Apple Orchard and Halloween

I can not believe it is November already! Christmas will be here before we know it.

We have been enjoying this wonderful fall weather. We spent the afternoon a few weekends ago at the apple orchard with my mom, Jess, Kristi and the kids. They had goats and chickens, a wooden train to play on and of course the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. AJ had a blast playing with his brother and cousins and could not WAIT to get on the tractor for the ride out to the corn maze. It was a beautiful day and afterward we all headed to Jess' house to have some pizza and watch movies. I have added few pictures of the wonderful afternoon.

We decided on very short notice this year to continue our tradition of having a Halloween party. We sent out the evite, decorated the house, figured out costumes (well at least all of the men in my life did, I did not have such good luck with that) and purchased the refreshments for the party. We started the day out at church at the annual Hallelujah Festival with Grammy and Pa (Joe's parents) and then Mike, Jessica and Benjamin joined us for trick or treating in White Bear. (Picture courtesy of Jessica). Then once the boys were home and their candy sorted carefully (both the boys have allergies), our guests started arriving. I was too busy talking and did not take many pictures. But thankfully Jessica took a few and I am stealing a few from her (thanks!). AJ had a few friends join him at the party and the boys had a wonderful time. They are all within 2 years of each other and got along great. John dressed as a dragon and was so good, he wore his costume all night!

Joe and Kaiser decided to do another theme this year, Smokey and the Bandit. When another couple found out, they joined in the fun and dressed as two characters from the movie as well. There were a lot of fun costumes, just wish I would have taken some pictures of them!





Thanksgiving is fast approaching and we are really looking forward to it. We will be spending it at Jess' this year with my Mom and family. There should be a lot of food (can you same turkey AND ham) and wonderful company. We have most of our weekends booked up already through Christmas, it's amazing how busy we get this time of year and we are really looking forward to spending lots of time with family. Christmas will be split this year as usual, Christmas Eve with Jen's dad and family, Christmas Day with the Schmitt's and I believe the weekend before Christmas with Jen's mom and family (not sure on the exact details yet). I will try to post more often, but you all know how I am :)