Happy Halloween!

Jensen was a ninja for Halloween. He really got into it and said he was going to "Ninja School." He was running around doing flips and kicks and... running into walls and doors with his head. He was pretty excited. It was all pretty hilliarious, mostly because he was wasn't trying to make us laugh at all.

 Luke's school Halloween parade. He was the only Wolverine, which he was really happy about.

 Luke as Wolverine. Austin made those cool claws.

Graduate of Ninja School

 

She didn't want to be a witch, but loved the costume. We called her a "princess witch" and she was happy with that. At every door the people would say, "oh what a cute little witch" but she would correct them and say "Princess!" Either way, she's cute!

 Our sweet little lamb. Sarah pointed out that we should have made Eliza "little bo peep" - we should have though of that before Halloween night! oh well!  Katie's costume was a big hit wherever we went. Well, really Katie is a big hit wherever we go.

 Austin really liked Katie's costume...what a weirdo.

 BAAAAA!!!

 One of our neighbors brought over some candy and apples for the kids. Jensen loves fruit. Even though he had pounds and so many varieties of candy, he chose this apple! Whose kid is this?

 He did have some candy after that and passed out on the couch with a tummy ache. Now that's a Halloween night I can associate with.

 Shopping for Eliza's birthday gifts...

 

Jensen really likes to act out the games he's playing. He's always wearing a cape or a mask or helmet of some sort.

Sisters!

Don't know what you got, till it's gone...

Cute, sweet Katie 

 Got this hat in the dollar section at Target - it is so cute and she is so cute in it!

 I took Austin for granted while he was here. Now that he's gone on rotations, I am kicking myself for not making more of the time we had together!

Doll baby! 

 Eliza begs for me to put Katie in her bed with her every night. I hope they will be great friends when they're older...or when they can both speak...whichever

We love enjoying the splash parks around town. Eliza and Jane (Eliza's little friend) enjoyed taking drinks of the pool water. Yuck!

 She's got her own fashion sense

Austin did a rotation in Indianapolis last month. We drove to see him or meet him two of the weekends. Illinois has playgrounds at each rest stop! We had to take advantage. The kids played and stretched their legs while I nursed Katie. It was a great setup! 

Eliza wanted to put this barrett in Katie's hair. Pretty cute. 

Just chillin in the car seat at a rest stop 

Austin is always taking care of us and fixing things. He fixed the van door before we parted ways in Peoria.  

On the way home from Peoria, IL. This was the second weekend in a row that we had taken a very long car trip. I think they were watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks - pretty good one!

 While in Peoria, we went to one of the Bass Pro Shops. They are so huge! They just happened to be having a free craft day for kids. The kids got to fish, shoot, ride a carosel, and color wooden snakes (that they got to keep). It was really fun!



One weekend we went to visit Austin in Indianapolis and went to the Children's Museum. They had a great Hot Wheels exhibit, Legos exhibit, Dinosaur exhibit, transformer stuff, on and on! The kids LOVED it and we did too! 

 Digging for fossils

 Car made out of legos. Eliza loved this thing and wouldn't get out of it when other kids came around...yet we couldn't get a good picture of her in it!

Last weekend the kids and I did not make the treck to see Austin, so he had to fill up the weekend himself. He went to the Indy 500 museum and got to ride around the track. He had a lot of fun!

 $6 Bumbo!

 One day Luke made a "city" on the pool table. There was an admission price to get in. He wrote a smiley face and the number "5" on this piece of toilet paper and taped it to the front door saying that was the sign telling you how much to pay to get in. I didn't understand it, but I thought it was fun.

Luke and his "city" 

On Friday Austin drove 14 hours out of his way, and surprised us by coming home!!! I was so excited and so were the kids. This is a picture about 30 minutes after he got home. All of us were so happy!!! Katie doesn't show how truly happy she was ;)

 Video: Austin just got home, getting reacquainted with his baby girl



 Jensen as a dinosaur at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

 I had to cut the boys' hair since Austin is out of town. Austin made me this diagram of what guards to use on the clippers on each part of their hair. By the way, I did a TERRIBLE job!

At the lego exhibit at the Children's Museum 

Eliza wanted to "change the diaper" of Luke's green lantern action figure 

I had to go grocery shopping with all the kids last week. I had Eliza and Kate (and her carseat because she was asleep) in one cart - there was no room for food! Each of the boys pushed smaller carts so we could get the food. They had a ton of fun! They were good and didn't make trouble with the carts either. Here they are cheering for the fun they had.

 Jensen loved his first year of t-ball. He was overjoyed when he got his medal!

 Pretty Eliza in front of the sign for the baseball fields.

 At the YMCA in Indianapolis, they have an outdoor pool. Austin has been swimming outside because it's a nice change. One day it was very hot and sunny when he was swimming outside. He didn't even think to put on sunscreen during his 2 hour swim! He got burned pretty bad. Look at that goggles line!

From the night Austin came home and suprised us. It was so wonderful - like Christmas for me and the kids. He bought a game for the kids as a surprise - Star Wars Trouble. They all had a lot of fun with it. Such a good dad and husband!