Fall Fun at the Dollhouse

We still own the house I use to live in before Pat & I got married. We are in between renters and spent the morning over there doing a little yard work. Pat cleaned all the gutters, Nolan collected a bag full of pine cones, Sydney chased Griffin around the yard, and I did some little odds 'n ends here and there. We love the yard there, lots of room to run and great trees to climb. We love our new house, but I wish it had a yard like the dollhouse. It's such a tiny little place, my friends gave it the name the "dollhouse." Like I said, we love our new house, but we have some great memories at the old house.

I love this pose! It is one of my favorite pictures! We barely got it before Griffin escaped.

Griffin kept walking with his eyes shut tight. I think he didn't like the wind.

Griffin in the leaves.

Nolan ready to climb their favorite tree.

Griffin checking out Nolan's pine cone collection. I think we're going to use them for some Christmas crafts or something fun like that.

Sydney ready to climb the tree.

Griffin wanting no part of any more pictures while Nolan & Sydney pose anyways.

Sydney on the highest branch she can climb.

Nolan with his pine cone stash. He had lots of fun doing this. I thought it would occupy his time for a short while. When I asked him if he had enough, he said, "NO!" I think he thought he had to get every single one in the yard. lol

Attempt #2 to get a picture of all 3 kids on the porch at the dollhouse. Griffin still not cooperating. lol

All the kids in the tree. Again, Griffin trying to escape. haha

The wind is in my eyes. I think I'll just keep them closed. lol

Sydney

Nolan

Griff Enjoying a Nice Fall Day

Has Anyone Else Seen These?!

Twizzlers have always been one of my favorite candies. Last night, Pat surprises me with these. Are these amazing or what? Not only did he find my favorite candy super-sized, they were 50% off! You gotta love those after Halloween sales! I think this bag will last me an "extra long" time! lol

Trick or Treating

We had a fun time going trick-or-treating tonight. It was so cold, but we somehow managed. We learned that church trunk or treats is the way 2 go. We found 2, so that made fewer stops. :) We went by a few of my family members and the churches and had a nice stash of candy for each child. We got done early, so I made Pat take me by Kmart to buy candy to give out to the trick-or-treaters. lol We gave all ours out last night at the church party, and I thought we would be out ourselves all evening. And guess what? We only ended up with a handful of kids even with our porch light on. lol At least I bought candy Pat & I like. heehee Has anyone else ever had a banana Tootsie pop? Griffin got one, and I think Pat & I may fight over it (unless Griffin gets to it 1st).

Griffin loves Grandma's rocking chair.

At one of the church trunk-or-treats

Griffin & My Grandma

Waiting patiently at Kmart for MORE CANDY!

The Jones Halloween Gang

I was so hoping people would know Pat WAS dressed like this on PURPOSE! lol

My Monkey Boy

Sydney as a Princess

Nolan as a Power Ranger

The Kids

Carving Griffin's 1st Pumpkin (he was way too small last year)

Chili Cook Off

Tonight was our Chili Cook Off/Trunk or Treat activity at our branch. It was a lot of fun! I am the activities coordinator, so I don't get to participate in the actual activities as much as I would like, but everyone seemed to have fun and that was good enough for me. I did get to hand candy out to the kids during the Trunk or Treat part. Pat took Griffin around, and he got some goodies. We had a great turn out, the only bad part was the rain. It had stopped so we decided to go outside for T or T. It started raining again just as we went outside. It didn't pour, but we did get wet. It was fun for the kids anyways. We did this activity last year too, and I think it may become an annual event.

Griffin & Mommy

Mamaw Shirley giving Griffin a cookie.

Griffin & Daddy getting some candy.

The rain did not stop us!

Enjoying some food.

Griffin thinking he's a big Primary boy and not a soon to be Nursery boy.

More of Our Trip

Ok...so I was having some troubles getting pics loaded on here tonight. Read the entry after this one and come back and read this one. Sorry they are backwards. Here are some more pics from the hotel and Indianapolis Zoo.

On our way Wednesday.

Playing in the hotel bathtub.

Enjoying all the big fluffy pillows with one of his favorite toys, the remote control.

Eating breakfast at the hotel.

Our favorite exhibit at the zoo...the walrus!

Riding the carousel.

Griffin in his monkey costume (so fitting! lol)

Day 1 & 2 of Pat's Fall Break

Pat has Wed.-Fri. off this week for his Fall Break. He had a meeting for work down in Indy on Thurs. morning, so we decided to head down to Indy Wed. night and stay in a hotel. Griffin & I hung out at the hotel while Pat was at his meeting. He came back and got us, and we headed to the Indy Zoo for the Zoo Boo Halloween Activity. It was a lot of fun...for us as much as Griffin. lol It was his first time at the zoo, and he seemed to enjoy it. He loves to see animals on t.v., so we thought it was time to give him the zoo experience.

Griffin making his way through the corn maze.

Daddy & Griffin at the monkeys. Griffin trick- or- treating.

Griffin with Biscuit. Griffin with Gravy (from Bob Evans).

Laundry Day

Griffin has decided he needs to "help" me do everything these days. I was happy to have him help me push the laundry basket from the bathroom to the kitchen, then he decides to re-sort the laundry after I had it all sorted. It's easy to get upset at things like this, but he was having so much fun I had to smile and take some pictures.

Random Pics From The Weekend

Sydney wanted me to put her hair in a bun for church. It is so many different lengths, so I had to use tons of clips to hold it in place. She wanted me to take a pic for the blog, so here it is.

Sydney went to Kroger with me on Friday to get groceries. Since they have renovated, they got these cute child-size shopping carts. I let her keep track of our list and put stuff in her cart too. People kept stopping us and commenting on the cart. lol

Just a cute pose I saw before church on Sunday and just had to take a picture.

Sydney Got Braces

Sydney had braces put on her top teeth this week. It has changed her speech a lot, but I'm sure once she adjusts to them, she will be fine. Normally, we are the junk food king/queen at our house, but she had to eat only soft foods, so I think Nolan consumed double the chewy, sticky, sweet stuff this weekend. lol

Sydney's Swim Meet

This past Saturday, Sydney participated in her 1st swim meet. It was held at Avon High School and was an all day event. She swam in 2 events placing 6th in the 1st one, and we're not sure how she did in the back stroke, but I thought she was 2nd or 3rd? They don't leave the info. on the scoreboard long enough, and we were messing around with the camera to take a picture of it, but it was on to another event by the time I looked up. And our camera battery had died. Sydney had fun and did well despite just having had braces put on, a terrible cold, and sick to her stomach due to nerves. In the pictures, she is the one with the turquoise swimsuit on. The bottom 2 pics show 1 of the many things the boys did to occupy themselves. It was SOOOOOO hot in the pool area (like a rainforest), that you just couldn't stay in there very long at all.

Videos

The following are some videos (older ones) that I have FINALLY been able to get off my camera. They are in avi format and have been giving me some trouble. Plus, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff. Here are a few that I've managed to get downloaded and put on here. Enjoy!

Griff Doing One of His Favorite Things

Griff on Slide