November 11

Overnight, the beautiful leaves on our pretty trees fell, so I raked a few up and decided to try to get a few pictures. None of them turned our very good though. Oh well. They had fun jumping and kicking them around. 

November 10

Grayson likes to take my phone away and just start taking pictures of anything and everything. Lately, he's been snapping pics of himself! 

November 9

Our neighbors went out of town today for the week and we inherited a dog, a cat, and a fish to watch over! The boys are super excited to have Abby hanging out with us. The cat does his own thing, and they have decided they aren't too thrilled with boring fish. But, a dog is a different story! They begged all morning to take her to the park with them. 

We didn't have time to go to the park because we went to cheer on Matt, the guy that currently lives with us, in his first full marathon. The boys were so disappointed that Abby couldn't be walked to the park this morning, that we loaded her up in the car and took her to the race. She was well taken care of there.   

Through a lot of pain, he did it! 

November 8

With our big surprise trip coming up soon, we thought it would be best if we tried to introduce a few more characters and stories they may come into contact with while there. Our neighbors were generous enough to lend us a laundry basket full of Disney movies. Yes, lots are VHS, but we still have a TV/VCR combo that is perfect for them to watch on. 

November 5

Tonight was a big night for Adam, the coach's training for the upcoming Upward season. I went to help decorate and with anything else that was needed at the last minute. He did a great job and had a good turnout. It was a great night to encourage and get the coaches pumped up for a great season. It's not easy running a program with 650 basketball players and cheerleaders, over 100 coaches, and countless volunteers, but Adam is heading into his second season in charge with a fresh excitement!

November 4

Today's Monday outing with Mommy was to the Johnson County Museum. I had never taken the boys there before and we needed to get out of the house. They have a little mock community that the boys enjoyed playing in for a little while. We had a fun morning and burned some energy!

November 2

Today was so full of errands. First was to Home Depot, where we realized that they were doing a kids activity. The boys have never done these before and were so excited to participate in their first one to make a sail boat. 

They each got an apron and a pin to wear back each month during the kids project days

A couple of hours later, we finally left with more stuff for the basement

Then, we headed to Sams for lunch and more shopping. I think it's time to go home now! We are out of room and have spent so much money!

November 1

Tonight we had more trick-or-treating to do. We always go to Gigi and Bill's house, but didn't make it last night, so we dressed up again and went tonight. But, we didn't leave home before we got a good sword fight in!

The boys had already been to the zoo this afternoon, so fell asleep on the way to Gigi's house

Once there, they perked up with their treats!

One of their new favorites were these pumpkin lights. 

October 31

The boys had parties and a parade at school today and are ready for a night of fun at home

We decided to order a jack-o-lantern pizza for quick dinner before we headed out around the neighborhood 

The pirates are ready. I worked really hard to make their wagon into a pirate ship, but it never sailed. It was going to be more trouble than it was worth to pull it around with the high possibility of the sail falling over or the sides falling off. So, it stayed parked at the dock and the pirates had to walk. 

Matt dressed up as a nerd and ran around with us for a little while

The slew of neighbors that gathered to trick-or-treat together

Their first house

These pirates had a great time and will be going to be on a tummy full of sugar!

October 30

The sheetrock is up! It's starting to really come together

Adam challenged the kids to bring in items for Operation Christmas Child for a few weeks on Wednesday nights. Grayson was the first 4 yr old to bring in things. He was so excited to go shopping for a few things! I love his giving spirit

October 29

Someone was complaining of being cold- so he got to sit by the oven while I made muffins!

October 28

The weather was beautiful today, so I took the boys to the zoo. I decided to forego the big stroller and try the umbrella stroller and backpack. NOT a good idea today! No one wanted to walk all day, so I had to carry and push these two a very long way! 

The big thing we wanted to see today was the new penguin exhibit

It was actually pretty good!

And, we had to see the sea lion show (Grayson still thinks it might be like the one at Sea World)

The zoo is so pretty in the fall