Can we do chalk?

Zachary asks this question every time we open up the garage...no matter what the reason. It probably doesn't help that the sidewalk chalk is stored in the front of the garage! Unfortunately, it's not always convenient to say yes. However, on this particular day, one car was in the street and Daddy was outside raking leaves so we were able to say yes.

Sharing the work space. This idea did not come naturally. Both Mommy and Daddy had to remind them that it was a big driveway!

Drawing away.

Jacob eventually started writing rather than drawing. He chose what he wanted to say!

One of Zachary's creations. This picture is of a yard.

Can you tell this was a Sunday?

Again, he chose what he wrote. Love it!!

Sometimes you've got to love Walmart!

I had to share these pictures. Zack and I had to run into Walmart for a few things today. The first item on our list required that we pass the holiday section and he began talking about going to look at the costumes. Just as I was about to tell him that they didn't have those anymore I noticed a few Halloween items toward the back of the Christmas card display. Turning the corner, there they were...costumes! Marked 90% off...and wouldn't you know it, they had a few in the right sizes.

We are now so stocked with dress up clothes that the boys have yet to decide what they are actually going to play. They have tried them all on though!

They humored me at the beginning and allowed a few pictures.

There were only two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes...both Raphael and both in a 4-6x. It's a little small on Jacob but for $2 it was worth the "Yeah!"
Posing

From the back. The shells are removable...and honestly the best part of the costume!

G I Joe is there...more specifically Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. I found one of each in the right sizes...so they can take turns being the bad guy!

At the end of humoring me...these are the army commando outfits. Zack was done but Jacob allowed one more pic!

There is a firefighter costume as well but by that point, they were over posing!

Trick or treat, smell my feet...

Daddy taught them the song...and mean Mommy threatened to take away all of their candy if they sang it outside of our house!

This year, Halloween was more than just one night of trick or treating for our boys. We started on Wednesday night with a visit to LVC and, as Zachary called it, "pretend trick or treat" in the dorms. The Residence Life office had arranged for groups of students to hand out candy in the common room of seven of the dorms. The boys enjoyed going to Daddy's work to get their candy stash started and were thrilled to get to wear their costumes a day early.

Zack needed a little help at this stop. He's the little one in the back in red. Jacob's in the front in his Batman costume.

Posing for Mommy.

Zack got the hang of it quickly...and Jacob was always there to help him out.

No, that wasn't a typo up there. Wednesday they did the rounds at the college and Thursday, Oct. 29 was the night that they went trick or treating in our neighborhood. Lebanon County is weird. If Halloween falls on the weekend, we trick or treat on the Thursday before. Apparently this is logical...why, I don't entirely know!

Batman and Ironman

Jacob wanted to pose...Zack just decided to kneel down next to him.

We decided we needed a better shot of his pose. He explained that this is how Batman looks when he lands after jumping.

Ironman with his mask on. The mask spent more time off than on. It was just too big...poor guy!

The indoor shots. Thankfully they are much more in focus than the outdoor ones!

They had to do something silly didn't they?

Trying to pick out just one piece.

Jacob with his haul!

The day Zachary has been waiting for all year long

Zachary absolutely, positively loves pumpkins. We're not entirely sure why but since his very first fall, he's been hooked. If he had his way, we'd have a jack-o-lantern in our home 365 days a year. (Poor kid. Mommy is way to particular for that to ever happen!)

Thanks to several trips to local pumpkin patches to indulge the little ones obsession, we ended up with five pumpkins...two more than we usually get. They've been sitting on our front porch for weeks and, lucky me, we've gotten to talk about when we were going to carve them pretty much every time we enter the house. Well, this Sunday we finally did it...we carved our pumpkins!

Although Jacob enjoys this activity his enthusiasm couldn't hold a candle to Zachary's. Honestly, you'd have thought it was his birthday!

I'll let pictures tell the next part of the story...

The boys supervising me as I drew Zack's jack-o-lantern face. He had very specific instructions!

Removing the seeds.

Daddy prepping Jacob's pumpkin. He wanted something a little different.

Andy say this one looks posed...which it was! I was mostly done with the carving by the time he was able to take the picture. I really wanted proof that I participated this year. Until now, pumpkin carving has been very much Andy's domain.

Zack's jack-o-lantern

Jacob and Daddy...and the Bat symbol!

The final product...

and then that night...

The boys love watching the carving but we know they are a little disappointed that they can't do more of the actual work. Since we had so many extras this year, we'd talked on and off about painting the two small ones but never really got around to it. As we headed inside after placing the carved pumpkins on the front porch, Zack looked at the little ones and said, "Now we can paint those." I thought for a moment and decided, why not? The boys were thrilled at the chance to completely create their own pumpkin faces!

