Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

Sometimes I can't decide if the kids are more excited about Halloween or Christmas! This year Nolan provided me with a challenging costume request...he wanted to be the black bomber Angry Bird. After exploring my options for purchasing a costume (waaaayyyy to expensive plus they were sold out on every website I checked) I ended up making one for him. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! I also made Dane's costume. This year he was a monk (NOT Obe Wan Kenobi like some people thought...clearly they weren't Catholic!) and I made his costume as well. As you can imagine there aren't many child sized monk patterns available so I had to be creative and instead found a little red riding hood costume! Luke proved to be my low maintenance costume request for the 2nd year in a row...he wanted to be a ninja and we just so happened to have a black karate uniform that was given to me by a friend. We added the orange belt (which he earned in Karate) and voila...costume complete!

A trio of boys! Nothing like dark costumes on Halloween night that screams safe, right?!

My little monk who took a vow of silence!

Nolan as a black bomber Angry Bird...he had the coolest costume at school (or so I was told)!

Luke as a black ninja...not too intimidating in this picture tho!

Dane was out getting his loot!

This picture cracks me up. Can you see Dane questioning the witch statue? He was NOT getting any closer!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch Cont...

Because I am usually the photographer I had to show off a few pictures of "me" with the boys! Promise...these are the last set of pictures!

Love this!

Everyone's looking! Yippee!

Me & Nolan

Me and Lukey!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch Cont...

More pictures from the pumpkin patch...

Maybe it's because I'm a farmer's daughter but I do love how the light is shining through the corn stalks!

Nolan taking care of Dane...Luke doing what he does best, cheesing it up!

Drew and Dane smiling for me...This picture shows off Dane's big, bright eyes!

Having fun!

Too pretty not to include! Isn't nature amazing!

Hall's Pumpkin Patch

Year after year we are drawn to visit Hall's Pumpkin Patch. And next to Christmas, I probably snap the most pictures at this location than any other. I think it's the harvest colors that get me. Our wedding was in October, I love to have the boys pictures taken outdoors in the fall and it makes me reminisce about home particularly fall festivals with yummy fried chicken, green beans and soft bread.

Not one child is looking in this picture but I love it anyway.

Nolan being the great big brother that he is...always making sure Dane is taken care of.

These cut outs are always so funny!

Getting ready to conquer the corn maze! Dane cracks himself up!

Mama's Soup Surprise!

Every year the Kindergarten class prepares for their annual Hoedown, Yee Haw! Each child brings in a flannel or plaid shirt, patches are added and twine makes the perfect belt. This year I was able to volunteer so my job was to help paint faces. Each class rotated through several sets of games like "hot pumpkin" and the like. If you were caught with the pumpkin you sat in the middle of the circle. The kids also performed the "Chicken Dance" and "Mama's Soup Surprise" dances for everyone to see. Kindergarten is so much fun!

Luke got caught with the "hot pumpkin"

Seriously...look at the size of this boy next to Luke! I don't care how long I could have held him he'll never be this big!

Mrs. Chapman (Luke's teacher) leading the kids in the Chicken Dance.

Luke and Riley are "Doe-sey-Doe-ing".

Nolan's Fall Coach Pitch Season

This fall Drew coached Nolan's 8U select baseball team and let's just say it was a season of growth! Actually, in the end these boys improved tremendously but that first tournament was a killer! Nolan's Mustang team was made up of a group of the most talented boys in the Grapevine Recreational League playing against boys in extremely competitive teams with paid ex-pro baseball players as coaches. What an eye opener! That said, I'm glad Nolan was given the chance to improve his game and I think he enjoyed playing on a team of boys that were equally talented.

Awaiting the pitch.

A hit!

Always ready to run...although maybe next year he should face the batter! :)

Although a coach pitched Nolan played the pitcher position which kept him on his toes and he made some awesome plays to first base.