Costume fun for Halloween

The boys had a lot of fun dressing up this year for Halloween. Isaac was Handy Manny and Levi was a zebra. Levi LOVED his zebra costume. He was so excited to wear it. He did look pretty cute in it although he was mistaken for a girl a couple times (must be those long eyelashes and big eyes). Elise wore the pumpkin costume that Levi wore 2 years ago. I must say they look quite similar :)
We were able to get two free kids meals out of their costumes yesterday at Chili's. For every adult entree purchased, we received one free kids meal. Dan had received a gift certificate from a couple at church for Pastor's Appreciation so it was a nice night "out". We actually did carry out and enjoyed our yummy food at home :) It was a great way to do it with 3 young kids!

We had a Harvest Party with our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) group from church last weekend. They had an outdoor scavenger hunt for the kids and then a potluck supper.
Isaac was able to dress up for pre-school. Because of the "toileting issues" as they put it, we decided not to have Isaac wear his one piece Handy Manny outfit. Instead, he wore a Lightning McQueen car that was easy to take on and off :)

The "parade" in Isaac's classroom.

Getting ready for trick-or-treating. The boys were very excited to get lots of yummy treats. They were both troopers and walked the whole way and carried their pumpkins. I think they were worried that Dan and I might confiscate the candy!!

Our three little blessings!

Elise as a pumpkin

Levi 2 years ago as a pumpkin!!

Stade's Farm

Our neighbors told us about a dairy farm in McHenry called Stade's Farm. It's about a half hour from our house. They had Shades of Autumn there on the weekends. We were going to go last weekend but it was rainy and cold. We went this Saturday...it was a little windy but overall a pretty nice fall day. They had a bunch of activities for the kids and many of them were free. Some of the activities required the purchase of tickets but they were very reasonable. It only cost $0.50 to go down the big slide. The boys had a lot of fun doing that. Isaac's favorite thing was going through the trailer maze...he was really good at it. Levi's favorite thing was the corn box.
Since this was the last weekend they were open, all their produce was half off. I was able to get acorn squash for $0.50 each and tomatoes for under $1.00 per pound. It worked out well since our garden is done! We're hoping to go back again next year. It will be nice when Elise is a little older to enjoy it :)

Dan and the boys at the top of the slide

Isaac

Dan and Levi

Trailer maze

Definitely more geared towards kids (I was a little tall for parts of it!)

Dan and Elise hanging out outside the trailer

Fun tunnel

Levi

Corn box (rather than a sand box)

There was corn everywhere when we got home!

Isaac

Happy 23rd Birthday to Naomi!!

Our niece Naomi has been staying with us since June. Today is her birthday so we celebrated with an ice cream cake. Her friend Megan joined us too so that was fun. Unfortunately, Naomi had to work at 2:00. Hopefully she had a good day,even though she was working!! She is finishing up her internship at Six Flags and will be done on Sunday. That means she will be moving out on Monday. We'll be sad to see her go, especially the boys. We are excited though that she found a full time job at Menards and will be able to use her college degree. We will definitely miss her but are so thankful for the time God has blessed us with her.

Twenty-three years!

Naomi and the boys!

Megan and Naomi

Levi enjoying the cake :)

Isaac taking a quick break from his cake :)

Elise...she'll have her cake later :)

Uncle Dan, Naomi, Aunt Jenny

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins on Monday morning. It was such a beautiful day!! The boys weren't too excited about sticking their hands inside to take the guts out. Dan finally got them to try it a few times. We managed to get two of the three pumpkins done :) Elise joined in for a bit before she was tired and hungry.

Isaac had picked out a Tigger pattern for the big pumpkin. Dan was such a good dad and finished carving it for him. He wasn't too sure how it would turn out but it looks great!!

Elise 2 months

Elise is 2 months old and smiling a lot. It's always fun when you are finally "rewarded" as a parent! It's hard to believe how big Elise is getting, considering how small she was when she was born. She is filling out nicely and getting her own look. We may actually have to move up to size 2 diapers soon:) She is still not the best sleeper but is improving a lot. She has her fussy moments too but these are also getting shorter. I am heading back to work tomorrow...my one day a week. Hopefully she is a good girl for her daddy!! We continue to be blessed by the children that God has entrusted to our care.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Stan and Donna came to visit for the weekend. We celebrated Levi's birthday again, along with Naomi's, Grandma's, and Grandpa's birthdays which are in the next two weeks. Donna brought a yummy chocolate cake so we enjoyed that! The boys both got plastic pumpkins and have been having fun filling those with their toys.

Today we wanted to go apple picking but they are sold out:( Guess we'll have to go earlier next year. We went over to Hoffman Garden Center in Volo instead. It was a great place for the boys. They got to feed the donkeys and go through a corn maze. They were also able to jump in the giant pumpkin bounce house. It was great because we were the only ones there...one of the perks to going during the week!!

We had a great weekend with Grandma and Grandpa here. We'll look forward to the next time we get together!

The boys!

Isaac and Levi have become good buds. It is such a blessing to watch them play together. For the most part, they get along really well. It has been really helpful when I am preoccupied with Elise. Isaac has always been fond of his little lambie. Levi now has a little lamb that he carries around, along with a dog. We pray that they continue to have a close relationship as they are growing up.

Isaac and Levi hanging out in Elise's room.

Dan and the boys hanging out in Isaac's bed.

Fun in the leaves!

We have a beautiful maple tree on the side of our house. Our neighbor boy Ryan has always enjoyed jumping in the leaves of it each year. Isaac and Levi joined in last year with the fun. This past week, the weather was so gorgeous so we enjoyed some time outside jumping and playing in the leaves!

Levi loves his little Thomas train!

Isaac, Ryan, and Levi

Isaac having fun in the leaves.

Levi not quite sure about laying down!

Our squash!!

We decided to plant a few things in our "garden" this year. We planted butternut and acorn squash. We had a lot of vines and flowers all summer but not a ton of squash. The ones we did get were opposite extremes. Our butternut squash were huge and our acorn squash were about the size of baseballs and softballs! Regardless, they taste very yummy! We'll see if we grow squash again next year :)

Dan receiving a call on our huge squash :)