Happy Halloween.

It only took a week but I am finally getting caught up and ready to post some pictures from Halloween and some of the activities leading up to it. I will apologize for all the pictures now but figured it would be easier to put everything up at once instead of waiting another week to put more. It is amazing at how busy we can get and our blog has sacrificed so we can do other things. I will try and make a conscious effort to regain my dedication with our posts. We ended up going to a couple of different pumpkin patches the week before Halloween to allow the kids to have a little fun and try and get some decent pictures with all the pumpkins. The first patch we went to was on a very cold day and the kids did really well considering the temperatures. The second one was on a very nice day and was a lot better to be out in.

Then on Halloween we went over to Jennie's brothers house (Greg and Tacie) and ate pizza then out for trick-or-treating. We haven't been out in our own neighborhood once since moving in 6 years ago. We always have gone to Jennie's parents or her brothers. It was a little chilly but overall not too bad. It could have been a lot worse with snow or rain. The kids had a blast and got lots of treats; which also means dad got lots of treats. We will probably have treats well into December if not later. Brooklyn dressed up as Hannah Montana, Maddux as Darth Vader, Nolan as Venom (the black spider-man in case you didn't know), and Payton was a purple snow leopard (even though she didn't officially go out). Tacie and I took the kids out while Greg and Jennie stayed at the house to pass out candy (while scaring little kids) and watching the little ones. We were out for an hour and a half and got lots of candy. Nolan and Kenzie had enough after one block so we dropped them off and took the older kids to hit up some more houses. When you are that age you can never get enough. Although I was surprised by their enthusiasm or lack thereof. I remember being that age and running from house to house to try and get as much candy as possible. Then going home, changing costumes with a buddy and hitting the same houses up again to get more candy. Our kids were just walking from house to house in no particular hurry just out for a stroll. It was like we almost had to drag them around and tell them to hurry up and move. Anyways, we had a lot of fun, got a lot of candy and everyone was safe so a very good night overall. Here are quite a few pictures of our trips to the pumpkin patches along with some pictures of Halloween and the kids.



I love Maddux's face in this picture. One of the pumpkin patches that we went to had these giant popcorn balls that the kids had to have. I tried to warn them that they really weren't that good but Jennie insisted that I get them the popcorn balls. As I had imagined they did not like them at all and we threw them away. This is one of Maddux's first bites.


The kids standing on some tree trunks that were cut down to use as seats while the kids played in the giant treehouse.


Brooklyn, Maddux and Nolan.


Just hanging out in the treehouse.


Payton was not as big of a fan as the other kids were.


The kids overlooking the valley below. The parking lot sits on top of a giant hill and there is an apple orchard and pumpkin patch down below. I love the color of the leaves on the tree this time of year.


From the top of the hill they had a huge pumpkin launcher that was sending pumpkins down to the bottom. If you look closely you can see two dots; which are pumpkins on their way down.


This is the second pumpkin patch and the day we went here it was a lot colder. Brooklyn and Nolan may look like they really love each other but they are probably just trying to warm each other up.


Nolan, Brooklyn and Maddux peering out from one of the windows in the hay fort. The kids could climb inside and navigate through all the tunnels.


Brooklyn, Payton and Maddux surrounded by pumpkins. Payton was not all that excited to be out on this cold day.


My big boys.


Brooklyn, Maddux and Nolan posing with the cutouts.


Nolan and Maddux (aka Venom and Darth Vader) eating their spider donuts that they made at the library Halloween party.


Here they are again wrapping each other up as mummies.


Here are all three of the kids playing a version of Simon Sez.


Maddux and Brooklyn just waiting for the clock to strike 6:00 so they can go trick-or-treating at Greg and Tacie's.


In line waiting for the parade to start at the library. They got to walk throughout the library and stop at all the different stations and collect goodies.

Brooklyn (Hannah Montana):


Brooklyn sorting through her candy looking for what she can trade with her cousins and siblings to get better candy. This has become a tradition with Greg and Tacie's kids.


Skipping from house to house excited to get more candy.


Brooklyn pondering on whether or not this popcorn ball is really all that good.


Playing in the play yard at the pumpkin patch.


Striking a pose with the pumpkins. I think this is the first time I have ever seen this pose from her and now it has become a staple. Not sure where she picked it up; most likely some show.

Maddux (Darth Vader):


Maddux hanging out with the pumpkins.


Striking a pose in the play yard, notice he still has his soccer stuff on. We went there right after his game because the weather was so nice.


Darth Vader ready to terrorize the streets and collect candy.


Maddux running from house to house with light saber in hand.


Darth Vader pretending like he is asleep during a game of simon sez.

Nolan (Venom):


Nolan playing with Darth Vader's mask in his undies.


Venom running and trying to catch up to the bigger kids.


