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!

I Love this one!  My 3 sweet kids!

Atley Jane

Nora loves to hug on her

Nora Diane

Ethan James

Look who can stand without holding on!

How Tall this Fall??

Nora and Ethan in the back of the truck 

Family photo

Fall Festival

Ethan's school has an annual fall festival. I took Ethan and Nora while Atley (and Jared) napped.  It was a lot of fun!  And the kids loved all the games and activities!

Racing through the inflatable obstacle course

Decorating pumpkins

Hanging out with the McGaughey Bee!

Field Trip

Last week, Nora went on her very first field trip (of her own)!  Her preschool class went to a local pumpkin patch.  We had a fun time playing on the playground, walking through the patch, feeding goats and picking a pumpkin.  It was very windy...as you'll notice from the crazy hair photos!

So pretty!

Such a big girl!

Nora and her friend Callynn (there's a lot of hair in that pic!)

Nora and the big pumpkin

My girls and I :)

She loves to feed the goats

Sweet girls!

The attempt at a class photo

Arizona Getaway

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to have a girls getaway!  Jessica, Erin, Emily and I boarded a plane at 4:30 am (yikes!) and flew to Phoenix where Erin's mom lives and generously opened her home and her refrigerator to us!  We started our trip by relaxing and napping.  Then hit the pool to relax some more.  The next day we shopped a little and went out to dinner.  On our third day, we planned a day trip to Sedona.  Sedona is such a beautiful place.  We packed our day full of hiking, eating and a pink jeep adventure!  What an amazing trip with amazing friends.

Hot air balloons, cacti and mountains

Poolside relaxing

Beautiful Sedona landscape

Sedona Red Rocks

The 4 of us after hiking!

Our Pink Jeep!

Little Gymnast...

Nora started tumbling a couple weeks ago.  She is loving it!  They haven't done cartwheels yet, which disappoints her (she's been practicing everyday in the yard).  But they have galloped, skipped, frog hopped, forward rolled, straddle rolled, and lots more!

Stretching

Nice rose bud :)

Getting a little help on the straddle roll

I took some short videos too!

I'm sure as the next 4 weeks pass, I'll have more from her tumbling class.  She's really hoping for some cartwheels soon!

Football Under the Lights

For Ethan's last football games, they got to play on the high school field (which is turf), under the lights.  The boys were SO excited.  They played 3 games the evening of October 4th.  It was so fun to watch.  I have to say, I've really enjoyed watching him play football!  After the season, he said football is just a little higher than baseball on his favorite sports list ;)!

Coach Jared and Ethan

Ethan is about to hand off (they switched to black jerseys)

And now for the pass from the quarterback :)

Ethan and Zach going for the flags on defense 

Last team photo

Ethan, showing off his trophy

Party Time!

We had Atley's 1st birthday party this past Saturday in Salem.  "Twinkle twinkle little star" was the theme.  (I may have gone crazy with the stars!)  It was a great day and Atley was spoiled with family all around :).
Some pictures of the decorations...

Present time!  She enjoyed ripping the paper.

Atley's eager audience :)

Now time for the smash cake!  She loved it and knew exactly what to do!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Happy girl!

Just giving it a little sniff

Yum! 

So sweet :)

The smashed cake

Happy birthday Atley Jane!  Our family of 5!

Atley's 1st Year, in Photos

A video slideshow of Atley's first year!  It went by so quickly.