It Begins with a Sucker

While trying to get pictures of my girls in their Halloween outfits, we had a bit of a sucker incident.  I didn't even realize that Evelyn had found the green sucker until Violet began to take it from her.  I guess they are hitting the stage where they will begin fighting over things.  So now it is food, next it will be toys and then someday clothes.  I'm just praying it's never boys. . .

Poor Daddy. . .

He didn't stand a chance, really.  He's been "under their spell" since he first laid eyes on them.

Oh yeah, they definitely have Daddy right where they want him.

Thanks for the adorable outfits, Grandma Jo!

The Great Pumpkin Carving Sabotage

With our newly-acquired pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, we were running out of time to get them carved!  This week, the boys picked out their patterns and helped Daddy get them cleaned out in preparation for carving.  Daddy meticulously worked to get the pumpkins carved just perfect.  Unfortunately, we left them unattended. . .

First, she decides Daddy's designs could use a little tweaking.

She reaches in the front and the top to explore the pumpkin a little more.

And there goes the entire jack-o-lantern portion of the design.

A jack-o-lantern ON a jack-o-lantern is a bit redundant, don't you think??

She even attempts to EAT the evidence! (Raw pumpkin, yum. . .)

Busted, and she doesn't even care!  In fact, I think she thoroughly enjoyed herself as she sabotaged all of Daddy's hard work.

Thankfully, we learned our lesson and protected the second pumpkin from her handiwork.

The Jayhawk pumpkin turned out great!

And I was able to carefully "fix" the sabotaged pumpkin as well so we could light them both up.

Happy pumpkin carving, everyone!

Andy Reid and the Pumpkin Princess

This week we celebrated Halloween with our favorite little NFL coach KJ, aka Andy Reid.  Babies and mustaches, what could be cuter?

The pumpkin princess catches her reflection in the glass.

And Coach KJ shows he is also handy under the hood.  This batmobile will be back up and running in no time!

They just get cuter every time we get them together!

Church Fall Carnival

My kids are so lucky.  This year they had a fall carnival at school AND at church!  The church carnival was yesterday, and they had a great time.

They had pumpkin decorating. . .

. . . pumpkin bowling. . .

. . . bean bag toss (Violet was such a good helper in setting up the target). . .

. . . hopscotch. . .

. . . pumpkin carving (again, Violet was such a good helper). . .

. . . and probably the most popular station, face painting!

 Calvin got both cheeks painted.

The other favorite activity was the bobbing for apples.  Oliver had quite the battle against the apples in the bucket.

 I'm afraid the apple may have won!  Oliver was completely soaked.

Evelyn's favorite station was the snacks.  The caramel apples were a big hit.

It was supposed to be a costume event, but I had been working all day and Russ didn't have time to get the kids dressed up.  Except for my cute little blue M&M.  She got a quick picture with the Peanut M&M in attendance, Miss Mandy (and Peanut, of course, her sweet baby!).

 I just love the fall with all of the fun activities!

Flag Football

This week concluded a very busy season of flag football, with Oliver playing on Tuesday evenings and Calvin playing on Thursdays.  Calvin had played football 2 years ago, but then he and Oliver both decided they wanted to play soccer last fall (which worked well since they could be on the same team and I had a brand-new Evelyn at home).  This year, when given the choice, they both decided on football.  So we spent some beautiful fall evenings watching our boys with the pigskin, and it was a great season for both of them!

Oliver's kindergarten and first grade team, the Lions, made some really great improvements over the season, and were definitely the team to beat!

I mean, wouldn't you be intimidated??

Oliver played some quarterback and some running back/receiver on offense.  I was really surprised at how many pass plays they ran (and completed!) during the season.  It was impressive for 5 and 6-year-olds.

 Scoring touchdowns and pulling flags are both fun, but the best part of flag football?  The mouthpiece.  Without a doubt, the mouthpiece.

Oliver got to play his buddy Lincoln at one game.

Proud boy with his very first football medal!

Oliver's little team was just so fun to watch.  They made some really good plays throughout the course of the season, and were so much better than I was expecting -- Great season, Lions!

Calvin's team, the Red Devils, also had a successful flag football season.

Like Oliver, Calvin played mostly running back and receiver on offense.

He also got to play quarterback for a few plays.

Huddle up and Coach Jason will give you the next play, boys!

 Calvin even got to be team captain for a game!

 Calvin was good on offense, but he was REALLY good on defense.  I'd venture to say he got the most flags of any player on the Red Devils.

Calvin got to play his friends from church, Macade and Luke, at one of his games.

Of course, the boys had the cutest little cheerleaders at all of their games.

 Thankfully, our wonderful grandparents were able to come to most of the games to watch the boys and help keep the girls off of the field!

 What a fun season of watching football!  The boys both worked so hard and I was very proud of them!