october so far

We have a crabapple tree in our front yard which has dropped a thousand tiny little balls on our lawn.  The kids kept slipping on them and falling on their bums (especially James) and I mentioned that we should borrow a rake and rake them up.  Isaac thought that was a terrific idea and didn't let me forget it.  So a week later we finally went to the office and borrowed a rake for the day.  Isaac was in pure heaven "working".  "I'm a hard worker, right?"  When we made a dent in the apples, I sat down to relax a little bit.  James decided it would be more fun to sit in the box that we were using to take the crabapples to the dumpster.  And Isaac willingly started pushing him.  So of course I ran and grabbed the camera.  Such a cute brother moment.

 See, you never knew raking was so much fun!  Isaac loved it and still asks if we can borrow a rake again.  Actually, he's even asked me if Santa can bring us a little rake.

So then I tried to take a picture of James and he ran away, down to the end of the sidewalk to his usual hiding spot, behind a bush.  Isaac followed, because who doesn't like hiding from mom?

James is such a tease sometimes.  So he would run to me like he was going to let me take his picture and then stop and run back to the bush.  He is a big tease to Isaac too.

Isaac also loves to fill buckets with grass, leaves, sticks, crabapples, acorns, etc. and take them to the dumpster.  Oh, how I hate going to the dumpster!

We scored a bench at the dumpster, which slightly raised it in my estimation, which has a lift-up lid for all of our various outdoor toys.  We were getting to have quite a pile and now it is convenient to have a place to put them and sit down occasionally when we are playing outside (all the time).

Last weekend we went out to Grant's farm.  We don't go there a ton although it is pretty close to our house. It is a fun outing but we are so cheap we don't like to pay for parking so we park a mile away and walk which turns it into a big deal.  Anyway, the kids loved the "train" ride into the park.

We bought $1 bottles to feed the goats.

James had to use all his muscles to keep the bottle in his hands!  And then when the goats were done, he thought he could taste it too.  yuck!!!

Isaac wanted a picture of the elephant.   Ok, so the farm was decked out in halloween decorations.  There was a weird looking guy by the elephants that had a grey face, white beard, and a robe.  James pointed to it and said "Jeejee!"  (I'll let you guess what he meant.)

Having a snack, carrot-zucchini-pineapple muffins, of course.  Have to get in some veggies somehow.

llama llama!

The other morning we were walking around picking up sticks to make dinosaur bones and Isaac found a frog!  "Mom, take a picture!"  

Later that day, we ate lunch outside and the kids were being so good sitting side by side eating so I grabbed my camera and when I came back out, this is what I found:

(the contents of James' plate on the ground)

Everything else is same old.  Blake is still working hard and we are still plugging along and finding fun things to do.  Isaac does a little co-op preschool with two other kids.  Last time we had it here we did I for Isaac and made ice cream.  I fill every spare minute of my free time with reading, exercising, sewing, and editing photos.  I made Isaac some halloween pj pants that he will not wear because they are not the "sameas" James' (his old ones).