Fall Fun

We've been doing a lot this fall! From Garrett & Wyatt's birthdays to starting up the school year, to Friday Outdoor Exploration days, to visiting the local pumpkin patch...plus we started teaching the 2's every other week at church and started going to a small group nearby on most Sunday nights. And then there is Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesdays for me, Wyatt, and Wade (it has been so good; we're studying the life of Moses and the kids study the same thing in a kid version in there excellent kids classes!), while Garrett goes to his Wednesday charter school. Whew!

Plus tomorrow I have an MRI to see the exact location of the mass near my fallopian tube and after the doctor reviews it we have to make a decision about surgery - whether to try taking it out and risking a lot of bleeding or just go for a hysterectomy. Prayers are appreciated for wisdom and not feeling claustrophobic tomorrow in the MRI! Thanks.

So back to the pictures...
On Fridays our curriculum gets us out into local parks and open spaces to observe different parts of nature. It has been fun to have an excuse to see the local beauty and I love the hands-on learning the boys have! Here they're looking at a wasp's nest...

 

Inspecting an ant hill.

 

 

Using the binoculars...

 

 

Garrett had his 7th birthday at Big Dry Creek Park with Aunt Luanne and Uncle Ed (who stayed with us for a few days in September) plus our friends the Malm's there to help celebrate! Afterward we came home for chocolate cake and cards and a big gift - a remote controlled truck!

 

 

He was very happy to get it!

 

Had to stick this one in - Wyatt "mowing the lawn"...so cute.

 

For Wyatt's birthday, we went to the Ya Ya apple orchard in Longmont and had apple cider doughnuts and enjoyed seeing the orchard and animals.

 

Such a blessing - a girl offered to take our family's picture! We hardly ever get our whole family together, and they turned out pretty well!

 

Thumbs up for apple cider doughnuts!

 

It was so precious...that night was the night before his birthday, and I was downstairs and he came down in tears wanting to give me his "last 4 year old hug" and was crying about the poignancy of it all. Grandma Cox was on the phone so she talked to him and chirked him up and he was ready to move onward and  upward to being a 5 year old... :)

 

Waking up to the streamers!

 

And a big present ... a new bike!

 

Happy birthday Wyatt! Red velvet cake and all.

 

We went to the Denver botanical gardens at Chatworth with my friend Jen and her two boys. It was quiet a miserable day, I hate to say. The air conditioning was broken on the van and it was a long drive on a hot day. Then the boys were full of it the whole time and when we went into the visitor center the lady in charge yelled at them for playing with the fireplace metal curtain... Anyway, we did it. ;-)

 

Jim took the boys to the pumpkin patch on the opening day (while I was sidelined on the couch for a couple of days with bad pain). They got the hugest pumpkins! It's worth it to go on the first day! They were all so proud of their $6 huge pumpkins, freshly picked from the field.

 

Happy fall! :)