Fall Festivities

Leaves changing, cooling temps and JEANS...some of my favorite things about fall.  One of the kids favorite things is raking all the leaves into a big pile and then making a massive mess of them!

This was Zoe's first fall and she greatly enjoyed the outdoor time.

Gavin wore the leaves over to the pile to help us collect them.

Not sure what it is about Ella, it could be her patience with him or her willingness to help him, but Gavin LOVES his big sister Ella!  As for Ava, there hasn't been much love there lately.  Granted Ava is not at home as much as Ella, nor does she have as much patience with him, but that doesn't really justify his desire to hit Ava every time she is near him?  We're working on it.

It was a beautiful morning and although my OCD flares up seeing all the leaves I just raked dispersed all over the lawn again, I am glad the kids had so much fun!

 The following day, make that evening, was "Trunk or Treat" at the school.  This was our first year taking part and despite the chilly temperatures it was a success.  Ava chose to dress up as Dorothy this year, which came out of left field to me since she's only seen about 10 minutes of the movie years ago.  Ella had been a ladybug the last two years and wanted to do it again, but sadly she had finally outgrown the costume (barely) so I told her it's time to move on.  So of course she picked the next closest thing, the Monarch Butterfly costume Ava wore two years ago...don't forget the Monarch part!

We met up with one of Ella's closest friends from school, Emma, who was a witch but opted for her Dad's Duck Dynasty costume hat instead of the traditional witches hat.  Emma towers over Ella, but they are great friends and they are actually only two weeks apart in age.

Here are Ella, Emma Ava and Emma's older sister Ellie (on her knees) who is 10 years old. .

While walking around we also spotted Ava's BFF, Katie.  Katie's family had decorated the back of their van with a Disney theme.  Very fitting since we were to be on our way there in less than a week!

Poor Gavin has had a less than thrilling fall.  While he had fun in the leaves, he missed out on everything else.  Class parties, field trips, Trunk or Treat and perhaps worst of all...Disney!  He is a good little guy, but he has his age working against him...there are not many places I want to chase him around!

The day after Trunk or Treat was Ella's class trip to the Stuckmeyer's Pumpkin Patch.  Here we are ready for the hay ride.

We neglected to take all the kids to a pumpkin patch this year so I had to get my pumpkin photo quota filled with just Ella.

Stuckmeyer's has a large bounce house/maze for the kids to do.  Last year Ella made it into the maze but then we heard her screaming and we had to go in and get her out.  This year she made it all the way through the maze without tears, but then stated "I do not want to do that again!".  This is her in line to go in...I wish I had a good shot of her coming out...not the same expression!

Since Emma wasn't a fan of the maze either we moved on to the playground.

The playground is pretty much a giant swing set, a small hay maze and some slides.  Here are Ella, her friend Aubrey and Squeaky (the class mascot) enjoying the tire swing.

 Before leaving we tried to get some of the girls to pose for one last pic...it was a struggle.  This is Molly, Ella, Aubrey and Emma.

I love these preschool field trips.  The kids are so little and so easily excited!  I'm gonna be a wreck during Gavin's whole last year of preschool.

Once home, Ella had to get her pumpkin ready for Daddy and me pumpkin carving night at school.  If you know Ella well then you understand why I had to remove her shirt.  I have no pictures from carving night with Dad, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they carved a masterpiece!

Two days before the big trip we had another event at our house...Zoe turned ONE!!  I had one weak moment on one day last fall and now we have 12+ years of doggy memories to look forward to...YAY!!  The girls sang happy birthday to Zoe while she stared down her giant decorated bone shaped treat.

The next few photos are random ones of the girls baking with Grandma F.  I'm not sure when these were taken but they are a good representation of what happens every time we head to their house.

I would like to say at 6 years old Ava is better about not making a mess, but she is actually the worst of the three.  Something comes over that girl when she is eating, anything, but especially sweets!

Ella isn't AS bad, but still needs either an apron or no shirt, as seen earlier with the pumpkin.  :)

Finally that brings us up to actual Halloween.  We had a very exciting and fun Halloween, but I'll have to save those details for another post, I still have A LOT of pictures to go through.  Here is a sneak peak....