Pumpkin Patch 2010

We love the Banducci Pumpkin Patch!  For the last four years we, along with our friends the Congdons, have taken our families out to this great pumpkin patch south of town.  The first year we went there were 4 children between our two families~ now there are 8, with one more on the way for the Congdons!  I love looking back at the pictures from 2006 and seeing how much the kiddos have grown.  Here is a photo of Luke and Matthew from our first year...

...and a photo from this year...

I mean, how sad is that?!  Anyway, this year after the picture taking Nate and Tony took the kids through the corn maze and over to see all the farm animals while Jen and I hung out with the 2 youngest Congdons...

Brenna & Olivia.  As always, we had a great time with our little pumpkin patch tradition.  Here are a few more pics from the day:

Matthew's 5th Birthday pictures

Happy Birthday Matt!

 A little less than 1 month ago, on September 29th, our Matthew Paul turned 5 years old.  We actually had several little celebrations for him.  Earlier in September my parents held a "September Birthdays" dinner for everyone in our family, then we had a little birthday party at our home for Matt and all his friends, then on his actual birthday Nate and I went to school with our big boy and passed out cupcakes to all his classmates!  He had a great time at each one of his little parties.  While it's hard for us to believe that he has hit this mini-milestone it is such a joy watching him grow up.  He's becoming a very smart, thoughtful, hilarious guy who is a treasure to his brothers and us!  We love this little boy and are so happy the Lord gave him to us to look after.  What a blessing children are!

Hello Again

  

Fall is here! Apparently (on this blog at least) Summer 2010 never existed... sorry about that. ☺  The “happenings” around this house are as follows:

* Homeschool has started back up! Yay!!  Monday marked the start of our 9th week this year, with Matthew in Kindergarten and Luke in 1st grade.  There was definitely an adjustment period while I fumbled with our schedule, but now everything is running quite smoothly.  We set up the office into the school-room and Nate let me buy these great desks for the boys.  Even Caleb has a desk, which is stocked with coloring books and crayons, so he can sit in with us while I teach. Both Luke & Matt like math the best and both kind-of sigh as we get into reading, but they really are great students.  I am again reminded how blessed we are to be able to have our boys home with us for school!'

* Extra-curriculur activities have also begun.  This year Luke chose to try out Taekwondo and Matty is in a swimming class.  It is hysterical to watch Luke do his warm-ups and drills.  The last warm-up exercises are laps around the gymnasium and Luke is determined to run faster then the other boys.  He's so competitive! His good friend Jaden is also in his class and they just have a great time together.

Matty became a pretty good swimmer this summer and is doing equally well in his class.  His coach has him learning the butterfly stroke at the moment (which seems a little odd for a 5 year old, but what do I know?). He's also diving for rings and practicing his kicks.  He loves being in the water.  

* Caleb is alive and just happy to be Caleb ☺  His day is mostly spent playing with his brothers and eating~ it's a good life.  His little personality is as dynamic as ever and he reminds me of his daddy more and more every day.  He and I get some special time together on Wednesday mornings while the big boys  are at their enrichment classes, and he is a blast to hang out with!