Pumpkin Carving

We had carving pumpkins with the kids. The year Derek, Caty, and Nathan were in town so they got to join in on the fun too!

It was serious business de-gutting all these pumpkins.

 

 Even the littlest ones wanted to join in on the fun.

 Brian did a fantastic job supervising the whole process.

This year most of the kids free-handed their own jack-o-lantern faces which made everything go much faster then in the past.

The little ones enjoyed playing in the backyard while everyone else was carving their pumpkins.

 

And some of the finished jack-o-lanterns....

When I dragged Austin off his electronics to carve pumpkins he responded with "awe...carving pumpkins is so boring." Yet he chose to pick a more time consuming pattern to put on his pumpkin and didn't complain the whole time while he was doing his pumpkin. Ha!

Everyone brought yummy Halloween themed food.  We had everything from mummy dogs, pumpkin poo ( cheese balls), spider donuts, jack-o-lantern oranges, ghost string cheese, dirt pudding, caramel apples, rice crispy pumpkins, fun drinks, and a few more treats.

Eating our yummy Halloween dinner!

Jack-o-Lanterns at night:

Caty, Zack, and Austin

Bristol, Klayton and Chris

Derek, Connor and Nathan

Kambria and Mikayla

Such a fun night making memories with family.

Fall Break

We spent most of our Fall Break enjoying the outdoors. The weather was beautiful and there is just something so refreshing about being outside soaking in nature!

 Thursday we went hiking up at Osage Hills with some friends.

 

Katelyn enjoyed her freedom when she wasn't being carried. And Austin caught a frog.

We hiked to the river, ate lunch, and played at the playground. It was perfect!

Then we spent Friday and Saturday camping out at Natural Falls State Park with Jeff and Andrea's family, Brian and Angie's family, and my parents.

After getting our tents set up, we took the short hike to the dripping springs.

And during our hike we ran across some soccer friends from home.



After a game of Frisbee golf, we cooked foil dinners over the hot coals.

They tasted delicious.
And we ended our evening with s'mores over the campfire! Yummy!! 



The kids had fun spending time with their cousins. The girls spent most of their time at the playground area and the boys spend lots of time playing soccer or baseball at the open field.

Not the easiest environment for these babies but they did great and went along with the flow.

Playing together in one of the tents.

I wasn't sure how the kids would do sleeping overnight especially because it got pretty chilly into the low 40's overnight. But they did great (better than mom and dad)!

My parents made pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Plus they made hot chocolate which tasted so good and helped keep us warm during the morning chill. It was a fun weekend getaway!

OSU vs. Iowa State

 When a Saturday suddenly became free with no soccer or other commitments, Craig jumped on the opportunity to go to an OSU football game.

 They all headed to Stillwater plenty early to eat lunch, watch the parade,

and enjoy the pre-game atmosphere.

 There was lots of fun things set up for the kids to enjoy.

 And the boys enjoyed playing a little football themselves before the game started.

 Game time!

It was a exciting game towards the end and OSU pulled off the victory winning 38-31.

They had a great time and will definitely have to do it again next year!