And you thought Venom used webs to catch the bad guys.


You have got to love Nolan and his faces. He is the cutest thing ever.

Payton (Snow Leopard):


Payton was not all that happy to be out so this was the best picture that we were going to get of her.


Payton looking through all the candy trying to see what looks good.


The cutest purple snow leopard you will ever see.


Sporting the darth vader mask. She wasn't a big fan of wearing this but we did manage to keep it on for a picture.


"The Visitors" Greg and his kids set up some visitors to try and make the house more festive and scary. Our kids wanted nothing to do with these and wouldn't even look at them. They were outside along the walk path up to the house. Maddux was so scared that he wouldn't even go use the bathroom because he thought he was going to get a glimpse of them through the window. It took me carrying him with his eyes closed to the bathroom so he could go ...... and that was just the beginning.


This is what kids were greeted by when they came to their house. Greg had dressed up in this costume and it completely freaked Brooklyn and Maddux out. At one point Brooklyn was curled up on the chair with her head burried in the pillows crying and Maddux had tucked himself in a corner and was screaming at the top of this lungs. You would have thought that someone was cutting off his legs. He had his darth vader mask on and when I took it off his eyes were closed as tightly as can be and he would not open them. We actually had to go in and out of the backyard in order to get him out of the house. I don't think Nolan really knew what to think. He wasn't that afraid but really didn't want anything to do with it at the same time. Maybe in a year or two they will be ok with the masks and not afraid of them. Once we started trick-or-treating they didn't seem to bothered and probably weren't even thinking about Unlce Greg. Overall it was a very fun night and just glad that the weather cooperated and everyone could be safe. Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up and the amount that you had to scroll through.

Car Wreck.

Last Thursday I was involved in a minor car accident and ended up rear ending a lady by the airport. It had been raining all day and the roads were pretty wet. I came over a little overpass and when I got to the top I saw the line of cars stopped at the light. I hit the brakes and slid 50 feet right into the back of her. I was probably doing 30 mph so didn't do to much damage to her car (just dented the bumper and broke the tail light). The majority of the damage was to my car. Everybody was fine and she was super nice about the whole thing. I went around and got various estimates to fix my car and it ended up costing $450, which compared to the first estimate of $1600 was very good news. I am not sure why some were super high but I ended up going through the dealership as they were the cheapest (totally would not have expected that). Even though the car doesn't look at that great it is at least legal to drive and will hopefully get me through the next 2 years and then I can look at a new one. Here are some before and after pictures to show the damage and the fix. I am sure that Jennie has told most of you about this and despite all her remarks, I am not an "idiot driver".

BEFORE:

The front fender and headlight took the most of the damage. The front door only opened so much as the fender was pushed back a little bit.


The headlight was destroyed and was really the only thing I wanted to get fixed as I needed that to be legal.


The hood took a little bit of a beating but not to bad.


The bumper was already broken as someone hit me in a Church parking lot last year and took off, so it really isn't as bad as it looks.

AFTER:

They put a new headlight in, pulled the fender back out as best they could, and made it look the best they could for as little money to me. I really don't care how it looks as long as it runs and is ok to drive.


The fender was pushed back about 12 inches and really a mess so they did a pretty good job with that.


Looks a lot better than it did and happy that I didn't have to spend a lot to fix it.

I am really just glad that no one got hurt and will now have to wait and see what it does to my insurance rates. I still have to go to court for the ticket I got for it and hope that it does not cost too much.

Payton is finally walking.

15 months later and Payton is finally starting to walk around on her own. She has been getting around with the help of furniture for a month or so but was not that interested in trying without until a week or so ago. Now she is walking all over the place. It is amazing how quickly she has picked it up. She is still a little wobbly and gets going too fast from time to time but she is cruising around all over the place. You can really see the difference between the two videos and how much she has progressed in just a week. There are goods and bads with her learning how to walk as she has also figured out how to open the closet door. She can now stand up and reach the handle and pull it down. It is now only a matter of time until she is in to everything. It is truly amazing to watch the kids grow up and am glad that we can be a part of it and watch it all unfold before our eyes. We are so lucky to be blessed with 4 wonderful kids who are healthy and full of energy. I can't wait to watch and see them grow up into young men and young women.

Soccer video highlights from Week 5.

I finally got some video of the kids playing soccer a couple of weeks ago and although I haven't found a decent editing program at least you can see the kids in action a little bit.



Maddux and his team continued their domination of the U6 soccer league by winning 12 - 2. Maddux scored 5 goals but none was more impressive than the coast to coast score in which he dribbled the ball up the field, with his left foot, then passed it to his right, while the defender kept going left, and kicked it in the goal. Maddux's coach has been working with Maddux on his left foot and just about jumped out of his shoes with excitement after that goal. He was so proud of Maddux and was very happy. He does a really good job with the boys and really loves to coach. In the video you will notice that Maddux is very aggressive and in almost every play. There are even a couple of times you will see him catch the other player trying to score and take the ball away.



