Fall Fun

Here's an update of what we've been doing this fall. Julie's Dad, or Poppy (as the kids call him) is with us until November 3rd. He and Julie took the kids to Littleton Farm, which houses two restored turn-of-the-century farm houses that you can explore. Their museum features hands-on exhibits like how grain is milled and how typesetting for a newspaper is done (Jack and I found a plate for the television guide for 1971--the year I was born.) In the collage above, you see the kids amongst barrels in a wagon and there are many other ways for kids to see what pioneer and farm life was like years ago. (See More Farm Pictures by Clicking HERE)

Poppy also had a chance to visit Lily's Preschool Class. He read them two stories and got a tour of their recent art projects that hang all over the walls. All the kids have been crafting decorations for Halloween lately. In Brownies we made Jack-O-Lantern Jars and we've been collecting milk jugs for weeks so that we could decorate them with spooky faces, stuff them with Christmas lights and tuck them into the bushes in our yard.

Other signs of the season include a couple of Halloween signs made from John's For Sale signs and painted with greetings. On All Hallows Eve they will be flipped around and messages will invite friends to stop in for some (spiced cider) Witch's Brew while the kiddos are trick-or-treating. Katelyn's celebrating began this weekend with a classmate's Halloween party. She dressed as the most beautiful clown, complete with baloon animals!

A new neighbor was born this week. Joe and Wendy had their second child, Dillon Lukas and Kirsten is a very excited big sister!

All of these fun activities kept us busy while John was hunting. He traveled to Steamboat (elk), Wyoming (antelope) and Craig (deer) for 10 days and came home with three animals. He saw some beautiful country, got lots of exercise, and that big dose of the outdoors that renews his spirit.

To see more photos of all this fall fun, click here.

Lily's Funny Faces

I snapped a few photos before school on picture day. I wonder which of these funny faces Lily made when she got her picture taken at school. I heard that as soon as she saw the camera, she was all teeth and squinty eyes. I wonder if her mom takes her picture a lot.

By the way, in case you don't read Simple Scrapbooks magazine, guess who is on page 12?

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

We visited our friends Kevin and Stephanie in Craig, which is in Colorado, but quite close to Wyoming. This trip was a real family affair. Kate and Lily even got a chance to go out with the guys to hunt antelope.

Brownie Food Drive Fun

Our Brownies had lots of fun collecting food for our local food bank. Girl Scouts of all ages from our unit participated and our Troop collected the third highest number of items at 485!

After collecting the bags of donated food around our neighborhood, we had everyone bring their donations to our house and we celebrated . . .

with donuts . . .

on a string!