Halloween with Gage & Gavin

Both boys were A-OK with re-using their Halloween costumes this year, and Mama couldn't have been more thrilled!  So Costco's best Iron Man and No-Name Avenger (?) made an appearance again.  Gage's six-pack in the costume just covers his real six-pack underneath.  Kid's a hoss!

It was fun to see what was going on in Gavin's first-grade classroom on Halloween, too, and parents were invited to join the fun after the all-school parade. Iron Man Gavin is sitting next to his good buddy, Danny, in the picture above.  (Danny is in a Pikachu outfit if you're wondering, and that's a Pokemon character if you're still confused, and my spelling for both is just reason for more confusion!) 

This is Gavin's class picture (above) with their fearless first-grade leader, Mrs. Powell, whom Gavin adores.

Daddy even dressed up for trick-or-treat this year!  He put on his old fire fighting gear.  I like this picture!

Magnetiles

Gavin makes some seriously cool things with Magnetiles, and this is one of his most recent creations.  It looked like a dinosaur/alligator/dragon thing with scales on its back.  We decided to get Gavin tested for GT (it was called TAG when Brent and I were in school, for talented and gifted), and we included this picture as good evidence of Gavin's creativity and originality.  We'll always know what a smart whipper snapper he is, whether or not he ends up qualifying for GT.  He's got real artistic talent! 

Rock Creek Farm - Part 2 of 2

Every year we make it out to Rock Creek Farm at least two or three times, and we usually meet Brent out there on the last trip of the season to pick out our pumpkins.  And Daddy's always good for a photo opp, too, so we try to cash in on that while he's around.

There's Gage in the totally staged stage coach of sorts. :)

And here are my sweetest pumpkins picking out their own pumpkins for the season. 

Rock Creek Farm - Part 1 of 2

These are those giant balls that you run around in, and apparently Gavin and Gage had been dreaming about doing these ever since they saw them at Rock Creek Farm last year!  I warned them that the hamster balls can be quite pricey, but they were so into the idea they were even willing to contribute some of their own money.  What fried me was that they didn't weigh enough to go very far, and they didn't even get much time to try with the first balls.  But, because they have a mommy who doesn't take "no" for an answer, they also got to run around in the smaller, more kid-friendly balls (picture below), and that was a lot more fun for them.  I couldn't believe that the first guy had the nerve to say that they were separate charges! 

It was fun to watch them run around in these balls on the water and not get wet themselves! 

There's my farm boy, Gavin, just taking a turn sitting on the 'ol tractor. 

There's an old wagon there (or maybe it's just something there for picture purposes), and the sun was going down as we captured this shot of Gavin. 

Our neighbors' leaf pile...

This giant pile of leaves was mainly our neighbors' pile, though Gage had contributed to it several times, and Mark and Kara were gracious enough to let Gage and Makenna dive into it several times before the pile met the trash bags.  It was such an inviting pile that I even encouraged Gage to ask Mark about it, and we were all thrilled when the kids got the green light to jump straight into the leaves without abandon.  I remember doing this as a kid, and memories like this are so fun to re-live with your kids later. 

Raking Leaves in the Fall

Our boys are nearly always up for some raking in the back yard.  And since we can definitely get behind that effort, we encourage them to do it whenever there are leaves available.  Gavin, especially, does a really great job of it, and both boys have earned an ice cream cone or two from Daddy for getting involved in this never-ending fall chore.  In the picture above, they started the job of getting everything going.

This picture is actually taken the next day when they helped bag up the leaves.  I (Brent) will have to mention that I did a considerable amount of bagging of leaves as well on this day however nobody was around to take my picture.

Mid-air Adventures :)

On a day when everyone was out of school, I took them to Mid-air Adventures, which is this awesome indoor place with a bunch of zip lines and bungee cord swings.  The kids had a blast!

I've been watching Gage's buddy, Makenna, this fall, and the picture above is of Gavin and Makenna holding on to the same bungee swing.  We were so lucky to be the only people there for the first hour of their play time.

How cute is this picture of Gavin and Gage swinging together?!  There are a series of platforms that they jump from, ranging from not-so-high to very high, and they did them all, of course. 

And then there were some climbing walls there, too, so Gavin scampered up this one and was standing on the ledge for this picture.  The kids just stayed in their harnesses the whole time, and then they were ready for any/all of the adventures. 

Gage is a Monkey 2

Gage really loves to climb, and we've discovered that he's very good at it.  He's super strong, and he seems to have the necessary focus for it, too.  His instructors at ABC Climbing are always impressed by Gage's skills and level of concentration.  We're very proud of our little monkey!