A Few Extra October Pictures

 Darcy had a first grade music performance that was really fantastic. They sang "Prime Time Nursery Rhymes" and it was completely adorable. Although she was a little nervous, she had been practicing and looking forward to this for weeks. She has a wonderful music teacher which makes me so happy. She has always been a music lover, and I love to have that reinforced by a great music teacher.

 Just cute

 I don't know if I'm really behind the times, but I did not know the inside of an apple could look like this. Darcy's teacher showed them at school and she came home and told me how to cut an apple to have a star inside. I had no idea! Cool!

 For the last few months our kids have spent their time at my parents' in the dirt. We tend to leave their house with very dirty, but happy kiddos.

 I think this was the first time I realized Ezra could open the car doors. We looked out the window and were surprised to see Ezra and Matthew in our car going for a little ride. Ezra had hooked that huge chain up to the front for a tow which really cracked me up. He's always looking for a way to hook a vehicle up.

 I went and made a bunch of applesauce with my mom and sisters one day. Fun times.

These four boys are really keeping us on our toes these days, but I love that they are buddies!

Halloween

 Ever since last Halloween Darcy had her heart set on being Elsa this year. She got an Elsa dress for Christmas and I was thankful for that since that ended up being the simplest costume this year. Ezra had his heart set on being Jake the pirate and I though that seemed like a really simple costume for me to throw together. I decided Cubby, Jake's sidekick, would be fun for a costume for Parks. I assumed that would be another simple and quick costume. They really were simple costumes, but I kept having little hiccups and they ended up taking up so much of our lives and pretty much all of my patience for the week leading up to Halloween. I have vowed to never sew again.

Every other year we have done some quick trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and then raced off to Mattawa to see family and generally to spend the night. Since Halloween was on Saturday this year and we had church the next morning we decided to just stay home this year. It was sad not to go see our family, but on the other hand it was really pretty fun to let the kids trick-or-treat as long as they felt like it. Unfortunately Parks woke up with croup on Halloween morning, so he rode in the car with Drew to watch the action. Darcy and Ezra were both really excited and I had fun watching their fun.

 Carving pumpkins

 Darcy's pumpkin was missing it's two bottom teeth just like her. Ezra's had a bat mouth.

 We went to our ward trunk-or-treat and Ezra got to try the sling shot.

 Ezra dressed up for three different occasions this year and by the third time he did not want us to make his hair black. I was going to take pictures so we bribed him and he requested that Drew would be the one to do it instead of me. We all laughed at how that turned out.

 Darcy was doing an Elsa pose and the boys thought they were supposed to do something with their hand too.

 I planned on having Drew make a pirate sword for Ezra, but he never got around to it and he was happy enough to have whatever this ninja turtle weapon is instead.

 This duo was killing me with their cuteness. 

It rained on us on Halloween so Elsa wanted to use this fancy umbrella for her pictures. At one point the wind caught it and it almost flew out of her hand which really made her laugh, which was perfect for this picture.

Bill's Berry Farm

 The Saturday before Halloween we visited Bill's Berry Farm. It was pretty busy, but I think the whole place is pretty quaint and fun.

 

 There were lots of spots for kids to put their faces through on this board, but I could never get a decent shot of all the kids. This one of Parks will have to do. He kept going back to poke his face through over and over.

 This clown was there putting on a little show and the kids were loving it. I especially loved Thomas' face in this picture.

 Allison and Parks got a ride out to the pumpkins in the wheelbarrow.

 Getting a shot of all three kids was a bit of a challenge.

 At this point the other kids were running all over the place and I was following Parks around (except for that time I lost him in the crowd for a few minutes and started to freak out just a tiny bit) so I have tons of pictures of him and not many of Darcy and Ezra.

 I'm not sure if he was supposed to or not, but at one point Parks helped himself to the apples on the ground under the trees.

 There was a band playing that Parks stopped to listen to for a minute. Then he broke it down and had a dance party.

 He had turned 18 months a couple days before so I thought this was a good opportunity to take some pictures of him for that.

 "Can you even believe what I'm doing right now?!"

 Love that cute crooked smile

 The grand finale was this ride behind the tractor. Darcy was so wishy washy about whether she wanted to go or not. The cars all filled up and at the last second she decided she wanted to ride after all. Thomas was such a good sport to let Ezra squish in his car with him so Darcy could have a ride.

This pictures cracked me up because the boys were the ones that were the most excited when the ride started and the girls were a little less impressed. At the end of the ride, as you can see, the tables had turned.

Oregon Zoo

A couple weeks ago Drew had a work trip in Portland for a few days. I told my friend Melissa where he was going to be and she asked if we would be interested in picking him up on Friday when he was done and going to the Oregon zoo with them. I am always anxious to see him by the end of these trips so going to pick him up sounded great and I was sure our kids would love a day at the zoo with their kids. Drew vetoed a trip to a different zoo a couple weeks before that, but since he was already going to be in Portland he decided it sounded like a good plan. Melissa's husband was such a trooper and offered to take all four of the bigger kids in their van with him. Melissa and her baby rode with Parks and me. We chatted the whole time which I always love and the babies got a little nap, and somehow they survived in the other car. :)

We saw lots of cool animals and had a really fun day at the zoo with friends with only a few minor meltdowns. We stopped at Red Robin for dinner and the kids all fell asleep right away on the drive home.