Here’s a recap for you of our past eight Halloweens.

I don’t know how many more years I’ll be able to get away with the kids having themed costumes – but I’m going to take advantage of it for as long as it lasts.

Thanks again Mom, for suggesting this year’s costumes. I think they looked super cute (though giving Luke a whistle may not have been one of my wisest parenting decisions).

It was gorgeous last Tuesday during Maggie’s art and music class. So the teacher had us go on a scavenger hunt to find leaves and other fun things.

When we came back in from our “hike” (as Maggie called it), we made collages with our findings.

Maggie insisted that we make an owl, and I think it turned out pretty well.

After making our owl, it was time for music and dancing. Maggie’s favorite instrument is the triangle.

I can’t wait to see what they have us make tomorrow.

Adam is pretty proud of his new gymnastics skill,

and rightfully so.

I signed the boys up for a pumpkin science event Saturday morning at the nature center near our house.

Their first task was to find pumpkins that had been hidden outside.

Then they went inside and learned about their pumpkins. They measured and weighed them, learned all about the different parts of a pumpkin, and decorated them too.

Luke loved seeing a pumpkin cut in half. Adam was surprised to learn that pumpkins float.

While Dave and the boys did their pumpkin experiments, Maggie and I hung out on the playground.

When the boys were done, they joined us.

It was a lot of fun, and I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open for other events held there.

The boys had their last games of rec league soccer on Thursday. They’ll start back up in the spring.

Luke does really well, when he remembers to stay focused. He is easily distracted by airplanes, other kids he knows (Luke’s pretty popular), imaginary bad guys, and the uncontrollable urge to do the chicken dance on the field. He is very entertaining to watch though.

They both ended up on the lemon colored teams this year. Those super bright jerseys are really easy to find in the laundry basket.

Adam also played on a select soccer team this year. It kept us very busy. Between the two teams, Adam was playing or practicing four or five days each week.

All that hard work definitely paid off though. Adam has gotten a lot better over the past couple months.

He was in a tournament this weekend. They played three games. His team tied two of the games (the first game was one to one, with Adam scoring the lone goal for his team), and then unfortunately lost the third.

He’s got his last meeting for the select league on Friday. Then we’ll have a break from soccer for a while.

I signed Maggie up for an art and music class on Tuesdays.

Her first class was last week, and she really enjoyed it. They made ghosts and then spent the rest of the class dancing and playing musical instruments.

It was a lot of fun for both of us.

We took the kids to an amusement park last weekend. It was during their Great Pumpkin Fest, so they wore their costumes.

It was on a Sunday though, so there were a lot of other people in Bengals gear too. (Yes, despite my efforts to convince them otherwise, my kids are Bengals fans.)

We paid for an all day photo pass, so we were able to get copies of the pictures taken on the rides.

That was Maggie’s first roller coaster – she loved it.

We got to meet a couple of the characters. Luke is all about Charlie Brown lately, so he was thrilled.

The pictures of poor Adam on the roller coasters make me laugh.  I have to give him credit though, even though he was scared, he kept trying them. He’s much braver than I am.

All five of us went on the log ride this second run (and got soaked). You can’t really see me, Adam, and Maggie in the back seat though (thanks Dave).  The kids loved it. They thought it was hilarious that we got soaked.

The kids were so well behaved the whole day. There was no whining when we had to wait in line for rides, no begging to play games or for souvenirs. It was a really awesome family day. I think we’re going to look into getting seasons passes for next year.