Larry's work party was aboard the Nautical Queen that does the Lake Erie dinner cruises. It was freezing and windy that night, so when we went out on deck to check out the lights we very quickly ended up back in the boat, but it was a lot of fun. The other three people in this picture with us are the other first year resident, Jeanie, Mindy and Bryan.
We went with our friends the Cowdens and had a lot of fun. We got to ride on the horse drawn wagon out to the middle of all the trees and wander around until we found the right one. 
Then of course the sawing began, which all the kids felt they needed to be a part of.
Then of course came the decorating part of the process. Our tree this year had a special decorating technique... only put ornaments on the top half of the tree, and any ornament you like better be close to the top. Asher was loving the tree. He was so excited about the lights and kept trying to pull all the little bulbs out of the sockets. Then any ornament he could stretch and reach, or climb on top of a present to reach, he would yank off the tree to check out. Then he had his own special way of putting it back on the tree. Throw it at the tree with all your might and hope that it sticks. Luckily we only had two casualties this year. It was a tragedy that one of them was our leg lamp ornament we got from the Christmas story house last year, but seeing as we're still in Cleveland we'll just have to go and get another one. The other one unfortunately was one that Larry and I got our 3rd Christmas together, so I think that one is going to be hard to replace. Oh well, I guess that's what happens with an 18 month old around!
This year Larry got to be in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, and it was amazing!! I had gone in for some outpatient surgery on Tuesday and was sore, so Larry took over. He did a great job, so great maybe we ought to let him cook again next year! He is such a great guy. The food was good and we all had a good day hanging out together.
The two older kids have been taking tennis lessons at school, so we all went to play tennis as a family. The two littlest ones stole the show as they ran around chasing the ball and just plain looking cute.
There's nothing like raking all the leaves out and jumping in the pile when fall comes to Cleveland. The kids had their friends over that day, and they all took my nice pile of leaves and spread it all over the front yard.
This is Asher's new favorite place to read his books. He climbs into Ziggy's bed with him and looks at his books... very cute!
Here's Larry and the kids hanging out by the sea lions at the zoo. These are their favorite animals to watch, so we always spend a little time sitting there with them.
Here's Asher looking cute on the horse. He loves to ride the big hose we have too. He gets up there and bounces around and just laughs and laughs!
The start of Halloween is going to the pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin. The kids love doing this, and as you can see, Asher was fully entertained by the weeds blowing in his face. Who needs toys??Rhyan walked around and around rejecting every pumpkin I suggested until she suddenly found the pumpkin, and then that was it, she wouldn't change her mind.
Kaleb now gets to haul his own pumpkin out of the patch, which is quite comical to watch. He always thinks he has to try and find the biggest pumpkin possible, so then of course he has to struggle the whole way out of the patch to move his pumpkin. We got to pick some apples while we were there in their orchard, and fresh apples are the best!
Of course once you have picked the perfect pumpkin then you have to carve the perfect face on it. The kids all knew exactly what they wanted on their pumpkins, and Kaleb got to carve his all by himself this year. They all turned out great!
Asher was totally intrigued by the fact the the pumpkins started to glow! He was crawling around trying to look inside and see what he could see. He looked so cute. He's at such a fun age. It's so fun to watch him discovering everything.
So all this kids then have to pick the perfect costume to wear, and they always know exactly what they want. Kaleb was Harry Potter, Mayson was Thumbelina, Rhyan insisted that even though it didn't fit very well this year that she needed to be the chicken again, and thanks to the Campbells Asher got to be an absolutely adorable Yoda! We all dressed up to go to the kids school the Friday before Halloween for their book character parade. At school it is officially not Halloween , it's the kids dressing up like a book character. Either way, it's fun and the kids love it. Rhyan loves to go to and get dressed up and join the big kids.
Kaleb and Mayson got themselves in trouble right before Halloween, so Halloween got canceled for them. They didn't get to go to the trunk or treat at the church or go trick or treating on Halloween. Rhyan and Asher did though, and Larry and I padded their bags so that when they came back they had lots of candy so that the kids felt a little worse about their not having any. Maybe next time they think lying is a good idea they'll remember their lack of candy and think twice about it!
Here are Kaleb and his friends racing their ducks. They had to pump the water into their tube to get the ducks to go.
Here are the kids in the corn maze. It is shaped like the state of Ohio, with the paths through the maze set up like the highways and interstates that run through Ohio. You use the ohio map and follow the road signs in the maze to find you way through. It was the best corn maze I've ever been through!
