Halloween Fun Part I

The kids hit the jackpot this year and got to go to a pumpkin patch twice- once with Daddy and then again with Mommy! It was awesome because there was so much to do. Hayrides, trampolines, barnyard baseball, football and basketball, barrel rides, candy cannon, apple cannon, duck races, human foosball, they did it all! Everyone had so much fun and just love this time of year.

Part I- WeekDay Fun with Daddy!

DOUBLE DIGITS!

Last week Addy celebrated her 10th birthday and joined the double digits club. The night before her birthday, she said to me, "I'm officially old now." I took the day off work and we had a wonderful day celebrating our special girl. We got to spoil and embarrass her as much as we could. She loved all of her gifts and all of the attention, and of course eating all of her favorite foods.
To celebrate a bit differently (because turning 10 IS A BIG DEAL), we took just Addy out to dinner and she got to pick the restaurant. It happened to be restaurant week so we went fancy and went for seafood. I honestly don't remember the last time it was just the 3 of us for dinner in a restaurant and a "party of 3" was dramatically different than our typical party of 4. Funny how when your little brother isn't there you are much more talkative...
There aren't words for how proud we are of our amazing, determined, passionate 10-year-old daughter. Happy Birthday Adelyn!

All The Things!

We were lucky that Scott and Wendy came to visit the same weekend that Brian and I had a wedding to go to, so the kids got a night with just G &G and we got a night out without having to get a babysitter. The kids of course loved having them all to themselves. They played all the games, showed off all of their tricks, told all their jokes and were their silly loud selves the entire time. They had a marathon game of dominos going and Grandma got a taste for how competitive her grandkids are (hmmm...wonder where they get that?) We are always happy to have Scott and Wendy visit and sad to see them go.

All Before 10 AM

There is never a dull moment for us on the weekend and last weekend Grandma and Grandpa got the chance to experience it with us. We were up and out the door early to go watch Cameron's hockey at 7 am on Saturday for an hour. We went straight from there to the kids first cross country meet of the year. It was raining but that didn't stop us. From there we decided to treat ourselves with a donut from Top Pot. We were home from all of that by 10 am and it already felt like we had a full day.

Grandma & Grandpa & Addy

What a busy month it's been! Last weekend Scott and Wendy came to visit and to celebrate Addy's (almost) 10 year old birthday! It was great, despite rain almost every day we didn't let that slow us down. Addy was very lucky and got to spend a whole day with just Grandma and Grandpa doing whatever she wanted. She choose to go to a movie and they took her shopping (and got a new outfit!) and out to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory. Sounded like a pretty fun day for a girl in the final weeks of her single digit years. She had a great time and in her words loved having a day "without her annoying brother." I actually think the feeling was mutual since Cameron got to watch another Star Wars movie with Brian. Talk about a win-win!

Girls Only!

Addy went on her 3rd girl scout camping trip last weekend. They lucked out with beautiful October weather and no rain. The girls are quite experienced campers now and it sounded like an amazing trip! They got to camp right by the water and Addy was one of 4 campers (there were 13!) who got to sleep in this special yurt by the water. They also went canoeing and did all of their own meal planning and cooking. I am so impressed with what these girls can do independently. Addy did all of her own packing and was responsible for all preparation for the trip. She earned a preparedness badge and the girls practiced what to do for various emergency situations - apparently including zombies as well! They obviously had a great time and I can't believe how much she's grown from her daisy days now becoming a junior.

Boys Only!

Addy was on a girl scout camping trip for the weekend so it ended up being a Boys Only kind of weekend. On Friday, Cameron had a friend over for a sleepover and they watched Star Wars and locked themselves in the boys only room. They also had fun playing with Cameron's new pitching machine that he got from a teacher at school.
On Saturday, Cameron was dying to watch more Star Wars so he an Brian watched Empire Strikes Back. He couldn't believe he got to watch movies two nights in a row. Then on Sunday, Brian's friend Kris came over to help chop down a tree and hang out for the day. Of course Cameron couldn't be left out so he was basically Brian's shadow following him everywhere (except when the chainsaw was out). The boys had a great weekend, I miss Addy & can't wait for her to come back!