Collier Party of 5: October 2015

Friday, October 30, 2015

Birthdays

Monday (October 26) was Nora's 4th birthday and Jared's 10th birthday (according to Nora)! We had a fun day of celebrating. We started the day with presents under Nora's bed (a long standing tradition from my childhood).
Nora is so full of life and personality! No one who has met her will disagree with that! She says the funniest things (which I should be writing down). She gives the biggest hugs always followed by a kiss :). She is such a blessing to our family and definitely keeps us on our toes. Happy 4th birthday Nora D. We love you so much!

She chose the biggest first

It's a new scooter!

Excited about Anna and Elsa Tsum Tsums!

I love Ethan's expression here. They were both excited about the Puppy Surprise

That mama dog had 5 puppies! Happy kids :)

We followed presents up with breakfast. Which was of course, the birthday donut!

Daddy got a present that morning too :)

A new Cardinals golf hat!

Trying out her new scooter...in the house

I requested to be the snack helper in Nora's preschool class that day so I could spend some extra time with the birthday girl and bring in a special birthday treat for her class. It was a good morning in preschool!

Birthday snack with my girl at school!

The birthday kids chose dinner and it was a great way to wrap up a wonderful day!

I love these 2 so so much! Happy Birthday to the birthday buddies :)!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins yesterday. This year, Ethan designed and carved his pumpkin pretty much all by himself. Nora and Jared chose a design from the computer for hers and the Jared pretty much took care of the rest. I just watched and kept Atley entertained and away from the pumpkin goop.

Nora didn't mind the goop (Ethan wouldn't touch it)

And, now she's done with it :)

A focused Ethan (his tongue was out most of the time)

Ethan, Atley and Nora on the Halloween porch

Silly face Nora and her kitty cat pumpkin

And a silly faced Ethan with his scary faced pumpkin

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Rader Farms

Sunday we made our annual pumpkin patch visit. We decided to try a different place that we had heard great things about. This year we went to Rader Farms in Normal. It was so much fun! We stayed for at least 4 hours! It was more a place filled with outdoor, fall activities with some pumpkins to buy :)! I have a ton of pictures to prove that!
Climbing the hay bales

Helping a sister out :)

Ethan & Nora

Rat Run

Running like rats on a wheel ;)

It's harder than it looks

Playing in the corn

Ethan, playing some "corn ball"

This was a fun activity! It was water pump races. Racing to see which rubber ducky would win :)!

Look how much fun they are having!

Atley photo bomb

Atley and Nora- playing in one of the many houses in the "Little Village"

Ethan and Jared spent A LOT of time playing Barnyard baseball, football and basketball. I didn't get a picture of Ethan throwing. I was afraid to get too close with the bouncing balls and Atley!

Look at that form :)

The mountain slide!!

Playing a little corn hole

Finding our way through the kiddie corn maze!

Nora- knee deep in the corny bin

Corny bin Ethan

Trying to rope a steer

Just smiling and being cute :)

Taking a ride on a barrel

The big spiderweb caught a couple of bugs!

Nora bug

Ethan bug

Action shot!

Jump high, Nora!

It was such a beautiful day, I had to take some posed photos :)! Ethan actually said (in an annoyed tone) "mom, why do you have to take like a million pictures?!" Haha!