Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Brother Bear's kindergarten class headed to the pumpkin patch with Daddy as a chaperon. He was instructed to take lots of pictures and he actually did a pretty good job. No class photo to be found, though. Brother and his friend on the tractor.
Brother must have picked the smallest pumpkin in the entire patch. He sure looks cute with it, though. This is the closest we have to a whole class shot.

Craziness must have occurred in the hay maze. I have LOTS of shots of this.

Another successful pumpkin adventure. I can't believe October is halfway over.

Baby Bear at the Pumpkin Patch

Fortunately, the rain held off this morning so we could enjoy the Pumpkin Patch with the Moms' group while the big kids were in school. Baby Bear wasn't too thrilled with the experience since I made him wear his boots. Then, he spotted the large tractor and all the kittens. Baby Bear telling me, "No Momma," as I took pictures of him going through the haymaze.
Baby Bear caught one of the kittens a couple times. We like to call him an animal lover, though he tends to be a bit too loving to the animals sometimes.
Ready for a ride in the wagon!

Picking the perfect pumpkin. Baby Bear was actually more interested in playing in the dirt than picking a pumpkin.

Riding back with our pumpkin!

I hope to add a photo of Baby Bear in front of the "How Tall This Fall" sign, but I have to wait until it gets e-mailed to me since my friend took it with her camera. Thanks Schilter Family for another wonderful pumpkin patch adventure!

More Fall Fun

On the fourth Saturday of September Lattin's Cider Mill always celebrates the Apple Festival. Every year we go as a family and enjoy Hot Apple Cider, warm apple fritters, and all the fun animals and festivities. This year some friends joined us.My dh and the kids feed the chickens. Baby Bear waved goodbye to the chickens.
Baby Bear loves the ducks and duckings. He even quacked a couple times at them.Brother tried to feed the baby chicks, but they weren't too interested in the feed.Baby Bear was much braver about petting the goats this time.The big kids ready for some marshmallow shooting.A little target practice.Then, some sibling warfare.Finally, they turn on their poor mom.Off for a ride on the covered wagon. Baby Bear loved watching the tractor that pulled it.When we got home, the kids insisted that we harvest some of our own apples.After some fun with my wonderful apple peeler. We brought our yummy apple crisp to a BBQ at some friends' house. What a wonderful last Saturday of September!

Fall Has Arrived!

Fall has arrived here even though it's still technically Summer for a couple weeks. The rain has been pouring for the past two weeks. As the first field trip of the school year, my moms' group met at Lattin's Cider Mill. It's just not Fall (er...the end of Summer) without a visit to Lattin's.

All three kids were home this Friday since it was a teacher inservice day. After sleeping to the sound of rain pounding on our roof, we donned our boots (or puddle jumpers as my son calls them) and headed on our way. Brother Bear insisted I start our adventure with a photo of his face in the apple. This is a yearly tradition. I have photos of each child every season since before Sister was one-year-old.
This isn't the best of the pictures of Sister, but I loved that Baby Bear joined her.
Sorry this shot is so blurry. There was quite a lot of action taking place with small children running in front of my shot.

Baby Bear finally posed nicely for me in front of the pig. She was actually a really nice pig and danced around her pen for us. In years past there was always a sign that the pig was known to bite, so we appreciated a nice one this year.

Sister enjoyed feeding the animals (here she is feeding the spoiled goats).

Brother makes the goats upset by giving some of his food to the lambs. They

were so sweet and made the neatest music. Can you find all three kids in this picture?

Baby Bear races a friend.

Baby Bear finally pets a goat. He didn't like them much at first since they tended to be really exuberant.

Yes, they went through EVERY puddle. Next time I need to make sure their pants are tucked inside their boots.

Welcome back Fall!

Brother's First Day of Kindergarten

After three days of torture taking Sister to school and having to return home with Mom and Baby Bear, Brother finally started Kindergarten on Monday. Brother had no problem waving goodbye to Mom at the door. See you this afternoon!
Brother waiting for prayer to begin on his lily pad. My little man off to the big kids' school.

He's loving every moment of it!

Sister Starts School

Last Wednesday Sister started the 3rd grade. While it was the first morning in a long time that I'd had to wake her up, she was pretty excited. Brother had a harder time getting up, but he was excited for Sister too.
Baby Bear, who is normally up at that time, had to be woken up. Crazy boy!

The students are welcomed to school by our parish priest.

Sister at her new desk. As you can tell, she's done with the picture taking by now.

Sister after school, still smiling. It was a grrrrrrreat day!!!

Meet me at Skateland!

Brother's kindergarten class had a summer meet up at Skateland. We couldn't believe how busy it was that night! Brother had a great time skating around without help.Even Baby Bear got some skates on to try this sport out. Sister brought a friend with her (who also spent the night at our house) and she made some new friends too.
The third grade girls taking a rest from all that skating!
It was a fun evening for all the kids.

Parade Time!

The theme this year was: "Once Upon a Time".

We got together with some friends to make our float.
My knight, princess, and dragon ready for the parade.
Here's the group we walked with in the parade. It was lots of fun going with friends this year rather than just by ourselves, though we ran out of candy to throw much more quickly.

Sister made this cute dog collar, leash, and crown for our friend. She loved that he was her Royal Dog for the parade.