Team Overalls

Our dear friends, Kate, Kevin, and their kiddos Claire, Daniel, and Jolee who moved to ID over the summer came back for a quick visit to help celebrate another good friend's change of command (he was stepping down) and to get a PNW fix.  We had a great time and got a fun birthday party for Daniel in the mix.  The twins loved playing with Jolee and Cassidy took full advantage of sleepovers and crazy creative fun with Claire and Daniel.

 Kate "got to do" baths, while I made dinner...I think she may have gotten just as wet as the girls!

 The Birthday craziness, outside scavenger hunt, inside crafts, presents and cake....who could ask for anything more, especailly with 12 kids in 4 families!

 The girls ganging up on Kevin to tickle with feathers

 Movie night gave us some wonderful snuggle time

 Daniel got a great nurf gun for a birthday present so of course Cassidy had to get hers out and we made the big living room window our shooting range....entertained for hours!

 "Dancing"...also known as chase!

 The big kids

 Chad and Jolee...did we mention we kinda like these guys

It was an action packed visit, complete with two trips to the walk-in clinic; Once for Kate to get some antibiotics for her awful cold and once for Daniel to get some stitches...he took a tumble off a log while playing at the beach.  Maybe controlled chaos....well most of the time!

Puddles

So what do chicks in the sticks do on a beautiful fall day after a lot of rain? Get a mud treatment of course
Rylee started us off on the way back from the barn by making it a point to jump in every puddle along the way (there were lots).  Then she found "the big one".  She was laughing so hard that all the other girls came back to investigate and then it was on.  They were having so much fun I had to run and get the camera.  I was worried they would be done with it by the time I returned, but seriously a good 30 minutes of giggles and wonderful belly laughs followed!  Sawyer prefered to "jump" her bike through the puddles, but the other 3 took my advice to heart "You aren't jumping high enough if you aren't getting water over the top of your boots"....yep, I really said that.
We had Cassidy's good friend Maddie with us, Rylee is in the blue jacket and Sawyer is in the brown jacket.

We'll take good ole' country fun getting dirty over city parks any day...especially after a good rain storm!

Halloween Fun

So what did we do with all those pumpkins?  Carved them of course!  Rylee is our half nakee girl...gotta love her!  The girls were totally into it and loved getting the "goop" out.  Cass was there to help draw the faces after the twins picked their shapes and of course the closely supervised as we carved.

 Sawyer was talking to her jack-o-lantern, I missed the kiss, but she 

definitely likes her pumpkin

 Cassidy was determined to do the whole thing by herself...and she did.  Look at those

cowgirl muscles 

 Pretty awesome

 And then there was the trick-or-treating.  We started off first in town which has become a wonderful tradition.  Not only do we get to trick-or-treat in a totally safe environment, we see half the town and most of our friends!  We also caught an amazing break in the weather...

Cassidy made a beautiful blue butterfly, Rylee a bumblebee and Sawyer a ladybug.  So what was I?  A bug catcher of course!  Chad sadly had to stay dressed as a police officer, but thankfully Kit was there to fill in.  Yay Grandma!

 Then it was off to our friends home for fun and a quick trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.  There is just something fun about ringing doorbells and saying "Trick-or-Treat"!  The girls all did a great job taking turns ringing and using their "nice" words.  Good friends AND candy...so much fun!

Who is this girl?

At the end of last soccer season, our little Cassidy was still hanging back, following the ball on the outside of the pack and getting the ball only by chance.  This season, this girl appeared.  Still the same swinging red ponytail and rainbow socks but this girl was right in the middle of the action!  She was making breaks down the field, getting in front of the ball and making stops on defense and actually said "it's not ok to push my sisters, but it's ok to push a little on the soccer field, right?"  Absolutely- Go Cass GO!

I love watching her confidence and assertiveness grow, but also her teamwork and sportsmanship.  After the last game the referee awarded Cassidy the sportsmanship award for the game.  Go Cass GO!

Pumpkin Patch

I'm going to apologize and warn you...there is a ridiculous amount of pictures in this post.  BUT, I am really liking my new camera, the sky was so cool as we caught a break in between storms, AND I have the cutest, sweetest kids ever...Sawyer is in the brown carhart jacket, Rylee is in blue and Cassidy is pink.

 After being cut off from more pumpkins, the crew headed back, still eyeballin' some of those tempting orange globs of fun

 Oh, and there was a super cool "mole hill" with huge tunnels that we spent a wonderful hour getting dirty on...even Chad couldn't resist

 So much good stuff