Fall Fun

We have been having a ton of fun this fall. The weather has been gorgeous and we've been doing many fun activities. We had a Halloween party and were able to be outside for most of the time thanks to the beautiful fall day. I made these cupcakes and thought they got pretty cute.


Mark created an enchanted pathway at the side of the house to lead everyone to the backyard. Simon especially liked the blue spider.

Isn't Mark's costume awesome? He had fun putting it together. He even has a real sword that he made PW -- pre-Wendi.

We played a couple of games and had a family costume contest. The kids waited very patiently to take a swing at the pumpkin pinata. Nearly everyone we invited was there -- I think we had 17 kids ages 6 and younger -- wowzers!

Notice Simon's 'Bob the Builder' hat flying to the ground as he takes his turn with the stick. What? You didn't know that zebras could do construction work? ; )

We made two trips to Happy Hollow Park last weekend -- one with Mark while he was working and the other as a family for fun.

We couldn't believe it but Simon climbed up this climber all by himself. Of course, we were underneath him the whole time but his climbing skills were impressive! He is so independent right now -- he has to do everything himself. It's both rewarding and exhausting! I love what he's learning and to see the sense of accomplishment on his face is priceless but sometimes I just need to have more patience because some things take longer than if I could just do it for him. But the smile when he completes a task or learns a new skill is amazing and worth checking my frustration at the door.

He was kind of afraid of the tall slides at first ...

But quickly learned to love them!

Walking the balance beam -- thanks for teaching him that, Special Agent Oso.

Our neighbor is the pastor of a local church and I know his sister-in-law from Purdue. She invited us to the 'trunk-or-treat' event at the their church and wouldn't you know? The Boilermaker Special was there too. What a fun treat to take a ride on the Special!

This was the best I could do at getting a photo on trick-or-treat night. The kids had a blast! Simon quickly learned to look for houses with the porch light on. He very politely said "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you!" And then he would turn to me and say, "Can we go to another house?" Yep -- he got the concept. I think we wore him out because he didn't complain at all when we said we were done and it was time to go home. He climbed right into the wagon and talked about his full bucket of candy and admired the half moon.

Mark and Simon didn't waste any time at all checking out the bucket of candy. We told Simon that he could choose one piece to have that night. He chose the full size candy bar -- we turned our backs for just a second and the whole thing was gone! No wonder he didn't sleep well that night. (Our plan was to only let him eat half of it! Oh well.)

We've had a lot of fun so far this fall and have a lot to look forward to! Each day brings a new learning for Simon. He's learning how to write his name and he is loving it. He sings songs all. the. time. It is hilarious! Life is good with our sweet little boy.