Fall leaves and Jacob gets baptized.

We got seeds to put in a pot early in the summer from Target for about $1.  I don't know what kind of flower these are, but we really like them.  They're really tall and kept sprouting new flowers through almost November.  

It was good day to take some fall pictures because it was warm out.  As always,  Anna was happy to frown for pictures.

Ha!  Caught a smile!

And another frown.

Last Sunday we went to church for Jacob's baptism.  The last time we went to church was for Paige's baptism about 2 years ago.  This month we'll be going twice in one month!  (Brooklyn's baptism is coming up). I think that's a record for Lukey, Anna and myself.  The kids were pretty good there for the beginning then Lukey said he didn't want to be there and they went upstairs in a play room where Lukey got to hang out with one of his favorites friends from school.  

They were really good during this kids message time when all the kids were asked to go to the front to learn about how special they are.  They got a certificate for being a VIP.  

Jacob was pretty good at the baptism.  The minister said he was a big boy.  

Halloween

Lukey had a really fun Halloween party at school the day before Halloween.  He wasn't allowed to wear a mask for the parade so he decided to go as Luke Skywalker.  There were a lot of Darth Vaders but only one Luke Skywalker, which was this boy.  He had fun at his party and was in a really wild mood for the rest of the day.  

This year Lukey has gotten really into coloring and writing, which is pretty great.  

Uncle Ben came over the night before to help carve pumpkins.  Anna was very excited about this and requested a Hello Kitty pumpkin like she had last year.  She also wanted a butterfly.  Uncle Ben made a Darth Vader for Lukey.  They looked great!  

Anna decorated this pumpkin.

Lukey drew all over his pumpkin and laughed hysterically about it.  He didn't draw anything worth carving.  The best thing he did on the pumpkin was draw a picture of Darth Vader and wrote next to it, "You are my son."  We thought that was really funny and will probably forever think of that as what Darth Vader's lines should have been in the Empire Strikes Back.  Later, while he was distracted by watching Star Wars, I wiped it all off and Uncle Ben turned it into Darth Vader.  

We messed up and didn't get a white pumpkin to draw a sheep on like we usually do.  This worked out pretty well though.

The whole crop.  The painted ones our neighbors gave us.  They all look great!  

During the day on Halloween, we went to Maeve's soccer game then to their house for her birthday party.  As usual, the kids enjoyed watching Kent play with his I-pad.  

Lukey was Darth Vader and Anna was Hello Kitty.  We played for awhile at the party then went home and rushed out to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. They did pretty well.  They were good about saying trick-or-treat loud and clear and always said thank you.  I didn't get any pictures later in the night because by the time we got home we had to just get out there right away then get back to have a late dinner. 

Evie joined in too.  

Anna said she wanted to be Hello Kitty for Halloween.  I looked on Amazon to try to find just a cat ear headband and this costume ended up being really cheap so I just bought the whole thing.  Even cheaper was a big Hello Kitty costume.  Anna was very excited for us to dress up together for Halloween.  It was worth the $9.  Usually we're "mum sisters" but on Halloween she said that we were "mummy sisters".  I thought that was pretty clever of her.  

It was very rainy out in Holland so they set up the piñata inside.  This worked until it started to make a hole in the wall where it was hanging.  All the kids got a turn though.  Then the started just attacking it to get it opened.  

Kent was VERY concerned with making sure that everyone just got as many hits as they were allowed and that the blindfold had to be on the bigger kids.  He really wanted to knock it down.  

No one actually knocked it down.  They just all attacked it at once.  Except Anna.  She stood off to the side uncertain of the whole situation. 

Pumpkin picking and Anna's first field trip

It's been a great fall!  We picked one of the warm days to go pumpkin picking.  We picked kind of small ones this year because we walked there with our wagon and the kids weren't willing to walk home.  So, the kids and the pumpkins had to fit in the wagon.  it's starting to get a little tight to do this.  We might need a new plan next year.  

I love Anna's face in this picture.

On a much colder day then the day we went pumpkin picking Anna had her first field trip.  We went to the Plymouth Orchards.  When Lukey was in pre-school I felt like I knew who all the kids were. She likes to tell me more about her day and Lukey always was more willing to talk about the other kids he played with.  I only know who about 4 of the kids are in Anna's class.  Juliet is definitely her favorite.  She likes this little boy, Austin, too.  She doesn't care about anyone else in the class. No biggie.  She seems to like school and that's really all that matters right now. 

They must've not had a good crop of apples this year so there were no apples on the trees.  They took us on a wagon ride by apple trees then stopped by a big cart of apples and told us to pick an apple. 

We also got to pick more pumpkins!