A kid after my own heart

I had to take a picture of Gray reading the toy ads on Sunday. I remember looking through the ads when I was a kid, but the best was when my mom picked up the Sears catalog!! Talk about Exciting!!

Halloween

Ready for the neighborhood parade & trick or treating

Our neighborhood has a little parade so the kids can show off their costumes before trick or treating

The parade ends at the park

Counting & categorizing their loot!! I had to make sure that the kids didn't eat all the snickers or peanut m&m's.

Carving Pumpkins

The kids did great carving their own pumpkins this year. Derek & I helped cut the tops off & scrape out the "guts", but the kids carved the pumpkins themselves.



Ghost in a cauldon, by Grayson--Being Creative, by Lindsey--Harry Potter, by Abby
Even though this picture was an oops, I still think it looks awesome of all our jack-o-lanters.

Lego Discovery Center

After several days of rain we decided Saturday that we needed to find a fun indoor activity. We surprised the kids with a trip to the Lego Discovery Center. It was so cool, we loved all of the different animals, people & movie characters made out of legos. Starry Night in Legos
Getting ready for the 4-D movie
Darth Vador was totally cool.
Grayson was excited about Harry Potter, because he has been reading the series.
The Wrigley Building in Chicago

Abby lost a tooth

Cute little Abby has been wiggling her front tooth for a couple of days.
Derek & I had both tried to pull her tooth out earlier in the week, but that only resulted in pain. I think she lost her trust in us, because she insisted on pulling her tooth out by herself.
She did it!! She was so proud of herself & has really loved the attention of not having a front tooth. What a cutie.

Pumpkin Pickin'

We took the kids pumpkin picking today. When we left our house it was an okay day, around 50 degrees so we had the kids put on sweatshirts & away we went. When we got to the farm it was FREEZING. Oh my goodness it was sooooo cold. The car said it was 36 degrees. I looked around & all the other moms have bundled their kids up in coats, gloves & hats. Nope, not this mom, my kids are in sweatshirts...I guess I'm not winning mom of the year this year. Oh well, we are here let's go get some pumpkins. As we sit on the tractor pulled wagon headed out to the pumpkin patch the wind blowing in our faces I realize it has rained everyday here for about a week. Oh yes MUD & not just a little mud, so much mud that the wagon is slipping & sliding & is about to jack knife into the wagon in front of us. Luckily we arrive safe, & all is well. And then we go to get off of the wagon & there are huge puddles of muddy water, nothing but mud & pumpkins as far as the eyes can see. Well what are you going to do, you have driven your family all the way out to this farm, you have braved the freezing temperature, now it's time to get muddy!! Little Lindsey had so much mud on the bottoms of her shoes that she looked a few inches taller. As we trudged through this muddy patch looking for pumpkins we learned that the first pumpkin crop got flooded out this year & the reason why most of the pumpkins are green is because they had to replant & this field is a few weeks away from being ripe. Okay, we are going to persevere & we are going to find ourselves some orange pumpkins. As we looked, we saw green ones, rotten ones, huge ones, white ones & in the end we only found 1 pumpkin that would work. As we ride the wagon back to the farm Derek & I look at each other & he says, "You know they do sell pumpkins at Jewel-Osco,(our version of Albertson's) & it's only a mile from our house. But you know it's all about creating memories.

Da Bears

Last weekend our neighbor Mike invited Derek to the Bears, Lions game. Oh man, Derek was so excited. Derek called me while they were tailgating & said he was having the best time ever & that was before the game had even started.

Derek loved every minute of the game & their seats were amazing. GO BEARS!!