Happy Halloween!

This year we had a special guest for Halloween...Grandma! I'm thankful she was here because I had a hard time making the rounds to 4 Halloween festivities!

We started the day at Eliot's preschool. The kids came to school in their costumes & then did a parade & sang a couple of songs.

Eliot & his buddy Kellan kind of participated. They both looked like a deer in headlights!

In the afternoon, we headed to Woodland for the school costume parade & class parties. I was in Eli's, Mom in Emery's and Scott in Elese's classroom. Eliot had a ball playing the games & eating snacks!  I didn't take pictures at school (too busy) but here are the costumes.

My beautiful Indian princess ;) 

Blue Morph...a favorite choice for boys of all ages!

My little kitty cat & firefighter!

 

By the time trick or treating rolled around, it had already been a long day! We fired up the popcorn machine & built a big fire. Grandma was keeping warm & enjoying a well deserved glass of wine ;)

The weekend before Halloween our friends had a neighborhood Halloween party. Scott & I dressed up as Duck Dynasty. It was super fun & thanks to donations from Grandaddy, pretty easy to pull off.

Uncle Si

Si & Jase

Afton Apple Orchard

The kids were off school today and the weather was beautiful. We took Scott to his therapy appointment then headed off to the orchard!

The place is all decked out for the fall festivities! They have several photo options along the way.

Everything is just so pretty right now. As you can see, we still don't have total fall colors just yet!

We headed off to pick some apples & were quickly distracted by the raspberries. They were so yummy so we ate a few...more like a ton!

The kids had apples in one hand & raspberries in the other.

Sweet girls!

Not sure about the boys...

Right before we left, we ran into the YMCA group from school! Mia lives in our neighborhood & plays with Elese.

The sign of a good time! Eliot always falls asleep on the way home from our adventures. I had to laugh at all the nasty stuff on his face :)

Valleyfair Amusement Park

The local amusement park here is called Valleyfair. It's a cross between Holiday World and Kings Island. It's kind of old school & small but still fun.  When Scott won the Twins tickets, the amusement park tickets were included. The kids were thrilled!

The place was already decked out for Halloween.

Our first stop was the scrambler! This place is so old school that Eliot could pretty much ride everything with an adult. Kind of scary!

Emery isn't a huge ride fan so we hung out on this ride. She's chilling on Scott's scooter.

They must have known I was coming! Cotton candy is one of my favorites...the kids too! We lucked out on "Dollar Days".

Ring toss was the dollar game of the day. We all took a try but weren't successful.

Elese & Eliot are dare devils & will ride anything!

We were having a great time & then major rain came out of the blue! We grabbed some dinner & then headed out.  Fun times, for free!

Twins Game

About a month ago, Scott won tickets to a Twins game from a meeting at work. We were super excited about a free date night then he got hurt & had to have surgery. At the last minute we decided to go ahead & go...at that point Scott was cooped up to say the least!

Target Field...I'm sure my Target trips have at least paid for a seat or two!

Once we got into the stadium, we got a wheelchair escort right to our club level seats! The view was awesome & on such a pretty night.

We quickly started getting some baseball food. The food on the club level is a step above stadium fare. The deluxe nacho is served by chefs & cooked to order. Thankfully they even have all the food labeled gluten free!

Date night!

Achilles' tendon

Scott ended up in surgery to repair his Achilles' tendon the Wednesday after Labor Day. I couldn't believe how fast the orthopedic doctor moved on the surgery!

I took this right after they gave him an oxicotin before surgery. Scott is the kind of guy who takes 1 Advil for a headache so we got a big kick out of all the drugs they kept giving him.

I think he was the most excited about getting his recliner on the 1st floor the evening of his surgery. Paul & Marty came right down & moved it up for us. He was pumped! His buddy Marty delivered some of his favorite wings for dinner too.

A week after surgery we went back to have the splint removed. His scar is nasty! The doctor was pleased with how it looked & then put him in a cast.

The cast has really been a blessing. He got a scooter too & can be so much more mobile without the crutches. His work buddies hung the sped limit sign outside his office as a joke!

Next week we go back to orthopedics and the cast comes off & we move on to the boot!

Eliot's 1st day of preschool!

At the last minute, Scott & I decided to sign Eliot up for preschool. Elese went to Easter preschool last year & we love their approach so it was an easy decision to send him there. He's going 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hrs. They have multi age classes so he will be with other 3 & 4 year olds.

Last Thursday was orientation where the kids come to school for an hour and a parent stays with them. Our neighbors are sending their son to Easter too so we carpooled! At one point Jen & I looked back and the boys were holding hands...it was super sweet!

Eliot & Kellan checking out the water table which was filled with colored sand.  The white shirts weren't planned but we laughed at how they looked like private school kids.

Eliot checking out the ark on the playground. On a side note...Elese spent a good 5 minutes the day before telling Eliot all the rules of the playground at school! He listened.

After class Jen & I took the boys to Panera Bread for lunch.  It was such a fun day. Tomorrow is the big day when we drop them off & leave!

1st Day of School

Emery, Eli & Elese all headed off to school on Tuesday for the 1st day of school!

Each if the kids picked out a new pair of tennis shoes for school.  Their playground has tiny rocks so the kids pretty much wear tennis shoes every day. The night before school I bring them out of hiding & have them waiting & ready for the 1st day.

Down at the bus stop!

You can see Scott in the background waiting to watch the kids load up. It's too far down the street for him to crutch to.

Silly faces :)

Elese & our neighbor Jeanne...best buddies!

Scott was waiting for the kids in the driveway at the end of the day.  Everyone had a good first day & easily got right back into the swing of things.

We celebrated with some cookies!

Later that evening our new neighbors stopped by to play. Brooke rang the doorbell & we quickly realized that she & Elese had chosen the exact same outfit for the first day of Kindergarten.  How cute is that?