This & That

Here is just a bit of what we've been up to.  Brennan got his official soccer pictures, (the team actually has 8 members).  I'm not sure how the team name of "Pistol Pastas" was chosen, but I do know that one of Brennan's favorite dinners is pesto pasta, and I feel he may have had a hand in the naming.

We had some fun making Halloween cookies recently.  These pictures make cookie baking with children look pretty idyllic, but things got really out of hand right after they were taken and my kitchen ended up looking like a sprinkle factory had exploded in it.

I took the kids to Balls Bluff Park and National Cemetery so that we could enjoy this beautiful fall weather and the changing colors.

 

These are some photos that I finally retrieved from my phone. 

With the removal of one of Brennan's armrests, all 3 carseats fit comfortably in the car.  Gotta love the Prius!!

This is often how Isla naps.  First she trashes her room like some sort of rockstar in a hotel (note the fallen height chart and bits of broken blinds.  Not pictured: her entire wardrobe strewn around on the floor) then she sleeps on the carpet. 

Farm Days & Baseball

Last weekend we headed out to the farm to hunt down some pumpkins.  It was lightly raining but we didn't let that stop us.  Six years of living in wet climates has changed our definition of "bad weather," with the result that we ended up with the place to ourselves (we only saw one other family).  We did come prepared with raincoats and Brennan's trusty Cars umbrella.

We were given free animal feed as a "thank you" for coming out on a wet morning.  Score!

Eddie the Emu was pretty happy to see us.

We took a wagon ride out to the field and chose our pumpkins.  I say "chose" rather than "picked" because the pumpkins had been grown elsewhere, harvested, and then strewn around in this field so that we could feel good about getting them off the ground rather than from the store.  Sort of like fishing in a stocked pond.  It was fun though, I'm not complaining.
  

We headed back and fed a few of the goats.

Then we played a little, but it was pretty soggy so we didn't stay too long.

Slinkys!  Gotta love the dollar bin at Target.

The dogs have really been enjoying our new storm door.

 

Patrick took a long lunch one sunny day last week so that we could head back to the farm and play a little bit more.  We packed a picnic lunch and had lots of fun.  Here are the kids enjoying some yummy cider donuts.
 

We even caught some pig races.

Monkeying around.

This weekend we took some time to walk down to the local elementary school and play on their baseball diamond.  I think Patrick was inspired by the playoffs and wanted in on some bball action.  We loaded up the stroller with our t-ball set, grabbed the dogs and headed out to enjoy some beautiful fall weather.

Isla enjoyed running the bases.

Brennan loved catching and throwing.

That left Patrick and I plenty of chances to bat.  Fun times!

Bluemont Fair

Here are some photos from a fun morning spent at the Bluemont fair.  There were tons of crafts and food vendors, as well as some great bluegrass music.  We stopped to admire these prize winning alpacas.

Pretty stone church.

Enjoying some kettle corn.

Luring Brennan back to the car with kettle corn.  

A picture of Brennan's pirate tattoo for posterity.

Isla leading storeytime.  The boys were beside themselves with excitement.

Another fun Saturday soccer morning.  He really is so much fun to watch!

On the gestation front, the bun is still in the oven and we are getting down to the last few weeks.  This was taken around 35 weeks.

Getting excited about a new sibling!