Crocs!! Who Knew!

My kids are like 90% of the kido population and they love their crocs. However, this fall has been tough on Bre's "light as a feather" shoes. A few weeks ago her light pink crocs got chewed up by our little puppy but no worries she had a back up, "bright pink" pair. Well the other night Arlan ran over them with the lawn mower (you see Bre is STILL running around barefoot because she hates to wear shoes and socks. Hence they were kicked off in the yard.)
So I went to good old Target the other day and bought these $5 knock off crocs and wouldn't you know it. ....she LOVES them!!! To death!!
In fact she won't take them off. (this is odd for a girl who NEVER, EVER wants to wear shoes) When Bre finally fell asleep for her nap today I peeked up and figured I'd find her still wearing those pink beauties and wouldn't you know it.....there they were!!

I'm still working on a way to get her to take them off for her evening bath. She argues that her crocs are dirty like her and need cleaned up....just like her.

It's Here!!

It has offically started. The start of an enormous Birthday season for our family. Between Arlan and I's family we have over 12 Birthdays within a 2 month period (10 of those being December Birthdays) My nephew Cash was the first one and go figure......he turned one!!My sister in law had Cashie's party at the corn maze and since the Coleman's own the Cherry Crest Corn Maize we had the whole place just to ourselves. It was loads of fun.
The kids played on the bouncy pillow while the boys played a competative game of whiffleball.
The kids have so much fun together and they all love to use their imaginations as they ran from one end of the farm to the other.

Just a handful of the Coleman and Beiler kidos!

and of they watched constantly for the Strasburg Railroad train to pass by!!

Fall is Fun!

Even though I know I will have a sore back and blistered hands I still love to rake leaves. It's one of the first signs that fall is here to stay. So, every year I tell Arlan to put his leaf blower away because the kids and I will tackle this project. However, the kids version of "helping" and my version of "Helping" are different. I raked the pile and they raked it back into the yard. And Charcoal, well Charcoal just tackled everyone into the leaves and stole my rakes.

I found the kids exhausted after all the leaves were picked up and taking a nap with Charcoal under the shade tree. Sooooo cute!

Then the next evening we carved our pumpkins. Notice the different "scooping" techniques that the kids chose to use.

Of course Breanne loves to get dirty so she uses her hands and Trey doesn't like "slimmy" messes so he uses the spoon. Shouldn't it be the other way around?


Arlan's pumpkin is the "traditional" one on the left. Trey wanted a doggie this year so his is in the middle and Bre wanted a kitty pumpkin but she insisted on picking the tiniest and toughest skinned pumpkin in the whole patch and we could only successfully cut out two little eyes for her cat and wouldn't attempt to cut off a finger getting the nose and whiskers done. Sorry sunshine maybe next year!

Fair Time

The kids experienced the full effects of the fair this season. The food, the rides, the crowds and the competitions!! Trey entered in the pedal tractor pull contest. The sled behind the tractor has weights on it so whoever gets their tractor the farthest is the winner. 25 kids can enter each age group and Trey didn't get a placement but he was definately in the top 6. He was so excited about the event. He couldn't stop talking about it all day then when the announcer called his name he took off running to the start line. He's growing up and slowly letting go of those "apron strings".
Bre loved watching the event and informed us that she's doing it next year. I think she could have gotten a placement this year if she would have been old enough. She's been pedalling our tractor here at home months before Trey was.