Jacob and his finished project. He decided it wouldn't be complete without freckles. (I love Jacob's smile in this picture!)

Zack working hard. This is the front...eyes, nose, mouth...and he's working on the back, which he painted entirely red. Daddy asked if it was the hair. The answer was, "No, I'm painting the edges."

Pass...shoot...score!

It's fall and at our house and that means soccer! We're actually in the final weeks of the season but it took me until now to get action shots that actually showed some decent action. They move so fast out on the field that by the time the camera takes the picture you never know what you are going to get. (Add to that a very busy, constantly changing schedule and you get more than two weeks in between posts!)

Andy is coaching Jacob's team again this year and overall it's been going well. Zachary and I attend the practices as "moral support" and we've been at all the games...me cheering Jacob on, Zachary playing with any of the younger siblings he can find.

This year is a little different from the past two because Jacob now plays in the U8 (under 8) division. The division he was in last year (U6) involved the kids in our soccer club being placed on teams and those teams just played each other. Now that he's older, his team plays teams in other soccer clubs in the area. That means that we actually have to travel for some of the games! (Nothing major, just 20 or so minutes at the most, but still something new!)

There are two other big changes. The teams now have seven players on the field on the time, instead of five. Also, the field grew! Each year the size of the playing field gets a bit larger...a great way to build up their endurance for the big field they'll play on when they're older. None of these things seem to be more than Jacob can handle but that may be because one thing hasn't changed...after games, there is still snack!

The "official" soccer portrait. They do offer the opportunity to be photographed professionally but we chose to do it on our own. After watching everyone else on Picture Day, Jacob knew just how to pose when we did it at home!

I always like to get a shot of his number. It changes every season and I'm afraid that someday I won't remember which one he is in the action shots!

Jacob's in the front going for the ball.

Jacob has possession of the ball and is being backed up by his teammates. (It was a cloudy, rainy day. This picture was dark and I attempted to lighten it up.)

Going after the ball.

Playing goalie

Growing up way too fast (or the first day of preschool)

Today was Zachary's first day of preschool. He was so ready to go...and I so wasn't ready for him to be there! I'm still reeling from the fact that my baby is old enough to be in preschool.

He is in the preschool lab at the Lebanon County Career and Technical center. This program is the same one that Jacob attended. There are nine high school age girls teaching the children under the supervision of a certified teacher. According to the newsletter they sent home there are 13 kids in his class. You can't beat that student-teacher ratio!

He had a great day and was all smiles when he came out of the classroom. Just like his big brother, his favorite part of the day was recess. When pressed for a second favorite, he told me about the art project he made. The funniest part of the story of his day was that he was upset because girls were in his class. They kept trying to say hello to him and he would tell them he wanted to play by himself. As he said with furrowed brow, "I don't want any girl friends!" Gotta love it!

We celebrated the first day with a Happy Meal for lunch at McDonalds. Lucky kid even got to go inside and sit down to eat!

We took a few pictures before big brother left for the bus...and then a few more of just Zack...and then a few more at school. (I just can't help it!)

You have to have the silly one!

This picture seemed to capture his excitement the best. He was practically bursting!

Apples, apples, and more apples

Last year I learned that when it really feels like fall and you want to go apple picking...it's the end of the season. So this year, we started early. At the beginning of September Zack and I went and picked a half bushel of Gala apples. We're just finishing our last few.

Gala's are great eating apples but the good baking apples weren't ready to be picked quite yet. Zack and I headed back to the orchard last week and this time we brought our friends!

Zack, Evan, and Kelly with the baskets. These guys were worn out...we did a lot of walking that morning!

Zack and Evan

Kelly

With the help of my wonderful friend Cathy (Kelly's mom), I canned most of this second batch of apples. We now have fifteen pints of yummy, natural applesauce. It was surprisingly easy...thanks to the fact that she has this amazing (and low tech) contraption that does all of the work! We used our apple corers to section the apples, boiled them, and placed them in the funnel on top. Then you just turn the handle (over and over and over) and this device separates the skin and any stray seeds (or other yucky parts) from the good stuff! Once the first batch of applesauce was made, Cathy showed me the magic of canning. So many people I know here in Lebanon can some sort of fruit or vegetable that this is something I've wanted to learn how to do for several years. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher!

I think we'll have to make one more trip to the orchard next week. We've run out of apples and we haven't gotten a chance to make any sweets! What is fall without an apple pie...or maybe some crisp...or bread...or...yeah, we're definitely headed back!