10/30/13

Gardner Village

 This year we got to go to Gardner Village on a sunny afternoon on a Monday. Since Ryan has been working nights this month (he leaves at 5pm and works until about 230am) we have afternoons for family time. I found this picture funny, so sunny we had to cover our eyes.
 A new witch we seemed to find this year!

 Ringing the bell was a new thing. That was fun!
For a Monday afternoon, it was very busy. Lots of happenings about this place in October. If you haven't been, it's a great local place to go for Halloween and see the witches. Our favorite, well the boys', is still the one with the nasty hot dog!

Halloween costumes and the Barnhisel party 2013

 The most hilarious thing happened when I was trying to figure out what to have Liam be for Halloween. I couldn't remember what was in our dress up bin. Suddenly about a couple of weeks ago, Liam said he was going to be a lion and was QUITE intent about it. Ironically, or luckily, we had a Lion costume in it! Where it came from, I have no idea..... but a lion he is. He LOVES lions. He is a "daddy lion cause I have lots of hair".
 And he lets people know "it doesn't have a face, so mommy draws it on me". This is his mean lion face, as opposed to the nice lion face above.
 Darth Vader, This is the cutest picture of me for some reason.
 When I get scared of Darth Vader, Collin takes his mask off and smiles and says "Mom! It's just me!"
 The Lion trying to use the force?
 Auntie Shanna's party is always fun. I went as my standard witch. Ryan went as Scotty from Star Trek.
 Once again, gorgeous weather for the party! Collin REALLY got into the donut eating on a stick contest this year. I think it's the first year he didn't grab the donut. Liam, he got mad.



 What face is this Liam? Just thought this was a cute picture.

We also celebrated Brandon's 11th birthday. Liam was LOVING he got a cake slice all to himself. Ahh...sugaroverload time.

10/29/13

2013 O'Berry pumpkin weigh-off

For anyone that reads this blog, the pumpkin patch is a big deal at our house. So is the weigh-off. Collin got to cut off a lot of pumpkins this year.
Liam got to help with the little "baby" pumpkins as he called them.
It's quite a process this weigh-off. We cut them (actually, I do nothing, I'm just the photographer and witness to document the event), wash/wipe them off, weigh them, then name them.
This is Gigantor, the biggest pumpkin Ryan has grown so far. It weighed more than 55 pounds!
Collin with Gigantor.
Down below is Collin with all 28 pumpkins. Geesh!

Sand castles

My sister gave the boys their old sand box like 2 or 3 years ago, when Collin was little. I'm still amazed at how much my boys like it.
Another warm September afternoon, Ryan and the boys built some serious sand castles. I was quite impressed. Liam liked knocking them down best. Boys will be boys.

Another fall zoo visit

We have been going to the zoo almost every week this fall right after preschool. Yes, we have a zillion pictures of the zoo, I know.
It seems every time we go though, we discover something new, despite having gone lots this year. Comparing ourselves to a gorilla is a new thing.
The splash pad was finally done, and it was warm enough to play around in. Actually looking back at these warm pictures make me miss warmer fall already. Boo for cold weather.
It had rained right before we arrived at the zoo. Liam was OBSESSED with jumping in these puddles, without his shoes of course.