Weenie Roast Birthday Party

Yesterday we celebrated 2 very special people in my life!  Nora and Jared share a birthday and we hosted a weenie roast in our backyard.  The weather was amazing for this time of year (almost hot, in the sun)!  We had a great time and I would call it a success :)!  Enjoy some pictures of our afternoon celebrating Nora and Jared.

The activity/party favor for the kids was pumpkin decorating.  Nora thoroughly enjoyed it :).  Her pumpkin has about 30 googly eyes!

Birthday girl decorating her pumpkin

The other kids decorating

Fun group of kids!

Present time.  There are always lots of eager helpers for this time during a party!

Working on the tape...

Check out the helpers ;)

Happy girl...who looks SO grown up in this picture.

The fire was great for our hot dogs and s'mores!  Good job, Jared!!

Singing and cupcake time!

3 candles for the 3 year old!

We love you sweet Nora!

Jared gets candles too...just happens to be more than 3.

Couldn't leave Alex out.  His birthday is tomorrow, so he got a candle too!

Atley enjoyed being outside

Such a fun party!

Birthday kids making some s'mores!

Happy Birthday banner

Loving the s'mores!

Such a great afternoon!  So happy to have such wonderful friends and family to help us celebrate!!  Happy Birthday Jared and Nora!  You are loved :).

Boo at the Zoo

We made our annual trip to Boo at the Zoo on Monday night.  Tate & Lyle (Jared's work) reserves a night just for T&L employees and families to attend Boo at the Zoo. It's very nice and well put together.  We get to trick or treat through the zoo (which included a Del's caramel apple!), ride the train, and carousel and dinner is provided.  It's always a fun time and the kids look forward to it every year!  Enjoy some pictures of our visit this year...

Atley, the tiny pumpkin

Luke Skywalker (striking a pose)

Luke and Black Kitty

Nora, the ornery black kitty!

Boo at the Zoo!

Atley is impressed with her first Boo at the Zoo experience

Waiting for the carousel

Ethan and our neighbor, Sarah as Luke and Leia

Trick or Treat!

Found another station

Checking out the penguins on the way by.

Kitty and Penguins 

They liked the pumpkin heads all throughout the zoo

Waiting on the train with Sarah and Lindsey

Apples, Pumpkins & Skeletons

Saturday we decided to head north to Champaign to go to Curtis Apple Orchard.  It was a chilly day, but that didn't stop us.  We had a good time picking apples and choosing pumpkins.  And the kids enjoyed the playground and inflatables!  And as always, we left with some yummy treats.  A bag of freshly picked apples and some apple donuts :)!
Lots of pictures ahead!!

Picnic lunch in the car first!

Getting ready to follow the yellow brick road

Apple picking!

Nora found some too!

Jared got in on the action too

Atley's first apple picking experience... too bad she won't remember or get to taste the apple.

Cute kids in the apple orchard

Pumpkin choosing time!

The 3 kids. 

Now, time for some fun!

How Tall This Fall??

Minigolf

Playground fun

Ethan on the big slide!

Nora got to go this year...twice!  She loved it!

Gotta stick your head in the hole...always with Nora!

Ethan on the zip line

Our Family of 5 on the Big Chair

That evening, we had a couple eager pumpkin carvers.  They were ready to carve.  So they picked out their design and Daddy helped carve it on the pumpkins.  Ethan helped quite a bit with the carving this year, and even scooped a little goop :).

3 concentrated carvers

Being very careful!

Scooping some goop

Clean kids and finished pumpkins!

Skeleton kids

3 cute skeletons

I told you...lots of pictures!  Boo at the Zoo is tonight, so stay tuned for dress up pictures!

Sunday Funday!

Sunday afternoon we decided to go to the children's museum.  Jared doesn't get to go too often, so it was fun!  And it was Atley's first trip to the museum!

Shopping Nora and sleeping Atley

Ethan climbed all the way to the top.  Atley was thrilled :)

Driving girl!

Engineer Ethan built the bulldozer (pictured behind him).  We don't build much when Daddy doesn't come.

Nora driving it.

And now a ball run.  I'm glad Daddy is so handy!

Lunch With Ethan

I went to Ethan's school yesterday, to surprise him by eating lunch with him!  It was fun seeing the lunch/recess routine and seeing him interact with his friends.  He is still loving school, and I'm so happy for that!

In the lunchroom

Ethan and his buddy Jaxson having a cheeseburger.

Since it was rainy, they had recess in their classroom.  I tagged along.  Ethan and some boys went straight for the legos!

Silly boys!  They all seemed really sweet and had a great time!