Pooh Sticks

(Today Clara was sitting on the ground. In an instant, she was crying sad, hard tears. I asked her what happened? She replied, sobbing, "My face fell on the ground!" How does this happen? When one is sitting, on the ground? I'm speechless). 

So let's call this a #tbt post, even though it's not Thursday, and this day only happened a week or so ago, not decades. It's obviously not from today, because in these pictures you can see lovely green grass and leaves on the ground, where if you looked outside my house today, you would see a depressingly white winter wonderland. In November. Ugh. 

We picked James up from school and headed straight to the Kellogg Forest. The forest might be my most favorite place on earth. You can sprinkle my ashes here when I die. I just love this forest-y place. The trees and quiet bring peace to my soul. We went on a hike, and on our way home picked up McDonalds for dinner (#winning) and watched Planes: Fire and Rescue while eating that totally healthy and well-balanced dinner since it had just come out on DVD (#evenmorewinning). It was a day that I want to mentally "pin" in my mind for a very long time. (P.S. how many more technological references could one paragraph have?)

Seconds after this picture was snapped, James fell in the water. Awesome. 

Wet pants. And shoes. And I still made him walk in them. 

Benny Ben Ben!

These shoes make me smile. 

Pooh Stick Bridge 

We upped our Pooh Stick game this round. Don't mess with us. We will destroy you. 

The end!

Tricks and Treats

"It's time to go trick or treating...

It's time to go trick or treating...

It's time to go trick or treating....

for Halloween is here!"

That's a little Wee Sing song that has been in my head this whole month of October. It's also the song that Bethy likes to sing all the time, in her sweet, little angel voice. And yesterday, Halloween was here! 

It was a busy but fun filled day. We took James to school (and then took the trip to his school two other times that morning, one, to bring him his backpack which he had left at home, and two, to bring him  his costume, which (you guessed it!) he had left at home) and then went to story time at the library. The girls dressed up in their costumes and did some cute little crafts. Story time is good for my soul. After our time at the library, we had a quick lunch, got Clara to preschool, and dropped the two littles off at a friend's house for naptime so I was able to go to the kid's schools for their Halloween festivities. James' school had a Halloween parade and Clara's preschool did trunk or treating. Once all the running around was done, it was finally time for trick or treating! Though it snowed in the afternoon and was so so so so cold, it was a fun-filled, candy coming out of our ears night. 

Ben the Golfer, Clara the Witch, James the TMNT, and Bethy the Squirrel

This one house down the road from us goes ALL. OUT. 

Seriously, they rocked the casbah with their costumes and decorations!

It doesn't look as cold as it actually was, I promise! 

Clara and James are here trick or treating with their buddy Andrew, a shark.