October Fall Fun.

In the process of moving, I have let this whole blogging thing go.  On this cool, misty morning, I am sitting back with a hot cup of coffee and trying to play a little catch-up.  I feel like it is possible finally to relax for a few minutes when I can sit and not see a mountain of boxes calling to me.  There are boxes still calling, but today my coffee and comfortable chair are louder.

To say our fall was busy would be an understatement.  I never knew it could be this busy.  I heard stories from other parents about how crazy the schedule gets as your kids get older, but somehow you think that won't be you.  But between the soccer practices, building decisions and religion classes, we did have a few moments of fun.

One October morning, when the temperature dipped below freezing for the first time, our morning soccer game was cancelled.  It was amazing to have a Saturday morning free.  So we set out to tackle the mountain of leaves in our yard.  We had been blessed all summer with amazing shade from several old trees in our rental home.  So come October, we were able to build the kids the biggest leaf pile they had ever seen!  They spent one whole Saturday jumping and throwing the leaves around.  Of course, the one who enjoyed the leaves the most was Emmie!  Leaf piles are second only to the first snow fall in the things she lives for.

a ball and leaves...life is good!

run...

jump...

pose.

If you want to see more pictures from their day in the leaves, visit my shutterfly site.

Due to busy schedules...Gopher games, lacrosse games and soccer tryouts...we had to miss the McLaughlin Family annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  So, we had to fit in a trip on our own.  The weekend before we moved in, we realized time was running out to get pumpkins before Halloween.  So we headed to the little greenhouse near our new house.  The place is run by a couple who lives on Spring Lake (the same lake Todd's cousin Dave lives on), so talk about supporting local businesses.  The kids each picked out the biggest pumpkin they could find!  I think next year we are going to institute a policy that you have to be able to carry the pumpkin you pick to the car...Zach's pumpkin was so big that even after it was carved and rotten on the front step, I had a hard time carrying it to the garbage!

sitting in the pumpkin patch

Moving day came and went in a flurry of activity.  We forgot about fall fun while we unpacked boxes and ran to birthday parties, halloween parties, lacrosse camps and soccer camps and I got supplies together for the two school Halloween parties I was scheduled to plan.  Halloween arrived and we found ourselves trying to make memories at the last minute, just so things could seem normal.  We carves pumpkins on Halloween eve, attended school "Fall Harvest" Parties, and came home to get ready for the big event.  I actually decorated the front of the house between running to each kids party.  And, we were lucky to be invited to the neighborhood Halloween party so we could meet some neighbors before the snow flies.  It was a crazy couple of days, but in the end, the kids had a great Halloween.

the look after looking at how much needed to be cleaned out of his pumpkin

all three busy at work

So proud.

my three all ready for trick-or-treat

more pictures of all of these events also on the shutterfly site.