Halloween at the Office and College Football

Raking Leaves in the backyard

The boys love to do "jobs"

At John's Office Halloween Party.  John's floor dressed up in a cowboy/western theme.  John was a rodeo clown and found some awful looking teeth along with clothes from Goodwill.  The boys thought I should wear something Star Wars, hence my shirt!

The boys got lots and lots of candy at John's office

And more treats

Riding the "horse"

John's office goes over the top to organize a Halloween party for the children of those who work on his floor.  This is our second year to attend the party and the boys love it.  They get lots of candy and other treats and, of course, its another chance to wear our costumes.  John's office area actually won the contest for best decorations, costumes, and theme with their rodeo/western attire and decor.

In other news, we took a break from the Halloween parties and the boys attended their first ever college football game.  John took them to see the Minnesota Gophers play the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Minnesota actually pulled off a win!  The weather was relatively nice (it was cold, but no rain and the sun was out) and John was able to find tickets for everyone at a reasonable price.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the big event because Finn and I watched (in between cleaning house and doing laundry) from home, but the boys loved it.  John said they were speechless when they walked into the stadium.  They had hot dogs, popcorn, and hot chocolate.   While Aiden didn't really care too much for watching all of the game, Luke and Liam really got into it.  Everyone enjoyed the fact that the Gopher Mascot dressed up in various costumes during the game.  One of the costumes happened to be "Darth Maul" from Star Wars.  Liam accurately pointed out that his costume was incorrect because Darth Maul has a double red sword and the gopher/Darth Maul had a blue sword.

The boys can't wait for annual Halloween parade and trick or treating in our neighborhood this Thursday.  More to come!

Darth, Yoda, Ninja, and a Football Player

Happy Halloween!  At this point in the party, we had already played so hard that we took off our costumes because we were so hot!

Finn smiling at Liam

Ninja Turtle, Yoda, and Darth Vader

Liam, the Ninja Turtle

Aiden as Yoda

And Luke as Darth Vader

Finn is a little football player with a onesie "costume" that I should have purchased after he had a huge growth spurt!!  Not sure it is going to fit by Halloween.

The whole gang getting ready for lunch at Kirsten's Halloween party

Getting ready to make bats

This picture is out of order, but worth mentioning that checkers is our new favorite game.  Luke, particularly, will play checkers with anyone at anytime.  He asked me this morning at 7:00 am to play checkers!!

Luke was very very proud of his United States map that he made at school.  He punched out the shapes of each state with a punch pin and glued them onto the map.  His teacher wrote the names on each state.

Playing Bingo at the Halloween party

Super excited about the new pajamas.  I almost never buy clothing with character things on it, but I can handle it with pajamas.  I had to turn down the cute matching Christmas pajamas this year.

We had our first of three Halloween parties last week.  Next to Christmas, Halloween is a favorite holiday for the boys.  They start planning their costume several months in advance.  For the first time in five Halloweens, I had very little to do with the costumes that the boys are wearing this year.  In the past, we have dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 (2008), Lions (2009), Viking Football Players and a Lion (2010), Buzz, Woody, and Rex (2011), and Superman, Batman, and Scooby Doo (2012).  In each case, John and I helped the boys decide what they would be and more or less pulled it all together.  But this year, we had some very diverse opinions on costumes for Halloween and I let them pick what they wanted.  Luke is very interested in Star Wars and quickly picked Darth Vader as his costume mainly because I think he likes the helmet that makes cool voice noises.  Liam isn't really all that into the Ninja Turtles, but he likes Ninja/Karate and he said he likes turtles; however, I think it was mostly the cool sword that made him pick that costume.  Aiden, for whatever reason, has a fascination for Yoda and the green sword even though he can't really sit still through an entire Star Wars movie.  Finn isn't really dressing up this year, but he is wearing a onesie that looks like a football player with a little hat.  I will try to get a better picture if I can fit him in it by Halloween.  He had a big growth spurt after I bought the outfit.

Our first Halloween party was tons of fun.  We do this party each and every year and it all began with our twin friends when Luke and Liam were 9 months old.  We played bingo, ate a Halloween themed lunch and treats, made a Halloween bat, and had so much fun with friends.    

More Fun at the Orchards

In the past week, we visited two more apple/pumpkin orchards on different days.  We went again with our friends Jack and Charlie and then we went over the weekend with Daddy.  I know I have mentioned this before, but Minnesota really has a lot of these and it is the fun thing to do in the fall.  The trees are gorgeous colors, the weather is crisp and cool, and there are lots and lots of outdoor activities.  It is a fun, albeit somewhat exhausting, day!  Let's just say that the boys (and I) were more than ready to go to bed at the end of our days at the orchard.  Finn was a trooper at each orchard and thankfully the weather was cool, yet warm enough for him to come along.  The pictures tell the story and I have lots to include on this post!

Corn Pit with our friends

Liam and Jack in the corn pit

Luke, Liam, and AJ (courtesy of Kirsten while I was feeding Finn)

Reading the map in the corn maze

Jumping pillow with our friends Jack and Charlie.  The boys loved this!!  Aiden was even able to do it a little with his leg.

This will WEAR. THEM. OUT.

Corn Maze with Jack, Charlie, and little brother Andy

More Corn Maze

Cow Train

Shooting apples 

Sweet Finn was a trooper

Watching other people shoot apples into the field

John was the entertainer here and everyone followed

Corn pit with Finn.  No, Finn is not sitting on his own yet so this was making me nervous.

Waiting for a bite of the caramel apple

Picking out our pumpkins

Luke

Aiden is "king of the hay"

Buried in Corn.  We have been washing corn in our laundry for about a week now.

An interesting fact about bees:  "All worker bees are female."  Enough said.  

Daddy and the Boys

Daddy and Finn 

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers over the weekend.  They were here to meet Finn as well as enjoy some time with Luke, Liam, and Aiden.  Despite the rainy weekend, we had a wonderful time.  The boys enjoyed trips to the Science Museum and Aquarium as well as time to work on puzzles, legos, and read books with Grandpa and Grandma.  I failed to take a lot of pictures over the weekend, but will post a few cute ones I managed to take.  Most of all, the boys loved all the extra attention and having someone new to play with and talk to.  Thanks for visiting, Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers!

For our 11th anniversary, John gave me a set of "Willow Tree" figurines by an artist named Susan Lordi.  Each figurine represents a member of our family and the children are each called "roses in my garden."  I found the following quote from the artist very poignant.  

"Roses are a universal symbol of love.  Like children, they require extra care, patience, and hard work from the gardener.  But when they bloom, they're outstanding.  Their combination of intense fragrance, color, and beautiful form is worth all the effort." 

MR. ANIMATION!  I took these pictures of Aiden entertaining Finn one morning after the big boys had gone to kindergarten.  Aiden is so animated and loves to entertain his brother Finn.  Actually, he loves to entertain just about anyone, but Finn is very attentive!

Watching Aiden 

Grandpa reading books to the boys before bed

Hanging out with Grandma, Daddy, and Finn

Working on Star Wars legos with Grandpa.  Luke is very into legos and Star Wars right now.  

Finn at a little over 2 months

Grandma Carrithers and Finn

Grandpa reading books again!  John and I enjoyed watching and the boys had a great time with Grandpa