Simple October moments

Little moments that made me smile this month:

Something about the boys' room being above the driveway is just funny to me. They have come up with all sorts of creative shenanigans from that window. This was simply a wave good-bye and "have a good day at school." But more often that I can count there are water balloons, bouncy balls, and other things flying through that window.

Kenz with her English sister.

The boys' new "get along" shirt from the football game. Who knew a XXXL was so big! 

Watching Jess play with her team.

The boys were playing to see how much they could inflate this camp with Daxton breathing into it. The games you can play with swim caps are pretty much endless.

Reverent prayer position? Maybe not, but sure a lot of fun.

It was Moki's birthday this month! Celebrations were low-key, but he got a pup cup! He didn't love the candle though so no secret wishes for him.

A good morning surprise from our resident toilet monster.

Sick Daxton. I can't tell you the last time we cuddled on the couch, but this was really nice.

General Conference bingo with spicy Cheetos! 

Our last aspen tree died and it was time to come down. Daxton took an axe to it and proudly fell the tree all by himself. He was pretty proud of himself.

Pumpkin Carving

Time to carve those pumpkins we found in the pumpkin patch! The game changes when all of your kids are capable of handling knives on their own. Let the creativity begin!

It didn't take long for everyone to finish their creations this year. We have a dragon, Jack Skeleton, Starry Starry night, a puking pumpkin, a witch, and F1. These beauties are going to awesome on Halloween night out on the porch!

Soccer Captain

Kelton was chosen by his teammates to be team captain again this year. I am so impressed by this kid. He's a quiet kid who works hard, but that doesn't go unnoticed. It isn't only on the soccer field, but each one of his teacher during parent-teacher conferences say way a great leader he is in class. I love hearing reports like that, because as child number three having opportunities to lead at home is rare. To find that he is so good at it just fills me up. When he's on the soccer field I can hear him calling to his teammates about plays they're running and about opportunities to take advantage of.  It really is awesome to watch.

 

Rugby

Cambrie is fond of telling me that she wishes he had found rugby earlier. It is the perfect game for her. To be fair, none of us knew how much she would love this sport. At Purdue it has been one of the rocks that has held her together when things get tough out there. The girls, the team, the workouts, the games, everything about it just fills her cup. We only go out to watch one game a year, but we do what we can to watch other games or get the recaps from somewhere. This year National Collegiate Rugby televised the game against Notre Dam and I was shocked by how good Cambrie has gotten in just one year. She is now a starter on the A team and has definitely earned her place. She tackles without fear. She can read the defense well. And she is such an aggressive player that she is a force to be reckoned with. The commentator during the Notre Dam game gave her a shout out for at least five different plays. The fact that he was paying attention tells you something about her level of play. And while they may have lost that game, they still have a very strong squad. These pictures were taken by one of the photographers at that Notre Dam game, and while they are supposed to highlight the Fighting Irish, Cambrie is right there in the mix looking fierce.

It is not an easy sport and every couple of weeks we get a call letting us know that something else has been bruised or sprained. Mostly her legs end up bruised, but one particularly rough game her face got beat up pretty badly. I can't say I'm surprised when she has plays like this!

Pumpkin Patch

It's pumpkin patch time! 

Timing of this was tricky because it's been rather rainy here this season. I'm not complaining, we definitely need the rain. But it made for an adventurous pumpkin patch visit. Our entrance fee included the corn maze, and while I don't normally like getting lost in a corn maze, the boys were excited about it. They took off running and I just hoped I'd see them come out again. 

The girls and I took our time wandering through the patch trying to find all of the way points. The problem we were having was that the mud was so thick it kept clomping up on our shoes. So every ten steps or so we'd have to stop and get the heavy clay off as much as we could. It was an exhausting way to explore. 

When the boys appeared again they were covered in mud. Apparently they trekked their way through an irrigation track and their shoes, and Moki's paws, were just covered. At the maze exit there was a boot scraper, but it was so covered in mud from everyone using it, it wasn't much good. We did what we could before hopping back in the car to hunt for our pumpkins. 

It took a little careful hunting this year to find a great pumpkin that hadn't been eaten or mushed, but we all managed to find one worthy to bring home. 

The kids area at Rock Creek Farm has been really improved over the years. There is still the classic hay bale maze, but there were also farm animals, rolly pollies, digging tractors, a corn pit, and a large slide.

We don't often take Moki on adventures with us, but he was here this time and went crazy. He wanted to be friends with all of the petting zoo animals. They didn't want to be friends with him. He thought the rolly pollies were attacking the boys so he obviously went berserk. The boys took him down the slide, and to our surprise he actually enjoyed that. He went down four for five times and loved it. 

It was definitely a muddy adventure day, but I'll take that for some memories any day.