Billy and Elise headed home to turn on our porch light and hand out candy and Braden and I went out for a bit more - but soon he was ready to head home and hand out candy too.  (In fact, I think he liked handing out candy just about as much as he enjoyed actually trick or treating - although he DID love GETTING the candy at each house.) :)

Pumpkin Carving 2013

Tonight we carved our traditional jack-o-lantern . . . we had good intentions of doing one for each child this year, but it's already been a busy week and both Billy and I had sort of run out of steam by the time we got the supper dishes cleaned up.  So we just carved one as a family (luckily Elise is too little to know that she didn't get her own and Braden was willing to share).  :)

When we started the carving process, Braden declared excitedly, "Oh I am SO good at this already.  We did this a preschool."  :)

Elise was pretty intrigued by the whole process, and was fond of "scooping."

Our pumpkins and the jack-o-lantern :)

Despite the fact that E is wearing essentially the same outfit in the following photos, these are actually from last week. . . Elise has become very fond of hijacking any stray shoes and clomping around the house in them. It's pretty funny!

Leaf Looking 2013

Though it was brisk, we trekked to Lake MacBride yesterday for our annual leaf looking outing. It seemed like there was still quite a bit of green, but we didn't want to risk waiting another week for more color for fear the temps would be even cooler.  So we bundled up and set out . . .

Braden found a walking stick along the way

Beautiful!

B was very excited to hike up the "mountain" at the dam with Daddy . . .

A favorite spot - the swing!

Braden informed us several times that his legs were tired, and Elise was happy to get out of the stroller and walk so that B could take a ride :)

Yesterday also happened to be Billy's birthday!  We celebrated with some of the Hartsocks with pizza and lemon dream cake (per the birthday boy's request). 

fall fun

The weather this past week has been perfect fall weather - sunny and warm, but with cool nights.  To stay cozy and warm at nightime, we've broken out the kids' "feet jammies" (as Braden calls them) . . . here's E in a pair of B's hawkeye hand-me-downs one night before bedtime.

When I uploaded pics today, I found this on my camera!  I think the kids must have played in the leaves in the backyard with Grandma Jane on Friday. :)  One of our backyard trees is already losing a bunch of its leaves.

We went to the pumpkin patch today!  This was a new trip for our family, and we all enjoyed it.  The patch was at a local farm, and they had a hayrack ride, jumping house, playground area, and even a haunted barn (that the kids thought was more funny than scary).

All along the hayride were "attractions" to look at - like this giant haybale spider!

Elise was worn out from all the fun at the pumpkin patch, and fell asleep on the way home.  So she and I stayed home and took naps (which we BOTH really needed), and the boys headed out to the fields for a tractor ride with Grandpa Jim.  Braden always loves this fall tradition . . .