pumpkin patch.

We made a trip to a sweet little local pumpkin patch this week. The owner is one of our school lunch ladies and she is as sweet as can be! They have an amazing variety of pumpkins and gourds and their prices are great! 

Gretchen and I may not have worn the best footwear for stomping through a pumpkin patch. But our stripes and polka dots sure are cute! =) 

Gretchen kept sneaking tiny "baby pumpkins" (gourds) off the big wagon and putting them onto ours...

(I wasn't going to include this picture... until I saw Corey's hand over on the side. No idea what he is doing, but it made me laugh!)

This is Gretchen, pretending that a stranger isn't looking at her and talking to her while she counts up our pumpkins...

Now to get up in the crawl space and get out the rest of my fall decorations! I can't wait to smell my favorite fall candle burning!

first grade.

Thursday was Pajama Day in 1st grade! 

(It was supposed to be Wednesday, but I realized I had a district meeting after school that day. And no way are my kids going to have Pajama Day without me!) 

Love this group of little people. 

Speaking of things I love... The Daily 5. If you are a classroom teacher who uses centers while you meet with your reading groups, order this book, read it, and consider implementing the Daily 5 in your classroom. It will change your life. Seriously. I love it. My kids love it. And it is so much less work than centers. (And so much more beneficial for them!) All of our teachers are using it this year, K-4. (Thank you, Leah, for introducing this to us!! Even though others might try to take the credit. =) )

Love these kids.

Love the Daily 5.

Really love Pajama Day.

tonight.

Daddy's gone and it's been raining like crazy all afternoon and evening. We've been hanging out here for quite a few hours...  (They haven't been watching tv the whole time. Right now they are building a fort, pretending that they are married and that Gretchen is a robber trying to break into their house.) 

And that popcorn, the apples and cheese may or may not be our supper.
(fyi... the Mike's Hard Lemonade is just for me.)

more soccer.

I don't have near as many pictures of Sophie playing soccer.

Mainly because she prefers to just stay on the sideline...  (She didn't even play at all at her last game... just watched from the sideline... totally her choice.)

But she sure has a good looking coach...

Who may be really questioning why he agreed to this coaching job... considering his daughter doesn't even like to play. =)

soccer.

We're almost halfway through soccer season and I'm still loving this soccer mom stuff. =) 

Lawson's on a team with some of his really good friends. He's having a ball. 

He was bummed to not have Daddy as a coach, but his best friend's dad is a pretty good alternative. 

There's a reason they call this age, "Bunch Ball..."

I love this little guy and I love how fierce he looks. Like a little dinosaur...

This little guy was my favorite goalie. He was still learning how to drop the ball and kick it. One time he managed to kick himself in the face with the ball as it flew over his head and then into the goal. Luckily they didn't count that one. =)

children

This is totally me right now. 

18 children all day and then 3 all evening and night.

And I am definitely looking this frazzled by then end of the day, too. 

more splashing.

The video still makes me smile. "I step in water!" 

But these pictures make me smile, too...