Halloween '14

As always, we wait until the last minute to try and figure out what the kids should wear.  I was trying to think about what all the kids had worn in the past and remembered borrowing the cutest Dorothy costume from my sister Sara.  Just for kicks, I texted her to see if she by chance happened to still have it.  

I was over the moon excited to find out that she still had it!!!  And I asked just in time!  The outfit fit Ashton perfectly!  If I had waited one more year it would have been too small!  And we even had our own little Toto!  Poor Buddy sure could have used a haircut but he was such a good sport!

Once we had Ashton's costume, I knew exactly what I wanted Addie to be... the cutest little scarecrow in the whole world of course!!

 She seriously was the cutest thing ever!  I loved how her patches on her face turned out.  This will hopefully be a costume we will repeat in a few years!

 Dorothy, Toto and the Scarecrow

Speaking of repeat costumes, we have really gotten our money's worth with this morph suit!  He's decked it out in many different ways!

 If I had to name this costume, I would say that Austin dressed up as a Bartlesville Bruin basketball morph dude.

 I guess you could say that Avery and Austin are somewhat coordinated this year too!  It's hard coming up with cool costumes the older you get, but I love Avery's costume!

 With the help of Nate Hansen and Coach McKee, Avery was able to be a Bartlesville Bruin football player!  Don't mess with her!

 Go Bruins!!

 And one of the whole John gang!  Happy Halloween 2014!!

 Next we headed over to the church for the trunk or treat activity and to meet up with friends. (Evie Vaclaw, Ellie Christiansen, Addison John)

 And another one of Addie's closest friends, including Laynie Hansen.

 Austin with some of his buds, Logan Vaclaw, Mack Vaclaw and Brandon Bulleigh.

 Now we can see Mack's face under that morph suit... and Logan's too! haha!

 The Morph Crew!!!  I love how each of them have a different color!  Wait... red, yellow and blue??? Maybe they spent their "primary" days together!

 Avery's friends were even there helping pass out candy!  Hadley and Brigette Bulleigh were zombies and Izzy Vaclaw was very creative with the "pig in the blanket" costume!

 I LOVED Mikah Hansen's 1920's outfit!

 Ashton with her friend Batman... I mean Jake Vaclaw!

 A few more of Avery's besties... MaryKate Vaclaw, Brigette Bulleigh, and Julianna Ahlert.

 Halloween night we had some friends over for chili and then walked around the neighborhood.  The older kids got away without a picture but here are the little girls.  Addie and Ashton with Laynie Hansen, Claire Aushwitz and Kate Hubbard.

Sweet little Kash Hubbard wasn't quite old enough to understand Halloween this year but he will love it next year!

Some of our Fall Events

We had lots of fun things going on this fall.  The last two years Avery has enjoyed the painted run at Madison Middle School.  It's their one big fundraiser for the school.  (Avery and Jadyn running through the colors)  

I've always just experienced the aftermath, when she got home from her bus ride. (Pictured are Avery, Jadyn Keeler, and Trinity Crowder)

But this year Randy was on the committee in charge of the race so we borrowed some golf carts from Adams Golf Course and followed the kids around.  Here is Austin making his way through.

They went by grades so as soon as Avery was done we were able to find Austin and follow him around.  (Austin with Jacoby Foust)

After the race, they had shaved ice trucks and pizza and inflatables.  We found Burk who is in 7th grade right in between Avery and Austin so hurried and grabbed a picture with him.  They all had a blast, I think it is their most fun day at school and yet they're raising enough money on this one day to take care of all fundraising!  A win-win for everyone!

This fall Avery also started playing volleyball.  

We have two middle schools in Bartlesville and starting in 8th grade the schools come together to make one team.

Avery made the A team and they had such a fun year together!  This was the first time for most of these girls to play volleyball and they did very well!  Avery loved it and can't wait to play again as a freshman next year! (pictured are Larissa, Avery, Presley, Sydney, Rachel, Abby, and Kaitlyn)

Addie participated in the Bruin Mile again this year!

She did much better this year, and even came in early enough to receive a ribbon.

Laynie grabbed the first place medal out of all the girls in 3rd grade!  Here is Addie with Laynie racing for Ranch Heights and also Ellie Christiansen who raced for Wayside Elementary.

Addie always gets so nervous for these races but it always helps when you have friends around doing them with you!  Another picture of Laynie and Addie.

Addie and Ashton also took up swim lessons this fall!  This was our first time to take advantage of fall swim lessons and it was great!  Much less crowded than summer!

We had some nice fall weather, and Austin took advantage of this by going down the street where there are a lot of trees and building a teepee.

While Randy and I went out to Woolaroc and saw some real teepees!  We went out for the Cowthieves and Outlaws fundraiser and had a really good time!

I also spent a little time up in Ottumwa, IA.  I couldn't believe how big Brooklyn had already gotten!

Jordan was having a major surgery where they were taking a biopsy of his lungs so I went up with my mom to help Jen out.

I even taught Brooklyn how to take selfies!  She loves phones!

Ashton's class got to go up to Independence, KS for a field trip to the pumpkin patch.

I met them up there and helped her pick out a few pumpkins.

We used to have a pumpkin patch in Bartlesville but they didn't do one this year.  I'm glad they were able to at least find one to go to.

Can't resist taking a picture of Ashton next to the John Deere tractor!  This one was for my brother, Jordan (who works in the finance department at John Deere).

They also had a fun corn maze to go through.

And lots of places to take pictures!  There was also a place to slide down hay bales and play in the corn.  They all had a great time.

Randy and I had a date night with two of our close friends, Kyle and Megan Hubbard.  We are all really big Straight No Chaser fans so anytime we hear they are close by we go to see them!  They were performing this night down in Tulsa at the Brady Theater.

As homecoming gets closer, the kids always have fun days at school.  Like crazy sock day...

and hat day!

We were so proud of the girls both winning the Citizenship Awards in their classes, and even happier that they got them on the same day at the same assembly!

Laynie also received the Principles Award on the same day!  Such great little girls!  We are blessed with great friends!

Avery also had a fall concert that Randy and I attended.  She has such a beautiful voice!  It has been a busy but memorable fall season!