Carving Pumpkins!

We spent the morning carving our pumpkins, sipping on coffee and hot chocolate to keep warm on this cold, wet morning. We are going to pack our pumpkins up and bring them to Kristen & Dawn's so we can enjoy them tonight while we are there trick-or-treating. Avery is so so excited about her pumpkins! She worked hard scooping guts and cleaning up the mess when we were all done too! What a fun morning!! Now we are off to a nap (hopefully) and then it's time to get ready for tonight's festivities!! 

Husbands + Dirt bikes = Disaster

Brandon decided that it would be a good idea to take a dirt bike with a sticky clutch for a spin at work this week... Needless to say, I am catching up on my blogging as I am sitting here waiting for him to come out of his MRI appointment! 

We were in the ER earlier this week and they drained his knee, which was full of blood. He left with crutches and a leg brace that night. The next day, he met with an Orthopedic Surgeon (Thursday) and tonight (Friday) an MRI. Hopefully, he doesn't need surgery and can get back to work soon! 

Here he is in the ER getting his knee drained... They didn't do anything to numb it, so he had to bear the consequence head-on for his stupid choice to do a wheelie on a dirt bike!! Karma... It's a real thing! 

Halloween Dance Party

Avery's dance class had a little Halloween party this week! All of the kids wore costumes and passed out treats to one another! Avery had a blast and she also have a new found love for Nerds!! 

Splitting Wood at Grandma & Grandpa's

We spent the afternoon at Bob and Becky's helping them split, stack and sort wood so they can keep their house warm and toast all winter! The whole family came out to help and it was a beautiful day to be outside!! 

Happy Fall!

Here are some of the fun things we have been doing this Fall! Of course, playing in the leaves is at the top of the list! 

Avery's Family Apple Tree! 

Halloween Week at Daycare

We have been having a lot of fun this week getting ready for the big Halloween celebration and Trick-or-Treating coming up this weekend! We have done a variety of art projects, games and even had a little Halloween party with all of the kiddos in their costumes! I tired hard to get a good photo, but Weston was not happy about the giant lobster and dinosaur lurking over him, and once he started crying- they all did!! Haha I love how Avery just looks at them with her hand on her hips, like "come on you guys, it's going to be just fine"

Pumpkin finger painting...

Witch fingers (Bugels) for a snack...

Tattoos...

Painting...

 

Carving pumpkins...

And last, but not least, roasting pumpkin seeds...

We had a very fun and very busy week! With all of the kids here, I sure am busy!! Tyson moves fast and really keeps me on my toes! I feel like I have a good schedule down and am having no trouble tending to the babies and all of their needs as well as getting my preschool work done with the big kids! My days and weeks are flying by and we couldn't be happier being home!! 

Duck Hunting

Avery has been begging Brandon to take her hunting since the duck season openers this year! He finally found a good weekend to take her field hunting... There is no way he could take her in the boat by himself and there is no way that I was waking up at 4 am, pregnant and sicker than a dog to go freeze in a boat... And besides that, my camo doesn't fit right now either! My Dad offered for them to go in the field behind his house and go with them so I could sleep in! They had a TON of fun and Avery was not ready to call it quits after 3+ hours in a duck blind, but they packed up the decoys and called it a day even though they didn't see any birds!! I think they all had a great time!! 

Girls Night!

I haven't seen my girlfriends in what seems like forever! This past weekend we all got together at Jessa's house for dinner and catching up! For the first time in over a year we decided to get together with no kids- that's right- just the adults! Jessa made it fancy for us, of course, with a candle light dinner and a delicious meal. Wow, was it ever a good time! We laughed so hard all night long, just like we used to do 15 years ago having sleepovers together, except this time we were all tired and went home before 10:00pm to go to bed! 

I was so excited to see my friends, because I had some exciting news to share with all of them!! I am FINALLY pregnant!! I knew they were all going to be so happy for us-- I just thought and thought of a fun way to tell them, and finally I came up with giving them little fall baskets with the little gourds from our garden and some baby pumpkins! I handed them out, everyone loved them, but no one read the tag right away! Finally, Katie read the tag and, of course, everyone flipped out!! 

