Beautiful Fall

For a little while, we were worried we might skip over fall and head straight to winter.  Thankfully, the last two weeks or so, we have had amazing weather for our favorite fall activities.  Our two maple trees in the backyard are getting so big.  We actually now have leaves in our yard :)  Cooper and I love to rake the leaves everyday, jump in the piles, and then do it all over again.  Daddy took care of that yesterday... it was time to mow, rake, and bag one last time for the season.  We had our fun while it lasted!

Mom is not sure if she likes this picture.  On one hand, it is nice to see us helping, on the other hand, it means we are growing up. When she gets over this realization, she will love that we are helpful boys :)

 Two weekends ago, we FINALLY were old enough to head to the hunting shack.  Dad said we had to be old enough to be outside all day and out of naps.  We are both of these and couldn't wait to go where the big boys hang out.  The shack has been in Mommy's family for a long time... she is estimating close to 100 years.  The shack is nothing fancy.  This way, it keeps the ladies away~ no electricity (generators), no showers (there is a well for running water), and a stove that keeps the shack toasty and warm.  One of our missions was to chop wood.  There is a splitter at the shack, so we mostly just watched from a safe distance as each log was cut.

 This is Great Grandpa "Woody."  He is Mom's Grandpa and the shack is his heaven on earth.  Daddy would agree to this.  Great Grandpa is so happy that Mom married a hunter AND they had two boys AND those two boys love the outdoors and the idea of hunting.  The family tradition will continue....

Great Grandpa is a kid at heart.  He is in his mid-80's now, but he still finds it hilarious to "accidentally" get stuck in the slew or find some other minor dilemma to problem-solve.  I loved riding with Great Grandpa and sure enough, we did get stuck a few times.

 A rare sight for many, but the 'slew' in front of the shack has trumpeter swans.  They love the shack too!

Mom's cousin Bryan has a tractor at the shack.  It is a true, John Deere tractor.  We loved taking rides and I was memorized by the smoke stack/exhaust thingy that puffed out smoke.  Despite the 5+hours it takes to get to the shack, we look forward to a return in the near future.  Someday, it will be for a full week of deer hunting season :)

While we hunted, Mom went scrapbooking with friends.  She is excited to say her scrapbooks and albums are all caught up! She didn't take any pictures of the scrapbooking retreat... she said just to imagine a room full of crazy ladies, scrapbooking and drinking wine :)  Since we were all busy, Liberty went to stay with our neighbors who have two little dogs.  They sent us this picture of Liberty, Guinness and Marble all chilling in the living room.  She was wiped out when we returned home.  We are pretty certain she tried to keep up with the little dogs all weekend long.

In other news, soccer came to a close for Cooper and I.  My team had a parents vs players scrimmage on our last practice.  The parents won (which wasn't part of the plan)... Daddy got burned by Mommy a few times on the field and the kids just couldn't believe that some parents actually knew what they were doing, ha!  I haven't decided if I will continue to play soccer or not.  I do like the sport, but I told my parents that I might want to do swimming instead.  They think I just need a break and then will decide when spring comes.

Cooper's preschool class made it out for a nice hike.  Once again, we are amazed and thankful that his 4K teacher emails pictures of his day!

 Not sure what this is about, but he seems happy and distracted with all of the other 4 year olds.

Whew, he does know how to listen!

Here is my 1st grade school picture.  I had my class picture last week, so I will have to post that soon. Cooper's 4K pictures aren't back yet either, stay tuned!  My Mom attended my 1st grade conference last week.  Daddy was in Washington DC for his fellowship, so Mom had to fill him in afterwards.  My teacher said that I am a nice boy, have many friends in class, and follow all of the school rules.  My parents said this is all that should matter :)  In 1st grade, I took some standardized tests and blew the scores out of the water... I am reading sight words like a crazy man these days (I have met the end of the year expectation) BUT... I do need to keep working on applying these words as I read.  I still want to decode sounds within words, so I will work on fluency.  I have a love-hate relationship with reading.  It is hard, but I am excited to read some of my favorite books, like the Day the Crayons Quit :)  My favorite subjects are science, art, and music.  The best part, is that I LOVE school, my teacher, and my friends!

 This past weekend, we went to visit Great Grandma Klay.  She lives in an assisted living facility near our house.  They had a fall festival, so we decorated pumpkins with silly foam shapes, we played games, and ate snacks. Great Grandma loves when we come to visit her.  She always has treats for us and is proud to show us to her friends.

Pin the nose on the skeleton

Mr. Cheater Pants

 Finally, we decided with Halloween just around the corner, it was time to carve pumpkins!  We had several to carve.  Some pumpkins we grew in our garden, others we purchased from a local farmer.  Daddy helped with scooping the yucky stuff and he helped us run the carving knives.

