'Tis the Season

Well, Christmas is in the air...and the malls, the television, the radio, school, daycare...it's everywhere! And no one is more aware of its presence (not to mention presents) than our kids. Nate's busy adding to his Christmas wish list daily. Abby reminds us constantly that Ho-Ho woke up (apparently Santa sleeps until the Thanksgiving parade) and is going to bring her three Barbies. And both of them went to their annual Christmas party at Miss Patty's (daycare) last night. Apparently the kids were learning Christmas carols at Miss Patty's to prepare for the party, so Abby gave us a little holiday Jingle Bells concert. Holy cheese balls, Batman!

Set...Hike!

Nate decided to give up soccer for flag football this fall. He's had a great time learning a new sport with several of his friends on his team, the Vikings. Center and quarterback seem to be frequent positions for him to play, but he likes being a receiver the most. He's getting hooked on going to Lake Orion High School football games with his dad now too. He has his sights set on tackle football in the near future, but he'll have to convince his mom first!

Trick or Treat

Nate and Abby took the neighborhood by storm this Halloween. Nate, dressed as Indiana Jones (That's my boy!) weighed his bag in at 8.2 pounds of candy. He's already hard at work to reduce his inventory. Abby went as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. My oldest neice actually nicknamed her Abby Cadabby before we knew about the character, so it just had to be. Although she refused to speak to anyone while trick-or-treating, she was very good at promptly holding up her pumpkin bucket to receive the candy.

The kids got some good practice on the Monday before Halloween when we went trick-or-treating at Crossroads Village with friends. Nate, friend Daniel and his brother Stephen gave mom Susan and I a workout as we tried to keep up with their speedy treat-seeking. Abby and little Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed the Ghost Train ride. It was obvious that Abby already understood the value of her candy at this point when she ran away from a 1-1/2 year old ladybug saying, "Them can't take my candy!"

Pumpkins and Donuts

We made our annual trek out to Blake's Farms in Armada for apple cider and donuts. Unlike in previous years when we had to go in winter coats, we had beautiful, warm weather--very un-October-like. After enjoying entirely too many donuts for one sitting, we went off to our favorite pumpkin patch at DeBruyn's Produce. Nate, the reigning champion, picked out a 27 pound pumpkin. Mom came in a close second at 26 pounds (my pumpkin, not me).

Photographer in the Making

Nate has always enjoyed taking pictures. In fact, some of them are pretty good if I do say so myself. We recently submitted one of his pictures of a sting ray from the Columbus Zoo trip to Boys' Life online magazine (a magazine for boys in Scouts). Not only was his picture approved and posted on their website, but it received a 5-star rating as well! Go to boyslife.org to check it out.