I feel so blessed to have so many loving friends! I had a wonderful evening spending time visiting and reminiscing with them! The next date in the books is set for our annual Christmas get together and cookie exchange! 

Dehn's Pumpkin Patch

We have been missing The Murray's like crazy in this house and we were finally able to get together with them yesterday! 

We met in the middle at Dehn's Pumpkin Patch, neither of us had been there before but it had great reviews and it was a good half way meeting point! We got there at 11:00! The weather quickly warmed up and we were able to enjoy all of the activities that our $7.00 wrist band included! Avery was so excited to see her friends! She couldn't wait to tell them her exciting news about becoming a big sister either!! 

The kids had fun in the giant pumpkin bounce house, big blow up slide, the hay ride, pedal tractors, corn maze, and of course pumpkin picking! All of the pumpkins in the whole place were pretty big- we carefully selected the perfect pumpkins and put them in our wagon! Avery had a lot of fun riding along with them as Brandon lugged her around the pumpkin patch!

We had a lot of fun visiting and catching up, it's never long enough when your with friends you haven't seen for a while, but it's was a solid 3 hours of fun by the time we finished up our lunch at Which Wich! Avery was exhausted, so tired she didn't even eat her lunch!! In her defense, she had to work really REALLY hard to get up that giant slide! I think it used every last ounce of energy in her body!! 

Cheez It Crackers to the Rescue!

I already knew I was blessed before this morning-- but she has such a kind heart and is so loving. She is my little motivational speaker these days! 

"Mommy, you're going to be just fine. I love you. It's ok. Everybody pukes up sometimes. I'm right here with you" as she is rubbing my back while I puke this morning! 

I have been blessed with an angel for a daughter! 

And let's not forget the message I sent to Brandon earlier this week....

"That fine moment when I am throwing up so hard I pee my pants in front of a preschool audience 😩 it's an awesome day to be me 👎"

So far, this pregnancy has not been very enjoyable! I can't wait until the sickness is over and I can feel some movement!!! 

October Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday Grandpa, Darin, Andy & Sam!! It was so nice to see everyone this past weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's house for some traditional October birthday pie! Grandma only has 3 pie tons, so poor Grandpa didn't get his own pie. And Grandma said "I couldn't bake a  good pie in one of those tin pans so he can just wait and have his candles later". 

We had enough pie for an army the way it was... So he is of course happy with all of the leftovers! 

GG and GGpa Ray brought Avery home some rocks from their trip to Arizona! We all know how much she loves collecting rocks! She got them and studied each of them carefully with GG and then two seconds later she had uncle Andy sitting down in the middle of the driveway going through them again!!

Redneck BBQ

Dad and Vicki had a fun Redneck BBQ last weekend!  The weather was beautiful for a long afternoon outside shooting guns, riding 4 wheelers and having a BBQ! The afternoon began with appetizers, shooting clay pigeons, and then dinner! Dad smoked pork, chicken and ribs! We had all of the delicious sides and everyone had a belly full! 

After dinner, we played the famous Bucket Head game. Bucket Head you ask?! Yes, bucket head... This is the classic game where one person rides on the 4 wheeler back and forth at one end of the lawn, while everyone else is at the other end of the lawn hitting golf balls at the person driving the 4 wheeler with the 5 gallon bucket on their head. The only rule is, if you hit golf balls, you must take a turn to ride. 

(if you look close enough, you can see the 4 wheeler and the green bucket)



Then to wrap up the evening, we played a little bonfire pool. It started out innocent enough, but as the fire got bigger, it wasn't quite as easy! I turn per player, per round. We kept track of who got the most balls in! I don't even remember who won, but I do know my Dad played the longest and was practically on fire before he decided to quit!







Avery and Harper sitting 100 yards away from the fire and still sweating!