Happy Halloween!

Off to school for things 1 and 2! M said the wig turned out to be a bit of a problem at recess as the wind would blow blue feathers behind her in a trail. They were pretty proud to get to wear them though!

The littles and I then headed over to Story time at the library. A can't-miss for us these days. Smile guys (why does that never work??)!

Tad windy outside. I think we'll stick to the indoor events for the rest of the day!

 The highlight of the night was to be found at DSU's "Boo"Hawks (they're the Blue Hawks) Treat Street, although this particular part was traumatizing to G. It took her at least 20 minutes to recover from being so near the giant bird who's feathers we probably stole and glued to her head. To her, he looked angry. And she was terrified. 

And this is why it was the highlight. All the candy they got from the different offices and departments was great, the game rooms were fun, but the band room? They let things 1-4 loose on their instruments in the "Instrument petting zoo." It was awesome!

The only one that got dude to break out of his serious face he'd been wearing (I think due to the over-stimulation) was the trombone. He thought that was pretty sweet. A band student blew on it and he got to move it back and forth. Everybody else really liked the drums, gong, and xylophone.

But mustn't forget the girls' karaoke at the pizzeria. Epic.

 And here we are! A rare family shot! Is it just me, or does it look like Cooper's hat was photoshopped on? It was real! And perched atop a lovely headband of cat ears :) Such a good sport.

And yes, that is an announcement posted across my growing belly. Thing 5 coming soon! Sure seems like a lot when you number them off like that :) Hilarious to watch people count them off all night long, and then read my shirt and laugh out loud. Not sure if they're laughing with us or ...

Snow Day!

I finally agreed to take the littles outside after Dude had been begging all morning. He was just so excited about the snow! Look at him! How can you resist that?

 G was much calmer about it. What is this white stuff she wanted to know.

 G: Look it's up there too! 

Dude: I know! It's hilarious!

G: What are you doing with that stuff?

G: You can eat it?! Phenomenal!

G: But then how do you get it off?!

Our first snow koala of the year! Don't ask. It was all that guy. As you can tell, G wanted no part in it.

Dude was pretty excited by the snowballs I made for him. 

After he stopped laughing out loud out of pure joy, he asked me what he should do with them. I looked around and told him to throw them at the garage. He obliged. G had to inspect his work up close.

But that only lasted so long. Something clicked and he realized he could throw them at me!

Cross Country Racing

(Back in September when people still wore shorts in Dickinson. And no winter coats.)

Little nervous to begin. Can you tell? At least she came dressed to run! Not sure where everybody else got all the orange shirts. Clearly we were out of the loop on something. But we were there!

 And they're off!

 And back again! Go M!

 Red-faced and proud of herself!

 Next age group up! Again with the nerves.

 And THEY'RE off! If I knew how to draw a cool little arrow to help you see J, I would. But since I don't, she's the one in purple shorts without a cool, I-belong-here orange shirt.

 Cutest thing about this picture - M running alongside her on the edge. After she'd finished her own race. And was exhausted. She was just so excited to cheer J on. 

 J confessed later that she sprinted too hard at the beginning and had to walk a little in the middle. Good lesson to learn :) But she finished nonetheless, although a little disappointed in herself sadly.

 But a ribbon helps to cheer anyone up, right?

First snow!

Last year the first snow of the season was October 3rd. This year, we held it off until the 4th! It was a little warm for it so we has assured J that it wouldn't actually snow. We should know better. The littles were thrilled!

Honestly, baby G was fascinated and just watched and watched. No worries G. There will be more where that came from!

Face painting

The one thing we didn't get to at the Apple festival was the face painting booth, which was extremely distressing to the girls. EXTREMELY. To keep them from total meltdowns (pretty hard for them to hold it in after such a long day in Bismarck with both mom and dad in meetings), I promised to paint their faces after church the next day. I'd say I came through!

Applefest 2013

Pink fire truck! What's better than that, I mean really?

Hay ride!

Not sure what it had to do with apples, but getting to "put out the flames" with a real fireman's hose was a serious highlight!

On to the petting zoo!

And Cooper's favorite picture of the day:

For the most part, daddy and baby G sat at a safe distance away and watched the others enjoy the petting zoo. We did bring her inside but she just shook her head vigorously at all the animals and the only reward I hot from trying to convince her to get closer was a bunch of animal poop on my leg.

And then balloon animals! Dude's first!

Baby G wasn't particularly patient. Big surprise there.

Not sure she knew what to do with it either but she is not to be left out if the others are all excited about something!

There were tears when some of them popped prematurely. We assured them we'd got pictures so they'd last forever, and then remembered we hadn't got one of M's so here's one a little late but not lost forever to posterity:

So happy. I think it was a silver parrot. Difficult to say but clearly very important. Overall though, such a gorgeous day! Not too many of these in our North Dakota fall! So glad we went!!

Loving fall!

Baby G LOVED carrying pumpkins that were her size!

And here's our grand pumpkin harvest!

Now time to get down to business. Let's ride.

While he risks life and limb, G pushes a dump truck up and down the hill. Slightly less exciting but she loves it!