The Golden Compass movie

I have heard this from a couple different friends and wanted to share with you.
Snopes.com even says it is true.

There will be a new children's movie coming out in December starring Nicole Kidman. It is called The Golden Compass, and while it will be a watered down version, it is based on the first in a a trilogy of childern's books called His Dark Materials where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please (it is anti-Narnia). It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud athiest whose objective is to bash Christianity. I know that I will not be lining up to see this movie - and hope that this will encourage you to do some homework before you go, or especially before you would take you kids.

Peeling Eggs

Both kids love eggs and when we were on vacation, that was what they wanted from the breakfast selection (along with cheerios {Fruit Loops}). I was making egg salad and the kids wanted to help peel the eggs. I did plan ahead and boiled a couple extra eggs that what I needed for the egg salad - which was lucky because both kids ate about as much as they peeled. Allyson would have eaten all of them if I had let her.

Play Doh or Bread Dough?

Grandma Kay was going to make monkey bread the other night and Caden and Allyson wanted to "help" so grandma gave both kids a little bit of dough to take home and make their own. The kids thought it was Play Doh and played on the table with it for about 45 min to 1 hour.

We did not make monkey bread out of it after that - but we sure had fun!

Tractors

On Saturday afternoon, Broc was asked to help out a friend in the field driving grain cart. He took Caden along to ride in the tractor. Allyson and I were able to go out and visit and get a few pictures. They both thought it was a fun time. Thanks to Brandy for allowing us this opportunity. (Carey - does this look familiar?)

Virginia vacation

Here it is! Most of the pics have explanations under them.
On Thursday, we slept in after a busy day of flying. We then went to Cox farms which is a 10 acre pumpkin farm with lots of slides, animals, hay rides, bale forts, and lots of other fun things to do. The kids and the adults had fun. Then we had a cookout at Chad and Amy's that evening.
On Friday, it was a little rainy (much needed there) so we went to the Luray Caverns and then drove on Skyline Drive to Shenendoah National Park that drives through the mountains. It was really pretty. As we got closer to the top, it got really foggy (cloudy) and we couldn't see anything, but it was really neat to be up in the mountains and see God's majestic powers through nature.
Saturday was wedding rehersal.
Sunday was the wedding. The location of the wedding was in Leesburg, Virginia at Raspberry Plains. It was at an older home that you can rent and have your wedding there. It was beautiful to look out and see the mountains and the temperature was in the 80's so just a great day! Allyson told Amy that she was "a princess" in her wedding dress. At the wedding dance, the traditional first dance of the couple was going on, and Allyson and Zander decided it was their turn to dance. It was very cute until Caden got a little jealous and decided that he should be dancing with his sister instead.
Monday we went into DC - Grandma Mary stayed back to watch the kids (thanks g'ma!) so that we could go and not have to worry about them getting tired of walking. We saw lots of sights and walked what seemed like about 10 miles. It was really neat to see the sights up close - it just isn't the same to see pictures. Caden and Allyson had a great time playing with Chandler while we were away.
The kids loved riding the "alligator" (elevator) at the motel. The kids were also disappointed that we didn't get to ride in uncle Chad's "taco" (Tahoe) while we were there. Maybe next time!
This was such a fun vacation and we hope to go back again when the kids are a little older! Thanks to Chad and Amy for being such great hosts! We appreciate all you did for us!
Also thanks to Grandpa Wayne for driving us around!

We are back!

Wanted to say that we are back from our vacation and I am working on a slide show with some pics of the highlights of our trip. That should be posted very soon.
For now, I wanted to leave you with a taste of what is to come... This is a picture of Broc and I with the Washington Monument in the background. This is one of the first things that we saw as we were flying into DC last week. We were able to see this sight with lights around from the plane. Even Allyson commented on the "big tower".
For now, just know that I have been busy wading through laundry and beetles. (Back to reality)
While in Virginia, we had 80 degree weather and no beetles. We could sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather without the bugs!

Trick or Treat (a little early)

Dad and Caden trick or treating.

Saturday evening, we went to a Haunted Trail event at a local campground. The trail was too wet from the rain all day, but we were able to trick or treat at each of the campers. This was a lot of fun! Caden went up to one of the campers and said "I need more sugar" - he was talking about a pixie stick - which is what he had picked at the last stop.

Caden was dressed up as "Plablo" and Allyson was "Niqua" from the cartoon Backyardigans.

Firetrucks!

On Saturday, Broc had to take some tests for work at the firestation, so when he was finished, we got to check out the firetrucks and try on a hat!

More Pumpkinland!

Wanted to share more pumpkinland pictures with you. We had so much fun! Caden wouldn't sit still long enough for a good picture - so most of his are on the go. We loved the animals the most! We finished off the evening by picking up Chineese (chicken and rice Chineese - as the kids call it) and went home to eat.

Pumpkinland

This evening was really nice out - so we decided to go to visit pumpkinland. The favorite part for the kids was the petting zoo - especially the bunnies! Caden picked up the bunny and just stood there for about 10 minutes holding the same bunny. When he finally dropped it, he would find it and pick it up to hold it again. Allyson loved holding the bunnies too - but didn't dare to pick them up on her own - she would have one of the older kids that was around help her. Later he told me that "the bunny tickled him" and that is why he dropped it.
I will post a slide show very soon.

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa "Dis"

Today, Grandpa celebrates his 76th birthday! Last evening we helped him celebrate by getting pizzas and cake. Here is a picture of Grandpa with some of the great grandkids.