A puppy & other fun stuff

Taylor got an early birthday gift this year.  Well, really it's a "gift" for all of us!  I guess when you give your parents a dog you can only expect they will repay you one day!

 She is in love.  "Just what I always wanted" - she said.

His name is Zeke but she has a hard time remembering that!  She keeps saying "what him name?"  

 Someone else was pretty ok with Taylor's birthday gift too!

 She's already tried to fit him in her car.

 We did a little pre-Halloween celebrating this past weekend.  Dave dressed up as the party hostess - he doesn't go around looking like that just by chance!

 Strawberry Shortcake and Buzz Lightyear

 Taylor had fun in the bounce house.  So much so that she wouldn't come out when it was time to go.

 Chase was digging the cakewalk.  He did not take the "helmet" off his head the entire night.

 Taylor dressed for the hurricane.  She was ready for whatever came our way...rain, snow, or Christmas!

 Chase had his harvest festival at school today.  I finally got to meet his buddy, Landon, that he is always talking about!  Spiderman was very popular in preschool this year.

 At the party.  Still wearing the "helmet."

 The class picture.

Completely random but priceless.  She did this to herself and she has no idea that it is the most appropriate bumper sticker ever.

Soccer Pics

Picture, Politics, Poster & Pumpkins

 First school picture. Growing up too fast.

 Taylor has been sporting Dave's glasses recently and catching up on all the election info coming in the mail.

 She was obviously surprised by what she read!  She will also be surprised how soon she will be wearing glasses of her own if her eyes are anything like mine, and I'm pretty sure they are.  (Yes, Jason & Grant, I did have this exact same pair of glasses in the 5th grade.  Now stop laughing. They were stylish.)

 Next week is Chase's turn at school to be the poster kid.  We had to work on his poster "all about him" this week.  He said when he grows up he wants to be "a doctor......or wait, maybe just spiderman."  Good plan.

 Chase also got to take his first field trip this week.  The highlight, of course, was riding the bus!  I would have had a great picture of him getting on the bus but my camera didn't take the picture until the 5th time I pushed the button.  Oh well.

 Hard to see because of the glare, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

 We got to meet the group at the pumpkin patch.  Here they are filing off the bus!  Unfortunately, 4 out of the 13 kids in his class were out sick this day, including 3 of the 5 boys so he didn't have most of his buddies to play with.  I am just glad he was not sick with them and hope it stays that way!

 On the hayride out to pick a pumpkin.

 He was quick to find the right one.

 Taylor picked several.

 But finally decided on this interesting one.

 Taylor thought she was part of the class.  They got together for this picture and she hopped right in behind Chase.  Too bad I couldn't see much of her from my angle.

 When we got back on the hayride Taylor sat right up next to Chase's teacher.  I think she's ready for school.  At least the fun parts!

 The group- Taylor, Josephine, Emerson, Jenna, Maya, Carys, Zach, Chase, Abby & Madison.

 Taylor playing with her "preschool friends."

 Headed back to the bus.  Chase wouldn't ride home with me from the farm.  He wanted to ride the bus back to school and we "could just meet him there."

Taylor was happy to do that.  She immediately told him that when she's 4, she's riding the bus too.  Warn the bus driver now!

Soccer & Apples

 Saturday was a busy day that started with a party at the soccer field.  First, Kaleb & Kathryn and Bryce & Emmy came to watch Chase play for a little bit. After his game we all headed over to watch Kaleb play too!

 Soccer buddies. It's too bad they aren't in the same division but at least they play close to the same time each week so they get to see each other.

 After soccer we made a lunch stop at the Hanover Republican picnic then it was off to Carter Mountain to eat donuts pick apples.  I'm not one to take pictures of trees on the side of the road, but this one was really pretty and we were sitting still on the road looking at it for quite some time!  Apparently everyone had the same idea on Saturday.

Traffic was pretty crazy.  It was stop and go all the way to the top of the mountain.  It was so not my cup of tea to be stuck on the side of a mountain with a drop-off a foot to my right and no escape!  We made it to the top and even though there were tons of cars, it wasn't really too crowded (meaning, we were able to get donuts in less than 10 minutes.)

 The kids happy to be out of the car!

 Seeing how many apples taller they've grown since last year.  

Taylor is getting closer and closer to Chase!

 Making a jack-o-lantern face.

 Completely over taking pictures.

The donuts arrived. Why not just lick the sugar off?

We actually did get to the apple picking part.

 Taylor pulled down half the tree with her apple. 

 The pretty day and abundance of apples and short lines for donuts may have been enough to compensate for the crazy drive up the hill to get there.  When we got out of the car we agreed it might be the last of our "tradition" trips!  We'll see.

 We had to park so far from the barn that we didn't even bother to take our apple picker with us!  Dave had to reach the high ones but luckily there were plenty even low enough for the kids to get themselves.

 Happy apple-eaters.

Fun with Friends

 Don't tell Chase, but last week Taylor met up with Bryce for a little pre-Halloween fun while Chase was at preschool.  She did remember to take him a lollipop and a Rodney Ram sticker, so he wasn't forgotten!

 Aiden had a new baby sister last week so he was able to stay and play for a day while his mom was still in the hospital.  Chase and Taylor thought that was a good deal - play all day and then get a new sister!

At preschool today they had a firetruck come and they learned about fire safety.  I wasn't there, but Grace had taken Bryce to check it out since it wasn't his regular school day and she sent me these pics!

It's a good day at school when you get to see Bryce and Aiden!

 Chase's class.  (I know he has way more fun at school than it looks like in this picture!!) This is the first time I've seen many of these kids.  We drop-off and pick-up at the curb so I never go in to see what's going on!  I do know that Chase is standing by Carys (pink pants, to the left of him).  He talks about her plenty, always with a smile on his face!  Taylor and I get to join the class at the pumpkin patch next week and I'm looking forward to actually meeting these kids he talks about so much!

 This is an old one that I don't think ever made it on here.  Dave took Chase and Taylor to touch-a-truck a month or so ago while I was at a luncheon.  Chase with his buddies again, looking a little happier!

Playing "fireman" - from the left is Aiden, Chase, Jacob, Bryce and Taylor.