Cambrie's Halloween Recital.

**Pause player before playing**

Victor Halloween Carnival!

The kids LOVE the Halloween Carnival. This year they had to head straight for the face painting station. Other big hits were the cake walk (Abby won a cake), Plinko, and fishing.


Batman playing Plinko.

Me and Jake-Man.

 Cambrie and Abby.

 Jakers.

Jason with Jake and Tater.

Halloween Cookies!

Sugar cookies are a big hit around this house, so we tend to decorate them for nearly every holiday. The kids were out of school Friday, so we rolled, cut and baked them, then on Saturday they decorated them.  There seems to be a lot more licking than decorating anyway. They were sure delicious though.
Jake, Cambrie and Tyler hard at work.

Jake, Cambrie, Abby & Tatum.  Loving every minute.

'Cleaning' the knife before changing colors.

Jake was really the most serious and concerned with the actual decorating part.  He is quite the artist.

Pumpkin Carving.

It wouldn't be Halloween without carving pumpkins. We were a little slow this year getting them, but of course when we went to pick them out, Jake had to have the biggest one he could find. The big joke was that Jake's was the biggest pumpkin with the smallest face.
Here they are all lit up. Tatum's is the one with the hearts. Even her top was shaped like a heart.

The kiddos and their works of art.

Jake's Preschool Halloween Parade!

Jake had a few costumes this year, and couldn't quite make up his mind what he wanted to be. So he switched in and out of them quite frequently and wore a different one to every event. His preschool had a Halloween Parade so they could each show off their costumes.
Jake is on the left. He is Optimus Prime from Transformers.

With the mask on.

Strutting his stuff.

Goodie bags from Miss Cathy.

Our Harvest!

The kids have been spending the last few nice days, digging up the remains of our garden. While I changed our mud room over for winter, they cleaned all the veggies for me. They really did an amazing job. I think I found some permanent helpers! Woo hoo.
{broccoli, rainbow carrots, regular carrots and onions}
We didn't wash the potatoes, just put them in buckets for later.

Brophy's Visit!

We were so glad to have the Brophy's visit for a long weekend.  We all had so much fun playing around on the rhino and the 4 wheeler.

Madison, Lyndsey, Heidi & Sean

Me & Heidi

 

 Sean & Heidi 

 Jake & Mason 

 Madison had her 13th Birthday while they were visiting.  The kids took her breakfast in bed. 

We all went to dinner at the Stonehouse in Victor.

The kids doing some after dinner yoga.

 

Birthday Cake!

Tater, Nat & Cambrie.

Camping Trip!

According to the forecast, this past weekend was supposed to be one of the last warm weekends around here, so we decided we better get one more camping trip in before it gets too cold.  A friend of Jason's told us about this great spot.  It was perfect.  The days were so beautiful and the fall colors were amazing. 

 

We took a long hike where we collected leaves, rocks, bugs, pine cones, pretty much anything they could carry.

Of course you have to have S'mores.  I had to take pictures because each of the kids had their own idea of what makes the perfect s'more. 

Jake only likes marshmallow & chocolate and although he loves roasting the mallows, he won't eat them roasted. 

 Cambrie too likes hers with only chocolate.  A half of a bar on each end if she gets her way.  She likes her marshmallow toasted to a golden brown, no black on it.

 Tatum likes hers CHARRED and MESSY.  In one hand she has the top half of the mallow sandwiched between some fudge stripe cookies.  The skewer still has the inside of the marshmallow with chocolate stuck to it.  She was in heaven.

The girls sitting around the campfire. 

Jake loved stompin around in Jason's boots.

The kids loved playing in the water even though it was FrEeZiNg!

The boys even caught a trout.  Jake loved reeling it in, but was not so sure about holding it for the picture.

They caught water skippers, then built a city for them complete with a mote.

I had to get a picture of this.  I let the kids pack their stuff with absolutely NO help.  They did great.  Although we did have about 4 big bags.  Jason and I only had one small bag between the two of us.  But anyway, once we got the camper put up, Cambrie made sure she got everything organized.  They even packed robes, slippers, kleenex and her alarm clock.  It was priceless.

Cambrie thought we needed to document me taking a sip of Jason's Pepsi.  She couldn't believe that I was actually drinking pop.