Pumpkin Patch: Round II

Since my cousin was in town from Louisiana

we hit the patch again!

Good thing too or we would have missed

the newborn piggies!

Let the patch madness begin...

My beautiful cousin, Devan,

and her two sons.

My other beautiful cousin, Nicole,

and her sweet son!

We had the best time ever

and utterly pumpkined out!

What a great night,

and so, so much fun

catching up with family!

Happpy Thanksgiving from the Lopez Clan!

Grandma Lopez and her great grandbabies

(from her lap clockwise :) :

Nicolas, Jacob, Iris, Cache, Isabella,

Gabriel, Owen, Lola, Taylor, &

Ava

 The grandkids!

Everyone!

H A P P Y  T H A N K S G I V I N G !

Finally: A Corn Maze!

Sounds silly,

but I've always wanted to do a corn maze.

I think it hearkens back to when I was in

elementary school,

and then probably middle school,

when I'd get invited to go with my friends families

and my mom would always say "no!".

Ha! 

Here I go, mom!

{And yes, she was still worried even though I'm plus 30!}

Ooooh,

the anticipation...

My guide!

Who wanted to go slow and consult the map at every step!

I left him in the dust and he

had no choice but to abandon his map and follow!

He he!

Corn Maze Champions!

We made it out in record time,

and even dove back in for another go around!

Good, good times!

When we went to pick up the kids,

this is what we found!

H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N !

Happy

A Halloween Dinner Party

Halloween has slowly become one of my

absolute favorite holidays,

and I owe that 1000% to the kids.

This is a holiday just for them,

and it's truly a magical time of the year

for families to be together!

For family home evening,

we invited my family over to share in some

of our favorite traditions.

Iris entertaining us, "Thriller"-style!

The feast!

"The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

And caramel apples!

Sadly,

those "nuts" on the apples are actually

chunks of sugar in my

haphazardly made caramel!

I thought I could wing the recipe by heart!

Oh, well.

They still tasted great! 

And everyone thought I added nuts!

{smile}

Mean Mama Can't Resist...

What?

Sometimes it's funny!

{And yes, I scooped him up!}

Pumpkin Patch: Round I

This year we visited the pumpkin patch not once,

but twice!

I guess we did it last year too

(one with the family; one with joy school),

but it just seemed crazier this year.

The first go-round was our annual trip

with the Joe Elmers,

which has grown to include the extended family as well,

and is something we always look forward to!

Well,

almost all of us look forward to.

Let's just say Gabriel woke up

on the wrong side of the hay...

The gang.

The animals.

More animals!

Pumpkins!

Jailbirds + Crazy Chickens

And last but not least,

one great big family

riding around in a tractor in time for a gorgeous sunset!

Round one...

done!

Mall Grand Re-opening Review

Al-righty then...

Inner-City Jungle...A Rock-Throwers Paradise

On Samuel's day off, and with the girls in school, 

we took the boys to Miner's Ravine,

a sanctuary literally in the heart of Roseville.

This is a rock-thrower's paradise,

and since I had all my rock-throwers with me they

went crazy chucking everything into the water!

I love the shot of the sun through the trees,

it almost distracts you from seeing Samuel in the corner

getting ready to heave a mini boulder into the stream.

It was a perfect hike for our little guys. 

They ran, jumped, got dirty,

rode in the bike trailer, ate snacks, drank water

and then started the process all over again several times!

Great, great fun!