A boy and a pond

I love this boy!!!!!!

(even when he has too have cavities filled)

The pond behind our house

 

Jacob keeps hoping one of his Grandpas will come and take him fishing in the pond this summer.

The kids have all enjoyed catching the frogs that live her.  There are hundreds of little frogs out on the banks during the summer evenings.   Sometimes Jacob yells at the geese to get off his pond.  The neigbors think its funny that he thinks its "his" pond since its on community property.

Halloween

This year was quite a change from Halloween in  Edwardsville.  First, trick-or-treating was actually on Halloween since there was no parade.  Second, there were actually posted hours that didn't span a ridiculously large portion of the day.  And thirdly, we went from having hundreds of trick or treaters to having 10.  Yep , you read that right 10.  It certainly saved us money on candy expenses, but it was not nearly as fun.  I enjoy seeing kids in their costumes!

In case you're not up on the tween aged girl culture.  The older girls are dressed as characters from Monster High: Frankiestein and Clawdeen.

Apple picking and Fall Fun

We found a town about 30 minutes away, literally in the middle of nowhere that had an apple orchard and a pumpkin farm.  One WARM fall saturday we decided to check them out.  Our first stop was the apple orchard.  A wagon pulled by horses took us out the the apple trees.  The wagon was filling up on the return ride and we were in the front,  The driver turned around and asked Katy if she wanted to sit up front with her.  The other girls were a little green with envy.  After a few minutes, much too our surprise, the driver handed Katy the reins and started instructing her how to steer the horses.  I thought the other kids were going to die with envy at this point.  Katy, who is always up for a new adventure, was beaming with joy as she drove the wagon.  I'm not sure the mom with the 2 month old baby was quite as pleased as we were when Katy took the reins :)  The apples were delicious!! I'm not a huge fan of store bought apples but I just can't get enough fresh picked ones.  Jared was shocked at how fast our family went through the basket of apples.

Next, we hit the pumpkin patch.  WOW!!! can I just say it pays to live in the country...I've never gotten pumpkins so cheap in my whole life.  Not even in Avon before it became overdeveloped.  We were able to get all the kids one for the price of one walmart pumpkin.  The kids enjoyed the play area that was set up. Highlights included a maze, te ever popular face cutouts...

 .....a haunted bus

 ...a wooden train

 Mom forcing them in a group photo...not such a highlight for them.  Notice Ms. Bella's facial expression and body language.

It was a fun day with perfect weather.  I love fall even though it means the onset of winter!!

Walk-A-Thon

The fundraiser for the girls' school this year was a walk-a-thon.  (Special thanks to those that sponsored them!)  The event was complete with warm-ups and lots of walking and even some running.  Family members were allowed to walk with the students so Jacob and I joined in on the fun.

I felt like we were in the story of Goldilocks though...only it read a little differently:

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jacob.  One day he went to a school to see his sisters.  His sisters were having a walk-a thon.  Jacob looked at all the big kids running and walking and thought it looked fun.  Jacob wanted to run with the students so he found his sister Bella's class and joined them.  Bella and her friends were sprinting and poor little Jacob could not keep up.  They were  too fast.  So Jacob left and went in search of Xandy's class.  Xandy was walking with her friends.  Jacob joined them, but he wanted to walk not run.  They were too slow.  Jacob was sad but then he remembered he hadn't tried Katy yet.  He looked around and found his biggest sister Katy.  He told her he wanted to run but Bella was too fast and Xandy was too slow. " I will run with you" said Katy.  So together they started to run. Katy slowed to Jacob's pace.  She was careful to not run too fast or too slow. She was just right!  The End.

Bella warming up

Xandy waiting to start

Katy wearing the punch card that was stamped for every lap completed

Xandy actually running at one point

Katy running