The kids love going to Perkins on Tuesday night kids night because they get to have their face painted. Check out our little lady bug, our ferocious lion, and cousin Brooklyn the beautiful blue bird. All three children had their own ideas of how they wanted to be painted. Brooklyn told her dad on the way, "I want Aunt Renee to be painted like an owl." I have seen this clown paint the kids faces before and said, "No Way!"

Elyse's First Official Haircut!

We finally had a chance to get Elyse's haircut. She did not really enjoy it too much. She wanted to get out of the chair almost immediately. We had to hold her down. I intened to take more pictures, but I had to focus on keeping her in the chair instead. So here is one from the very end. She was trying to get away from the hair dryer. I think I will go back to cutting her bangs myself for a while. If I do it when she is in the bathtub, she doesn't really notice too much.

Sydney's 5th Birthday!

Wow! I can't believe that it has been 5 years already. She started out so small. (She is still so small)

Look at how she changed in just five short years!

Reading to Aunt Nikki and Grandpa S.

Blowing out the candles on her very crazy teapot cake.

The purple frosting did come out of her clothes. I thought it would leave stains for sure.

Sydney loved her twilling dress from Grandpa and Grandma S.

Opening a special gift all the way from Washington State.

Three very busy children!

Even Reid couldn't wait for the tea party to begin.

Don't let that sweet smile fool you. She can run circles around all of us.

Farm Fun

Last week I took Sydney and Reid to a farming day at Michigan State Farm property. We went with cousin Ben and Uncle Wayne and Aunt Michelle. We had a great time feeding cows, watching the milking process, checking out farming equipment, hayrides and picking out free pumpkins. Check out the pictures from that trip.

I never realized how big a combine really was until I saw my kids standing next to the tire.


Petting the pigmy goats.

Reid loved trying out the tractors on the inside. Towering above the rest of us.



Reid was exhausted from al the activity!

Busy Saturday!

Today we went to the school's annual fall sale. We went just for the children's activities. The kids wanted to ride the pony rides the most. Reid wasn't so sure after he got on the pony. He told me he wanted down after the pony shifted positions. I walked next to him and he started to enjoy himself after the pony began moving!

Then we went over to the local fire department. They were having an open house for the kids. We looked at all the fire trucks, ate cookies, avoided Sparky the Fire Dog, talked to Freddie the Fire Truck, and sprayed the fire hose. Reid only enjoyed himself when he knew that Sparky was not nearby. He wasn't exactly thrilled with Friddie the talking Fire Truck either. Sydney hugged Sparky to show Reid that he did not need ot be scared, but it didn't help.

The old fire truck was neat to "try" a little pose.

Sydney enjoyed talking to Freddie. Freddie can even squirt water out of his mouth.

Reid was calmly sitting in the fire truck and then he spotted Sparky the dog walk past the truck on the other side. He began to cry and panic. I took the picture anyway. I hope that he can get over his fear of Plushies some day.

Spraying the hose to put the fire out of the little fire house was difinately the hightlight for both Sydney and Reid. Reid forgot all about Freddie and Sparky.

Our little firefighters!

Reid's Field Trip

Reid went on his first field trip on Monday. We went to the Apple Orchard. We had a hayride, ate apples, saw the farm animals, saw how the cider press works, and tried some cider and donuts. We had lots of fun and we just missed the rain!

The kids all wanted to walk with Mrs. M! All but one of these children are in Reid's 3's class. Noah is right next to Reid, Bryce is next to Mrs. M and McKenna is on the end.

On our hayride!

These donuts sure were Yummy!

You can see the cider coming out of the press. I took pictures of the rest of the process, but they came out really dark!