Halloween

this year grandma d & papa g had a costume party. it was fun to hang out dressed up with all our cousins!  we ate dinner and played halloween bingo and grandma filled us up with lots of treats!

we painted pumpkins on an early out day!

 we did our annual carving. the kids helped pick out the faces and dig out the yuck and seeds (that was a first here)

and there are our two cuties

 along with the three still up...

then we hit the streets for trick or treat on halloween

Fun NIght

playing a favorite. the cake walk. the odds of winning we definitely in our favor! 

my dad has been in charge of fun night in Winterset sponsored by the Optimist club since well forever. like i used to be in jr. optimist (the president actually) so i have been through it as a kid as well as helped as a kid. its really just a carnival with games and prizes.

face painting

 d reminiscing with people from high school.

fishing for loot

 and of course we played papa's game the most!

Football Wrap Up

football is over. soccer is done. whew. we survived the business of one child in sports. it was just a glimpse of what our future looks like. 

d survived coaching. he would probably like me to note he was 5-0. thats big stuff for a competitive guy. 

and shadd scored two touchdowns the last game. that was fun to watch! 

all alone

and the only reason i got to watch is big sis ells was entertaining!

soccer ended with us never winning a game but shade scored a goal again the last game so that was awesome. the last game was freezing and i had volleyball so i wasn't there to take any pictures and d probably didn't take any because it was cold!

Ells Star Student

each year, each student at the elementary gets honored as a star student!

ells was picked for the month of september! 

they have an assembly and secretly invite the parents of the students honored that particular month! 

they even have a special star song they sing!
she was tickled and honored.

they also honor buddies at the school for just being kind to others and being a buddy. and they announce those every friday over the loud speaker. both ells and shadd have been recognized as buddies this year already!

Fall Festival and College Reunion

We hit the road for a weekend in Pella. We hit up a free church festival that was a lot of fun with our Aunt and cousins.

It was complete with pumpkin launching, painting, tractor rides, etc.

We hit up the central game  and met up with a lot of old friends as we have been out for 10 years. Can you believe that!

Then we ate Georges (our absolute favorite) and played on the giant tire swing in Aunt K's front yard. We are super jealous of those big beautiful oaks!