Time for family pictures. If we don't take family pictures in November, we have no chance of getting them out before the new year. We have a nice friend who takes our pictures for free. She took us on a tour of downtown Leesburg - it's pretty small and old, but had some cool little spots. Maybe next year I will just paint our front door turquoise and we will take them at our own house!
Or maybe we should paint our front door purple?
We like getting little head shots of the kids...I care more about their little faces than the backgrounds...
Words of advice... never get birds! My good friend got these for me for free. Again, I can never pass down something for free. They were just down the street from us and this thing is so huge, it took up most of the trunk. We had a bird growing up named Billy. He was pretty cool. But I was a kid and apparently did none of the cleaning. Also - this is 3 birds. They are so loud and messy, and their wings weren't even clipped so I couldn't let the kids hold them. Apparently, with 3 birds you can't even get them to talk. Anyway, I lasted a few weeks. Then I sold them for $50.
Fun little creations by Xander and Declan...
Our house backs up to a forest named Balls Bluff Park. Historically speaking, it is park of the civil war trail and battle sites. Aesthetically speaking, it is beautiful to back up to a forest and be able to take little hikes literally out our back door! Today we enjoyed a nice fall hike with our neighbors, the Kargs. They have 3 kids - Brendon (10), Tyler (8), and Emma (7).
Cache decided to bring a clipboard to keep track of the animals he found. I think it mainly consisted of squirrels, deer, and little salamanders.
Checking under logs for little creatures.
Declan displaying salamander #1
The first child is always the best trained picture-taker!
The Kargs.
A rock inside of a rock.
The boys love finding natural balance beams throughout the forest.
Ok, this is pretty pathetic. Because of all the leaves, we kind of strayed from the trail. A neighbor in her backyard helped us find our way! We aren't exactly deep in the forest for part of this hike!
The great river crossing...how did the pioneers do it?!
Victory! After 45 minutes in the wilderness, we made it to our neighborhood park!
David and Declan brought in the caboose.
If you are not tired of pictures...hold on...apparently I took 500 in November. It is a very beautiful and busy month around here.
We brought our friends, Natalie and Joshua Tikalsky, to the farm with us. They are super cute and easy going kids. They used to live near us when Easton and Natalie were babies. In fact, I think they moved right after the twins were born. Brian took a job in Mexico City for 3 years with the government, and now they are back! Luckily, they moved into our neighborhood.
Since we are passed Halloween, the farm let each kid pick out a pumpkin to smash.
Our timing was perfect...as soon as we got back from the pumpkin patch, the pig races began.
Then off to the zip line to watch our pumpkins explode. We scored on this as well, since there was no one in line before us!
Here is our series of before / after pictures...
I am loving my new camera and the pictures it can take. The pumpkins exploded in an instant and I was able to actually record the moment in clarity!
The water sluice is always a favorite stop. Sometimes we buy gem and fossil bags to mine, but usually we just pick up handfuls of dirt and gravel and see what remnants we can find from other people.
Next up, mini golf.
I love that Joshua had such a natural form.
Perspective :)
We divided into teams to race through the corn maze...
I can't remember who won, but the important thing is we all made it out!
One, two, three, JUMP!
Have I mentioned my kids' addiction to Monopoly? Fortunately they have a dad who will play endless hours with them!
It's time for some Thanksgiving! Nothing says Thanksgiving like a turkey hat!
Declan and Leif doing puzzles.
I'm always amazed where I find this kid!
Easton playing the old school 'Oregon Trail' game.
When someone in our family falls or gets hurt, we call it 'man down'.
Poor Xander was our man down today!
Everything is seriously made better by a bandaid for this kid. He will wear one across his eye, nose, anywhere...and he instantly feels better.
Our makeshift indoor cage for fluffy...man this guinea pig knows how to poop!
November 30th marks the great day of the twins birth! Happy 5th birthday Xander & Declan!
As always, we celebrate at home and we celebrate big. After months of writing names down to invite, and crossing them off, then writing them back on - we have our final birthday attendees! Kensley even came!
The twins insisted on water balloons. Although it is November 30th, it actually wasn't a freezing day. In order to preserve the dryness of our guests, we volunteered Easton and Cache as the designated water balloon targets. The kids loved it...Even Easton and Cache!
A few relay races.
And of course, a pinata!
Even Thamina gave it a try!
The best rainbow marshmallow cake ever. Thanks to our grocery store for the variety of sprinkle colors!
A hullabaloo version of a cake walk.
My after-party clean up crew. I'm not quite sure why the windows needed to be cleaned, but it's one of the few jobs Xander will actually do.
The twins happy birthday breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. We believe in as many meals with candles as possible on your birthday.
Preschool time.
The idea was to cover the feathers in the coordinating fruit loop color. I suppose 1 or 2 fruit loops works as well.
Xander went with decorating the rim of the plate.
Declan went totally random. I'm just impressed some got on his plate and he didn't eat them all first.
Team puzzle time.
Trips to the zoo are always crazy here. The National Zoo is not an easy trip. It's a long drive through complicated streets, the zoo is built on a huge hill, and there are so so spread out that you can't possibly see it all. But hey, it's still worth trying to do. Today we went with the Tikalskys. We bought a groupon that included parking and carousel rides. Easton was our photographer today!
Selfie.
Lunch time...I mean...climb in a tree and pretend your a monkey time.
Declan is our bravest.
We love this kid, Aaron. He is so cute.
The gray wolf that is actually white. This was our first time actually seeing him.
Another cute Tikaslky.
Group shot by the bears.
Once we got home, Easton continued to take pictures...
Here are my two great deals of the month...a 3 pack of Nike no show tab socks (my favorite) regularly $18.00 for 32 cents (from Kohls using all their coupons).
4 boxes of Advil from Target originally $17.98 for $7.98 plus a $5 gift card!
The boys used all our dominoes and jenga pieces to created a cool track.
Cache used them to create a cool structure.
Meanwhile, the house was further destroyed by Xander's fort.
