White Christmas

It snowed for practically a week before Christmas. It is amazing --- we haven't seen snow like this since we moved to this house almost 5 years ago! After days and days of snowstorms, we sure were glad to see the sun on Christmas Eve. We walked around delivering a few remaining gifts and then went for a winter walk.

My two favorite kiddos. 

New Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandma. 

Christmas morning. Nora was super excited about her Inside Out book and characters. 

The family got a Lego x-wing, and Zeke was so happy. That's what he really wanted for Christmas.

Opening presents with cousins at Grandma's. Nora got a Barbie/Princess swimming pool made out of a plastic tote.... it doubles as doll storage! 

Zeke had a very Star Wars Christmas this year. 

Nora about died waiting to open the Frozen-wrapped present. So happy when it finally was her turn! 

Fall Park Flying

We spent one warm-ish Saturday morning meeting Aaron's flying friends at a park to fly some small planes. They were little foam planes with streamers attached. It was really cool to watch them fly close to each other and really hard to get a picture that does it justice. 

Since we were at a park this time, there was of course a playground. When Zeke got bored watching planes because no one was cutting anyone else's streamer, I decided it was time to let Nora get the park time she had been asking for. They spent the most time on the merry-go-round type toy, and I got a workout pushing them. 

After that Zeke decided to hike the arch up to the slide. I love how this picture turned out!

Nora eventually got brave enough to try the arch too. 

I had them pose in the trees for me. This would be an adorable Christmas card!

On the arch together. 

Photo finish on the slides

Veteran's Day Program

The third graders put on a wonderful program for Veteran's Day. Here they all are, looking fine. 

We were excited that Nora's kindergarten class got to come to the parent performance, since they weren't there for the performance for the students. We were sitting about 4 rows behind Nora!

Zeke told us where to sit because he was on the stage right end of the line. We got good seats this year thanks to his advice and arriving earlier than for previous years. 

Zeke volunteered for a speaking part and did great! A lot of the kids were hard to understand but I thought he did a great job of speaking slowly and clearly. 

The program was a very stirring patriotic event. The flag was brought in by older veterans and then the students invited all veterans in the audience to stand when the song for their branch of the military was sung. It was so inspiring and touching and I was filled with gratitude for living in the United States and having so many people willing to be our defenders. 

Queen and Vampire

Nora has known for a whole year what she was going to be for Halloween - she came back from trick or treating last year saying she wanted to be Elsa. 

Zeke was a little slower to decide. Eventually he decided to be a vampire. 

He also requested a bat mascot so Aaron made him a bat on a stick. 

We were so excited to be able to have costumes at school this year. Zeke has never done a costume parade before, so it was a first for both kids! Nora's class led the parade, and she managed to be first in line. She has the parade wave down. 

Zeke was harder to get pictures of because the older kids were more of a bunch than a line. But he still gave me his best vampire look. The parade was so fun and I hope they get to do it again next year. 

We had a blast trick or treating. It was a little chilly but fortunately the cold wind wasn't blowing in the evening. We even had the perfect Elsa-blue shirt to make Nora's dress a winter one! 

After trick or treating we went to Grandma's to hang out with cousins and decorate some cupcakes. It was a wonderfully festive night!

Fall Scenery

Fall was long and warm this year and we had so many chances to get out with the beautiful scenery. We went up in the mountains to take family pictures one Saturday and it was so pretty. 

Kids having fun while cousisns were taking pictures. 

Leaves falling while we were digging potatoes. 

Our yearly fall picture. (Nora loved getting to wear shorts and flip flops until the end of October!)

X marks the spot in the sky above these pretty trees in the park. Carrie and Zeke had an extended conversation about how they would get to the treasure the X was marking. 

Moon rising through the fall foliage. 

The grounds crew gathered the leaves in one place just outside our house one morning, and Nora was lucky enough to get to play in it before they took them away. She's standing up in this picture, so the leaf mountain is probably 2 feet tall or so. 

Corn Maze and Fall Festival

We took a Carlile family trip to the Corn Maze (and Corn Festival as Zeke likes to call it). The theme this year was minions -- super fun!

We decided to take everyone on the long side of the big maze. The little girls were so excited for the corn maze but it didn't take too long for them to get hot and frustrated that it was really just a long walk without changing scenery.

We started out finding our way by looking for numbered signposts. Aaron scanned a code on #1 and got our location in the map. We started following around the outside, to sign #2. Then we started looking for major 'roads' and found #3. We figured we were in the middle of the maze by then. A few more corners and we were very surprised to see sign #10 and it was a straight shot out. Somehow we found a shortcut the maze and ended up exiting in the kids maze. It was awesome. 

Very fitting that the kids put themselves in the rule breaker stocks. We were very happy to have broken the rules and skipped out early. 

We spent the most time in the Pumpkin Princess Playland. Nora was so happy to dress up like a princess and ride in the carriages. 

And meet the real Pumpkin Princess

Zeke spent his time in the Playland minding the store, and loving it. 

It was a great day full of fall fun. We had the best time! 

At The Lot

Dynna's in-laws have some property out away from it all, and we took the opportunity when Draper and Carrie were here to go out there and have a hot dog roast. The stream running through was so fun for the kids - both said their favorite part was the boats in the river.

Such beautiful autumn views! It was a very peaceful and relaxing place. A good chance to disconnect from outside life and reconnect with family. 

Zeke and Nora got to hold Lizzy for the first time. She is such a cuddly baby!

More beautiful, peaceful views. 

Carlile grandkids all together! The family is growing :)

Map & Compass Hike

One of Zeke's scout requirements is to go on a hike and use a map and compass. I thought this was a great opportunity to get out and get close to some autumn scenery, and we picked a hike close by that we had never done before. This particular location is a system of hiking and mountain biking trails, so there are a lot of trail intersections. Since the signage was minimal, we really did need that map!

Good thing I brought another copy of the map, because Nora of course wanted one too. 

We were maybe a little early for great autumn views... there were a lot of green leaves still. However, they were starting to change!

The view from the lookout point was spectacular. 

We live in such a pretty place!

We had a great time and I'm hoping we can go back and explore some of the other trails. Given that the weather seems to be changing, it may have to wait until next year!