Some pages

I've been a mad scrapper the past two days! When the kids go to bed, it's my time to play! :)

Here's a couple from the pumpkin festival:

Credits: Doodle flowers, Papers from A Better Me by Gina Marie Huff

Credits: Funky Fall collab (Inspiration Lane), Elegant WordArt by Bethany

And one from a photo of the boys from two days ago:

Credits: No Girls Allowed by Creations by Rachael B

And one from the dinosaur park a few weeks ago:

Credits: Rawr by Amy Sumrall

And another one, can't remember if I've posted this one before. It's one of my favorites:

Credits:Credits: Doodly Patterns papers by Gina Marie Huff, screws from No Girls Allowed by Creations by Rachel B, red paper and chicken wire by me (Share Joy)

Sesame Street Live!

Two weekends ago, the USO sponsored Sesame Street Live! The organization brought the show to us here in Germany - for FREE for U.S. servicemembers and their families. Simple thing, right? It's just a kids show. But it is soooo nice to be remembered WAYYY over here across the ocean. There just aren't things like this for the kids very often - unless your kids speak German!

We got to the show early. I wasn't sure how we were going to entertain the kids while we were waiting for the show to start, but I didn't need to worry. The sweet USO people gave every child a bandana and a super cool spinning Elmo toy. It incorporated every child's favorite activities all into one toy - button pushing, motion, lights, and Elmo! I found out later that at Sesame Street Live shows, these toys run $15 a pop. That's $45 worth of free toys PLUS whatever the ticket would have cost. Wow.

The show began!
And guess who is enjoying it the most? hahaha...

The little blond girl is Isaac's friend from German kindergarten, Zoe.

I wish I could begin to describe the magic that the evening was. It was displayed all over each of the boys' faces. The photos just don't capture that!

Isaac got to meet Grover in person.

And Aziel too!

Elijah was too scared to meet his heros in person.

After the show, the kids went up to shake hands with all the characters. Aziel didn't want to leave the stage. He parked himself right in front of Cookie Monster and kept his little hand up until Daddy picked him up to go.

Afterwards, we went to Burger King with Zoe's family. It was just one of the "funnest" nights I've had in ages!

Sesame Street also gives out a kids deployment DVD regularly. It's really quite touching to hear Elmo talk about missing his daddy, and then seeing Elmo's daddy come home and sing about how proud he is of Elmo... I get all choked up. When Martin was deployed, we watched it sometimes, but not a lot. I caught Isaac crying one time while watching it, and it was really hard... anyway... I love Sesame Street and the USO. They do such fantastic things for the military families. :)

Christina's visit and Pumpkin festival

My good friend Christina came for a visit for almost a week! She brought the boys some very cute t-shirts:
We had a great time hanging out, walking Isaac to school and doing normal things.

We found a slug...

Aziel really loves cereal...

Last Saturday, we went to the pumpkin festival in Hitscherhof. The twins, especially Elijah, LOVE pumpkins. This was a fun relaxing afternoon!

Elijah next to a ginormous pumpkin!

I'm not sure what he is doing, but it looks like he's talking to his shadow...

Here he is kissing a pumpkin, but it sure looks like a pouty kiss. It was serious business for him, I guess!

Us:

I told you. He LOOOOOVES pumpkins...

Aziel climbing up the cement rock fence.

And unexpectedly to us, JUMPING off of it. (This photo was a re-enactment)

Martin laying the smack-down.

There was a "castle" made of hay for the kids to play with.

Winks!

In motion:
What a little poser...

Jumping... again...
Gorgeous colors, right???

My lovely friend!

Head in the clouds...
It was the perfect fall afternoon!!!

Some photos, boy I'm really behind!

Well, I've had so many photo ops lately that I've had a hard time choosing which to post! I decided to just jump in and post a few tonight and will do more tomorrow!

A couple weekends ago, I took the boys to the Dinosaur Park. Aziel wanted me to take a photo of him with some pumpkins:

Elijah posing after sliding down a big slide. This is classic Elijah, he's very "artistic", even with his poses. haha!

Tiny Zeelers, next to a giant Wooly Mammoth.Isaac and Eli playing with my favorite dinosaur - a Triceratops!

Back at home, the boys took advantage of a new prop to play with while I was cleaning one day. "The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round..."

Some candids from the park down the street from our house:
Right before Eli smacked Aziel in the head by accident...
Isaac's kindergarten:
We had told the kids we were going to take them to the circus that was nearby. It was a small tent with horses and goats (no elephants or flying trapeze or anything like that). When we got there, we discovered that it was going to cost our family 50 euros (like 70 dollars) to attend. To see HORSES and GOATS.

I felt soooo bad, but we had to teach the kids a life lesson about money that day. We left and went bowling instead. But here's the kids looking (for free) at the horses grazing outside.

The twins moved into their "big boy" beds the beginning of September. They are doing just great with the transition. :)

Will post more tomorrow! Sesame Street Live and the Pumpkin festival to come.