October Fun!

As soon as October rolls around I get excited about all of the festivities that come along with the fall season!  We started with a trip to the pumpkin patch one evening.  We’re lucky enough to have one within miles from our house, so we went during the week and were the only people there! 

We fed the goats and picked out pumpkins then headed home.  I had Bible study that night but was so surprised to come home to this on our porch:

The kids were so proud of the “Bat Cat” Daddy made for them!  Our pumpkin was carved and we were READY for Halloween. 

 

 

Good thing because we had LOTS of activities leading up to it.  Friday we went to a Halloween carnival at Ryder’s school.

Saturday we went to a Harvest Festival at our Church!

     

After that we went to another Harvest Party at Penny & Joe’s house!  Then Sunday evening the kids got dressed up again to wear their costumes to Awana.

      

Halloween wasn’t until Thursday so they spent their days wearing crazy masks leading up to the big trick-or-treat day!

And finally Thursday came.  Daddy got bails of hay and loaded up the trailer, decorated it with halloween lights, and hooked it up to his truck to drive us around our neighborhood!  Terry & Peyton came down with Aunt Dee & Michael, plus we had Cameron with us and then several friends from the neighborhood jumped on our awesome trick-or-treat hay ride!  The kids got lots of candy and had a blast!

   

 

So fun! Each time someone asked Ryder what he wanted to be this year he would add to it, first it was a Ninja Turtle, then a Ninja Turtle Cowboy, then a Vampire Ninja Turtle Cowboy, I had to cut him off and tell him NO MORE IDEAS!  We’ll see how much he can build up in his head for next years costume, so far it’s a King & a Wizard!

Totally Unacceptable!

When one of the kids does something that I think is just ridiculous, how dare you, how could you, what were you thinking, why on EARTH would you do that, I usually exclaim to them (before punishment) “This is totally unacceptable!”.  That could explain how I feel about my blogging behavior right now!  But please don’t punish me, I’m here, ready to catch you all up on our Marsh Madness!  If you follow us on Instagram or keep up with the pics that are constantly updating on the side bar then you probably haven’t missed much but my last actual blog post was school starting TWO MONTHS AGO!  Totally Unacceptable.

So what has been going on since school started?  I’m sitting here asking myself the same thing!  I guess I better go through pictures and then just narrate!  Sound like a good plan??

We went to a Birthday Party at a firehouse, Ryder was more interested in being in the part where the firemen and trucks were, so with all of his charm, he got himself (and his tag-a-long sister) a grand tour!

   

The fall weather had been (past tense, now!) so good to us, we spent many evenings and Sunday afternoons at George Washington’s birthplace having picnics, playing in the water, looking for sharks teeth, and we caught some beautiful sunsets!

 

 

(oh and fighting, we don’t do much without that these days!)

This girl and all of her randomness just makes me laugh!  One day she wanted her shirt off like brother, and is sight seeing in the wrong direction.  Next shot, yup, she’s peeing.

  

I changed my hours at work so that I could be there to get Ryder on the bus each morning.  Best.Decision.Ever! I absolutely love these few minutes in the morning hanging with my kids before our days get too crazy.

 

 

 

Most of the pictures on my phone are bus stop pics!  I probably have one from every day! They are just so sweet and loving in the mornings, and it’s the only time we get to just sit and wait together! 

Ryder’s school had a literacy night where the kids got to wear their pajamas to school and have story time with milk & cookies.  Cutest thing ever! 

Awana started back up again in September.  This is Ryder’s last year in the “Cubbies” group and Maisy’s first year!  They love going back to Church every Sunday night for Awana.

 

Random yoga shots, just because they are adorable, and really good yoga partners if I might add!

      

Maisy loves to put on make-up now.  She cracks me up how instinctually girlie she is!  She watches me intently and then I’ll catch her in my stuff trying to be just like me.  Warms my heart!

 

In October we took the kids to the Virginia State Fair!  We love going there each year and this year definitely did not disappoint!

      

We had a few sicknesses scattered in, those germs love us when school starts!  We went to a few Birthday parties.  Daddy had a Birthday too!!  Needless to say, we’ve been busy!  Life is overwhelming but looking back at the smile on these kids faces, all of the chaos is worth it.  Even if it takes me two months to get some quiet time to sit down and blog!

Next up…Halloween! 

Back to School!!!

Oh we have waited all summer for the day Ryder could go back to school!  He absolutely loves being there and boy do him & his sister need that break from each other during the day!  The countdown started in the beginning of August when everyone started asking Ryder “are you ready for school???”  He would wake up and say “is it time???”  So the day it finally came was super exciting for all of us!  Well, except for one little girl who realized on the final day that she was actually going to miss her brother during the day!

Ryder’s girls went to Wal-Mart the day before to get him lots of yummy food to pack in his lunches:

(sorry, I needed an excuse to post this picture, little miss independent!)

And then it was the first day of school!  Before we left the house, Ryder had to say goodbye to Spike, his box turtle.

Then we waited patiently anxiously at the bus stop with Nana, Cameron, Maisy and myself! 

Maisy kept repeating over and over “I go with you brother!  K???  I go with you!  I go to school too!  Okay brother???”  She so badly wanted him to say SURE, come with me! 

She had to go potty, so her & Nana ran inside then of course we saw the bus coming.  Ryder started to get nervous and said “Mom, Maisy isn’t going to get to say goodbye and see me get on the bus” but no sooner did he say that she came busting out the door, running his way, like she wouldn’t miss it for the world!

Kisses from Mommy!

Hugs from baby sister!  He whispered to her “I’ll miss you today Maze!”  Ugh melt my heart!

And just like that he was loading himself onto the bus with no problems!!

They went back and forth about putting him on the handicapped bus this year because the railing on the normal bus is on the left side, plus with him being so small they worried about him not being in a seat belt.  BUT I asked them to give him a try and my instinct was right!  He has been getting on and off just fine :)

And just for fun, here is our handsome boy on day 2:

   

And day 3!  I just can’t stop taking pictures of him each morning!  I changed my hours at work so that I could get him on the bus every day, I love seeing him off!

 

Lastnight was Back to School night so we got to go see his classroom and meet his teacher again.  Of course I’ve already done both at Orientation night and at his IEP meeting before school started BUT I still feel like I can’t miss out on anything!

He also had his first homework assignment last night, sorting the letters A, B, and C into piles and then picking out the upper case and lower case!

       

He really is doing great so far this year.  He absolutely loves his teacher, his classroom, and all things about school.  She told us about how she gives strikes for discipline at Orientation so he has stressed every day about getting strikes.  Luckily none so far!!  His teacher sent a note home saying that he is fitting in very well with the other kids, which of course was my concern since he’s in REGULAR classes this year and not special ed.  I mean I know he’s smart enough but keeping up at gym and art and with things like writing and self help during the day will probably always be a concern of mine.  But, like always, he’s proving to be getting along just fine!  The only little issue is he has been complaining of knee pain in his left leg.  He has an appointment coming up with his Rehab doctor so I’m anxious to bring this up to him and see what is going on. 

Love this little guy and looking forward to a wonderful and successful year of Pre-K!