Halloween

Time to carve the pumpkins! The kids drew on the pumpkins and Chad and I carved them and gutted them. I couldn't believe that neither one of them wanted to put their hand inside the pumpkin and pull out the guts. That is one of the funniest parts of the whole experience. Maybe next year.

This year Kristi went as a beautiful queen and Brandon an adorable vampire.

Halloween decorations outside.

Trick or Treat Grandma and Papa!

Okay - let's go get some candy!

Kristi was ready to go out and conquer the block. Brandon on the other hand was just fine with the cul-de-sac. So, Brandon stayed with my parents while we took Kristi around the block.

Snow, snow and more snow!

It was so exciting to wake up Wednesday morning and see the heavy snowfall. Kristi's Ballet/Tap class and school was cancelled for the week. Her school was suppose to have their Halloween Parade and party for the kids Thursday - so Kristi was pretty disappointed that it had been cancelled. But to make the most of it, we spent a lot of our time outside playing in the snow.

Cold snowy mornings = Staying in warm cozy beds!

Pumpkin Patch

The weekend before Halloween, we took the kids out to Chatfield's Pumpkin Patch to get the pumpkins, do their corn maze and have some fun. Well, much to our disappointment we were informed that the pumpkins were all rotten from the freezing night temperatures during the past week. Also, the corn maze was all squashed down from the weight of past snow falls, so it wasn't really a maze anymore. So, we decided to walk around and see what else there was to do. Kristi and I got our face painted, we had some fresh squeezed lemonade, went on a mini nature walk and played in a tree fort.

Kristi's First Day of Preschool

Today was Kristi's first day of preschool and she did excellent. Last year she was in the "yellow room" (pre-preschool) and now she is in "green room" (preschool). There are some kids from last year in there with her which made the transition a lot easier.

This is the "green room."

Kristi playing on the indoor playground and going down the slide.

Ellie (one of her friends from "yellow room") and Kristi - What a look Kristi!

Kid's new rooms

This past month we have moved Kristi and Brandon's rooms. Kristi moved into the old office and Brandon moved into Kristi's old room. Now Kristi has plenty of room for all of her toys/dress up clothes and Brandon now has enough room for a big bed when he is ready. We did switch his crib to the crib/toddler bed and he is doing excellent.

Here are some pictures of their new rooms I painted.

Kristi's new room:




Brandon's new room:

This year our Fourth of July was full of fun. We started our day off with a trip to the Renaissance Festival. The kids really enjoyed themselves and Kristi was in her element. She was a real fairy princess for a day. Here are some pictures and videos of our adventure.

This fairy gave Kristi a friendship necklace. Kristi was so excited.

This fairy gave Kristi a friendship rock with magical fairy dust.

Arrrrrr! It's Pirate Jack Sparrow!

I actually did pretty well throwing knives - so beware! ;)

Kristi and Chad went on the Elephant ride. The elephants looked miserable - poor things.

The joust!



Kirsti and about twenty other girls were in a princess contest.

Later that day we made our way over to Nana's house (Chad's grandma) for dinner and fireworks.

Cousin Jordin and Kristi.