fall into fun

It's time for another pictorial update. Here's what's been happening at our house for the past week and a half:

Oct. 18th, Em and Ben had a blast playing in the leaves (Nick was at a friend's):

After taking a few photos, I got in on the act, too!: Oct. 19th... Guess who's learned how to use scissors?:
Oct. 20th, some more of our fall decor... new salt and pepper shakers that I bought through Em's school's fall fundraiser:
and a tea set that I've had for about 13 years now: Oct. 21st, our silly bird, Tucker:
Oct. 22nd, more of our kitchen cupboard project. It's going slow, but I think it will end up looking much better than it did!:
Oct. 23rd, Em's costume coordinates with her room, LOL:
Oct. 24th, we went to Nick's school's Halloween Spooktacular that evening. Here is Nick the narwhal with his BFF:

Oct. 25th, as George finishes this step of the cupboard project, he puts the doors back up. We were going to start painting them on Saturday (with epoxy paint to go over the laminate in the middle), but it was much too windy outside:

Oct. 26th, when Em came home from a sleepover at a friend's, we discovered that her friend had cut about 10 inches off her hair! The friend also gave her a makeup and clothing makeover. Help, someone ran off with my little girl and left this young woman in her place!: Oct. 27th, Ben made this pumpkin in his Playschool class:
and in the afternoon, I stood in line for 2 hours to vote early (thank goodness I was able to leave Ben at home, napping, with Em):
Oct. 28th, a few of the Halloween cards we've received in the mail:

apples, fall colors, and more...

Here are some of the things we've been up to lately....

Oct. 7th, Ben resting on the stairs with his 3 constant companions, HopHop, Blankie, and Cuppy:
Oct. 8th, a few of our Halloween decorations that we put out:

Oct. 9th, a jack-o-lantern that I made for a contest on Scrapbook Friends:
Oct. 10th, Ben and I walked to the gym and enjoyed all the pretty fall leaves along the way:
Oct. 11th, the five of us headed up to Royal Oaks Orchard to pick apples. Our favorites are the Empire apples:
Many of the apples had already been picked off the lower branches, so George and Emmalie teamed up to get the ones that were higher:
Mmmm... apples!:

When we'd picked our bagful, we then enjoyed the rest of the orchard... the petting zoo:

and the playground:

We also had some yummy apple cider donuts and apple cider slushies for a snack! On our way home, we stopped at Marengo Ridge for a hike in the woods. The colors were beautiful!:


Oct. 12th, this candy was calling my name at the grocery store so I HAD to buy it (don't ask how much is left only a week later!): Oct. 13th, just a shot of all our pumpkins:
Oct. 14th, Nick made this skeleton for a school project. It was a kind of book report, with the characters' names, the problem, and solution written on the bones:
Oct. 15th, our locust tree lost most of its leaves in about one day! (I think they are all off now!):
Oct. 16th, some fall color in the backyard: Oct. 17th, at nap time, Ben told me he wasn't sleepy and kept getting out of his bed (but still stayed in his room, at least). Later, Nick found him like this, halfway out of their bedroom door at the top of the stairs, LOL! He slept like this for about 2-1/2 hours!:

october fun

It's only the 6th of October, but we've already packed a bunch of fun into the month! :)

Oct. 1st, time to get out all the fall and Halloween decorations!: Oct. 2nd, we received the fantastic costumes that my sister Christine made for the kids this year! Ben is going to be a shark (he was napping when I was snapping pictures):
Nick will be a narwhal: And Em is going to be a sea serpent ~ just look at ALL those sequins Christine sewed on! (And that's just the head!):
Oct. 3rd, we painted some pumpkins for the Pumpkin Decorating Contest at Pumpkinfest:

Ben calls his the Cool Colorful pumpkin :) :
Nick made a raccoon pumpkin: Em made a mummy:
And I made a bat:That evening, Em went to her first school dance. I forgot to take her picture beforehand, but did get this one afterwards ~ she had lots of fun!:
Oct. 4th, Pumpkinfest! Yay! The day started with the Kiddie Run. Nick's group ran first ~ they ran approximately 1 mile. There were quite a few people who made it to the finish line before him, but they were almost all girls, so he still won 3rd place for the boys! (It was his third time winning the bronze medal.):

Some other groups ran after that, and then it was finally time for the 3 and 4-year-olds to race. Ben kept telling us, "Me fastest person in the world!" LOL! Despite his enthusiasm, he came in almost dead last. They ran about 1/4 of a mile, and he got tired. Still, he was doing pretty well until he was ALMOST to the finish line and just stopped. He stood there on the path and watched a bunch of kids pass him before he decided to go on, LOL. Here he is at the starting line, #231:
And here he is, running next to Emmalie (in the pink) ~ she ran with him to help motivate him and keep him company: We got lunch from the concession stand, and then it was time for the Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest! Em and Nick always do well at that... usually winning... but they've always been in different age groups before. This year they competed against each other in the 9-12 age group. We all thought Em would probably win, but Nick gulped his down in one bite, I think, and won 1st place!:
Em ended up with 3rd place, claiming that her pie crust was stuck to the plate. (I couldn't get a better picture of her because I was holding her hair back for her.)
I participated in the adult contest... I didn't come close to winning, but it was still fun... and yummy! Em took this photo after the contest, when it was okay for me to use my hands to finish it. (Just a *bit* of whipped cream on my face!):

The boys each got a free pumpkin for being in the Kiddie Run, so they took those into the barn and got to paint them, sprinkle glitter on them, etc.:
Nick was nice and let Emmalie help paint his:
We walked around the park, looking at all the pumpkins/gourds/etc. that were for sale:



and then went to the petting zoo:

When we finally managed to drag N away from there (I think he would've been happy to spend the day there!), the kids jumped in the Moonwalk:
and then the boys tried out some tractors:
By then, Benjamin was getting pretty cranky, so George took him home for a nap. Em and Nick tried the Pumpkin Launch for the first time, and had fun using a slingshot to send mini pumpkins across a field:

We watched a juggling act and then went to the spelling bee. E decided to enter for her age group, and she ended up winning! She got a $25 gift certificate from Barnes & Noble for that:
After that, it was time for them to announce the winners of the Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Ben won 3rd place (out of 3, LOL), and received a small toy and 4 passes to the indoor pool! Em won 2nd place (out of 4) for her age group and won some candy and $15 to be used at the park district!

I felt bad for Nick because he was in that same group and didn't win anything. :( I won 1st place in the adult group... out of 1 entry, LOL. (I really don't know why more people don't enter.) I received a one-month pass to the indoor pool! And then, the really cool part... Em's pumpkin won "Pick of the Patch" ~ she won a huge purple ribbon and $50! (Some of you might remember that I won that last year.) She was SO surprised and excited!
Next it was Penny in a Haystack... both kids ended up finding over $1.50 in small change (mostly pennies), plus lots of candy, too!:

Pumpkinfest is always so much fun!

Oct. 5th, we had a quieter day... just church and doing things around the house. I made us all some yummy pumpkin soup for lunch:
Oct. 6th, today Ben had his ABC Playschool class again. He did not participate at all last week, but luckily he did today. He colored this cow picture, and then glued some cotton ball fur and green yarn grass onto it:
Too cute! :)