Today was the Fall Fitness Frenzy at school. I volunteered to work the entire day. My first shift was at the inflatable obstacle course. Will and Noah must have gone on that thing 100 times each! Ethan helped me direct traffic. After our duty there, we moved on to selling pizza and water. Ethan could really push the water! While Ethan and I worked, Will and Noah dragged Chris all over the place to see the fire fighters, to get their faces painted, etc. Everything at the fair was free (except for the pizza and the water) so it was a great way for the kids from school to have a good time. They also gave away bicycle helmets, which sadly only few have!

Here Ethan and Will race to the top of the obstacle course.

Noah maneuvers his way to the top!

Noah takes aim at the fire.
Will gets his face painted!

Noah on one of his MANY trips down the obstacle course slide!Muscle man Noah!

The Halloween countdown begins! Tonight we made Halloween cookies and scary tombstone pancakes. Emily, Emma, Paige, and Sophia came to help us decorate the cookies and eat the pancakes. They all seemed to have a lot of fun. Melissa and I finally wised up and had the kids come in shifts to decorate the cookies so it wasn't complete chaos.

Ethan takes his cookie decorating seriously!
Noah once again uses tongue power in completing his task!

Will executes the sprinkle decorating with ease.

We were finally able to wear fall clothes to school! It was 48 degrees this morning!!! Considering just 24 hours before that it was in the 90s it felt FREEZING to us. We even had to turn the heat on at school today. Noah was quite happy to model for all of us. He digs his fall threads! Ethan was not at all thrilled with his outfit. He appreciated it when he got to school and started begging for a coat, hat, and gloves. His teacher meets his class in front of the bathrooms in the morning to get a morning bathroom break in before they start their day. (Our hallways and bathrooms are outside.) Ethan decided it was too cold to sit outside and wait for the bathroom break gig so he sat in my room and looked out the window until he saw his class coming. Then he ran out the door and met up with them just as they were walking into the classroom. He has become a true Floridian!

Today I needed to get a sugar bowl. I broke ours some time ago and have been needing to replace it. The boys volunteered to come sugar bowl shopping with me as long as it included a walk on the beach! It was the perfect night for it. It was nice and cool (low 70s) and no one was at the beach. Chris snapped a few pictures on his phone camera which explains the quality. Of course we came home with no sugar bowl! Who ever thought it would be hard to find a sugar bowl??

The boys survived their camping trip! Well, I should probably say, Chris survived the camping trip. The boys seemed to have had a great time. They talked about the moon bounce, the haunted house, the smores, the diving board, etc. They were certainly quite dirty when they got home this morning! They all took a nice nap today while I was grocery shopping. I can't believe the weekend is over already!

Here they are arriving at camp.

This is what they were most looking foward to, the bows and arrows!

Noah trying his luck at the dunk tank!

Just playing around the campsite.

Nice and dirty, and ready for bed!

It is a hot Friday in Florida! It was in the 90's today. This week has been fairly uneventful. We had Boy Scouts, PTA, and all that fun stuff. The boys have watched Over the Hedge at least four times this week. They LOVE it. The boys are going camping this weekend for Boys Scouts. I'm glad I'm not going. It's WAY too hot for that. It is also Biketoberfest. There are tons of noisy motorcycles everywhere. It's really obnoxious. I'm going to try to finish up the work for one of the classes I'm taking. My next class starts Monday so I'm hoping to finish everything up so I'm not doubled up on work. I also made reservations for the character breakfast at Universal. We are going in early December to celebrate everyone's birthday. I know they will love dining with super heroes!

Today was spent having fun outside. The boys started their morning by riding their dune buggy and motorcycle around the neighborhood. Noah brought great laughter during this adventure. Will drove first and they switched just before the first pond we pass on our walk. As soon as Noah gets in, he floors it and nearly drives the thing right into the pond! He promptly exited the driver's seat and allowed Will to take control of the wheel again. Just before we got home he gave it another try. Within a minute he said, "I'm sick of this, you drive Will!" When we got home Will begged to try out Ethan's motorcycle. He was super mad that Chris was holding him at first. He could indeed balance as promised and rode solo with Chris following CLOSE behind. Then there was Noah. He too decided to give it a try. He was going the full 12 mph and could NOT balance. Poor Chris was running full speed to keep up with him. He is such a spaz. He could only focus on the throttle and paid no attention to his steering or balance! After playing out in the yard for most of the day, we rode our bikes to the park and they played there for a while. We went on a short ride after the park and poor Will crash landed head first into the sidewalk! He was ultra cautious for the rest of the ride and it took us forever to get home!

