Pumpkins, Costumes & Everything in Between

The last week and half have been a bit of a whirlwind around here. But I am determined to post about it so your getting a bit of random post with lots of pictures. Buckle up your seat belts, and relax for the trip, it's a lengthy one!

This is possibly Bethany's last year to visit the pumpkin farm on the annual school field trip. She's gone to this one since she was in kindergarten and is now a fifth grader. It was kind of a bittersweet day.

A run through the corn maze!

She even stood still long enough for me to get this picture.

And got one final chance to go up front to play the instruments.

I'm in love with this picture! Elisha said I should use it for her 8th grade slide show. (The kids' school does a special slide show for its graduates.)

But I do like this picture too!

Worms!

Shifting gears....

Costume Sunday left us still waiting for a key piece of Elisha's costume to arrive from ebay so he went as a duck hunter instead. Can you guess what he was really going to be?

This is the best picture of my baby in her costume!

Did you guess yet? Here's a hint: There's this tv show that has duck hunters on it...

Sports team day at school.

Crazy Hair day pics...

Elisha's lizard didn't really turn out the way we wanted it to, but it still looked pretty good!

Good enough to pull off a win!

Yohn got into it too!

Some more favorite people!

Bethany's hair at the end of the day.

Now we're taking a detour...

Did you know I had triplets?

Two sets apparently!

And yes, they both won again, along with their friends.

Costume Day and cake contest entries...

Haystack cake with sheep, chicken and bull cupcakes.

Wolf cake

Did you figure his costume out yet? :)

My Superman fan!

Taking the exit now...

The original trick or treating crew...

Giraffe, Supergirl, Uncle Si (Duck Dynasty) and Zombie Surgeon

See how the crowd grew. We started out with four and ended up with seven kids and three adults.

Visiting everyone's favorite preschool teacher. And yes, all but two of them had her in preschool and the ones that didn't love her still because there's just so much to love about her. Last month marked her 40th year working at our school and she's still going strong and loving the little ones!

Free Krispie Kreme donuts!

We were definitely packed in... and this is before I joined in the back seat! We had so much fun even being squished and the kids, though very hyper, were pretty good. We wanted to do free IHOP pancakes too but just didn't have the time. Ah well, there's always free pancake day in February! (And no Bethany is not pouting even though it may look like it, she was trying, as she put it, "to show off her giraffe smile".

Did you make it to the end of our journey?

Practice

The kids have a test coming up in band this week. 

When the weather is nice, I have them practice outside.

This way they can practice long and hard and not hurt this mama's ears. 

This day I snuck outside and took a few pictures before she noticed.

Then hopped up on the table to take a few more.

Diamond thought this gave her liberty to do the same.

And when I told her to get down she hopped up on the trampoline instead!

Keep practicing Baby Girl! You're doing great!

Every Day

Every day he does this... well, nearly every day.

Jumping up and down on the trampoline.

Here I think he dreams of the future. He's gonna be an NBA superstar, don't ya know?

He dribbles and jams and hoops and plays.

I heard him out there today and grabbed my camera cuz' someday it won't be that way. He'll be all grown up and gone and possibly dreaming of the carefree days when he just jumped.

Bulls Hockey

Last Saturday (gasp! I'm blogging about something semi-recent!), we received free tickets to the San Francisco Bulls hockey game. Someone at our church had a bunch of them and they so nicely shared with us! The kids had just recently been asking when they'd get to ride Bart again so we obliged them for this trip, and there was all sorts of entertainment to be had while waiting for the train.

Like playing with the phone, until they accidentally dialed a number and then panicked when it asked for money. LOL! It's funny to even see a pay phone, but even funnier when they thought they had done something wrong.

Or how about going down the escalator the wrong direction. Yes, I actually encouraged them to do this. Then I got all freaked out and had to drag them off again when they started getting too rowdy and I was afraid someone was going to end up knocking someone else down. The corners on those steps are sharp!

Still waiting for the train... you can sort of see the track it would be coming down in the background.

Inside the train they were all smiles and giggles. So much so that they kept hopping seats. As more and more people got on they got a little quieter and more reserved. They were still lovin' the experience until a drunk man stepped on and started singing. Then they kept looking at us to see if all was okay. Crazy man! Who would want to go out in public like that anyway?

Then we had to take a bus. My kiddos don't normally do these things so for them it was an adventure!

Then we finally arrived at Cow Palace! I know you can't see the name on the stadium, but it's there, trust me. We got there too late to watch the beginning of the game because we left a wee bit late from our house (about 30 minutes later than we should have!), but we still had a great time!

I am quite certain this was their favorite part of the night! See them? Jewell's in the middle in bright pink, Elisha to the right of her in the blue shirt and Bethany next to him. I'm hidden behind the teen who kept popping up every time they were on the Jumbotron making these pictures near impossible. But hey, she was excited too. Yohn's at the end, sitting down with his hat on. 

It was a pre-season game, so not too crowded in the stadium, and the kids and the teen group we were with screamed and hollered and danced and cheered all night long to get on the big screen. They probably got to see themselves four or five times throughout the course of the night.

Bethany commandeered the camera for a little bit.

Everybody loved the Bulls mascot, Rawhide, especially when he came around for high fives and dancing!

On the way back we had to run to catch our bus because we were standing at the wrong stop. Oops! We're not used to buses! LOL!

The kids liked standing on the Bart, that is until it got crammed full two stops later, then we made them sit before there were no seats!

Elisha and Bethany have decided they would rather drive the next time we go to a game, but Yohn liked not driving or having to worry about traffic, so I'm sure Daddy will win that argument.

VBS

Hmmm... Maybe I should have titled this post something other than VBS because really this is post only shows the last day of it, the day the kids really look forward to. They love each day of this VBS that they have gone to since they were little, but Friday is always the day they break out the water slide!

A little plastic, a few tarps, some wood and creative talent, and you have a home made water slide.

Elisha and one of his best friends, T. Sadly this was Elisha's last year at this VBS. As on next year he will officially be "too old."

For some reason I got better pics of Elisha. Not because I wasn't trying to get more pics of Bethany, but because she was either in constant motion or always had someone walk in front of the camera when I was focused on her.

So much fun, so sad to see it end. One more year for Bethany and then she's officially "too old" too. :0(

Bike/Walk A Thon

Me again! It's been a few weeks, I know, and I am still posting about summer. AND it's now October. *SIGH* At this rate, you'll come around in March and I'll just be getting to Christmas. Yeesh! Ah well, I still like to look at the pictures and remember these days. So I guess I'm gonna continue to share them.

Each year before Kid's Camp we hold a Bike/Walk a Thon as a fundraiser for the kiddos who are going. The turn out is usually low, but for the kids who need it, it helps. AND, they usually have fun doing it!

See the littler girl in the pics? She lost her momma the Saturday after we came back from camp. This was the last day I had a chance to visit with her mom. It's crazy how time just keeps marching forward like it does. She's only eight years old. Thankfully she has started to attend the Christian school I work at, so we have been able to love on her a lot, and show her daddy the support he needs as he raises her and her sister. Please keep them in your prayers if you think of them.

Bethany enjoyed riding her bike, but still convinced her daddy to walk a lap with her as well. I think she enjoyed the little bit of time she had him all to herself! :)

Afterwards, we hung out in the shade on our blanket. The kiddos were tired and just wanted to lie around and talk for a bit. Works for me since we do not have air conditioning and it was somewhere in the 90's by the time the A Thon was over.