William's Halloween Parade and Party

Jack-o-Lantern Pancakes

Cousins!

Grann, Aunt Maran, and Allie came over for the weekend. The kids painted pumpkins, went for a treasure walk, went to the park and had lots of fun playing!

Painting Pumpkins

Walk on the Trail

All bundled up!

Heading to the tunnel

Buddies

Good big brother

With room to spare...

Snow!

The boys were very excited about our first snow last Thursday!

Watching it Snow

Catching Snowflakes



Pretend Driving

Silly

Just a few photos...

Our little "Punkin"

Our Little Artists

Will's Preschool Class

Trying to keep up with Big Brother

Helicopter Pilot

William has been trying to stop sucking his thumb. In August, he proposed that we put 4 quarters on the kitchen window ledge each morning. If we caught him sucking his thumb, he would lose a quarter. He got to keep whatever was left at the end of the day. He started very strong and would consistently get 4 quarters. His jar is now pretty full and over the past few weeks he has regressed. So, we decided to "cash in" his quarters and take him shopping. We thought the fun of going to Toys R Us to pick out a toy and the empty jar might motivate him to keep his thumb out of his mouth. Yesterday, Phil took him shopping. Will picked out a remote controlled helicopter and a cool light that projects constellations onto his walls and ceiling. He is turning into quite the pilot.

Beautiful Fall Weekend in GR

Phil left on Thursday for State College for the U of M vs Penn State game so the boys and I went to GR for a couple nights. I picked Will up from school on Thursday and we drove straight to Grandma and Grandpa's house. On Friday morning, we went to the Botanical Gardens so the kids could see the giant pumpkins and play in the fountains for one last time. Then we had lunch outside at Ramona's Table before heading to the pumpkin patch. We were invited over to our old neighbor's house for a pizza play date. Will and Alex had so much fun seeing their friends and they got to ride bikes and skateboards for quite a while. We made it home in time to see the International Space Station fly over GR. On Saturday, we went to Reeds Lake for a while to walk on the board walk before heading back to Kalamazoo to watch the Michigan game (the low point of the weekend).

Anderson Drive Buddies

Searching for the Great Pumpkin

Heading out to watch for the ISS - and to check out his bike lights!

Down by the boardwalk

Reeds Lake

Field Trip

On Wednesday, I got to chaperon Will's field trip to Gull Meadow Farms. It was fun to meet all his little friends from class. We took a school bus to the farm and took a hayride out to the apple orchards where we got to pick apples. Then we had cider and donuts and learned a little about pumpkins and apples. Then the kids got to play on the giant tube slides, go to the petting zoo, milk a "cow" and just run around. Before we left, we all got to choose a pumpkin. Will had a great time!

Last Friday, the boys and I went to the library. William made a friend who introduced him to the computer station. It took Will no time to familiarize himself with the programs and was soon playing an educational Dora game. Alex also enjoyed the nursery rhymes. On Saturday, we had our Grand Rapids friends down for a "tailgate" for the U of M game. It was great to see everyone and the kids had so much fun playing in the driveway and running throughout the house. On Sunday, we hiked the natural trails across the street from our neighborhood (next to the Boy Scout camp). We had some beautiful fall weather today and we were able to rake our first mini pile of leaves.

BIG Big Boy Bike Riding

This week we painted the pumpkins the boys got at Koetsiers with Grandma and Grandpa. We also took the training wheels off of Will's BIG big boy bike. He seemed to have mastered riding on the Mickey Mouse bike and wanted to try on his larger bike. He was off and riding right away. He is already riding it around the block, racing neighbors, cutting through the grass, and making sharp turns. He's such a big boy!