Share the Love

One of the big goals of our church is to have the members go out into the community and show God's love to them through our actions. My weekday women's Bible study took a day a few weeks ago to show some love to the people that serve our particular area, and one of our stops was the local fire station. We took them a couple of meals and lots of baked treats, and they gave us a tour of their firehouse. Kate and the big two kids had school that day, but Benji was home with me so he got to come along. I can't remember if I ever mentioned it on here, but last year in preschool Ben had a serious fear of fire alarms and fire drills. I was worried that he would be too afraid to have much fun at the station, but he did a great job. He asked if there would be an alarm and I said no....and then just prayed they wouldn't get an actual emergency call while we were there!

When we first arrived he stayed very close to my side, but slowly he started to check out the trucks and the gear.

When they told him he could sit on the seat, he couldn't resist.

All of these cuties made thank you cards for the firemen and they hung them on their refrigerator in the station's kitchen, which Ben thought was extra cool.

When he saw these hoses he acted out a few scenes of him spraying down a fire.

There were 4 or 5 trucks in the garage, but this old fashioned one was the best. They use it for parades and school events and Ben couldn't believe they let him stand on it.

It was a fun day and the firemen were so thankful that we chose to visit them and bring food. Our group plans to do more for them in the coming months and I hope all the kids can come next time.

Boo at the Zoo

It's that time of year again, Halloween at the zoo on a school night! It's always a bit chaotic but fun, and the kids look forward to it for weeks. This year we kind of made a last minute decision to go on a Thursday, so we all went to Anna's violin lesson first and then got into costumes before we left there. I had a brown eyeliner in my purse so I gave Kate a cat nose and whiskers. Later that week she remembered that, and drew her own version on her face with a red marker when I wasn't looking. She actually did a pretty good job!

Are you confused by the boys weird jumpsuits? What are they supposed to be anyway? The truth comes out when the sun goes down....

Hahahahaha! These are the best costumes they've ever had! As we were leaving a policeman took video of them dancing around, and everyone was cracking up. I love that you can tell which boy is which just by the way they walk.

The characters are always fun. Hilarious that Anna and Noah are almost as tall as the minions.

I love Anna's candy corn hat sticking over the top of this one, and Kate's little face trying to stretch up there.

Last year there was a huge line to see Anna and Elsa, but luckily the hysteria has died down a bit and we were able to get a picture quickly. Kate really loved this.I love Anna's stick legs and Ben's cool guy pose.

As we kept walking we saw this random bear sitting on a hay bale. He held his arms open and Kate just walked right in. She's so teeny, and in that fitted leotard she looked even smaller. So many people passed us and told me she was tiny.  :)

We had forgotten to bring our real camera so as the sun went down the phone pictures got worse, but of course the kids didn't care.

Kate wasn't so sure about the superheroes, but the possibility that they may have candy spurred her on.

It was a fun night! We usually go with my sister and her kids but they were in Disney at that big Halloween party this year. Being a school night, it actually worked well to just truck on through. The kids got in the car happy and tired and full of candy, talking again about how much more they will get on the "real" Halloween. It's so close now!

A Fall Hike

The weather has been so nice lately. I love when it really feels like Fall but it's still nice enough to spend a lot of time outside. We've had some cold nights and we still have a few rather warm days coming this week, but we are safely out of the hot hot temperatures and I am more than okay with that! I may or may not be fully dressed but wearing fuzzy socks and cheetah slippers while I type this.  ;)

A few weeks ago we wanted to take advantage of the great weather, so we went on a little hike. Our city has always had some great parks, but they recently expanded some and we hadn't been out there yet. We packed up the kids' little backpacks and headed out.

This boy loves taking his own pictures lately.

The beginning of the trails is a paved road for walking and biking. We spent the first 10 minutes yelling at the kids to get over because bikes were coming. Some people were really flying!

We took a turn down a gravel path and found this guy. He was so well camouflaged that Nathan, Anna, Noah, and Ben had walked right over him, but Kate stopped right in her tracks and pointed down.

They loved watching him go straight up this tree. Snakes don't really gross me out....as long as they stay outside of my house.

Same goes for spiders. That's a lovely web, just keep it outside buddy.

Once we got into the woods they found all sorts of creatures and plants to inspect.

Not sure what kind of creature this was....

Anna was so excited when she found a little chipmunk under a log.

We have about 43 more chipmunk photos just like this one if you'd like to see them. See him in the middle there?

We hiked around the woods for over an hour and Kate's little legs were getting tired. I think she takes 2-3 steps for every one that we take, so we took pity on her and started looking for the end of the trail. She cheered when we got back into the meadow.

We saw lots of birds, chipmunks, deer, and these moose boys.

By the time we were leaving the sun was setting and it was getting cooler. We played in the park for a short while and headed home, where all of the kids slept like the logs they had just climbed on.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to the pumpkin patch with a few friends from our adoption group. Like always, we went at the end of September to try and avoid the giant crowds, and we did. We rode the tractors out to the patch and the kids had fun running around with their friends. All of these seasonal activities were fun with Kate last year, (wow, has she changed!) but I really think we're enjoying them more now - just because we all feel more settled this year. 

This is Kate's future husband, Caleb. I know you've seen him before, but they're too cute to not photograph every time we get them together.

We let Noah take some pictures on the tractor ride, so he got my friend Tiffany.  :)

Hee hee hee.

Right now Noah is missing the tooth on either side of his front two. I kinda love it.

We did the pumpkin patch and then we all went out to pick apples too. It was really fun and as families began to part ways our kids knew it was doughnut time, although I think every family bought some before they left. 

Apple cider and pumpkin flavored, yum. It's always fun to listen to the live music and watch people dance while we eat.

I think they had fun!