grandpa's pumpkin patch.

this year, like every year, the kids couldn't wait to go pumpkin hunting at grandpa's pumpkin patch! in the spring, all the grandkids help grandpa plant the seeds in the little trays. then, as the plants get bigger, they transplant them into the pumpkin garden. they check on them periodically during the summer to how much they've grown, but mostly to scope out the biggest ones. then comes the picking, hauling up to the house, washing, hauling to our house, and then finally selling them. it's been such a fun thing for the kids to do each year. a lot of work, but such a great experience for them. thanks to grandpa and grandma!!

before the "reeping"

just a few...we had more than 200 this year.

first of 2 trips up to the house. we used the suburban this year...

...don't know why we hadn't thought of using it before...

elsie found her perfect one.

the second trip up to the house.

the first day of selling. i never got a shot of all the pumpkins, 

but they had probably close to 100.

back at it for a second day.

third day...the pile slowly gets smaller.

the last day of selling they decided to drive around and drop a few of the pumpkins off on the porches of some of the older couples/widows in the neighborhood. such cute kiddos.

thanks for everyone who came by and supported the kids!!

october fun.

wow. october has flown by. 

here's a glimpse at what we've been up to...

mabel's chalk drawing of mama.

being silly after the funnest princess party.

little man and his first tooth.

first field trip with my kindergarten girl.

scary afternoon snacks.

date night at the warren miller show.

silly else after church.

another tooth pops through.

elsie checking out the hot ballooballoon.

will's teeth are coming in as fast as mabel's losing them.

connor read to else one night when she couldn't sleep.

went to pickup else from preschool and came home with a cute bear!!

silly faces at the zoo.

love how he crosses his feet when he eats.

fall ball for our baseball boy.

this fall connor started a comp baseball team and they played in a fall ball league. this baseball thing is new to me. i don't remember my brothers playing much organized baseball. so, from what cory and others explained, fall ball is prep for the spring season. it's less stressful and involves the boys getting used to different positions, pitching, batting against a real pitcher, stealing bases, and playing catcher, while they keep score during the game, the scores aren't recorded. connor had the best time. the first few games were pretty rough, but they began to improve every game and were quite a strong team by the end. it was so fun to watch connor try new positions. he really likes catcher. he also played right field, third base, first base and pitched some. i'll never forget his first time pitching. his warm up was pretty wild, i'm not going to lie. :) but when the batter was up, he reeled it in and pitched well. he's lucky to play on a team with 5 of his school and neighborhood buddies. 

connor loves him some baseball. can't wait for the spring!!!