Pumpkin Carving

I love carving pumpkins.  Its just so much fun - and I love lighting them up afterwards - and I like eating the seeds.  Every year we look at pictures online to get inspiration.  Then the kids either draw out what they want on a sheet of paper or on the pumpkin.  Anika and Brandon are mostly self sufficient now which helps tons.  My dad has been growing our pumpkins for us for a couple of years.  He also has been part of the carving for many years. This year he even carved one of his own.  My mom got in the action by taking pictures and washing all the seed for us!

The final product - Maria said hers needed eyelashes

seriously?

The fruits of our labor - 4 different flavors

Maria's - Jessica's - Grandpa's

Brandon's

All Anika's - the middle one is LOL then a heart of Love, the word JOY, then a peace sign

Not sure who made the bottom one but the top one is Brandon's from Cadets.  He won the competition with it!

Trunk or Treat

Our church had a trunk or treat night at church.  We weren't exactly on time, but we made it and had fun.  It was COLD, but some friends were serving warm cider and that helped!

The girls - a kitty, an invalid, a mummy, and a vampire
 

the boys - a vampire and a skateboarder

the trunks lined up in the parking lot, a couple of cars had left by this point

The ceiling is leaking

Last week Sunday, Maria came upstairs while I was getting ready for church to tell me the ceiling was leaking.  It has rained here every day for more than two weeks, so I was immediately concerned.  My first thought was my upstairs washing machine, so I ran to that room, but everything was dry.  I asked Maria some more and she said the ceiling was dripping on her, so I had her show me where...... directly below Matt and I's beautiful new ceramic shower!!!!!!
We assume that a drain pipe or a valve has issues, so we stopped using the shower as we have a home warranty, so someone is supposed to come and look at it - within 24 hours - but that hasn't happened yet either.
So, we decided to start using the shower again, and now it won't leak.  Go figure.  We are still going to have someone come in and look at it!  At least we have two months before the warranty ends!

Halloween Party

The local YMCA, where I work, had a Haunted Harvest Party that we attended.  The kids were thinking it would be like the Harvest Party at the Y that we frequented in MN,  but not so much.  They did enjoy the evening however and we got out and did something new.

There was a haunted hay ride, which consisted of a car with a trailer going around the 1/4 mile outdoor track and having one person jump out and say 'Boo'.  There was the jumpy house - where we spent a lot of time.  There was a play 'The three little pigs' where they incorporate the 4 points of the  YMCA - the big bad wolf was hilarious. There was a craft (wolf and piggy masks) and snacks.  I helped out check a bunch of people in when we first got there but I joined our gang after things calmed down. 

All in all it was a fun evening out.  Brandon opted to attend the birthday party of one of the boy's from his soccer team.  A night hanging out with boys was a much better option in his opinion.

a vampire

the wolf and the tooth fairy

Matt and the kids in the jumpy house

the ballerina

Another soccer season comes to an end

Tonight the last games were played - at least we think so.  Anika's team has a chance to play on Saturday yet in the season ending tournament, but we'll see.
All the kids enjoyed their seasons. There were quite a few goals and assists racked up and several goals stopped.  Anika typically plays defense, the other three play every position.
We may try indoor soccer early next year.  We'll have to see.
Jessica and Maria played on the same team again.  They had one time in MN as well.  They called themselves the pink flamingos.  They won all but one game during the season, and the last game they beat an undefeated team!  The coach gave the whole team each a matching pink carnation.
Brandon and Anika's teams won most of their games - with a few losses.

Ludington State Park

Another adventure with Aunt Kathy.
Every year, Aunt Kathy and Aunt Mary go for a hike in Ludington State Park, and this year, Maria and I were invited to come along.  I am hoping soon that I can take the rest of the family. It was a great hike.
The morning started out with a crabby girl. I had to physically carry her to the car - she was so determined that she did not want to go on a hike.  By the time we arrived, she was much more interested in the surroundings and the prospects of what could be seen.
Her mission became to collect as many leaves as possible.  She had quite the collection.  We stopped in a little hut and had hot dogs over the fire for lunch.  We saw swans and gophers and pet a dog.  After lunch, Maria's mission was to stay in front.  We covered the last half of the trail pretty quickly because she ran a bunch of it. She would stop for a picture in a tree and then run to get back up in front.
After the hike we went to the river to see if we could see any salmon jumping - but there was no luck on that one.  Then we went to the House of Flavors - an ice cream shop with possibly 40 different flavors.  It was amazing!  We drove by the Ludington ferry - a rather large boat - on the way home.  I found out the next day that the Muskegon fairy had been canceled due to high wind and waves so I wondered if the Ludington ferry was docked as well!
It was a great day making another memory.  Brandon was the most jealous -'I love being in nature' was his response.  I promised him I would take him on a hike as soon as we could!
The funny part was, after coming home, showing off the leaves, and throwing the leaves out.... a few days later she was given the assignment from school to go on a hike, collect leaves and make a chart telling what colors her leaves were.  We went on a bike ride around the neighborhood and collected more!

trying hard to get a red leaf, they ended up picking one off the ground instead of getting wet

hot dogs in a hut

Maria's leaf collection

Maria stopped at many a tree for a picture

home sweet home

gopher face

working hard to stay in the lead

Another day of rockets

We went out for another day of rockets.  The pumpkin went up, the parachute opened, and it landed beautifully.  We also saw a flamingo take flight, but its parachute didn't work, so I'm not sure this flamingo will live to fly another day.  We also saw rocket gliders for the first time and that was a fun new thing.  It was cold, but not too windy.  Dr Mike was going to shoot off his BIG one, but we had to leave so I could go to work.  Maybe next time.

Brandon, Jessica and Anika are all now official members of the rocket club. Something about how the more members they have the more points they get in the national scoring, now, with our three I think they are up to 12 members.  Which meant our kids could enter one of the competitions.  We decided later that was a bad idea as now going to shoot off rockets is a competition and not just a fun little activity.  The goal was to be in the air closest to 50 seconds.

Brandon's first one taking off - about 15 seconds

Jessica's ready to go - she was 48 seconds

Anika's on the pad - she went 24 seconds

Brandon has already purchased a new rocket and engines and has plans to change the parachute size.  He can't be beat by his sisters.  I reminded him that he was first and they figured out what to do from watching him.  Now we have to figure out when the next time is that they can compete.