Happy Halloween and Happy Fall

Happy Halloween

Grayson as Death Stroke, Declan the Ghost, Tristan as the Red Hood, Colin as Dead Shot and Liam as Captain Boomerang.

Daddy put a lot of time and work into making the three big boys costumes again this year. I love how excited they all are for the day. They decided on everyone being a bad guy from a super hero series. I'd say Halloween on a Monday makes things a bit crazy but I guess Halloween in general makes the day crazy.

The Red Hood (from Batman) Dead Shot (from Green Arrow)

Declan's costume was made by Gramma and Mommy added a few layers. It was the forever growing Ghost. It was made from cheese cloth and would stretch while he wore it. I think it turned out very cute.  Liam was bit hot as Captain Boomerang.

Mr. Grayson certainly did not want a cute little costume he insisted on Death Stroke a bad guy from Green Arrow. I think he just really liked the fact that it had a sword.

Some pre-Halloween fun included a trunk-or-treat at Gramma's church. Tristan and Colin decorated her trunk. It turned out very cute.

Of course, we had a gooey fun time gutting and carving pumpkins.

We also had a few good days at the pumpkin patches. One day we all spent the afternoon exploring  at a new place. However, they did not have the tasty treat of apple donuts so we had to go check out another place when Liam and Declan had the day off from school. 

The orchard we went to just a few minutes away in Council Bluffs the boys were able to pick apples. They were so excited and had a great time climbing in trees and picking apples. 

We also were able to pick our own pumpkins from the patch. Even though we were there pretty late in the season there were many to chose from and they were all huge!

Declan and Grayson found that rolling the pumpkin down the hill was much easier.

We also went to Skinny Bones Pumpkin Patch with the whole family earlier in the week. They had many fun activities for everyone to do. 

Colin all skin and bones these days.

 The jumping pillow is always a fun time.

 We had some scary encounters.

Daddy had fun in the crooked house.

Declan on an epic bike ride.

Happy Fall

School Begins

I'm sure I say it all the time but school seems to start earlier and earlier. This year we have five boys in two school districts and four different schools and it's working.

Tristan is a freshman in High School! Oh my! We are so proud of him. He is in the International Baccalaureate Diploma program which is amazing. He is doing so well with a crazy class schedule of Biology, Chemistry, History, Geometry, Honors English, Honors English, Honors Geography, Food for Today, and International Studies. He is determined to do a good job this year he has been working so hard and is so on top of everything. It is awesome to watch him grow and become so academically responsible this year. Tristan hopes to study in Austria or Germany someday and with this degree it will make it easier.

Colin is in eighth grade this year. He is off to a great start. It has been a bit of an adjustment going to school by himself as Tristan has moved to another school. So far Colin has been doing great with his academics and really likes his teachers. They are challenging him which he loves. Just this week Colin has started basketball. He is very excited to play this year. He had gotten pretty good at the end of last season so we look forward to watching him this year.

Liam started fourth grade! There is a huge growth that happens from third to fourth grade. It's amazing to see how he is starting to turn from a little kid to a big kid. As always our social butterfly loves school. We are so happy we got him into the dual language program it has been absolutely the best path for him. Today he participated in a Science Competition at the Zoo. I cannot wait to see how the rest of the year goes for this guy.

Declan is beyond excited to be in kindergarten! He wakes up everyday asking what day it is then tells me what he gets to do at school. He likes "painting" (art) the best but I really like all of it he will tell us. He says he is not learning Spanish but he is already slipping in Spanish in many things he tells us about school. I love how the dual language program works.

Grayson thinks he is a big kid too. He started preschool for speech this year. He goes Monday through Thursday afternoons. I chose to keep Fridays open for just us to hangout. Grayson is doing so well at school. He shows how the sounds are supposed to be and makes signs to remember. He is having fun playing with other kids and learning at the same time. I love to see him bopping his way into school each day and running out to me at the end of class.

It looks like it'll be a great year from High School to preschool we are looking forward to it all.

Summer 2016 Part 2

Yes, we played and watched a lot of baseball but we did a few other things too. Colin and Liam had a great week in early June at Camp Hummell. It is the favorite camp in this house with a favorite day being the mud day. Liam won for coming home with the most mud. Colin's group won the Hummell award. He was quite excited since it was his last year.

Mud obstacle day one of the favorite days of camp week. Liam's shirt was white when he left in the morning. 

Too cool this guy. Colin's team won the Hummell award for best campers their week.

Tristan had baseball camp for a week. He spent the morning learning skills and the afternoon playing ball. He also spent three days at the high school baseball camp. It was a good start to the summer.
Liam, Declan and Grayson spent a week going to Gramma's bible school. They had so much fun. They also attended Bible school at the church where Declan went to preschool. Both places they had so much to share with us afterward.

Between baseball regular season and post season we all went to Colorado for a much needed get away. The boys love spending time with Lindsey and the girls. We explored, went kayaking, swimming and all around had a very wonderful trip.

The three big boys and Daddy tried out an amazing family entertainment center with rock climbing, high ropes, and a lot more crazy fun things. They were gone ten hours so it must have been a good time. Lindsey gave Tristan, Colin and Liam tickets to the Stampede (like a big county fair) in Greeley for their birthdays so Greg and I took them on the fourth of July and the others met up with us later in the day. The boys had a blast. They rode so many rides and had me slightly shaking in my boots a few times when the ride would turn them upside down. What I loved the most was watching them have an amazing time enjoying everything there and just being brothers.

The arrow is pointing to Tristan, Colin and Liam spinning upside down. 

After naps Lindsey the girls, Gramma, Declan and Grayson joined us for some little guy rides, dinner and awesome fireworks. Surprisingly,  Declan was the one who absolutely loved the rides where Grayson was not that excited about them. Declan went on as many as he could and loved the fast crazy ones where Grayson liked the slow straight rides. As long as they had fun it was great!

We also enjoyed a great fireworks show at the stampede. An absolutely amazing day!

Gramma, Daddy, Colin and Liam headed back on the 5th the rest of us left the 6th. Tristan was so proud to be alone with Lindsey and the girls and helping in the car on the way to Nebraska. He is so great with little kids. Lindsey and the girls came back to enjoy a few All Star baseball games and hang out in Omaha with us for a bit. It was ugly hot and humid that week but we still had fun with them here.

Little miss giving Uncle "Egg" coaching tips.

A very hot day at the zoo.

Tristan drove back with them to Greeley and stayed a few days before flying home. It was his first flight totally alone and true to the nature of a fourteen year old it was no big deal. He was only gone a few days but little Mr. Grayson was beyond excited to have him back.

Grayson, Colin and Liam waiting for Tristan

This little guy missed his biggest brother.

We loved Colorado, the weather, the awesome parks swimming at Lindsey's apartment it seemed like such a peaceful place this summer. We couldn't wait to go back. So that's what we did. About a week and a half after Tristan got back we headed out to Colorado for an end of the summer trip. It was again a peaceful place to enjoy being together. The boys love the "ninja warrior" parks all over the place. Colorado really does have great public parks.

 The splash park was a big hit too. 

Of course having a wonderful place to swim and play all day was pretty nice too. 

One of our favorite parks in Colorado is just ten minutes or so from Lindsey's house. It has a great play area, a splash park and this little stream where we all dipped our feet for a bit and later played in the water. Lindsey also introduced the big three to river rafting on this very nice small and calm stream. They absolutely loved it!

Baseball and Colorado pretty much sums up our summer of 2016!