Will in the driver's seat! This is the pond that Noah nearly drove in! Chris got the funniest video of them but it's too large to send out and I haven't figured out the whole zip thing yet!

Here is the gang headed down the street!

Noah's first motorcycle experience!

Will off on his own!

Today was a special day... Ethan finally had success on his rollerblades. He had tried them a couple times in the past and quickly got frustrated and gave up. This time he stuck it out and had success! We spent the entire day doing yard work. Chris got some sod this morning. The boys were awesome helpers. Noah wasn't thrilled about having dirty hands.

Noah showing everyone his super messy hands!

The landscapers!

Will and Noah had fun at school today. They had a visit from the fire department. The firefighters, truck, and Sparky the Dog all came to their preschool. I'm surprised they were impressed by it since their Uncle Eric gave them the best tour ever last summer! In honor of the firefighter visit and Fire Safety and Prevention Week, Noah came home and got all fire geared up. Promptly after taking this picture he axed through his castle to get to the fire!

After school Emily, Emma, Paige, and Sophia came over to help break in the fort even more. We spent the entire evening making Halloween projects. They were really into the whole craft thing after dinner. Currenty, they are eating popcorn and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Happy Birthday Anna! Well, as Anna grows older, our fort grows bigger and bigger and bigger! Today it was a Star Wars ship, a play house, a secret lair, and various other locations. One can travel far and wide with a fort!

The fort is here and it is a hit!! The boys have been dying for Monday to arrive so their fort would be delivered. Luckily, the UPS got here before we did and the box was by the front door. Just another reason to love the Cranium company! I know there are a lot of people sighing out there since I force everyone to play Cranium with me.

Here is another picture from yesterday.

We had to lecture Will about theme park germs right before we got on the ride. He was not a happy camper. He couldn't contain his smile once the ride started though!

This afternoon we went to Universal. Melissa and I went one Sunday afternoon and there was no one there. Well, today, that wasn't the case! The place was packed. Between the Holloween Horror Night and the Megadeth concert there were loads of people there. It wasn't as bad as a summer day, but just enough people to make it annoying. Of course the boys didn't seem to mind! We went to both parks and did most of their favorite rides.

Here we are on one of our favorites, the Jimmy Neutron ride!

It was perfect timing for a Curious George photo shoot. They were very excited to see him since they have watched that movie a million times this weekend!

Chris forced me to post this picture. Sadly, it was the best shot out of the 5 or 6 he took of us coming out of the tube. I was trying to avoid the gigantic splash that we endured. Noah was happy that I took the brunt of the splash and he remained dry.

Will and Noah are elephants in the Curious George playground.

Ethan went the giraffe route!

Their favorite ride at Islands of Adventure!

Happy Birthday Leigha!!! We love you and miss you.

Let the fall frenzy begin! The kids have been dying to use the Halloween pancake molds. Tonight was the night. They were very happy eating their bats, ghosts, and cats! I was trying to make them orange, however, I had no orange food coloring or red food coloring so that made it a bit difficult. They ended up being a spoooooky mauve color! After their pancake and sausage dinner they devoured the yummy brownies that Melissa made. We had fun trying to decorate the brownies for the kids. Sadly, they didn't care much about how they looked. They just all wanted one with a lot of icing! Emma and Paige are spending the night tonight. Hopefully they will all sleep in until 8:00. I can dream!

There is a major cold front moving into Florida this weekend. Sadly, this will feel freezing to us!

The boys built their castle after school. Hanzie played varying roles in the castle. He was a horse, unicorn, and coyote throughout their adventures!

The boys are ready to haunt you!

Noah wanted to assure you that you would be so scared that you would have to run away. He's showing everyone how they would be running away.

Sorry Melissa- we have made the best oatmeal cookies ever! The boys LOVE them.