Pumpkin carving

Oma and Papa joined us for the 5k race this morning and we carved pumpkins this afternoon.

Halloween, round 1

We attended our first Halloween party of the year last night.  We didn't want to wear the same costume to two parties in the neighborhood (travesty!), so the boys came up with another costume to wear last night.  

Rudy dug through the dress-up box to put together a pirate costume; he also bought his own pirate hat. Brady created his own gladiator costume.  He did it almost entirely on his home, with some logistical help from James and I.  I definitely thought his was the best costume since he was so creative in putting it all together!

Too much pirating...

(He's supposed be brushing his teeth)

Cousin pile on

DC field trip

We had an absolutely gorgeous day for Brady's field trip to DC.  I didn't get too many pictures...

Brady and friends at the MLK, Jr memorial.  They haven't studied civil rights very much, so I think some of the meaning was lost on them, but they were impressed with the enormous statue!

 

Gabriel, Evan, Brady, Madison, and Ruthie - a fun bunch of kids!

Jello

Brady was singing in bed and would not be quiet.

J: Brady, it’s time to be quiet and go to sleep.

B:  Why don’t you have to go to sleep?

J: Because I’m 37 and I can stay up as late as I want

R: Daddy!  Only three more years until you take the test where you can only eat Jello!

Gotta love those math facts.

Apples!

Almost 100 pounds of them, to be exact!  Who knew three kids and I could pick (and carry) quite so many??

 

Evoluted

Rudy asked James why we have hands.  James started talking about evolution and asked Rudy if he remembered what it is.

Rudy:  "Yeah, I remember how giraffes evoluted."

Just doing a little drawing...

It's not at all weird that he's wearing a clown wig...

 

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Nana & Popsie

Nana and Popsie stopped in for a quick visit between two other commitments on the East Coast.  The boys played hooky Monday afternoon so they could have some QT with their grandparents!  We were hoping for some nice weather so we could go apple picking; it was too rainy and cold so we spent a quiet afternoon at home reading and playing games and cards!

Teal Dragons

Rudy is playing "real" soccer for the first time ever.  He's on a U8 team this year.  They play four-a-side with no keepers, but at least they've added throw ins, goal kicks, and corner kicks this season.  Sometimes he forgets that he's allowed to take the ball from the other team, but most of the time he really hustles.  He and Reagan seem to have a pretty good passing connection too, as if they've been playing together for years!

Of course, what's a little fall soccer without some leaf crunching fun:

Green Vipers

Brady is playing his second season of U10 soccer this fall.  He played up a league last year so he could be on the same team as his friends.  We have 4 neighborhood boys on the team, so it's nice that he gets to play with some of his buddies.  

We only had one sub at our first game and it was a HOT day.  The kids played hard and they were exhausted by the end of the game!

Some words of encouragement from Coach Mom...

Brady decided he wanted to play keeper this year.  He does seem to have some natural instincts for the position, as long as he can continue to cope with getting scored on!  

Two weeks later, I had him all decked out in gloves and my very first keeper jersey...

 

River

Rudy's other adventure with Oma and Papa was an afternoon at the river...  

They saw four bald eagles!