An Outstanding October

Soccer

 Game 4 - Jenni kicking the ball to start the game.

Joshie Bear writing on his drawing board next to the sideline :)

 The boys cheering on J :)

Game 5

Talking strategy :)

Jenni's coach spinning her in circles at half time :)

 Little Man likes to play on the playground equipment while Jenni is practicing soccer.

 Game 6 - Jenni and her teammate waiting to substitute in.

Jenni loves playing defense.

 Game 8 - Team Picture

 

Weeknights and weekends of October brought more soccer practices, games and cooler weather. In Game 5, J got her first soccer injury - a black eye  - thankfully it was just a bad bruise and nothing more serious. I think that makes her an official soccer player now :) Grandpa John and Grandma Linda came in town to watch Jenni play in Game 8! We have really enjoyed J's first soccer season and are looking forward to when our little man is old enough to play in a soccer league of his own :)

Puddle Jumping

The most memorable days usually end with the dirtiest clothes :)

Bible Study Fellowship

We are loving the study of Acts. BSF is an outstanding Bible Study and has taught us so much. The children's leaders are doing a phenomenal job with the kiddos. I especially love the weekly Home Training Lessons for the kids. It serves as an extension to what the children learn during their Bible study time and how we can discuss and apply it throughout the week.

Cinderella & Prince Charming Costumes

Jenni trying her dress on before I closed the back of the bodice and sewed the collar :)

After countless hours drawing patterns, cutting fabric and sewing together pieces for my precious little ones, I finished Jenni and Joshua's costumes! I learned so much throughout the sewing process. Jenni was quite excited about her Cinderella dress, helpful picking out fabrics, and eager to try on her dress during fittings. Joshua, being the young boy that he is, wasn't quite so helpful during his costume fittings but hopefully one day he will enjoy looking back at the pictures :)

Visiting Grandpa & Grandma

 I was a clown in kindergarten. A nice, friendly, cheerful clown :)

 And a pumpkin a couple of years later! We stuffed crumpled newspaper inside the costume to make me a nice, round pumpkin :)

We had a wonderful time visiting my parents. Jenni enjoyed late night trips with Grandma (one night to search for new puzzles and another to get some ice cream!), working on new puzzles, planting flowers with Grandma, and listening to Grandpa's stories, among other things. Joshua enjoyed playing with Grandpa and Grandma and listening to Grandpa's stories too. We also made a few trips to a couple of pumpkin patches. While visiting Grandpa and Grandma, Jenni discovered a "treasure chest" filled with Halloween costumes that my mom made for me and my sister many many years ago. What a lovely discovery!

Pumpkin Patch 2011
We made a few visits to pumpkin patches this month. I took the kids and we also made trips with Grandpa and Grandma. We look forward to our visits each year and the memories that we make! To see pictures of our trips, click here.

Fall Party

I was talking to Eric about the fun I had growing up attending our church carnivals and all the fun, kid-friendly games and how we should do something similar. Jenni overheard us discussing this idea and she was automatically on board :) J and I brainstormed several ideas and made a list of activities that she and Joshua would both enjoy. We had a great time planning for the party and enjoying all the work we put into it. Grandpa and Grandma AND Uncle David, Aunt Andrea and baby Gavin  came too! It is always a fun time when our family is together! To check out more of our fall party, you can click here.

Fall Fest

 Joshua was ready for bed :)

 Jenni was trying to make him laugh :)

We enjoyed our time at the Fall Fest. Jenni enjoyed the bounce houses, tunnels, bean bag toss, ring toss, arts and crafts, bowling and fishing, among other carnival games. Joshua was laid back and enjoyed relaxing in his stroller :)

Sweet Snapshots

 Guess who this little guy is looking at - his big sis :)

 Blowing kisses :)

 

 Love this little man!

 

 Joshua is really enjoying coloring these days.

 Asleep :)

 Awake :)

 Jenni Mouse :)

 Minnie Mouse wearing a Minnie Mouse hat :)

Taking a break on one of our road trips this month :)

I was wondering why our little guy was hanging out in his rocking chair all morning - he had his last two teeth coming in! 

Grandma Linda hit the jackpot of fun dress-up clothes! Jenni & Joshua are delighted with their new costumes!

 Joshua is one easy going boy :) 

Overheard

Part of Jenni's prayer while Eric was traveling this month:
"Jesus, please keep daddy safe on his trip and clear from any danger." (I love her sweet words!)

After I had a talk with Joshua after he disobeyed, Jenni came up to me and said, "Mommy, don't be too hard on our little guy. He's just a curious little boy!" So very sweet and true :)

At bedtime one night Jenni asked, "Mommy where does water from our sinks and toilets come from?" What I thought was an easy enough question to answer turned into something much more complicated. I did the best I could :) Once the conversation turned to how the pipes were put underground and then into homes, I said, "Maybe we should talk to daddy more about this when he gets back into town." And then Jenni responded, "Yeah. Daddy is like really really smart."

