Wow! What a week. With Halloween falling on a Sunday, it sure made things tough around here. Our town wouldn't take a stand as to what day Halloween would be celebrated, so it turned out to be a Halloween weekend instead of a Halloween day. Our Halloween actually started on Thursday which was when our church held its trunk-or-treat.
This was one of those special years that I didn't spend any money on Halloween costumes! Yay!! I was so proud of myself! We met up with a lot of our close friends at trunk-or-treat and I tried to get pictures of my kids with their friends. Here is Ashton, my lion, with her friend Jake.
And here she is with another one of her friends, Sam. I had to convince Ashton for a month that lion's are cool and she would look super cute. She wanted so badly to be Addie's Tinkerbell. This lion costume has been around since Avery- it's one of my favorites! I was so glad that she finally agreed to be it!
Addie, as I mentioned earlier, wanted to be Tinkerbell again. That was fine with me! I'm hoping she will be like Austin who wore SpiderMan three years in a row. We have two years down now, we will have to see what next year will bring! Addie is here with her friend Lanie.
And here she is with some more of her friends, Evie and Ellie. They had so much fun going around to all the trunks, but the most fun was getting to go on the "Vac-mobile" bus and sliding down the slide at the end. They wanted to do that over and over!
Addie acknowledged Captain America, otherwise known as Lucas, but she wouldn't stand next to those muscles! He looked so cute and you could tell he was so excited to be in his costume!
Austin also found his buds- Logan and Mack. We stayed pretty simple with Austin's costume, but I really liked it. He wanted to be a pirate and we already had the earring, eye patch, and bandana so I just threw on a t-shirt and jeans and a little facial hair and he was good to go!
Avery had many ideas as to what she wanted to be this year. But one day when we were over my mom's house, my mom pulled out an old shirt that she actually used to wear but that had been in our costume box growing up. Avery was sold! She looked great as a hippie girl! Here she is with her sweet friend MaryKate. I like the blurred Addie in the background... she is off and running after some more cars with candy!
It was a fun night, here are Ashton and Addie at the end after getting all their candy and eating their hotdogs. We went home and crashed!
And then came Saturday night. A few neighborhoods declared Saturday as their official trick-or-treat day. So we headed over to our friends Tyler and Amanda's house for dinner and trick-or-treating.
The kids were really into it, I could barely keep up with them. The night was perfect- not too hot, not too cold.
Jake is such a great kid, he just sat in the stroller and enjoyed the ride!
The older girls wanted to walk the neighborhood by themselves, so this is the only picture I got of them. Izzy was a hobo, and of course Avery and MaryKate (I still didn't get a picture with her mask off!) You can see Izzy holding her stick with the handkerchief attached here.... but it didn't take long for it to end up in....
her mom's arms! Emilie is such a great sport!
Addie was one of the ones leading the pack! She has this thing down pat!
Austin's bag doesn't look too heavy yet... but believe me, it got very full! We went through all their candy and used the ones they liked the least to pass out on Sunday. I know, we are terrible!
Here is our sweet friend, Blythe! I loved her Jesse costume from Toy Story 2! She is so adorable.
Sam hung back with us a little more so I got a couple of great snaps of him. Most of the kids were so far up I never caught up with them!
Ashton was definitely bringing up the rear of our group. She was slow, but she loved every minute of it. And she enjoyed going up to the door by herself, knocking,
and saying "thank you". Little moments that I will treasure forever! Happy Halloween everyone!
Tuesday was Randy's one day that he didn't have anything going on until late afternoon. We wanted to get started early on our day, so we took the shuttle to Washington DC and were dropped off at the Old Post Office. Randy is on the phone with his sister, Jolene. Jo and her family live in Newark, DE so she and Trevor (her youngest) drove over to meet up with us.
The Old Post Office has a beautiful granite clock tower that you can go to the top of and see a 360 degree view of downtown Washington, DC. We didn't make it inside but that is one thing I want to do if we ever get back.
And in front is a cool statue of Benjamin Franklin, so of course I had to take a picture! But like I said, Jolene came and picked us up and drove us over to Arlington National Cemetery.
Randy wasn't so sure about spending a day in a cemetery, but Jolene kept assuring him that it was really cool. It didn't take long for him to be very glad that we went. This is one thing you need to experience for yourself. Luckily for us, it was a beautiful fall day! 
