Pumpkin Patch

In October, Jason took a Friday off that the boys had off from school, so we could all go to Anderson Farms. It's in Erie, about 20 minutes away, and has a big fall-fest type of event. It was a perfect fall day, not too hot and sunny, not rainy. We had a great day!
Love this picture of CC driving Andrew in the barrel train.
This should have been a perfect opportunity for a family picture - 5 openings. One of the Bakers wouldn't cooperate - can you guess who? (do you like Jason's pigtails?)
They had a hay-bale maze with a few "holes" in the bales, for playing hide and seek. They also had huge corn mazes but we didn't get to do those.

Yep, I took this picture. I admit I have never looked this closely at any kernel of corn, to notice - hey, candy corn really DOES look like real corn! How about that??

I swore we weren't going to buy any pumpkins (I'm too cheap, and get them at Target instead) - but out there in that HUGE pumpkin patch, they had over 100 varieties of pumpkin - so cool. We came home with 3 - 2 of them "ghost" pumpkins, you can see them in the background.

Getting along!

Our wagon ride stopped to feed these cows - the feeding part was a little yucky but wow, look how this Highland cow's hair color matches Brendans!!

Brendan with the camera.

These huge pumpkins the kids are sitting on were for sale, $100 each.

Andrew, with game face on!

First days

This year, those first-day-of-school pictures have a different meaning for us. The boys moved to a different school, Jefferson Academy Charter School. It's still very close, only about 6 minutes from our house. It was a hard decision - we loved their former school and had created a nice community for ourselves there. JA (new school) has a middle school and high school, in addition to the elementary school - and we had been on their waitlist a few years, so we jumped in. There were some definite first-day jitters (for me as well as boys!) but so far, so good!

Can you tell it's a pretty bright, sunny day? Brendan: Mom, it's hurting my eyes! Just take the picture!

This was the last day of this bookbag for Brendan - for the first time he has to bring home (heavy) textbooks to use for his homework - this wasn't cutting it. The school recommends the kind of backpack that has wheels, and now I know why. Maybe for Christmas!

4th grade for Brendan, 2nd grade for Andrew!

And the next day, CC had her first day of preschool! She's going to Happy Valley Children's Ranch. So cute, it's almost 60 years old - a little farm, where the kiddos get to feed the animals, brush them, and ride ponies. She LOVES going to preschool - the teachers tell me she's very quiet there (weird!!) but is not sad to see mom go at all!

And now onto the beginning of what has been our lives (really) for the past 2 months - fall sports. Andrew is on a new inter-league soccer team where he plays teams in nearby cities. First year for the jersey uniform for him vs. a t-shirt - love it!

CC is playing soccer for the first time - cutest, cutest thing ever. Her team is called the Ladybugs - and she loves it. She was due to play after 4 years of going to every sport/game known to man for her brothers! Watching those little girlies swarm around the ball, kick in the wrong goal, and constantly look back at parents with a big grin - love it! CC's got an orange ball here, but for her birthday, big brother Andrew got her a purple soccer ball!

And yep, in the middle, that fierce-looking dude is Brendan. (aka "Baker") He requested to play football this fall for the first time, and we dove in. We all learned a lot this season, and as ever so proud of this kid who is not afraid to try ANYTHING in the world...how amazing is that!? He's really loving the game, and Jason is loving that Brendan will sit with him on a Sunday for HOURS and watch the professional games.

Love how CC's looking up at Brendan in this picture.

We're baaaa-aackkk....

Yeah, yeah, it's been forever. No reason, excuse, etc. - just that after a certain point of not posting it then started to seem like an insurmountable task to try to catch up. So, I'm not even going to try to catch up - just post some stuff that I remember or was interesting!

Here's our long-haired little man...no more buzz cuts for Andrew! Been growing it out for a few months now - it's not "styled" here (yep, we even put product in it : )) - but what a cute smile.


And speaking of hairstyles - here's little sister bear after I curled it a bit, and she's wearing one of my necklaces. Funny to see this picture - just the other day picked up the pieces of those sunglasses in the back seat of the car to toss out!
This I do remember - it's September 5 - our 12th wedding anniversary. We splurged and went out to dinner at one of our favorite grown-up restaurants - and brought the kids. Here they are toasting their Shirley Temples. (note that Andrew's hair has been combed recently)
Same anniversary dinner! A couple of weeks earlier - Jason's birthday. I enjoyed the very devilish look and color of this photo! Birthday cake, every year = choc on choc (chocolate cake, chocolate frosting)
Random, but funny - CC dressed herself to step out into the rainy night. She was so excited to have a reason to use the princess umbrella - just doesn't rain that much here!

Fresh from the garden - zucchini. First year growing it, even though I know it's the "easiest." This one we let get a little too big!
More on this later - football for the first time for Brendan. This was the first time he put on the pads and helmet - I was gushing and had to take a picture.
Okay, I've broken the seal of no posts...will do more very soon!!
ps - Mike - your turn!!