the barn party

Every year the Schar family hosts the Barn Party at their farm, for our church. All the kids (& some adults) dress up & play games for candy, explore a hay maze, go on hay rides & eat hot dogs, donuts & cider. I've been going since I was a kid & this was Finn's 3rd time. :)

My little pterodactyl!
Finn picked out this T-rex costume at St. Vincent de Paul's for $4 & declared that he wanted to be a pterodactyl. Kenton helped me come up with the alteration design & I added wings, a "cone" head thingy & cut off the sharp teeth. :) Not too shabby for $4 + some spare fabric from my mom.

A pterodactyl in the wild. :P

I couldn't stop taking photos of him.

Every angle just cracked me up!

My view of the baby dragon in the back seat.


So cute!

We stopped at Kenton's parent's house to pick up some pieces to add to Kenton's costume. Outi caught this great shot!

Our family
Cedar is missing the top half of his costume, Kenton is a forest fire fighter (wearing some of his dad's authentic gear!), & I'm a fairy (with a few more layers than the typical fairy). :) We were going to go with a theme, since Finn originally wanted to be a knight. Kenton was going to be a wizard & Cedar & I would fit right in. Then Finn changed his mind, so we ended up being a bit random.

There's my baby dragon! Cedar's first Barn Party! :)

Waiting to play some games.

Bean bag toss with Pastor Steve. Finn kind of cheats. :P

Getting his face painted.

Some custom work by Jeff Harris - a pterodactyl, what else?? :)

Batman Cohen

Boo Tyler (from Super Mario Bros)

On the hayride.
Cedar spent most of the evening chewing on one of his "claws" :P

Belle Sadie

One last photo of our family.
Lots of photos, but we had a really great time. Some other highlights for Finn were the bus ride from the church to the barn, playing by the campfire, going upstairs in the barn with Cohen, & the "glo-bracelet" from one of the families at the party. He used it as a light saber, of course, & got to sleep with it that night. Fun memories!

happy birthday papa!

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Monday, October 19th (the day after his birthday) with his classic birthday dinner request: sloppy joes & tater tots! Yumm!


Cohen & Finn sticking close to the cupcakes, trying to wait patiently. :)

Papa & his 7 grandkids
Sadie, Cedar, Tyler, Finn (whining because he can't pull the chair out), Cohen, Griffin & Ronan

The birthday Papa!

Wearing a gift from the Chases & us - an apron to wear while working on his bikes!

Family portrait - smiling parents, sad kids. :P

Totally separate day, but I wanted to share this sweet, smiley photo of Cedar. So happy, even though he's wedged in between couch cushions & his track suit is all bunchy. :P What a good sport!

night out

My friend Ben (from high school) was in town (all the way from Thailand!) visiting his family. He only comes home every couple years, so we were excited to spend some time with him. :) We got a group together & went to dinner at Mezza Luna (such yummy pizza!). After dinner, we went to a brew fest where we met up with Stu & Jacque.

Helen, Carolyn, Katrina & Jacque -
all wearing our varying shades of green coats!

Kenton, Ben, Stu & Jesse

It was fun to have an evening "out on the town" without the kids. They stayed with Mummi & Pappa & had much more fun with them than if they'd been dragged to a restaurant. :P We picked them up afterward & brought them back home, where they had a chance to meet Ben (a second time for Finn, though it'd been almost 2 years). Finn made quick friends with Ben & even reached for him at church the next morning to be held! Guess he knows a good guy when he sees one. ;) Thanks for making time for us, Ben! It was fun.

outside with dad

Kenton got some great photos of the fall colors in the backyard before the leaves fell. He often takes Finn & Cedar outside while I cook dinner. Keeps the kids entertained & the Mama sane. :)

Kenton's favorite tree.

Spit bubbles.
Finn's really into spitting & spit bubbles & making sound effects with spit, etc. Such a boy. :)

Cedar is thoroughly entertained by his big brother. He finds it so amusing when Finn runs. I love watching Cedar watch Finn. They really get a kick out of each other. I know they won't always get along, but I hope they are good friends for the most part.

Another shot of Kenton's favorite tree.

Such a sweet big brother. Finn is always willing to help & loves doing things for Cedar. He even reminded us the other day that Cedar needed his pacifier before leaving the house. Thank you, big brother Finn! Where would we be with you?!

One last shot of some of the fall colors we see from our kitchen window. Soon the trees will be bare, so it's nice to have one last burst of color!

first veggie - squash

After trying rice, oatmeal & barley cereals, Cedar was ready for his first vegetable - acorn squash from my mom's garden. :) Of course, he delivered numerous expressions of concern & confusion, but I believe he enjoyed his first taste of squash. See for yourself:

Not bad, Mama. What else you got? :P
Cedar has since tried butternut squash, which he seems to really enjoy!

That same evening, Pappa made Crème Brûlée for us! So good!

Finn got to help torch the sugar.

Finn loves to help in the kitchen. He even tries to convince us that should "make something" before going to bed. Such a helper!

it's fall

Here they are - the fun pumpkins we picked out at the farm. Finn picked the long, odd-shaped one - which is funny cause I think Tyler picked out one just like it on a totally separate trip to the farm. :) Kenton picked out the white/grey one - it's called Sweet Meat & we might try to cook it up to test if it lives up to its name. :) I picked out the rest, including the dark orange one with warts & a bumpy, white bottom. Hee hee! :) Happy Autumn!

Our fall decor, so far. I'm taking a trip to the pumpkin patch with my classroom, so I'll probaby add another pumpkin to the group. Also, this week we are carving pumpkins with our Bible Study group. I think we'll help Finn carve his first pumpkin - should be fun! And messy. :)

I had to share my awesome, hugging carrot buddies that I picked up at the Farmer's Market. So cute, we almost couldn't bring ourselves to cut them apart & eat them...almost. :P

soccer game

After picking out pumpkins & eating a quick lunch, we walked over to Kelly Middle School to watch Ronan's soccer game! It was our first chance to see Ronan play & he did great! :)

Griffin & Finn had a lot of fun playing together! They don't always seek each other out when all the cousins are together, but they did great when it was just the two of them.

Those two really kept each other entertained the whole time! I practiced letting Finn be more independent while he & Griffin played just out of my sight. It felt weird, but they were safe & playing well together. It was pretty fun to see them interacting, talking & laughing together.

We enjoyed visiting with Ronan during his breaks. :) Everyone always gives Cedar so much attention. It's very sweet to see his cousins so very excited to see him all the time!

But, really?! How could you not love on this little guy every chance you get?? He's such a wonderful addition to our family. We just LOVE him!

Action shot! I think he was falling. :)

Great job, Ronan!
They don't keep score but he scored at least 3 or 4 goals for his team! What a great way to burn some of that 5 year old energy. :)