Fall

We have been enjoying fall and all the fun activities that come with it these past couple of months.

Playing in the leaves with neighbors:

Craft time! I am not a craft person. In fact, I'm the opposite of a craft person-whatever that would be. But, I've been trying to introduce our kids to as much "crafty" stuff as I find do-able on the internet. Here's what we've been able to accomplish so far:

Craft #1: Baby food jar pumpkins.

Stuff torn orange paper into an empty baby food jar.

Cut out pieces of black construction paper for the face of the pumpkin and hot glue onto the jar.

Hot glue a twisted pipe cleaner to the lid.

New fall decorations!

Craft #2: marble painted pumpkins.

Cover marble in fall-colored paint and roll around in a box lid. (I haven't done this part yet, but you can laminate them, then put them on a string and hang them somewhere in your house).

Craft #3 (our last one thus far): Paper pumpkins.

I didn't have a chance to take any pictures while these were being made since Levi participated and glue was involved. So, find a printable pumpkin online. Print it and cut it out. Tear up orange construction paper, then glue to the printed pumpkin. Color the stem green.

Happy fall!

Skytop Orchard

Some friends from Charlotte, the Murdock's, came down and went to Skytop Orchard with us on Saturday. It was a lot of fun! Though it started out pretty cold, we all warmed up really fast. Skytop not only had tons of apple trees, but they also had lots of equipment for the kids to play on. We hope to go back again soon...if it is warm enough!

Addie on a tractor. Our little farm girl.

3 out of the 5 kids (our 2 with Jonah)

The Pumpkin slide was a big hit.

There goes Addie!

They also had a "petting zoo." More like random farm animals that you could feed.

A house to play in-also a big hit!

Jonah and Addie looking out:

Levi going down the slide the RIGHT way...

And then apparently getting bored with it, deciding to go down face first...and loving it! The problem is, now it seems like Levi thinks everything would be more fun face first instead of feet first-not good!

Daddy, Addie, and Levi peering through the holes:

Around 3 feet tall this fall:

All of the kids-they're growing up so fast!

A Getaway

Pops and Dottie were nice enough to come down to our place a couple of weeks ago and keep the kids for 3 days so that Bob and I could go away for a few nights by ourselves. This has been in the works for quite some time and we were soooo excited for it since the last time we got away was in May of 2010 and it was just for 2 nights. Before that, we hadn't been without kids overnight on a "vacation" since before Addie was born. So, thank you to Pops and Dottie for coming and watching Addie and Levi for us! That was the best gift someone could give us.

This is where we went. Bob chose the cabin-that's his thing. It was really nice and we hope to go back someday. It was in the mountains around Pigeon Forge.

We did some of this.

And that. Relaxation was the key. No schedules-awesome!

Did a little hiking at Cades Cove (after a LOT of sitting in traffic to get there).

Couldn't pass up a chance to go bowling.

I ended up being the loser that day.

When we got home Tuesday, we were so excited to see the kids. We even brought them each a gift...Levi got a cool little drum. He surprisingly knew what to do with it right away!

Addie got a purse and some clip-on earrings. If you can't tell, she loved them.

Honestly, these pictures make me a little sad. Somehow, our 2 and a half year old girl looks closer to 13 here.

Don't worry, he is secure in his manhood. He can pull off a purse!

Daddy's birthday

Ok, so Bob's birthday was almost 2 weeks ago now, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from it. Bob had a good day, though he did have to work. Here are some pictures from our celebrating.

We met Bob for lunch, which is always a fun time.

Levi enjoying some ice cream.

Addie got some too.

Daddy's choclate chocolate birthday cake. (Addie immediately asked him if he would share it with the rest of us. Don't worry, he did.)

Time for presents!

The kids gave him a hiking stick...you know, to help him survive the hikes with an extra 28 pounds on his back.

This is totally unrelated to Bob's birthday, but I just thought I'd stick this video on the end. It is of Levi dancing. He loves dancing, and we love to watch him dance! Don't worry about him being naked...

Addie's half-birthday

Last week, Addie had her half-birthday and it was the best one yet. We did not say a word to her about her half-birthday coming up, or even that it was her half-birthday the day of. Instead, we treated it as any other normal day, then after dinner, told Addie we had a suprise for her. She gets excited about surprises. Then, we lit a candle on top of an iced sugar cookie and sang "happy half-birthday" to her. Her eyes lit up and she said "it's my birthday?!?!?!" We tried to explain to her that it was her HALF birthday and that she was now 2 and a half. Either way, she was really excited and kept saying, "it's my birthday today!" After eating her cookie, we told her there was another surprise for her. She got excited all over again, having no idea what the other surprise might be. When we brought 2 presents to her (one from us, and one from Poppi and Nana-the masterminds behind celebrating half-birthdays), she immediately knew what to do. Below, you will see the progression of the events/
Showing off her sugar cookie

We got a princess tea set for her

Opening the present from Poppi and Nana

An Ariel dress

So excited to dress up like Ariel!

Daddy teaching her about the differetnt pieces in the tea set.

Loving the tea

Levi loves tea parties probably as much as Addie does

The first thing both kids did the following morning was to climb up in the chairs and have another tea party