Pumpkin Carving Fun!

What a memorable carving pumpkin year! Jeff and the boys had this great afternoon planned carving their two pumpkins. As Jeff was beginning to cut into the pumpkin, he cut into his left hand. So what was planned to be a fun afternoon of pumpkin carving, turned into an afternoon at the emergency clinic getting stitches. Blake, our neighbor, came over with his little girl, Alex, to help continue the cleaning out of the pumpkins. Jeff and the boys continued the rest later in the week. Enjoy the pictures!

Setting out the newspaper getting ready to begin the pumpkin carving!

Sitting next to their pumpkins... so excited!

It has become a yearly tradition for Alex, our neighbor, to join us! This time her daddy came along to finish up the cleaning out of the pumpkins.

A couple of nights later, Jeff and the boys finished carving out the fronts of the pumpkins.

The final product and a proud little boy

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year, we went up to Nana and Grandpa's house to celebrate. In past years, they have told us that trick-or-treating is a big deal in their neighborhood, so we decided to give it a try. They were right... the kids had a blast! I will let Captain America (Andrew), Darth Vader (Nathan), and Mickey Mouse (Caden) take over. The pictures tell a story of our day!

The first thing we did when we got to Nana and Grandpa's was play outside. The kids love to play outside when they go there!

So, I have to tell a little background information about the last picture. We love to watch "Mantracker" on TV as a family. It is a show that follows an outdoors adventure where Mantracker is supposed to search in the woods and find a couple that is running from him. I went over and asked Andrew what he was doing, and he said he was hiding from Mantracker.

Before dark, because the kids couldn't wait, we began our trick-or-treating. We started out with taking pictures of the three kids. Nathan was Darth Vader, Andrew was Captain America, and Caden was Mickey Mouse (at the last minute).

We went over to visit one of Jeff's teachers that lives in the Woodlands. We had to take a picture of Caden because he looked so confused being in a different car and car seat.

When we got back, we began the much anticipated trick-or-treating. Nathan and Andrew did not have a nap, so Andrew petered out pretty soon after we started. We made it down Nana and Grandpa's street, and he wanted to turn around. There is a little boy and girl that live on their street, and Nathan hit it off with them. Nathan and Jeff went about three streets away with the little boy and girl and their families

First house

Kelli and Caden

What a fun Halloween! Thank you, Nana and Grandpa, for hosting us! :)

Alien Bug

In 1st grade, the kids participate in a BIG insect fair at our school. It is a closing to their unit on insects. We had about 3 weeks to complete the project, and if you know me, we had the project done a week ahead of time. Not only did he have to construct an insect, but he also had to write a paragraph explaining his insect. The pictures below show you from the beginning to end making "Alien Bug."

Alien Bug is well on its way to being complete.

On another note, we had a visit from the tooth fairy -- missing one of his front teeth. The other one is not far behind.

The bug's habitat

At the insect fair, the kids sat at lunch tables which lined the cafeteria. As soon as I walked in, I saw Nathan and Alien Bug sitting at the table. He was so proud of himself and his new buggy friend. Not only did I get to come down to the insect fair, he had two more special visitors there to help cheer him on.

Thank you, Oma and Papa, for making a special trip!

1st Scout Campout

We went on our first scout camp out with Pack 820 to Camp Mauritz. Nathan was so excited to be able to spend some time with his tiger cub buddies. The time was very structured. The best part of the camp out was the time he got to run around with all the scouts, old and young. The campsites were set up in pods. Between each pod, there was a little trail. The kids ran from pod to pod going to war with the older kids. I was sure that was his favorite part, but when we asked him he said flag football was the winner. I will let the pictures tell the story of our first scout camp out.

In the car on the way to the camp grounds

Here are the five tiger cubs in our den...

Austin, Kyler, Nathan, Alec, and Nigel
We went on a pack hike. The kids collected big walking sticks, and we walked around the camp grounds.

Here is a couple of pictures of all boys in Pack 820.

After the hike, we started a rotation of three sports -- kickball, soccer, and flag football. As I mentioned before, flag football was Nathan's favorite. We split the kids up into three groups to rotate through the activities by size. Nathan ended up with the 2nd and 3rd graders. He had so much fun, and they were so patient with him.

KICKBALL

SOCCER

FLAG FOOTBALL

Dinner was at a pavilion on the camp grounds. We had spaghetti. Right up Nathan's alley!

After dinner, we headed over to where the campfire would take place. The neat part was the kids were able to participate in making the actual fire. Each child got to set a stick in the fire. Here is a picture of Nathan setting his in.

At the campfire, we had a flag burning ceremony. I did not know this, but there is only two ways to respectly dispose of an American flag. One thing you can do is bury it, or you can burn it. Places from around the community give us their flags to properly dispose of. We had a flag burning ceremony where we burned two flags.

The part we all had been waiting for -- roasting marshmellows.

Nathan's left overs from the marshmellows.

And a great end to an awesome, energy-filled day -- cuddling in the tent after dark.