Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. The boys were pirates. I just assumed that Zane would want to be a superhero again, but a few weeks before he asked if he could be a pirate. I think he was inspired when the Speers brought him back a pirate sword, eye patch and spy glass from their trip to Disney World. I kept meaning to get costumes for the boys and finally went to the party store the Monday before Halloween (I have decided that in the future I will not be waiting to the last minute again). Thankfully they had a pirate costume that would fit Zane and 2 Jake and the Neverland Pirates costumes on sale for the twins. They even had a hook which I knew Zane would love. He was so excited when I showed him Tuesday morning and had fun trying it on for me.

At school Zane's class got to go to a pumpkin patch the teachers had made for them and pick out a small pumpkin they got to bring home. They got to look at the kindergarten class' decorated pumpkins and a farmer read them a story. They also got to eat special treats. After I picked Zane up from school, we went to Sonic for lunch- they were having 50 cent corn dogs all day. We had these one year when we were in Belton with Mark and Wendi and I think its kind of a fun tradition.

After nap, the boys got to have some Mickey Mouse Jack-o-lantern sugar cookies, which they loved.

my sweet big boy

Cole

Jude

Zane was so anxious to go trick-or-treating, but we had to wait until Luke got home from work. He had even left early, but traffic had been bad. I had fed the kids and was changing them into their costumes when he got home. Once they were dressed, I tried to get a few pics before we headed out.

Jake(Cole), Jake(Jude) and Captain Hook

 

the twins were also mistaken for ninjas and karate kids :)

We started on our street and did a few houses on our own.

We eventually met up with our neighbors the Pitts.

Zane, Natalie, Jackson, Alex, Jude and Cole

the twins were fascinated by this bush that had something on it that made it move.

We had a good time and it was fun watching the twins really get into it. They would say, "Trick or treat," and "thank you," and "Argh, Matey." Cole started saying, "More candy, please." Cole also was obsessed with wanting to close everyone's door for some reason. Last year we had kept them in the stroller the whole time, feeding them candy to keep them happy. This year, they walked almost the entire time- Luke had to carry Cole the last little bit because he was done. I could not believe how big they seemed- like little boys instead of babies. All in all, a great time- the only thing missing was getting to see the Speers.

Auburn/Texas A&M game

Since Zane played Tball this fall, we had not been able to go to game day at Auburn this year. We were excited to get to go today and had fun stopping off at a tailgate of friends we met when we came to our first Auburn game with the Fullers in 2004. We had to keep Cole and Jude from playing in the open fire, pulling down the TV/satellite, and from eating all the cookies and doughnuts on the food table, so our visiting was limited a bit. Zane made fast friends with the kids and played football with them.

After a little visiting, we headed for the stadium and the Tiger Walk- where the band and team walk into the stadium. The boys enjoyed the band and saying hi to everyone we encountered.

thankful we got a picture of us all

on our way to Tiger Walk

so many Auburn and A&M fans

From there we walked across campus to get the usual Samford Hall picture and then on to Toomer's Corner for the must have Toomer's Drugs' famous lemonade. It was fun to get to talk to Auburn and Aggie fans alike.

Samford Hall

outside Toomer's Drugs

After we got our lemonade, we started the long trek back across campus to our van, passing by the stadium one last time. We were so pleased with how all of the boys did and thankful the twins had taken a nap on the way down to Auburn. We had a fun day and it was nice to get out of town for a few hours.

Apple picking

We had wanted to head north for sometime to do some apple picking but with Zane having Tball games every Saturday afternoon, we had not been able to fit it in. With the season drawing to a close in a couple weeks, we decided we would head up after church on Sunday. However, we ended up heading out yesterday morning since the twins had runny noses and a bit of a cough.

Our first stop was Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, GA about 20-30 minutes north of Ellijay where we went last year. We paid for our bag then hopped on the hayride(it was more of a tractor/trailer shuttle) to the apple picking area. The boys had a great time picking the apples.  Jude particularly enjoyed picking them up off of the ground. They were all very excited when we let them eat the apples.

 Cole

Jude

 
Once our bag was full we got in line to get back on the hayride to head down the hill. Thankfully a nice lady agreed to take a picture of us together.

Soon it was our turn to hop back on the hayride and head back down the hill. Another lady took a couple of pics and this one we thought seemed pretty typical.

 Poor Zane was having a hard time because we think he got stung by one of the many yellow jackets that were feasting off the fallen apples. Luke had to knock an apple right out of Jude's hand so he wouldn't chomp down on one that had landed on his apple. But not to worry, Jude ended up eating from at least 4 apples- he thoroughly enjoyed the apple picking experience.

Once we were off the tractor shuttle, we bought some kettle corn (the boys love popcorn) and I took the twins to the car while Luke and Zane stayed and picked out some pumpkins. Since the twins were happy eating popcorn and playing peek-a-boo in the stroller,

 

 I was able to take a few pictures of the beautiful fall surroundings...

 

 love all the beautiful fall colors

Next, we drove around Blue Ridge, GA checking out the downtown area and the nearby lake/dam.

We weren't quite ready to head back home so we decided to head a little further north and ended up in Blairsville where we stopped at Rib Country to get a late lunch to go. We found a nearby park where we ate our picnic lunch at a table overlooking the park.

The weather was so nice and we enjoyed our time outside. After we ate and let the boys expend a little energy, we loaded up and headed home.

 Jude entertained himself with a wipe and playing with rocks

 Cole had fun with Luke

 Zane loved posing behind the tree

We were so proud of the boys who did really well all things considered. They enjoyed watching a movie all the way home. We were thankful it turned out to be a relaxing outing and a great way to end the weekend.