Our Halloween Costumes!!

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes.
Addi wanted to be a teacher. She even made herself a note to put in her binder that said Miss Popken.
Ella dressed as a rockstar for school since they had to choose a career and then at night she was a lion!!

Kole was a gorilla!!

Apparently I need to be more specific!!!

I asked Koleson to put his toys away in his room and this is what I found when I went to check to see if they were put away. Apparently I needed to say put them in your toy box!!! At least they were in his room!

Our Clifford Pumpkin

Our library in town is having a pumpkin decorating contest and the girls really wanted to participate. This past weekend we created our entry. The only real rule was that you needed to somehow decorate your pumpkin to resemble a character from a book that you read. After trying to come up with something that we could do together that would be too hard I thought of Clifford. We read the book for inspiration and then started to paint.


Our finished product!!

My soccer player

Both girls are playing soccer this fall for the first time. Addi has found a sport that she really enjoys. She has been blessed with great coaches that are really teaching the kids the basics of the game. She loves going to practice and has really enjoyed playing games. She has scored several goals in the three games they have played so far. They have games every Saturday in October.

Here is Addi playing a couple weeks ago when it was a little warmer!



Taking a breather on the sidelines with one of her coaches.

I tried really hard to get a video of Addi actually scoring a goal, but wasn't able to capture one. This is her in action! :)

Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Saturday we had the chance to go to Poppe's Pumpkin Patch near Lakefield, MN. Trav had a volleyball tournament, but Aunt Susan and the Sparks family joined us for this outing.

All the kids loved riding the barrel train.

There were several animals there to try to feed. Addi was the only one brave enough to put her hand out. She got the llama to eat from it and we got to see his ugly teeth. The goat would sniff their hand, but he didn't want anything to eat.

Ella and Kole enjoyed checking out the storybook part of the patch. They are in Cinderella's carriage.

Looking for and picking the perfect pumpkins!!

Lilly and Addi on the hayride on the way back from picking our pumpkins!

One last picture with some of the big pumpkins!! What a fun day at the pumpkin patch!!

Ella's New Glasses

As of Saturday Ella is now a glasses wearer. She was very excited about getting them. So excited that she cried when we didn't come home with them the day of the eye exam. We were a little surprised that she needed them. She had an exam back in August for preschool. I didn't know how to prepare her so after awhile she got tired of of saying the letters. So we had a schedule another exam which I was expecting her to pass now that she new what to expect. Not so! It has been fun to watch her get used to them. There have been many funny faces made as she gets used to the feel of them on her face. There have also been an abdunance of questions regarding them. "Do I have to wear them when I sleep? What do I do with them during PE? Do I even have to wear them in the shower?" Both siblings are also quite interested in them and have been instructed that they are not allowed to touch them. Wearing glasses has also opened El's eyes to now many different people also wear them. I took her to the volleyball tournament for a little while on Saturday and at one point she was pointing to people around the gym. "That person has glasses. Oh look, they have glasses, and look so do they!" Oh the excitement!! Last but not least at least 20 times in the last two days we have heard "I LOVE MY GLASSES!"

Ella and Dorcas

The other night we read a devotional on Dorcas and how she put others first. We talked about how different things we could do to help others. I never know how much sinks in, but always hope something does! The next day when I picked Ella up from preschool the first thing her teacher said was "Ella did you tell your Mom how you were kind today?" The teacher then started to explain that when on a field trip the kids received a sucker. On the walk home one of Ella's friend's lost hers. The friend was sad and crying so Ella gave her sucker to her friend. When I asked Ella why she did it her response was "I didn't like to see Kendal sad so I gave her my sucker and you know what mom? It didn't even make me sad that I didn't have one anymore because Kendal was so happy that it made me happy too. What was the name of that lady we talked about last night? "Dorcas" Yeah her I wanted to help others like she did. WOW!! I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with my four year old. It brought tears to my eyes talking with her about it. When they got back to school it turns out that one of the teachers grabbed extra suckers so Ella did still get one!

Ella's other exciting news is that she will soon be changing her look. Ella is getting glasses!!