School Festivities

Carter next to his "alien pumpkin" he submitted in the school pumpkin contest.
YOu should have seen how green our hands were after spray painting that little pumpkin.

It has been a fun-filled October. We have spent a lot of time at school with the kids. They had their Oktoberfest-ivities, Halloween parade, Halloween parties, a fieldtrip, and parent-teacher conferences. I feel like lately I am ALWAYS in a school: either mine or theirs! Here are some pictures and of course, there are more to come.
Here are some of the other uber-cute submissions to the pumpkin contest (not ours though)

The grand prize winner: the Caledonia Snow White and Seven Dwarfs

"The Bug"

Ella's Artsy creation. She glued about a zillion jewels on the sides and back for hair. She won "Best in Art"

Games at Oktoberfest & the famous "balloon lady" Carter was smitten

A fun package arrived from MN with treats and gifts for the kids. They were so excited.

Carter's Frank artwork that was hanging outside his class room.

Fall Fun

We are playing a little catch up here! It has been a fun and festive fall! Last weekend we celebrated Scott's birthday...at one of his favorite restaraunts (Olive Garden). Here are a few pictures.

The kids with Uncle Evan (it's been the first time we've seen him in 9 months)!

Gifts!

An afternoon full of hayrides, scavenger hunts, and pumpkin adopting

Hayride

Scavenger hunt

Adopting a little pumpkin'

Purfect Pumpkins

We are ia "fun mode" over here, soaking in all the greatness of the fall season. On Thursday we carved our jack-0-lanterns! The kids had fun picking out the shapes on the faces. Ella and Carter pretty much did theirs on their own. Scraping and scooping the goop required a little elbow grease from mom and dad but for the most part their were very independent.


It has been a cold and rainy week for the last 5 days so we needed to 'dig into' our pumpkins on the kitchen floor.

Ella's creative creation is coming along

Christian is helping dad with his. I love the eyebrows. What a nice touch!

Our very own scarecrow!

All lit up on the counter.

Had to slip this one in, look at that concentration!
The kids were really wanting to roast pumpkin seeds, we did, they were not fans! It was cute though.

Beautiful Fall Weekend

We are blessed here in Michigan with the gorgeous change of season we've had. I think it is officially FALL now. One Sunday after church we headed up to the lake to enjoy our "annual hike" the weather couldn't have been more picturesque! Here are a few shots to document our fun!

all prepped to take the dock out -after the boys get in a round of fishing

still fishing

After lunch we drove to the other end of the lake where we started our hike!

he found a "slingshot" stick

our balance beam

we rode to the trails in the back of Grandpa's truck! (you can only do that in Lakeview)

The baby swans we've watched grow all summer! How awesome!

We reached the church camp and enjoyed some fun on their swings

Then back home there was work to be done. The men were taking the dock out...much to Carter's dismay!

A last kayak ride

It was a perfect end to the summer and a fun kick off to fall of 2011!