The Great Pumpkin

One of our most favorite Fall traditions is heading out to the very best Pumpkin Patch ever.  We spend a good couple of hours out in the fields hunting for the very best pumpkins.  Many a pumpkin are turned over and around and around to determine their worthiness for being taken home.  This was the weekend for that tradition - and it did not disappoint. 

 

First up though - family game night.  We love playing games and enjoy spending some good quality family time engrossed in games.  A super fun one is called The Scrambled States of America. 

 

Next up - Soccer.  We're most of the way through our season and have enjoyed it very much.  My game was first up on Saturday.  Remember I'm wearing orange shoes and this time I have a dark blue jacket on.  I've been playing defender this season and I'm feeling really good about this position.  I'm pretty darn good at it.

 

The team we played against was really good - they beat us 2 to 1. 

 

Sam's game was next and as usual, he did really well.  The team they played against had a ringer on it and that team scored lots and lots of goals.  Good thing they don't keep score at this age.  Sam has the gray jacket on with black shoes.

 

Here he is going after the ball.

 

Finally - it was time to head to the Pumpkin Patch.  We grabbed some wagons/carts and headed out.  Uncle Noley, Aunt Christy, and Grandpa and Grandma L. joined us this year.

 

Here's Sam inspecting the first pumpkin of the year.

 

 Here I am giving a couple of pumpkins a thorough once-over. 

 

This particular patch has so so many different varieties of pumpkins to choose from - it's one of the things we love most about this patch.

 

We always take some time to take family pictures amongst the fall colors, blue skies, pumpkins, and corn stalks.

 

Here we are hiding in the corn stalks.  Mmmm, how we wish summer corn was still available - that's another one of our favorite things!

 

Here's a good picture of most of us. 

 

And a picture of our little family with Grandpa and Grandma.

 

Here we are with dad and the tractor. 

 

And another good picture of just us boys.

 

This is probably the best Mason/Sam picture of the bunch.

 

And finally, one last picture of the whole group.  It was a great day!

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everybody - Sam here.  I learned how to do cartwheels recently.  Here I am demonstrating this great feat.

 

And here is a perfect "jumping picture" of me at the pumpkin patch.  Check out that height!

 

We each chose a pumpkin to bring home.  More pumpkin fun to follow in a few weeks when the knives come out along with the pumpkin guts.

 

And finally - just another cute picture of me doing some thinking and pondering.  It's hard to choose just the right pumpkin.  This tall one was definitely a good one.  You'll have to wait to see which one I brought home when we do our carving.

 

Sam out - have a great week!

Lots of Time Outside

 Dad and mom always tell us how much time they spent playing outside as kids.  It's a different world these days and we don't always spend as much time outside as we probably should.  But this week . . . we tore it up outside - - all week long.

 

First up - we had a little Family Night time and spent it mini golfing.  Ah - what fun!  We played the Haunted House course at our favorite place. 

 

There were a few hole-in-ones scored. 

 

And lots of fun had by all!

 

 It was a great warm fall night.  We loved it!

 

And here we are hanging with mom. 

 

After some yard work one night, we had some fun playing dodge ball.  We've been playing that a lot at school lately and it is our new favorite thing.

 

When we weren't outside playing this week, we did some reading.  Sam is doing so well in school this year and is becoming quite the great reader.  He's aced every single one of his spelling tests so far too.  Here he is reading with dad before bed one night.

 

And this is me - pretty much any and every night.  A head lamp on and a book in my hands. 

 

Another night this week, dad had a late class.  So mom took us over to Gardner Village to see the witches.  It's one of our favorite Halloween traditions.  Here we are with the fire witch.

 

And the fishing witch - she fishes with dynamite instead of a fishing pole.

 

This witch was in charge of a herd of frogs.

 

And this witch had a herd of little monsters she was carting around.

 

This witch was barbecuing up some hot dogs. 

 

This witch was just sitting for a spell.

 

And this witch was taking care of business. 

 

After we finished the witch scavenger hunt, we got to go for a pony ride around the village.  We waved to all the girls and had so much fun.  After the horses we had some yummy dinner and headed for home.

 

Soccer is going strong.  I love playing defense and am pretty darn good at it. 

 

Mom got to come to my game this week (my game was at the same exact time as Sam's - again).  So you get to see lots of pictures of me in action.  Hint - I'm wearing lot black sweat pants with my orange soccer cleats. 

 

I'm always moving - and I always have my eyes on the ball.

 

Playing hard.  Running hard.

 

Mason - the defender!

 

I'm still not afraid to get in there after the ball.

 

And dad did good and took more than one picture of Sam at his game this week.  Sam played hard and had lots of fun!

 

He even scored another goal this week.  Here he comes after that goal.  Yay Sam!

 

After soccer games and some time spent on yard work, we headed up to Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy's cabin.  What a perfect cabin weekend!  They had had a couple of small snowstorms already and there was patches of snow left.

 

Snow, of course, means snowball fights.  That was probably our most favorite part of a great weekend. 

 

And then dad plays the "I'm taller than you" card and head dunks me in to the snow pile. 

 

We had some fun inside the cabin too - reading, playing games, just hanging out!

 

Here we are monitoring the fire - this is our great grandparent's old stove.  It was fun to keep the fire going.

 

We helped with a little cleaning and getting the cabin ready to button up for the winter.

 

We love doing some cooking at the cabin too.  Here I am making some scrambled eggs.

 

I was also in charge of making some whipped cream while Sam made the waffles.

 

Here's Sam guarding his ketchup - can't eat eggs without a little ketchup and a lot of tabasco sauce, according to Sam . . . and dad.

 

After Sunday breakfast we headed back out for another snowball fight.  This was a good one! 

 

Double fisted snowballs.

 

And a perfect nature-made snow fort for us to use in that snowball fight. 

 

Isn't it funny how some patches of snow melt and others stay around. 

 

Here I am - - - I'm hit, I'm hit.  I even created a "hospital" for snowball injuries.  You only had to go sit at the hospital for about 5 seconds before you could be back in the fight. 

 

Here's Sam up on the deck holding his ground.  It's easier to thrown downward - with gravity. 

 

In this picture you can see the advantage of being up on the deck.  Dad, Uncle Noley, and Grandma L. were good snowball fighters!

 

Here we are just hanging with dad.  Cabin time is relaxing time too.

 

Isn't this a great "jumping" picture of me?  Look at those inches off the ground.

 

Here is our three generation picture - Grandpa L., Uncle Noley and daddy, and me and Sam. 

 

And here we are with Grandpa and Grandma L.  It was fun to have them come up for the day.

 

We took a short walk down to the main road to turn off the water for the season. 

What a great week!!!

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone.  Mom found this Halloween shirt in the drawer and I wore it every second I could this week.  I also got to do a lot of cooking this week.  Here I am helping mom make dumplings for soup. 

 

Our friend Andrea gave us some fresh eggs from her chickens.  Look at those green eggs in there.  We ate some of these for breakfast this week and they were sure yummy!

 

And check out this super cute picture of me at the cabin this weekend.  What a beautiful blue sky we had. 

 

Sam out - have a great week.