"Fishing" on a gorgeous fall day

In early October, we took the kids to an area where we planned to go bike riding and fishing.  Once they saw the pond, they didn't want to ride bikes; but we did manage to get about 10 minutes of bike riding in :).  

Brielle learned how to ride without her training wheels about one week before this!!  I didn't get a picture of her on this day since her bike chain was falling off.  I thought I knew how to get her training wheels back off on my own, but I didn't tighten everything up correctly!   So Tim took her bike back to the car to fix it. 

 Then it was time to fish.  Brielle is not timid about picking up these earthworms!  And John follows her lead :)

So we didn't catch anything... no bites at all, but they still enjoyed picking out their worms and casting their lines.  Tim told Brielle sometimes the fish don't bite when there are no clouds in the sky :)

A Fun Fall Friday

A couple weeks ago, it was a beautiful Friday (and a non-school day) so we decided to pick up a few cousins and spend the day doing some fun things.  We went to a pumpkin barn where the kids enjoyed seeing the animals: roosters, chickens, goats, and rabbits.  Emma, Brielle & Josie fed fresh lettuce to the rabbits.

 Then the kids ran through the corn maze.  My one "direction" to them was to stay together as a group.     They did a great job following that instruction, so we didn't have to search for anyone later :)  

Inside the pumpkin barn, we bought a bag of Empire apples (yum!) and each kid picked out a small pumpkin. 

Lincoln & John:

Josie, Brielle, & Emma:

Emma said, "You should take a picture of all our apples when we are done and type a story about this on the computer.  That's what my mom does.  That's what a lot of people do." :)

Then we headed to a park that the kids don't go to as often since it's on a different side of town.  They enjoyed the crunchy leaves, finding all the fallen acorns, and playing on equipment that was new to them.

 On our way home, we dropped Lincoln off and picked up Karley who was just waking up from a nap.  Back home, we got out our supplies and painted our little pumpkins. 

While our pumpkins were drying, we played outside.  It was so warm (over 80 degrees!) and Brielle asked if we could get out the Slip & Slide.  Brielle shared her 2 extra swim suits with Josie & Karley, while we decided that Emma could get her clothes wet...  and we'd find extra clothes later.

Then they ran around with their towels flying behind them... drying off...

...and we headed back in for a "Strawberry Shortcake" themed tea party.  We raided Brielle's closet trying to dress each girl in their respective color.  Karley was "Plum," Emma was "Blueberry", Josie was "Lemon", Brielle was "Raspberry"...

 ... and John was "Cupcake" their puppy.

We are so lucky to have so many wonderful cousins to play with! 

Let's compare school photos...

When Brielle was 2 1/2 years old, she saw this early school photo of Tim.  When we asked her who it was, she said "A boy... that's me a boy."

And now with Brielle's 1st school photo, let's have another look at the similarities between Tim & Brielle!

People ask often where Brielle gets her red hair... well, it runs in the family.  Some are surprised to hear that Tim's hair was that color.  Her school photo scanned in a little dark, but their hair color is very similar!  

By the way, I have to say we were pretty proud of her 1st school photo.  I was a little nervous to see how they turned out, because who knows what a preschooler is going to do for the photographer.  Well, I think she did a pretty awesome job and looks very cute!   

(And thanks to her Aunt Becky for doing an awesome job with her hair that day before afternoon preschool.)

Family Date Day

    A couple weeks ago, after we watched the sidewalk art contest, we went out for a pizza lunch and then walked across this bridge.  John & Brielle would run ahead and then run back towards us :)

                      

Across the bridge, we took Brielle & John bowling for their first time :)

        Sometimes they bowled all on their own.  The excitement on their faces was priceless :)

          

 And sometimes they wanted help with their bowling :)

We have really enjoyed how active Brielle & John have become this summer, and all the fun activities we have been able to share together as a family :)

Harvest Days

Today Brielle, John, and I went to Ace Hardware for Harvest Days where the kids can decorate pumpkins and get their face painted. The kids did a nice job with the pumpkins. After the decorating Brielle asked, "Can I get my face painted?" I said, "Yes." So Brielle goes to Kelly, the lady painting faced and says, "I would like to have a butterfly painted on my face." Kelly says, "Great, I will paint an butterfly on your cheek." Brielle says, "No, my face."

John decided to just have a Jack-o-lantern drawn on his cheek.

Staying within the lines

Brielle and John have really worked on their skills of coloring. Brielle does a great job of staying within the line while John does a nice job of staying on the paper:)



After all that coloring the kids get pretty tired.