Autumn Hike

On Saturday we decided to ditch the chores and head to the mountains.  I know most of the leaves have turned and fallen, but I was craving some mountain air.  We found a quick and easy loop for the kids and set out.  The girls has a blast the first 1.25 miles, but then it was time to turn around.  It's amazing how much that last half can wear out the kids.  The only pictures I was able to get were those taken at the beginning of the hike before they realized how tired they were.  I learned my lesson, never take the kids hiking when I'm not worn out first.  But that's okay, I think everyone still had a good time!

Pumpkin Patch Round Two

This year we were the unfortunate recipients of teenage boredom.  The kids perfect pumpkins that they picked out with such care were smashed and stolen off our front porch.  The kids were more than a little upset by that, and I can't say I blame them.  The silver lining to the story is that they got to go back to the pumpkin patch a second time and this time Jeremy was able to come with us.  The selection was a bit thin.  A lot of the pumpkins had holes drilled or carved in them.  Kelton found one hole that was just the right size for his finger.  He stuck it in the hole, covered it with pumpkin goo, and painted other pumpkins with it.  What a boy!  

While I was taking photos of Kelton, I turned around and saw that the girls had found a pumpkin worth bringing home.  Since I wasn't close enough to help, the girls took care of carrying it all the way back on their own.  

McKenzie's goal was to have the tallest pumpkin.  It took some searching but she finally found one she was happy with. 

When I look at this picture I can't believe how old it makes Cambrie look!  She is a great big sister to help her brother across the vine-strewn ground. Now all that's left is carving this next round of pumpkins.  I can't wait to see what the kids come up with.

Little Miss Seamstress

Cambrie loves, loves, loves to create things.  When she was younger she would constantly use left over boxes, wrappers, buttons, and whatever else she could find to make....something.  Now she is experimenting with fabric.  She has a box of scraps that she is free do to anything with.  If I'm around she'll use my sewing machine, but if not she'll use a needle and thread to put together her project.  She's been making things for more than a year now, but I just realized I haven't been taking pictures of her creations.  On Saturday afternoon she rounded up those she could find and we took a quick pic. It's a little bit of everything: stuffed animals, pillows, blankets, doll dresses, a rose...and this is just what we could find.  There is more scattered all over the house.  I love her creativity.

Little Buddies

McKenzie and Kelton are good little buddies.  McKenzie loves playing with Kelton, which is great because he loves playing with anyone.  Their most recent favorite game is riding the tricycle.  McKenzie sits in front and peddles while Kelton hangs on behind and gets a free ride.  I think I need a race track in my house.

I Want Cookies!

It is true, we have another sweet tooth in the family.  Kelton is becoming just as sugar-crazed as McKenzie, with just slightly less control than me.  He helped me make cookies and was going crazy!  He was a super cute little helper though!

Mini Blast

I'm a little surprised that Cambrie has been playing soccer for three years now.  Really?  Where did that time go?  She loves it more than ever, and the last year and a half she has had the same team which has made a big difference.  She loves her teammates, she loves her coach, and she still loves soccer enough to wear long socks and shinguards.  This year the competition is stepping up and the girls are finding that blind luck isn't enough to win all their games.  That's where Jeremy steps in.  He decided to be one of the team's assistant coaches this year.  Cambrie absolutely loves having her dad at each practice, even if it does make her sillier than ever.  I love seeing my husband surrounded by one of his loves-soccer.  He knows so much and really wants to girls to not only love the game, but really master the skills he's trying to teach them.  I also love seeing Cambrie look up at her dad with a smile on her face, proud as can be that he is there with her.  

Their team participated in a state tournament this year.  It was Cambrie's first, even though the team has been to one or two in the past.  She was super excited about the tournament.  She got to play soccer all day!  There were four, 30 minutes games.  They ended up winning two of them, and were close to that third win.  

Between each game Jeremy took the girls aside to practice skills with them.  We have some talented girls on the team, they just need some more coaching to really do well.  

While Jeremy and Cambrie were playing soccer, Kelton, McKenzie, Leesa and I got to hang out.  We cheered during the games, and ran around during the breaks.  We set up our shade tent and all the little siblings thought it was a great place to hang out.  They made it through six hours of soccer spectating!  Can you believe it?

 But poor Kelton, he was going crazy seeing all those soccer balls around the field.  He just wanted to get out there and play with Cambrie.  Leesa took him aside and let him play a bit with a spare that was just as big as he was!  I think I see a future soccer star :)  

I was so proud of Cambrie for hanging in there all day and giving it her best shot.  We had so much fun cheering her on.  Go Mini Blast!

Preschool Projects

Here's a quick look at some of the fun preschool projects McKenzie has been bringing home.  It's been a lot of fun seeing her creative side.  She tries to make sure that her pictures go up on the board first thing so that everyone can see them.

Three Balls of Fluff

Leesa took each girl out to lunch while she was visiting.  McKenzie asked for pizza, and when Leesa asked her where they should go to get their pizza McKenzie responded, "There's this place called Costco...and they have pizza and smoothies!"  That definitely deserved a laugh!  (I must have very cultured children.)  While they were gone, I made a bet with Jeremy that there was no way they were going to return empty-handed from Costco.  What they brought home, however, totally took me by surprise.  I heard Jeremy call from upstairs, "You should look at McKenzie!"  I ran upstairs to find her hauling a pink stuffed unicorn bigger than she was up our front stairs.  Not only that, but Leesa had a green triceratops and a giraffe under each arm.  Wow.  They are the pillow pets to beat all pillow pets, and my kids are in love.  There's nothing like a little grandkid spoiling when we have visitors!

Pumpkin Patch

While Leesa was visiting we decided it was a great time to go to the pumpkin patch.  We've never been this early before, but I don't know why.  We had the pick of the patch at the farm.  There were so many pumpkins to choose from that my girls literally had no idea which one was best.  "Mom, come over here!  This is the perfect pumpkin!  Never mind, this other one is the best one ever!  Wait, this one is green and orange, I want to choose this one!" 

It took awhile but we finally found the perfect pumpkin for each kid.  McKenzie chose the tallest one.  Cambrie chose the most colorful, with green, orange and yellow.  And we picked up the greenest one for Kelton.  

After we sawed them off the vine and put them in the car, we headed for the bounce houses.  There were no other kids there, so my kids had the pumpkin bounce house all to themselves.  We even let Kelton in on the jump action and he thought it was great.  .

We even let him slide down the large inflatable slide.  It was rough pulling the him away from that once the girls were done. 

We hit up the cut-out pictures.  

Took a look at some farm animals.  Kelton wasn't sure about them.  

Then ran through the hay bales a for awhile.  

Kelton wanted to walk on top like his sisters, but the space between the bales was large enough that he had to take really big steps to get over them.  

He didn't make it every time.   

It was an awesome day at the pumpkin patch and the kids are already trying to decide what they are going to carve in their pumpkins.

Messy face

Since Kelton wants to feed himself, it means that I have a messy little boy most of the time.  Here are some of his messiest moments.

He isn't patient enough to use a spoon, so when I give him yogurt he dips his hand in the container then licks off each of his fingers.

After he licked all of the ice-cream from the top of the cone, he couldn't figure out how to reach the ice-cream hidden down inside, so he used his dip and lick technique to finish it off.  At least until his fingers were frozen and he decided it wasn't worth it anymore.  

Tiawna on the other hand, thought it was awesome.