 Cooper's pumpkin is eating little pumpkins, so we drew some "oh no" faces onto the mini ones.

This isn't the greatest picture, but we will post our glowing pumpkins along with our Halloween pictures next week!  We are so excited for Halloween...it's finally here!

Just Kickin' It!

Soccer ended for us this weekend.  We had only 5 games this season, the 6th one is next weekend and the boys are heading to the hunting shack (our first time!)  Here's a recap of our season....

Cooper's team (Turtles) had a great season.  Coach Chris (not our Dad) taught Cooper a lot about soccer.  Cooper had his first taste of goal scoring a few weeks ago.  In the last 3 games, he scored 5 goals!  He became a bit aggressive (to say the least) and wanted to score at all costs.  His face turns red (just like Mama's) when he plays and we all had a good laugh when he yelled across the field, "I AM SOOOOO SWEATY!"

 Going for it!

 Cooper likes to slide; we all tell him to stay on his feet.  This is one instance where sliding is OK... .he slid the ball into the net and scored his 5th of the season.

 Thumbs-up and ice cream from Olson's for scoring!

Coach Mom helped the Volcanoes as we transitioned into U-8 this season.  We had corner kicks, goal kicks and throw-ins to learn.  We were about 500 for our season and I scored a goal!  I am happy playing wherever, but defense might be more my style.  I told Mom that I wasn't sure if I would continue to play soccer because why would I play a sport where people try to hurt each other (my exact words)?  She wasn't sure how to respond to that...and for the record, I only got stepped on by a cleat on my foot.

 My best friend Trevor... we do lots of yelling and cheering and bantering as we play.

 I am mostly excited about the yummy popcorn from the old-fashioned popper sold at the concession stand after the game.  My parents recall clearly that the reason I wanted to still play this season is because U-8 had snacks after the game, LOL.

 Thanks to our supporters who came to watch us!  Sorry we didn't get a photo of all... Grandma Carla was back from Africa and came to our game, Grammy joined us last weekend, and Papa and Grandma were cheering us on a few weeks ago.  We sure are loved.

Mom knows what Cooper is up to at 4K thanks to Nikki's daily emails and pictures.  Nikki's emails are heart-warming. She has shared that Cooper is a great kid, has lots of friends, and is doing really well.  We are so proud of the Coop.

I joined Boy Scouts and am a Tiger Scout this year.  I get to wear this cool neckerchief thingy with a fancy buckle. We are picking up my "cool" shirt and hat this week.  I am selling popcorn right now, so if you want to buy from a super cute Tiger Scout, I am your man!  In Tiger Scouts, we are learning our motto, handshake, and signal.  I will earn patches which I am super excited about.  Thanks to Russell in the movie Up, I have some wild ideas about what Boy Scouts is all about.

 I am excited about computer lab this year.  I now come home and ask my parents to use our desktop computer.  I know how to log-in, enter the password, and navigate programs (which scares my parents a little bit).  Mom needed to do some emails, so when she went to the computer, she found this message on a word document.  I am pretty certain I forgot to log-off.  She is glad I know that two oo's make the "oo" sound.

A few weeks ago, our parents left us to rejuvenate.  Dad had a conference at The Osthoff and Mom had the two days off from teaching.  While Daddy went to courses, she walked the beautiful grounds, shopped in Kohler and went to the spa.  While they were away enjoying "real" meals and sleep, we went to school and Grammy took care of us.  Thanks Grammy from ALL of us!  It was just what they we needed :)

 Mom went into full planning mode.  She co-hosted a baby shower for her dear friend Kerri who is expecting a bundle of joy in December.  The theme was "lil pumpkin."

 Ruth hosted at her house and they set up some fall snacks... caramel apple bar, pumpkin cheeseball, fall drinks (cider and spiked punch) along with the cutest darn cake (thanks to Jeannie) and some favors (Mommy made the pops).  She thinks party planning will be her retirement plan.

 Pumpkin diaper cake and thoughts~ guests wrote a sweet or silly message on the diapers for those late night changings.  Mommy's read, 'Isn't it Daddy's turn!?!?"

 Pumpkin oreo pops and mini-hand sanitizers with a cute message.

HE-double hockey stick NO she isn't pregnant.  They played a game where guests had to quickly blow up a balloon, stick it under their shirt and tie their shoes.  Mom didn't win and she is pretty certain she was wearing clogs/crocs the last 3 months of her pregnancy (#worthit)

The beautiful Mama to be and her adorable pumpkin cake (gender neutral, since they didn't find out whether their little pumpkin is a girl or boy).

And finally, we close with Mr. Cooper who was supposed to wear crazy hair on Friday to 4K.  He wouldn't allow spray color or big spikes, so instead he went to school with a mini-mohawk/comb-over/Pee Wee Herman look.  Oh Cooper!