Celebrating Fall: Around the house

Pumpkin painting is definitely one of our favorite fall activities.

This year, O got to join in on the fun!

She was pretty upset when I wouldn't let her eat the paint.

Crazy girl.

We had fun making apple and pumpkin pie playdough, too.



We've been reading some of our favorite fall books.


Coloring over leaves - a favorite fall craft!

Gourd birds!

Nature walks! Collecting all sorts of fall goodies - red and yellow leaves, acorns, sticks, spiky balls, you name it! (Don't you love the flower hat? He does, too.)

Our thankful tree. The leaves list what we are each thankful for this year.
Some highlights -
"All of the family and me and God and Maxer." Zeke
"Saturday mornings together." Tiff
"God's provision." Jeff
"Zeke, snacks and shoes." Olive

Celebrating Fall: A visit to the pumpkin patch!

A week before Halloween we were on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin. We checked out the Cal Poly Pumpkin Patch and were super impressed with the selection. We spent some time exploring and brought home a great carving pumpkin!

Zeke and Syd thought pretending to fall off of the pumpkins was hilarious.
Olive didn't really get the humor.

So much fall fun! We'll definitely be back next year!

Celebrating Fall: A trip to the fair!

Way back in September we took a trip to the LA County Fair with some of our good friends. It was a fun way to celebrate the beginning of the fall season!

Zeker with his best friends, Sydney and Sasha.

It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of all 5 kids.

They were lovin' their first taste of cotton candy.

Even O had a little bite (though she really wasn't a big fan).



Can't wait to come back next year!

Happy Halloween!

Hope you enjoyed your Halloween festivities! We sure did. (Although you wouldn't know it from looking at these photos-not sure why my kids hate posing for pictures...)

So, the Kung Fu Panda costume was a tad too small (notice the feet). Didn't matter, though - he loved it.

She, on the other hand, was not a big fan of her pink crayon costume. Most of the pictures we have are of her asking to take the costume off.

So fun to live in the same town with so many people we love!

Auntie Kari loves a good costume.

The next morning Zeke was super excited to see that the Candy Fairy had swapped his bucket full of sweets for some walkie talkies and a book about dinosaurs. She was also kind enough to leave a few pieces of candy behind. What a great fairy!

Gettin' Ready for Halloween

We carved some pumpkins the other night! Jeff is our official pumpkin carver and Zeke always does a great job assisting.

He's not a big fan of the pumpkin guts, though.

Wouldn't even touch them.

Olive spent the evening making messes all over the house. (I didn't realize it at the time, but she was peeing all over the chair she was standing on as I took this picture.)

Turned out pretty good, huh?

Here he is the next day with the finished pumpkins. (I carved the one on the right. Now you know why Jeff is our primary pumpkin carver.)

Happy Halloween!!

Wedding Season

We have been celebrating a lot of new marriages lately. It has been a really fun season for our family and our church community. On Saturday, Zeke had the honor of participating in Leah and Armen's wedding as the ring bearer. One of his best friends, Sydney, was the flower girl. They did a great job! Here are some of our favorite pictures from the day.