Western Tree Farm and Our Tree

We went to Western Tree Farm in Applegate this year with the family to pick out our tree. After Katie picking a really crooked stinker last year, we decided to let Pat have the honor of picking and this is the one he came up with. It hasn't lost many needles yet or fallen over so I guess it's a keeper.

After cutting down our tree we went inside to see Santa and told him what we all want for Christmas. He was nice enough to give us a candy cane and pose for pictures.

Poor Grandma had to take a picture with all these crazy kids!

Helena and Seamus are helping to put ornaments on the tree

Katie putting ornaments on the tree

Pictures in front of the finished product, star, tinsel and all!

St Nicholas Day and Scout

The kids made out again this year on St. Nicholas Day. The were so excited to see what they had in their shoes that they were all up before Pat and I left for work in the morning.

Shoes before and after...

Seamus with his Super Hero present

Katie and her Princess Snow White

Helena and her Princess Ariel

This year our Elf on the Shelf named Scout has been up to some mischief. Somehow he got himself surrounded by army men while we were sleeping! He still looks happy about it. He also drew silly mustaches on the kids picture.  They didn't like that at all!  I guess this means the kids have been acting good and Scout hasn't had to report any really naughty behavior. Good thing!

Oktoberfun

Its been a long time since we posted a blog, and its nearly Thanksgiving already! October was a fun packed month, and the kids fit a lot of activities in the tenth month this year. On October 4th, the kids had their first field trip in Five Day Preschool to Upland Hills Farm, and I was lucky enough to go with them.  It started of with a hay ride to the walk though story book called "The Duck Farmer."

Seamus on Hay Ride

Helena on hay ride

Katie on hat ride

Seamus, Katie and Helena in the Story Book Walk

 After the hay ride we walked around and saw all the animals, the kids even got to milk a cow!

Helena milking a cow

Seamus milking a cow

Katie milking a cow

Helena and a turkey

Seamus and Katie with turkeys

At the end of the trip we ate some lunch and played in the playground, Then it was time for the ids to pick out their pumpkins before heading home.

Kids at Upland Hills

Kids with their pumpkins

The next day we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Huddas' house for the annual Oktoberfest Celebration. The kids got to play with their cousins and the grownups enjoyed traditional German Food and Beverages. The highlights for the trio was the hay ride and the Shoe Kick Competition. This year Katie was the big winner of the Shoe Kick!

Hay ride time

Shoe Kick

Katie the Winner!

On October 20th, we went to the Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo with Clay, Drew, Aunt Becca, Uncle John, Aunt Christi, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Mel and Uncle Johnny. The kids had a lot of fun Trick-or-Treating, seeing the shows and the the Haunted House of Reptiles. It was a tiring night, but the kids had a blast.

Zoo Boo with Drew and Clay (yes, he's in the background)

The Sunday before Halloween, we had our Church Halloween Party. The kids got to dress up again and played musical chairs for the first time.

Katie "Iron Girl" Seamus "Spider-Man" and Helena "Rapunzel"

Aunt Christie reading Halloween stories

Finally, we made it to the actual Halloween Day. We all went to Aunt Deb and Uncle Pat's house for Trick-or-Treating with Kevin, Conner, Uncle Tim and Aunt Robin. We also got to see Bryan, Shannon and Jack before they went out with their friends. We had a fun night spending time with everyone there, its a tradition we have done for the last 3 years.

Katie, Seamus and Conner getting Uncle Tim 

Katie and Aunt Debbie

Soccer and Dance

The kids are going to be busy the next couple of months. On September 8th, the kids started playing soccer again. This is a whole new team with all new kids, including their cousin Drew which made them very excited.

On top of soccer, we have the kids in a Polish Dance group which we started yesterday night and will be on Thursday nights. We all went to the St. Anne's Festival a few weeks ago to see them dance and meet their teacher. They have all been very excited about starting dance, but no one was more excited than Helena after she saw the "Princess Dresses" at the festival. They had a great time last night, and Mary and I were both relieved when we learned they was a seamstress to make the costumes. Neither one of us can really sew, although Mary is better than me... she can fix buttons. So, we have two days of activities planed on top of 5 day a week preschool. We may have lost our minds.

Lets Go Tigers!

On Saturday after our weekly soccer game, we took the kids and met up with Grandma and Grandpa Huddas,Uncle Ed, Clay, Drew, Aunt Becca, and Uncle John at our Church for a tailgate party and Tigers game outing. After eating and playing for a while, we boarded the busses and headed down to the old Ballpark. I think the kids enjoyed the bus ride as much as the baseball game.

Seamus latched on to Uncle Ed, and got to play Angry Birds and take pictures the entire way to the game. Helena and Katie soon followed suit and got Mary and I to let them play games on our phones as well. The kids made it through about 4 innings before they needed to get up and move. First we went on the Tiger Carousel. Seamus and Helena loved it, but Katie had had enough of it by about halfway through and tried to climb off her tiger.

After that we all went to the Ferris Wheel, but Katie already had enough excitement from the carousel, so Seamus, Helena and I went on it on our own. They loved it and thought it was funny that we were riding in giant baseballs.



After the rides, the girls got to pick out Tigers hats to wear (Seamus and Mary bought one at Meijer earlier so no on missed out). Both of them wanted pink hats with sparkles on it, they are such girls. After all that it was somehow only the bottom of the 6th inning, and the kids did something strange. The actually watched some of the baseball game. Afterwards we rode the bus back and had a pizza dinner. By the time we got home it was well past bedtime. It was a long day, but everyone had fun and we got to see a victory. Go Tigers!

Happy Birthday to Mommy

Last Tuesday we celebrated Mary's 35th birthday. After we got home from work we went apple picking, along with the kids and Grandma and Grandpa Huddas. The weather called for rain, but it held out until we finished picking apples.

After picking we stopped and got our cider and donuts (no day off U-Pick is complete without cider and donuts). After apple picking we went to one of our favorite restaurants for Mary's Birthday dinner, Cheeseburger in Paradise. When we got home we were going to sing happy birthday, but the kids had such a long a day so they were too cranky to sing that night. So the next day after dinner we got out the traditional Blake's Birthday Donuts with a candle and sang happy birthday to Mommy.