Magic House Birthday Party

Jack was invited to a birthday party at the Magic House in November for one of his classmates.  It happened to be about a week before our membership there expired, so I decided to take Charlie along too and make a morning of it. The boys always have so much fun there, but it's hard to justify a membership because it's pricey and not super convenient for us to get to.  We may renew again some day, but for now we're going to sit out for a bit.

Our last hurrah for awhile:

 At the party, Jack and his friends made a few crafts.

 Then they got to decorate their own cupcakes.  They had a few extra, so Charlie got to participate in that part too.

 

 

 

We also got to check off #24 on our Summer Bucket List (better late than never)

Coon Club

The first weekend in November we spent our Saturday afternoon and evening at a Coon Club with Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Todd and their neighbors.  Their neighbors Kenny and Winnie have a membership in a duck hunting property in St. Charles County.  It's land for hunting, but there is also a big house for entertaining.  We had a lot of fun!

We went on a tractor ride:

We played kickball, football, soccer, etc.  We ate dinner there and roasted marshmallows.  Jack even got to shoot a gun for the first time, which may have freaked me out a bit.  They were VERY careful though.  We told Charlie he was too young to try it; maybe next time for the little man.

After dinner, the kids watched a movie while the grown-ups sat outside by the fire.

We had a great time; so fun to do something different.

Halloween 2014

Jack decided pretty early on that he was going to be a Ninja Turtle for Halloween.  More specifically, the blue Ninja Turtle, Leonardo (shocking!).  Charlie followed suit and decided to be the red Ninja Turtle, Raphael.

We kicked Halloween off with the parade at school.  It was on a Thursday, so Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to bring them up to participate since they weren't at school that day.

Jack and the Grasshopper class

Charlie and the Blue Jay class

Jack with his buddies Jack and William

On Halloween we did our typical routine....started out with the neighbors for a photo shoot.

 Easier said than done with this many kiddos!!!

 This was my favorite costume.  Sweet little Levi was a football player to go with his sister's cheerleader costume...

 Then we headed over to Cyndi and Todd's house to trick or treat with Mia and Lily and to celebrate Grandma Clayton's birthday.

 
 It was kind of a cold night, so Daddy and Uncle Todd took the kids around while the rest of us stayed cozy in the house.  Check out that loot!

 After trick or treating we went over to Cyndi and Todd's neighbors' (Channa and Greg) house for a little while before heading home.  It was a busy, but fun night!

October Miscellaneous

We celebrated Grandpa Clayton's birthday in early October and took this adorable picture of him with the grandkids...

We went to a family picnic for my work, and the boys had a blast playing in the bubbles from the Bubble Bus.

 The boys and I took a quick trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was really crowded, so I agreed to stand in line for their train ride, if they stayed on the nearby slides where I could see them.  Unfortunately, I had to leave the line when I couldn't see them for awhile, and it turned out they had wandered over to the maze.  I was not a happy mama (and also a little panicked!!).  We left pretty quickly after that, so we missed out on most of our traditional pumpkin patch activities.

Luckily, our friend Hayden had her birthday party at a pumpkin patch, so they got to redeem themselves and have the full experience that day.  Jason took them, so needless to say I don't have any pictures.