Joshua (21 months old) to his cousin, Gavin (12 weeks old): "I love you, baby."

An update on Sweet Jenni J

Jenni is doing as good as ever. She loves school time and is enjoying having Joshua alongside her while she works. She is practicing hard for her next ballet recital (which is not until next May :)) practicing in front of the fire place with Joshua as her audience. She had a wonderful experience playing soccer and thoroughly enjoyed her coach. J loves all things school but she has taken a strong interest in writing. She loves to write anything she can think of - her name, my name, food she ate at lunch, a special note to daddy while he is at work, etc.

An update on our little man, Joshua

The little boy I thought was going to be a quiet, reserved little fellow has turned into quite the silly and mischievous little boy over the past few months - and boy do we love him! Joshua has spent the month of October doing all things boy - roaming around on little boy adventures through the fields during Jenni's soccer practices and games, playing in our flowers digging his hands through the soil, playing in the mud and rain after a rainstorm, playing hide-n-seek in his room when I am looking for him as we're ready to walk out the door, learning front rolls on the carpet, wrestling with his daddy, and going on adventures with Grandpa when they are together. We sure love our boy. Joshua is also loving books more and more. He spends a good amount of time looking through them, turning the pages, and studying the pictures. He especially likes books with dogs in them (Clifford, Spot, etc.). And my sweet little man takes after his big sister liking things put in their specific place and is becoming quite a good little helper.

We are looking forward to the month of November, cooler weather, fall decorations, Thanksgiving, and spending time with our family!

Fall Party 2011

Lunch Buffet

 I printed and cut out our "Give Thanks" banner on cardstock, template found here.

 We made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and fall colored sprinkles.

 Harvest Stew

Orange candy slices from the pumpkin patch

Veggies with ranch

Bottled root beer and orange soda

 Ghost string cheese (I drew little eyes and a mouth with a black edible pen on the string cheese)

Apple smiles (two apple slices with peanut butter and marshmallow teeth)

Peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of pumpkins

Trail Mix (Honey Nut Cheerios, pretzel sticks, Cheez-its, candy corn, Reese's pieces, honey roasted peanuts)

 Jenni and I made caramel apples covered with crushed walnuts.

 We also made fruit skewers with strawberries, pineapple, grapes and peaches.

  On each side of the cupcakes are desert dishes with dirt 'n' worms. We filled the dishes with chocolate pudding, layered on top crushed Oreos, and then stuck candy worms on top.

 

My mini-party planner :) 

Snack Buffet

I set up a snack buffet to enjoy while we were working on our craft projects and games.

Assorted candy

Salted peanuts

Puppy Chow

Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Caramel apples

Orange candy slices

Candy worms

Trail Mix

Bottled root beer and orange soda

Bean Bag Toss

We used the bean bags I made for this game and the board that Eric made out of a large moving box and then painted a shade of green. We all had fun tossing the bean bags into the circles. Crazy enough, Jenni had the best aim out of all of us :)

 Fall Tree Fingerprint Leaves

My fall tree

 Jenni's fall tree :)

We traced our arms and hands on brown cardstock for the tree, cut them out, and glued them onto blue cardstock for the sky. Then we dipped our fingers into paint to make a painting of a tree's leaves changing colors in the fall.

Ghost Prints

Jenni's footprint (left) Joshua's footprint (right)

We glued the moon to the corner of the paper, dipped our foot in white paint and placed it on the black cardstock. Once dry, we added googly eyes.

Halloween Bingo

I printed out bingo cards and laminated them for future use. We used Starburst candy as bingo pieces.

Painting Pumpkins

We used colorful paint to decorate our miniature pumpkins.

Paper Plate Pumpkin

Grandma's pumpkin (left) Jenni's pumpkin (right)

We glued orange pieces of paper for the pumpkin, green for the stem, and black for the eyes, nose and mouth of the jack-o-lantern.

Pumpkin Playdough

I made homemade playdough and the kids used a small rolling pin and a leaf, pumpkin and turkey cookie cutters to make cut-outs with the playdough.

Spider Prints

Jenni's spider prints

We dipped our hands (minus our thumbs) into brown paint and printed them onto cardstock twice to make a spider (with eight legs). After the paint dried we added googly eyes.

 Tic Tac Toe

We had fun playing jumbo-sized Tic Tac Toe.

Toilet Paper Roll Mummy

We wrapped and glued strips of paper towels around an empty toilet paper roll. We left space to glue on googly eyes to make the mummy.

We had our first annual fall party - complete with family, food and fun! Jenni and I had a great time planning our party and an even better time spending it with people we love! Grandpa John and Grandma Linda, and Uncle David, Aunt Andrea and sweet baby Gavin all came to celebrate with us! We had a great time working on crafts, playing games, eating yummy food and having fun with our family!