Brooklyn's team struggled as they played the top team in her league. They haven't lost a game yet and have a couple of really good girls. They have 2 girls in particular who are very aggressive and go after the ball with little or no regard to the other girls. They use their body, push around and throw elbows to keep the defenders away. Most girls are not very aggressive at 7 so when the refs let that go there really isn't anything you can do about it. I got mad because on one particular play one of our girls got in there and took the ball away and the ref called a tripping foul. I couldn't believe that after letting all the other stuff go he called that foul. It was unbelievable. Anyway they ended up losing 4 - 0 and are still looking for their first win. As you will see in the video of Brooklyn she is very content on just running around the field and kicking the ball every once in awhile. She did play goalie the first quarter and did not let anything by her. She can be aggressive when playing their but has not developed the offensive desire at all yet. Her coaches are still waiting for that to come around.

Last week the games were rained out and I am still not sure why. Sure it did rain most of Friday but the fields were not that bad and Saturday was beautiful. It is funny because two weeks prior they let the kids play in the pouring rain but then canceled last weeks. I don't know when they think they are going to make these games up but they are quickly running out of time and we are now up to 2 games that have now been canceled. The weather is getting colder and winter is just around the corner. Soccer in the snow could be fun. Well hopefully we will get the games in this weekend and I will have some more pictures and video. We are hoping to get Brooklyn's team a couple of wins before the season ends.

Bounce City.

Saturday the kids got to go to Bounce City for one of their friend's birthday. Tristan, one of Nolan's best friends, turned 3 and invited all of us to his party. Jennie use to watch him and his little sister everyday and him and Nolan are very close. They are also only a couple of years apart although you would never know it by looking at them. Nolan is probably close to twice the size of Tristan. Anyways the kids had a lot of fun and it was a good way to wear the kids down before bedtime.


Nolan riding a motorcycle with Maddux playing Teken in the background. I am not sure if this is a sign of things to come but Nolan loves riding that motorcycle.


I finally figured out how people win the big prizes on this game.


Maddux, Nolan and Tristan on the giant bouncer.


The blur is Maddux in mid flip.


Look at that tall skinny girl. This is her jumping with the same kinked neck that kept her from playing soccer that morning.


Nolan having a blast jumping in the bouncer.


Payton going down the slide backwards. This was the first time she was able to go in the bouncers and she loved it.


Payton going head over heels into the big boat.


Maddux heading down the giant slide. This was the most popular ride there and the kids went down it over and over and over and over.


Nolan flying down the slide. I love the look on this face. You can tell he is having the time of his life.


That neck doesn't appear to be bothering her at all. Funny how those things work.


Brooklyn coming out of the obstacle course. The changed the height requirements to 48" so she is the only one who can go do right now. Maddux and Nolan use to love it. I heard that their competitor came in one day to check the place out and notified someone that there were smaller kids on it so they had to change the policy. Maddux should be good in a couple more months.

We just wanted to thank Tristan for inviting us to his party and thanks for having a super cool birthday. The kids love bounce city and always have a ton of fun when there.

Soccer Week 4.

Week 4 turned into a mess as we were hit with a lot of rain. The day started with Maddux having his team pictures in the pouring rain. I am not sure why his weren't the same weekend as Brooklyn's but they weren't.


Here are the Red Rhinos.

There was some confusion as the whether or not the games would even be played. The decision was that you were suppose to head to the fields and it would be a ref decision. We showed up at Maddux's game and there was no one there. We waited about 5 minutes and finally we had enough to play 5 on 5. We did have a ref show up and eventually got up to 7 on 7. It was a lot of fun to watch them play in the rain and I think they had a fun time as well. Maddux's team ended up beating the team 9 - 1 with Maddux playing very well. He had two goals and some very nice assists.


Maddux and a couple of his teammates waiting for the game to start.


Maddux starting to break away on one of his two goals.


Waiting for the throw in so he can steal it away.


Breaking out of the pack and taking the ball with him.

As far as Brooklyn's game went her team was the only one that showed up. They did not have one single player from the other team nor the refs show up. I don't know where all the disconnect came from but something they definitely need to work on. It was kind of a good thing that they didn't play because Brooklyn had a kinked neck from jumping on the trampoline that same morning. She couldn't move her neck and was really milking it. I hope they make up the game but not sure if the weather will cooperate for that. The funny thing about the whole situation is that she couldn't move enough to play soccer but that night she had no problem running and jumping around at bounce city. Funny how those things work.

We are suppose to play tomorrow but it is also suppose to rain all morning so hopefully the rain will hold out long enough for us to get the games in.