halloween

Trunk or Treat

As our wards activity committee chair I was in charge of putting on

churches trunk or treat.  It turned out great- but man was I exhausted

We teamed up with the other ward who shares our building for this event

(unfortunately their chair showed in the middle of dinner for a few min- so it 

turned into our ward putting on an event for their ward- ok enough complaining

i'm a little bitter on being the pregnant lady stuck with allllll the work!)

but it was a lot of fun- we kicked it off with a chili cookoff for dinner.  We had enough

chili for an army.  Troy and I will be eating chili a lot this week I guess. 

Then we had carnival games for the kids, and finally the trunk or treat.  

this is what a cold ninja turtle looks like...

And then we also headed to our neighborhood  party.  They had crafts and food and 

the kids favorite was a little geo cashing event.  they had hidden some boxes around the woods 

and the kids could pick something out of a box, but had to also leave something behind.

one kids treasure is anothers discard!  love it.  

my princess looking for treasures in the woods.  

the ninja can't be bothered. 

*so it may seem that there are a lot of pictures with only my kids.  I have to laugh because 

we just don't know enough people to take pictures with any of them.  It feels weird to have your kid 

pose with a kid they barely know, after being with kids they knew for 5 years. 

so i am sure one of these days we will again have others in our posts.... one of these days :)  for the time being- this really is braders and camers blog I guess! 

fall- real fall!

We haven't "experienced" fall with the kids umm ever.  so it has been fun to be in some

cool crisp weather for the fall festivities.  

We kicked it off with a trip to the pumpkin patch with our neighborhood. 

we didn't know any of the neighbors who came yet- but slowly slowly we are getting to know them.

here is braden really into the farm man teaching about the crops on our hayride.  funny

how into he is.

the kids checking out the animals on the farm

And of course picking out the perfect pumpkin.  

It is an art to find the perfect one- and they were going to make sure

they found that perfect one. 

When we got home it was still too soon to carve them and have them last

so the next best thing- paint them.  a few times. 

we finally got around to carving a few weeks later for our family home evening. 

the kids usually shy away from scooping out their pumpkins, but they were all over it

this year.  they worked hard and both loved their pumpkins.

cam really loved hers.  a little too much.

this is bradens scary face, just like his pumpkin. 

and I was able to leave cam with a friend and help out on Bradens 

schools pumpkin patch trip.  This is where we will be headed next year, it was much 

more fun than the one we went to with the neighborhood!  

on the hayride

they had this big blow up bouncer that the kids just went wild on.  the sides

just tipped down in to a big sand box.  thankfully braden made it out with all of his

teeth intact this time.  

the playground had a homemade race track, a wooden train to play on

wooden pirate ship, and a wooden castle to climb in.  every kids dream playground

loved it.  

by the time we made it to the corn maze the kids were a little hot, tired

and hungry. but they were good sports and braden claimed this was his favorite part.  

kind of surprising since he was stttarrrvviiing, sooo thhiiirrrsssty,  and tired.  

i love how kids think. they can complain and then that was the best part.  

braders kindergarten class!  Go graduating class of 2023!

picking out their mini pumpkins. 

for those who didn't know

The same day Braden had his tooth surgery- I headed in for the big ultrasound

And Koch Baby Number 3 is going to be another sweet bundle of snugglie girl. 

We can't wait. The kids are so excited.  now if only she would get here tomorrow.... 

Feb. 27th is miles away

one brave kiddo

Braden "bashed" his head on Camirons back and "crashed" his teeth together knocking

his bottom tooth loose.  I debated taking him to the dentist because it should be the first tooth

he will lose anyway.  But after he complained for a whole day that he couldn't bite anything

i followed my gut and took him in.  poor little guy cracked his tooth which rumor has it is really painful.  See in the x-ray the right middle tooth.... if I had just let the top part fall out, the bottom would have

stayed in his mouth and likely gotten infected. Thank goodness I took him in!!  But  it took 4 hours- 2 of which he was in the chair with them trying to fish all the pieces out to get it all.  he was so brave.

the extra bummer was while there they found his first cavity- so we decided we were going to

fix both at the same time- well,  fishing out the pieces took so long, we couldn't get to the cavity.

When he got out of the chair the first thing he asked me was to see his silver tooth- when i told him he didn't have it yet, he started crying and said-you mean I have to come back?!  poor thing.

The dentist was actually so worried about him that he called me that night at home to make sure he 

was doing ok- and sent us home with codine to help with the pain and sleeping!  Crazy.  

Here is his tooth- on the left is the actual tooth- on the right is part of his tooth that was under the skin they had to dig out.  the other side was in pieces and they didn't save them all for him. thank goodness.

but that is a big piece of tooth they fished out. no wonder it hurt so bad!  

after one super nice trip from the tooth fairy (she was feeling especially generous since this

was one painful tooth- and the first)  he was a happy camper again.  Braders- i am so proud

of you.  

woops

turns out that if you wash the kids with their soap- and turn the jets on 

in my tub.... waalllaaaa.... a kids delight is made.

To say the kids were excited over the bubble bath is an understatement.  

so close

i am so close to being caught up on my blog that i can almost taste it!  I can't wait to start writing about events as they happen....

little number 2

Braden was born to play sports, he is fast, aggressive and love love loves them

thankfully he doesn't realize yet that he is always the littlest guy out there.  

he runs laps around the other kids and loves to be in the action. 

he plays hard and loves every second of it- and thankfully loves 

sharing the field with his team and gets so giddy when they have a good move.  

the weirdest "fair" ever

When I think county fair- i have images of the biggest produce with blue ribbons

and lambs on display.  Not so much at this county fair. i would describe this as

more of a carnival.  Although Troy and i were a little sad to not have it be

quite the fair we were used to- the kids entered with wide eyes and pure happiness!  

The kids rode every kids ride there- except this one.  Troy tried to convince them that the 

swing ride would be fun... he even decided to demonstrate for them.  He waved with each

circle a big smile on his face.  The kids waved back just as excited that he was on the ride.

when he got off and asked if they wanted to go- both said, not a chance.  Too funny!

The top of the ferris wheel....

Camers looking down....

Braders looking down....

there is nothing better than seeing your kids this giddy!

the funniest part was the petting zoo... where do you round up a yak eaten by the

queen of england, a camel, a baby zebra, and a sheep that looks like this?  All that are willing to be pet

and fed by the kids.  Thankfully the small linx cat, parrotts, and monkeys were not on display for petting.  only looking at.  weird right??

We caught a circus act, and a four wheeler/ motorcycle cross, ate candy apples

and some of the worst fair food ever :)  and left happy and content.

maybe next year we will find a fair with a blue ribbon.