We got out and voted bright and early today–yay!  The Littles even got a special snack because they were so well-behaved.  Well, ok.  They were probably giving them out to all the kids, but I told them that’s why they got it.  🙂

I helped in the children’s program at BSF this morning.  I love that program, but I come home exhausted when I help in there!  Kudos to the women who serve in there EVERY WEEK.  They.  Are.  Awesome.

We had our annual pumpkin party last Saturday.  I know I posted a lot of these pictures on Facebook already, but I like to have them saved here as well.  We had fun costumes, delicious food, cozy apple cider, and amazingly warm weather.  It was a delightfully wonderful day.

Jennifer made this cool trifle–it was supposed to have a toy spider set in the center of the “web” but I thought it looked just as neat without it.  And it was yummy too! Other goodies included mummy cinnamon rolls, pretzel mummies, forgotten ghosts, pumpkin oranges, an assortment of veggies and chili.  🙂  Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of the veggies and chili.  You’ll have to just imagine it in your minds eye.

It was not too cold this year when we were carving pumpkins.  Some years it’s FRIGID.  I love the pictures of got of Solveig and Chloe gutting their pumpkin together.  Despite her face, they did have a good time. Maddie decided to help Rebekah and Aaron carve their pumpkin by stabbing a bunch of knives into the top.  They were really good sports about it and let her just poke away.  I did eventually get her to move on to her own small pumpkin and then she proceeded to stab that one instead.  You’ll see her smaller pumpkin in the first pumpkin picture above.

Then we walked down to the haybales.  I just love those haybales.  They’re so cool.  This year they had the Cheshire cat which I thought was a nice addition.  The kids enjoyed climbing on them–although Levi wouldn’t go up with Chloe, only with Auntie Jen.

The costumes the kids wore this year were awesome.  The Aldrich kids were dressed as characters from Alice in wonderland (Mad Hatter, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, a cat, and a bunny).  The Nelson kids were dressed as Peter Pan characters (Tinkerbell, Peter Pan and His Shadow).  And ours were in their Halloween costumes… I feel like I really should up my game next year and have a theme of costumes too!!!

Josiah picked out our pumpkin design this year and was very excited at how it turned out.

I wasn’t myself this year and forgot to get individual pictures of each family, and somehow I managed to go the whole weekend without getting a single picture of myself or Tim.  Oh, dear.  I’ll have to be sure to carry my camera around more next year.

After stuffing ourselves with chili and goodies, the kids played outside until it was dark (and then a little longer!) and the Littles and women watched Ferdinand and talked.  The guys watched the football game in the basement.  Another pumpkin party in the books!

For some reason when I try and log into write on Thursday nights my site won’t let me log in.  It’s frustrating.  And weird.

I guess the moral of the story is that I shouldn’t wait until the end of the day to post… but I have early lessons on Thursday so the day really gets away from me.

Anyway, we’ve had a busy week of just life stuff.  We had the pumpkin parties last weekend, then Halloween on Wednesday which meant I had a lot of displaced lessons at different times throughout the week.  Then our pastor asked us to say something short for church so I’ve been stressing about what to say for days… I’m not meant to be a public speaker.  It stresses me out way too much.

Jen came over on Wednesday and took the kids trick or treating.  I did technically go along too, but she really does most of the work.  I really hate walking through people yards, so I just walk along the road pushing the stroller (that we’ll need eventually, but not at the beginning) and she runs through the yards with the kids.  Everyone has a good time.

She got some super cute pictures from that night…

More to come of these… but I’m tired tonight so I wanted to quick post one of the kids.  🙂  I’m so glad we are just about past the hardest phase of getting nice photos with the kids.  Levi was difficult this year (I know, that smile is deceiving!)… but by next year he should be a peach!  😉

Photo Credit: TGB Photography!!!

I just love gearing up for our Pumpkin Party.  So many adorable and yummy ideas I could create.  My pinterest board is overflowing with ideas, and now comes the point where I have to decide what is actually feasible and what is not.  I’ll spend today cleaning and actually starting to make some things… but for now here are a few of my favorite Fall decor pictures I’ve found on Pinterest and wish I could create. Alas, space, time and money are big factors in not doing most of these.  😉  I seem to really like the white fall decor this year…

(Note:  I’ve just copied these pictures–I claim no rights to them.  If you’re interested in finding the links to them, hop on over to my Pinterest page and look under Fall Fun)

Tuesdays make my heart happy.

We get to:

• walk the Bigs to the bus stop
• go to BSF
• enjoy a snack in the van
• make lunch and supper when we get home
• sit and enjoy the sound of sleeping children
• talk on the phone with my Mom
• then start teaching (starting with Chloe’s lesson right when she gets home from school)

I was really bummed out that BSF was moved to Tuesday mornings instead of Wednesday and I thought I would just hate it.  But now Tuesdays have become my favorite days.  I planned it out so I don’t have early lessons on Tuesday as well, so when we get home we can enjoy lunch and get the Littles down for naps without rushing.  Then I have time to collect myself (which usually means quick cleaning, loading the dishwasher, starting laundry, setting out snacks, etc.) before starting to teach.  See?  Tuesdays are great!