Trick-or-Treat, Give me something good to eat

The cow went trick-or-treating last night, today we will go trick-or-treating at Mike's office. The fun never ends around here...

A morning on the farm....or at the zoo....

Ok,not really but the Halloween playgroup party at our house sure looked like (and felt like I think to the Mommy's) a day at the farm or zoo....check out these animals.
Sorry we had major shadow problems no matter where we put these animals.

L-R Brady the cow, EJ the monkey, Katie the Kangaroo and Hannah the Chick

Here's what the table looked like before the animals were let loose.


And here they are working on their craft.

This is the finished product. It's a bat in case you couldn't tell.It was hard not to step in and finish painting the whole pumpkin black, but the painting was completely done by Brady which of course makes it that much better. (Craft idea courtesy of Family Fun Magazine.)


After some yummy food there was a lot of this going on.....

And this....



When was the last time you had a cow or a monkey mow your lawn?





I think these kiddos had just an OK time :) Can't believe this is our 3rd Halloween together with these sweet little ones. Where does the time go?

2006

Brady's in the black and white, that's Grace as Minnie, she lives in Las Vegas now, Katie is in the chicken costume and EJ is the scarecrow.
Hannah is the baby lying on the floor, only 7 weeks old.

2007

That's not a pumpkin...That's a Jack-O-Lantern

Brady picked the shapes for our tall leaning pumpkin and this artist carved it out. That's about as complicated as it can get for me. That alone was hard enough! We surprised Brady with a Lighting McQueen pumpkin, he helped us scoop/clean it out and then he went to bed, Mike went hard to work at working on the intricate pattern. I think he did a wonderful job on it!

There's a lot going on!

So I'm going to post often to keep up with all the activities that we have going on in the next few days....pumpking carving, playgroup Halloween party, Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating at Mike's office, my sister Laura coming to visit! Busy busy busy! Lots of fun ahead! Below are a few pictures of Brady and his baby cousin Mckenna, taken at Grandma Zollars house, in their Halloween costumes. Grandma Zollars made Mckenna's peanut costume. She's the cutest little peanut I've ever seen! Brady's costume was made by the fine people at TJ Maxx. :)

The cow wouldn't look at the camera.

Here's a picture of the cow at tumbling class on Monday. He loves that trampoline. If he's not on the trampoline, he's jumping in the pit, that's it, end of story.

You'll see a lot more of this cow in the upcoming days. That's it for now, lots to do around here, gotta get moooooving. I know, clever.

Falling Leaves

We spent Sunday afternoon at our little Bellbrook house helping Mike do one last yard clean up before the new people move into the house (today!! thank goodness). One of the things we miss about that house is the yard and although we (ok, Mike) don't miss taking care of the yard, playing in the leaves was a perk of that old house....

I heart Joe Pa

This is post for those that love Penn State and those that love Joe Pa. How about that video "montage" they showed before and after the game? Wasn't it fantastic? Here it is just in case you wanted to cry again :)



And here is this picture again, that I will cherish forever and for always.

Taken in April of 2003, Mike's last event at The Nittany Lion.

Go Get 'Em Lions! One game at a time. WE ARE..........

The Simple Things

Last week we had tumbling class and art class. Two mornings of rushing around is just enough for me and just enough for Brady too. I realized I sometimes fall into the trap of trying to keep busy not for his sake but for my own sanity. This really can't be good for him...for me...for my gas tank or my pocketbook! So on Thursday morning we got in the car (so yeah we still used gas) for a short trip to Sugarcreek Metro Park to simply take a walk in the woods. No money was spent, no rushing around, just simple walking, laughing, looking at birds, playing with leaves and walking through "tree tunnels". He loved it so much that he insisted that Mike take him back yesterday. Have to keep reminding myself to remember the simple things....

Can you tell me how to get....

.....how to get to Sesame Street?
Brady can tell you!

Playing with the fun Elmo toy that was given to each child!

The characters we saw tonight! Rosita, Zoe, Elmo, Cookie and Grover

Brady right next to the stage, sorry it's blurry.

My favorite picture from the night.

Thanks WPAFB and the USO for brining Sesame Street Live (for free) to base!

Is Baby Mckenna here?

That's what Brady said when he was suppossed to be taking a nap but heard his cousin arrive. Of course the nap went out the window and we spent the rest of the day enjoying sweet little Mckenna Jane.

It was OK for Mckenna to sit next to Brady but he would not let her sit on Big Blue Blankie - LOL

Mike got out "Big Blue Ball" to bounce Mckenna on - put her right to sleep.
We spent a lot of time bouncing on that ball when Brady was a little one.
Brady had art class yesterday and at the end they got to play with the parachute. It triggered his memory that we have a parachute at home so of course last night we had to spend some time outside playing with it!

WE ARE......PENN STATE

Mike and I had the privilege of returning "home" to Penn State this weekend thanks to a lot of helpful friends and my parents who watched our Brady Bear for two days. We had an amazing time celebrating all kinds of things with some old friends. We did a lot of incredible things too, like attending the Nittany Lion Mascot Reunion where Mike was able to celebrate the honor that is the Nittany Lion. Mike was the 42nd Lion in PSU history, there are 3 since him. We got to spend time with 15 of the Lions this weekend, some who we knew, some who we had never met. The university is doing a documentary on the Mascot and both Mike and I were interviewed for about an hour about it, in a real TV studio with cameras and sound equipment, WOW, we were impressed! I was exhausted and at times thought, yes I will be delivering Baby Lucy in Beaver Stadium, but it was well worth the late nights, the tired feet and achy back. And of course, our Lions were victorious over Michigan, first time since 1996...and now we are 8-0!!!! Good seeing so many familiar faces.

At the Lion shrine

Hi Steph! Love, Mary and me :)

Old "bones"
me, Korey, Mike, Aisley, Sara and Chuck

Friends since 1997....Catherine and I

Mike after being announced at "Tailgreat"

12 of the old "Lions" and our current Lion.

There's truly no place like home.

Cade's Cove

Thanks to a recommendation from our new friend and the photographer, Nicole, we went to visit Cade's Cove in the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. WOW! It was stunning, peaceful, and worth every minute. We wish we would have been prepared with a picnic lunch because we could have stayed all day. Brady might have liked Cade's Cove better than the train!!! Why? Because of this:

This is a working water wheel and mill and inside they have the original grinding stone from the 1830's that still works and operates, they make cornmeal and you can watch the gears operate the stone and see the corn fall down and watch it turn into cornmeal. Brady was fascinated, when we had to leave the mill, he cried and cried and did some more crying. He's still talking about this mill today and has told several family members and strangers about the mill he saw in the mountains. Some more pictures of the beautiful scenery.....




Don't turn us in or call me Britney Spears but here is a picture I snapped while Brady was sitting on my lap as we drove through Cade's Cove. There is a scenic driving loop that you take to see all the sites, the speed limit is 10 mph so we thought we could get away with this, he was able to see so much more and giggled the whole way. Bad parenting, I know.
We're off to Pittsburgh tomorrow and then Mike and I are on our way to State College, the happiest place on earth, on Friday for Penn State's Homecoming. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share on Monday, so until then...happy (early) weekend.