Halloween fun!!!!

The boys had so much fun on Halloween. We had a great day! The boys have half days of school on Fridays which is fun in itself but John worked from home that day since he had been out of town all week (in Nebraska). We carved our pumpkins ("we" is used very loosely). Both boys had a pumpkin and we even had one for Storm!Before heading out Trick or Treating we had dinner with our next door neighbors. Jennifer was nice enough to make a big pot of yummy chili and we all sat outside and ate.

The dad's took the kids around and the mom's stayed back to hand out candy. Walker and Michael were both dressed up as some Special Ops Ninja guys. You couldn't really tell what they were but as long as it had something to do with military they were good. The boys wanted to use pillow cases this year to collect their candy b/c that is what the older boys across the year used last year. They were also determined to make it through the whole neighborhood. They didn't make it the whole way through but came home with a ton of candy!! As soon as they got home the sorting commenced....I sort with Walker and John sorts with Michael. We each have our own way (I'm quite certain mine is the right way)! :) I'm sure I will end up throwing most of the candy out right up until about September like I did this year!

On Sunday we went to Uncle Shucks Corn Maze. This is the third year we have gone there. I'm putting a picture on from the first year we went and one from this year of them standing in front of the "How Tall This Fall?" sign, it's amazing how much they've grown!
It was a lot of fun because for the first time we actually went through the maze for more than 20 minutes without the kids being over it. There are 12 checkpoints that you are supposed to find as you are going through the maze and at each one you punch a hole in the maze map card. We actually made it to all 12 checkpoints! The boys were really into it and a lot had fun! We also found out what a great map reader John is! Michael was funny b/c he always wanted to be in the lead.
After we went through the maze the boys got to take some shots on the corn cannon. It's really cool, the cannon shoots corn cobs out across the field at targets. This year on one of the targets there was a poster for the new movie Bolt that is coming out this month and if you hit it you could win tickets to see it. John nailed it and the boys were so excited until we got the tickets and realized it was for a Thursday night (we already have plans) sneak preview near Perimeter (too far to drive for school night). We told them we would still take them to see it when it comes out.

This has been a really fun fall......I love this time of year!

Polo Match

Today we went to a fund raising event for The Lighthouse. That is the ministry that we went to Florida this summer and volunteered with. They had a polo match and a petting zoo. The weather was beautiful, it was a nice day. Here are a couple of pics of the kids with some animals. The one of the raccoon is of my friend Heath and her raccoon Rocky. Heath's family owns the farm where the event was held.
This is what we saw flying above our house this evening as we were outside playing.....pretty cool! He was even doing tricks.......2 more showed up but we didn't get pics of those.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today was John's birthday and we had fun celebrating tonight after he got home from work! He wanted homemade waffles for dinner so that's what we had, then presents and yummy ice cream cake. Happy Birthday to the BEST husband and daddy ever! We love you!

Michael's 5th Birthday!!

Michael turned 5 a week and a half ago!!! I still can't believe he is that old....it goes too fast. We had a very busy day starting with his baseball game where he got his first hit off the pitcher (see video below) and got the game ball!! He was so excited and proud of himself! His GG came in town that afternoon and they made a cake together. She makes a cake with the boys every year on their birthdays and is so good about letting them call the shots......which is apparent judging by the final product! GG said this was the tallest cake she has done. Michael was very specific about having 5 layers and what colors they needed to be and of course it wasn't complete until it had army parafinailia all over it! My Dad and Sybil came over to join us for dinner. Michael picked Applebee's for the cool speaker boxes they have on the table so you can tune into any TV you want (we wouldn't want to go anywhere actually for the food at this age right?)! Then it was back to the house for some presents. He got a Nerf gun that he had been wanting from Paw Paw and Ms. Sybil and the promise to go to Target with GG the next day to pick out what he wanted.....it turned out to be another Nerf gun. I'm not sure who had the most fun playing with the guns John or the boys!! I do love watching them all play together....it makes my heart full! I will say it is funny how there was a day when I thought that I didn't want the boys playing with toy guns and everyone always said "just wait, they're boys". Well, I can't even tell you how many weapons are in the stash around here. We are well equipped to defend ourselves against any pretend bad guys that come our way!! So, back to the birthday events. Michael had a fun weekend. We are having his party 2 weeks after his birthday b/c the place we are having it was booked until then. It's always more fun to drag it out anyway! He got to see Grandma after school last Friday and she took him to Toys R Us to pick something out and to lunch! He's a very blessed little boy to have so many people around who love him.

Let's play catch up!

So, Michael had his first Baseball game on Saturday and loved it! He was so adorable in his uniform. The game was tied b/c each team is only allowed 4 runs per inning and at this age and skill level it is a rare thing for getting anyone out on a play! John is the head coach for his team which also means he is the pitcher....talk about pressure! Oh, the name of the team is the Yellow Jackets so you know they are good! They are having a good time together which brings me to my next bit to share.......

On Sunday John and Michael hung out for hours making a wooden airplane together. I'm not talking about something they bought at the store and put together.....no, they took pieces of scrap wood and actually made an airplane! This was just one of those things that just makes me want to cry because I know how much it meant to Michael to have so much one on one Daddy time! There is no one in this world that Michael would rather spend time with than his Daddy. He is so proud of this airplane and I know that it will be something that he will have to show his kids one day! They haven't painted it yet but when they do I'll put a picture of it up. The paper plane in the picture that Michael made was the inspiration for the project.

Lastly......as Project Plane was taking place, Walker was busy hanging out with his friend (and neighbor) Hollis. They both just joined the Cub Scouts and are so excited about it that they put on their uniforms and played all afternoon in them. Don't they look cute!

Micael's Bike Riding Debut!

I totally meant to put this up last week.....especially for the Grandparents! Michael has learned to ride his bike without his training wheels and he is so excited about it! Daddy was the one who really worked with him and did a great job. I was told that I wasn't as good as Daddy (probably my lack of patience as I killed myself pushing him around on his bike while he barely pedaled)! I told him that it wasn't a free ride and then Daddy took over. John made it a lot more fun by turning it into a game and seeing how long he could go without help. In the beginning it wasn't very long but he has now made it up to 155 seconds which doesn't sound like a lot, but to him it was an eternity! Seriously, seeing his cute little face all lit up and how proud he was of himself was awesome! Go Michael!