Big Giant Blog Catch-Up: Fall

Why is it so hard to update this blog lately?  I'm not sure.  We've had a lot going on, like always I guess.   I've had some major blog-writer's-block.   But, I'm feeling the time crunch since we're down to t-10 days until this baby boy arrives.  The c-section is set for Dec. 14th!  I still can't believe it.  We can't wait to meet him, though.

Here's a big catch-up post of our fall...

The kids talked me into making a wreath out of our leaves.  

It turned out pretty nice, even if it only lasted for a day:

Local wildlife:

 Those last two were at the school Harvest Festival.

Our pumpkins!

 (L to R) Nate's, Natalie's, Elizabeth's, Joe's and mine 

(we carved the kids' pumpkins from their drawings)

We took a trip to a small local pumpkin patch.  It ended up being pretty perfect for our kids.

I found this paper Natalie had written on after we got home about how she wants to live on a farm someday.  I guess we've got country-loving kids.  Too much of their father in them. :)

 Can I also just say again that I can't be held responsible for the way my kids are dressed?  Their new thing is to wear all the same color and it kind of drives me nuts.  I try to bite my tongue as much as is humanly possible.

The costumes:

 This was the first year the girls both tried to go for scary costumes.  I couldn't have been happier about the ghost idea, though.  Can it get easier than that?  Elizabeth insisted on just the eye holes and Natalie wanted her whole face cut out. Nate wanted to be a dinosaur and that one from Target was the best I could find.  He wasn't thrilled about it but at least he wore it.  They all came home with gobs of candy so I guess it was a successful night.

One weekend, we got our whole house painted.  They came in Friday morning and were done by Monday night.  We (well, I) decided on a whim that we should go camping while we were out of the house.  It might have been a bit crazy but it ended up being such a fun trip.  It was our first time camping by ourselves as a family.  We kept it pretty simple.  We went to a church-owned camp in the Santa Cruz mountains and it was perfect for us--gorgeous surroundings, not too cold, running water and toilets.  Can't beat that.

The kids were in camping heaven:

 Here we are getting ready to go on our hike:

Nate hitched a ride most of the way but the girls stuck it out on a pretty difficult hike.  

We were all proud when we made it back to camp.

S'mores!

Back at home again and jumping in the leaves: