Vala's Pumpkin Patch

It seems like every year we go to a pumpkin patch a couple days before Halloween and it is FREEZING... or raining. Everyone is bundled in winter coats and it is a pretty miserable experience, but we suffer through and get some pictures and a pumpkin. This year we went October 3rd and it was a beautiful sunny day. Holy cow, why did it take me 10 years to figure out that the pumpkin patch can actually be a fun day? We were there for almost 6 hours and everyone had a blast. The pumpkin cannon, haunted houses, giant jumping pillows and feeding the goats were some of the favorite activities. What a great day together.

Paul taking his mini-me for a little ride. I love how they have the same expression in this one.

Adam and Paul searching for the Great Pumpkin.

Jude would have been happy just feeding goats for 6 hours. He is such an animal lover.

Paul. Loving the hay rack ride. Geez Paul, curb your enthusiasm a little bit.

That sign is a little too appropriate. Its just in the wrong order. Paul is the malcontent (just look at how happy he is), Noah is clearly the Trouble Maker (always stirring it up with his big brothers) and Adam is the Lollygager. (how can you take a 45 minute shower and not get your hair wet??)
Picked our pumpkins.

Noah and Adam
Paul and Jude
All my sweet boys going for a ride.

I love this one. How did everyone get so big?? Guess I need to stop feeding them...

Dad helping Jude out on the trike races. Paul and Adam really had a blast with all the races.

What boy can resist a choo choo train ride?

How convenient. Jude can play in the field corn and have a snack.

Noah looks like an angel with the sun on his face.

Just so you know, his teeth are not that yellow. That is more corn in his mouth too. I was finding corn in places I don't want to talk about for the next week.

He had such a great time playing with Jude.

Well. That's the end.

Jude Jude Jude. Super cute Jude!

Jude's FAVORITE pass time, playing in the water. Trust me. The sink is the best option. Dog bowl and toilet bowl... worst options.

Looking particularly big from this angle.

Jude has finally become fun enough for Noah to want to hang out with him. They are best buds now and it is adorable how Noah looks after him.

For some reason, Noah insisted on wearing a garbage bag all afternoon. Not only that, he wanted it documented in picture. Cute boy.

Every chance he gets Jude climbs up on dad's 4 wheeler and wants to go for a ride. Super handy when we are running out the door to get the boys to school on time in the morning. Oh well. He is ALL boy and wants to be just like dad.

Getting ready to go out and slay some dragons.

Found a dragon to slay. The diaper really makes him look less intimidating, but man he was having a blast.

Just for the record it is IBC root beer.

Again in the water. "Helping" dad with some dishes.
Yeah. That is total trust.
Giant bellies are so cute...
and they are super funny.

I hope they call me on a mission...

Nolan's kick off party before he heads out to Chicago. It will be fun to see how everyone changes in the next two years.

Say goodbye to that cell phone Nolan. We miss you already!

Zoo

The Zoo is awesome and it was a great day to go. You may notice there wasn't a single picture with the animals. I guess I just took pictures of the cutest wildlife, my spawn.

Earning Their Camo Belts

Paul showing off the big reward for all that hard work. They finally earned their camo belts and moved up to sparring gear. Pretty cool!Dave stopped taking pictures of Paul during testing when he got this look. I think it may have been a little distracting. But Paul did great.

Adam is so proud of his super high kicks.

Jude seems excited for his turn too.

After the Storm

This picture is not edited, at all. We had a late afternoon storm and this is what the sky looked like when it was over. Everything was so surreal looking. the grass was almost neon green and the sky was yellow. It was gorgeous.
Paul and Jude posing with the rainbow.

Lake of the Ozarks

Fishing just outside our condo gates.
It's hard to be 5 sometimes. Sweet little Noah has a hard time keeping up with his big brothers.
Noah and Mom.

It took a little while for everyone to get brave enough to tube. But boy, once we warmed up, we were having a blast. Dave had a perma-grin. And Paul decided he was tired of Adam being the brave one and blew us all away when he was begging to go faster and JUMPED IN THE WATER ALONE and swam to the boat. Good times.Paul and Dave
Noah and Adam. Noah was the first brave boy. He was the only one who would go with me on the first day.
Paul and Adam were pretty crazy out there.

Still. The $5 fishing nets from Walmart were the biggest hit of the whole trip.
Paul and Adam at the condo pool. The boys LOVE the pool and it had a great view of the lake. Something about the chlorine and being able to see the bottom makes it a lot more attractive to me too!
Adam and Noah tried their hand at fishing from the boat. Noah decided to try his snacks as bait and Adam just ate his. Turns out cheese sticks do NOT, I repeat, do not make fish swim into your net. neither do vanilla wafers. They had a really good time trying it out though.
My mom and dad came with us. It was so much fun to have them. Jude is turning into quite the grandpa's boy!

And that is us. The view from our condo deck was beautiful. The lake is 92 miles long and was absolutely huge and gorgeous. I never understood why people complain about boating on the little lakes around here, just going round and round in circles. After this, I can see how you could get spoiled! (not to mention the outlet mall was ok too.)