Under Construction

Jacob really wanted to help with the raking this year.  Notice the gorgeous Japanese Maple in our neighbors yard.  It was spectacular.

 

November 5th was the day the big digger arrived as they dug out the foundations for the additions.  Jacob was super glued to the action!

I thought it was funny that they parked it right next to Bob's Corvette.

Jacob was taking leaves out of the leaf pile.

Ready for the big jump!

The number of construction vehicles at Alice and Bob's was too much to resist.  We invited ourselves over to check them all out.  Here is Jacob on the little digger.

In the bucket of the big digger.

Sitting on the big digger.

Climbing on the bobcat.

The big digger was the clear winner.

King of the hill!

Ethan couldn't stay away even though he tried to be too cool.

The boys were completely covered in this dirt and it was all over our house!

October Part 2

Alice and Bob are selling their house to their son and he is adding on a big garage on our side and an apartment for them on the other!  This has caused a lot of excitement in our house starting with the day they took down some trees and then a big crane/log truck came to pick up the trunks.

October 26th was the last day of the soccer season.  Notice Colleen in action.  She definitely pushed Ethan and he continues to get better and better!

Best buds.

taking full advantage of the break

Anything to entertain the little guy!

Including giving him a turn with the camera.

Columbus Crew!!

And then we spent some time on the playground as we do after every one of E's games.

Our little man is fearless and throws himself right out onto the fireman pole!  We have finally gotten him to wait for us to get to him because depending on the playground, they can be rather high!

No challenge too great for this one.

Finally, it was time for pumpkin decorating!  Jacob was going with his own design.

Steve stenciled a ninja minion for Ethan to paint.

Banana break.

Jacob wanted to make the small pumpkin a firefighter minion.

After the kids went to bed, Steve carved a couple to go with the painted ones.  I roasted all of the seeds but they did not come out nearly as well as last year.

You can never have enough messy face pictures.

Our trick or treat crew!  Connor, Michael, Tommy, John, Ethan, Molly and Jacob.

Not a bad haul for the little guy.  He was huge hit in his old school batman costume.

M&M's are definitely his favorite!  Ethan prefers kit kat.  :)

October Part 1

October 11th was one of those beautiful fall days we cherish so much.  Jacob and I were home and took to the "new" trail by our house.  Check out his new favorite pose.

Jacob needs to bring toys everywhere we go.  It's especially "fun" in the morning when we're usually running late.

October 13th is both Steve and Colleen's birthday!  On Saturday the 12th we were supposed to have a little birthday party for them but Bill offered Steve a ticket to a Red Sox playoff game so we just celebrated Colleen.

Our little tool man.

We went back to Boston Hill Farm for our pumpkins on Steve's actual birthday.  Ethan really missed going there for apple picking.  Steve and I are kind of over this place, but it's more about the boys!

It was pretty bright so I can't blame them for the squinting.

On October 19th we met my wonderfully talented friend Stacey at Scorton Creek for a long walk and lots of pictures.

Emma was raccoon sitting for her classroom and was supposed to photograph him at the various places they went over the weekend.  A visit with Auntie Carrie must have been a highlight.

Jamie and Emma ended up spending the night so we piled all of the kids into "Ethan's room"!  It took a while for them to settle, but they looked so sweet all sleeping together.

We ain't afraid of no ghosts.

Great Grandma Peg was visiting for her reunion and we got to spend more time with her this visit.  This was Sunday morning with the crossword.

Great...!!

It's not every day you get a back scratch from a ninja.

The week of October 21st, Ethan was Star of the Week in his classroom!  We had to fill in this poster all about him and he got to bring in an item for show and tell each day.  Unfortunately, he missed one day due to a fever that knocked him out but I think he really enjoyed it.  Since you can't really read it says that he is six years old,  his favorite color is blue, his favorite animal is a penguin, his favorite food is couscous, his favorite place is the beach, when he grows up he wants to be a soccer player (much improved from "ninja" when he was asked earlier in the year), his favorite thing to do is build Legos, and if he had one wish he would wish for a tablet (he's adjusted his expectations from "iPad" to "tablet").