We began at the visitors center and walked a mile uphill to the tomb of the unknown soldier. 
The atmosphere is very peaceful and respectful. At first you are in awe of how straight and uniformed the headstones are, no matter what direction you look. And then you start thinking of how each one represents an actually human being who died for your freedom.
I was born in a patriotic family, and I have always been grateful and even a little emotional when I think of how blessed I am to be part of this great country. But this experience was really touching and I am even more grateful to all those who have given their lives for my freedom.
I forgot to mention that Randy came back in the middle of the day... before my nap! We decided to venture outside of our huge hotel and see what was around us. I guess our hotel was built 4 years ago and at the time, it was the only thing around. Now, there are at least 3 more hotels down there and they are starting to get lots of shops. Still a lot of "coming soon" signs in store windows, but it was a great area.
While we were walking around, I noticed this hand sticking out of the ground down by the river. Yes, the one that looks like it is scratching Randy's head! I did that on purpose! Randy was in a hurry to get back to class at this time, but we hurried to find out exactly what it was.
There was a nice little sand area with this guy halfway buried in the sand. I guess the statue was called "The Awakening". It was moved here from another area, I can't remember. But it was pretty cool.
Here's his foot next to these great yachts. I forgot to mention that you could take a water taxi from our hotel to different areas around DC and Virginia. 
It was definitely a highlight of every night we were there.
This past week I tagged along on Randy's business trip. He was going to a convention in Washington DC and I just couldn't let this opportunity pass me by! I've always wanted to go to DC and visit the historical sites that I've only seen in books or television. I knew Randy's days were packed, so I wasn't sure exactly what I would be able to do or how comfortable I would be going around by myself... but it was worth a shot! Our hotel was spectacular! We stayed at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center On the Potomac in Maryland. As you can tell from the lobby, they have already started getting ready for Christmas.
The trees in the lobby were spectacular, as you can see in this picture. I wished our whole family was there so we could get family pictures taken. The hotel was a vacation in itself. I knew if I didn't go anywhere- I would still be happy I came!
As soon as we opened the door to our room, we could hear piano music and the crackling of a fire. I walked in a little further and realized it was a channel on the television. Cheesy to some, but I thought it was sweet and cozy. I couldn't wait to lay in bed and read my book I had brought!
And speaking of bed, Randy laughed when we got in the room to find two queen-size beds. He said they must have made a mistake because he asked for a king. You know how you can tell you have been married for 11 years? You don't go back to the lobby and ask for a king! We actually enjoyed spreading out with pillows all around. I think I've told Randy every night since we got back that I miss my bed at the Gaylord! :)
Well, another season of soccer has come to an end. As always, we enjoyed watching the kids play. Avery was back on the Queen Bees team. I have to be honest, I wasn't sure about how their team would work together. We barely had practice, so I would take Avery out to run on our own. But surprisingly, they never lost a game!
They didn't have enough under 10 and under 9 teams, so they put them together. That was half of the reason they never lost because 3 of the teams were so much younger. However, when they played girls their age Avery really did great! They tied some of those games, but it is so exciting to watch Avery get that determination in her eye! She has now started indoor soccer so I'm sure I will be posting those games soon!
And speaking of determination in the eye... Austin had a great season too! We were so excited because the league allowed one of his best friends, Mack, to play up. They always have trouble finding coaches so Russ said he would coach if Mack got to play with the under 8 team. Randy and Russ did a great job coaching the Storm and I could tell that Austin really got better this year.
Awww- the good ole pumpkin patch. I just never get sick of going out to this place! This year was Addie's year for her first field trip to the pumpkin patch.
Ashton and I met Addie at the pumpkin patch. She rode the bus with her class, and was so cute when she saw us. She didn't want to get out of line but you could tell she wanted to run over and give us a hug. I walked over to her and Ashton stood in line with her. Addie took her hand and they walked together to their designated eating area.
We started off our field trip eating lunch. Ashton and Addie both wanted lunchables.
After lunch, we headed over to play and wait for our turn to go on the hayride. They had lots of fun activities to do while we waited.
Always love the little hay maze and the jail area. Too cute!
And they have a fun park with monkey bars, swings and jungle gyms.
Then it was our turn to go on the hayride. All of Mrs. Eason's class squeezed onto the hay bails. 