Halloween Fun

We were able to participate in lots of fun Halloween events this year. We went to Linda and Brady's Halloween party, where Evan got to go into the haunted barn. (He was o.k. while we were in the barn, but later he said he did not like it.) We also went trick-or-treating at the zoo, attended a picnic and pumpkin decorating party with my Young Survivors group, and attended a Halloween party at HCCC. The best part of the Halloween fun was on Halloween night. Evan happily wore his entire costume and went trick-or-treating at LOTS of houses. He had SO much fun! After trick-or-treating, he enjoyed passing out candy to the kids that came to our door. One of the funniest parts of the night was when we were bringing our pumpkins in for the night, Evan took the bowl of candy outside and yelled, "Hey kids! We have LOTS of candy over here!" Of course, it was late and no one heard him, but it was so cute!

Evan and Nash had lots of fun playing together at the picnic.

Evan had lots of fun being Anakin Skywalker on Halloween!

Evan's First Field Trip and Class Halloween Party

Evan had his first field trip this week! He enjoyed going to Pony Tales Farm with his class, where he learned how to take care of how to take care of horses, rode a tractor, sat on a horse, played in a bouncer and had a special snack. He had a great time with his friends and he really liked getting to ride a school bus for the very first time! Although I was not able to attend the field trip, Aunt Heather and Mrs. Russell (Leila's mom) were able to attend and they took some great pictures for me. (I am so thankful that they did!)

Evan and Leila had fun brushing one of the horses.

Evan had fun sitting on a horse. (He LOVES animals!)

Evan and his friends had fun riding The Gator.

Evan picked a pumpkin that was just perfect!

Evan and his good friend Leila had so much fun together!

Evan and Caleb had fun on the farm! (They are such little monkeys!)

Evan posed for Aunt Heather so that she could take a picture. (I LOVE this one!)

Evan's Halloween party was a lot of fun. He wore his Anakin Skywalker costume to school, even though he is not a fan of wearing any costume. Grammy and Granddaddy were Evan's special guests at his party and he was SO happy to have them join him.

Picking Pumpkins

It has become a tradition to go to Huber's farm and pick pumpkins each fall. We have been wanting to go pick pumpkins for several weekends, but things have been so busy around here. Thankfully, we had a chance to go to Huber's last weekend! We started off by riding the wagon out to the pumpkin patch. (Evan still LOVES tractors, so he was VERY excited just to ride the wagon!) Evan had a lot of fun running through the patch and trying to find just the right pumpkin. After looking at lots of pumpkins, he finally found just the right one. After Carl and I found pumpkins too, we rode the wagon back to the main area of the farm and then went to the kids area. Evan had fun riding the big barn slide, riding a pony, riding the tractor train, feeding the farm animals and taking lots of rides on the large inflatable slide. It was a really beautiful day. I am so glad that we got to spend time together doing something so much fun!

(I forgot my camera, so I took pictures with my phone. They actually turned out o.k!)

Evan had fun riding out to the pumpkin patch!

Evan ran around the patch trying to find the pumpkin that was just perfect! (He said that he wanted a big pumpkin, just like Mommy and Daddy pick!)

Posing for pictures with his pumpkin! (This first picture is my favorite one. He is so expressive! I like the second picture as well. It shows off his usual self!)

Evan really liked the tractor train!

Feeding the farm animals was fun!

Race for the Cure

The Race for the Cure was a lot of fun this year. Even though many family members and special friends were unable to attend the race, we had a good turn out on Race Day, including all of the Nickel family and Aunt Rachel and Uncle Teddy. There were also several people from school, including the Milburn Family, Maureen Farley, Lauren Thieneman and Brook Lotze. Ashley Goff also joined us, along with Trevor and her mom. I was excited because many people made donations, which totaled over $2000! I am VERY grateful to Heather, who helped organize the team. I love raising money for a good cause and I love going to the race and seeing so many breast cancer survivors!

Evan LOVED holding the sign again this year. He even wanted to hold the sign as we walked TO the race!

Team Rachael Koontz

Shannon and Caitlin McGill (The McGill Family ALWAYS finds us on race day and walks with us! They are SO sweet!)

Team Rachael Koontz

Caleb and Jackson liked running for a cure as they raced toward the finish line!

Our Family

Aunt Rachel and Uncle Teddy

The Nickel Family

Trevor and Evan had fun playing together on the playground after the race.

Alpha Gam Family Weekend

Last weekend we traveled to Nashville for our annual Alpha Gam Family Weekend. We arrived at Stacey's house on Friday night. When we arrived, we got to meet Tyler for the first time, which was exciting. I have been wanting to meet him for almost 3 months!

On Saturday, we had a lazy morning and hung around the house while Evan and Parker played. In the afternoon, we went over to Shannon's house for dinner and fun. The kids played well together and really enjoyed the bounce house. They also enjoyed playing all sorts of silly games in the back yard! It was great to see all of my friends and to catch up. We all enjoyed hanging around and talking, as well as watching the kids play. It was a really great weekend. I wish we all lived closer, so that we could get together more often!

It was SO good to see all of my best friends!

Evan and Levi had a ball together, as always. Here they are engaged in deep conversation!

Best Buddies

Calvin was quite the entertainer! He had all of the kids laughing with all of his tricks!

Everyone loved the bounce house! Carl enjoyed playing with all of the kids and the kids LOVED playing with Carl!

Here are pictures of all of the kids! We were impressed with how well they did letting us take their picture! The first picture is a normal pose and the second picture is a silly pose.

U of L vs. UK

This year we got to travel to Lexington to watch the U of L vs. UK game. My mom wasn't feeling well, so Ron went with me, Dad, and Carl. We got to Lexington in time to tailgate for awhile before the game, which was fun and relaxing. Then we headed over to Commonwealth Stadium for the game. It was a fun game to watch, but it also made me nervous. UK scored first and even when we were ahead, UK seemed to always be close to catching up to our score! U of L ended up winning the game and the Governor's Cup trophy, which was awesome! It was a really fun night!

While we were away, Bonnie Mom and Aunt Rachel took Evan to the theater to see The Lion King in 3D! Evan liked the movie, as well as the popcorn and M&Ms!

"GO CARDS!"

Carl and I enjoyed tailgating and the game.

The team was happy to win the big game and brought the trophy over to the the U of L sections of the stadium. Way to go Cards!

Trip to Tennessee /Car Accident

Last weekend we went to visit our family in Tennessee. As always, we had a really great time. Evan was a really good traveler on the way to Tennessee and spent most of the ride watching Star Wars. On Saturday morning, we went to yard sales, which has become one of Evan's favorite things to do when we visit. Later, Evan played with Marlee. (The two boys had SO much fun together!) Evan loved seeing Grandma this trip and gave her lots of hugs and told her, "I love you!" a lot. It was a really nice visit!

Evan liked going to yard sales. He got an X Wing!

The light sabers were lots of fun for Evan and Marlee!

Evan and Marlee enjoyed riding the roller coaster. (They did great taking turns!)

Evan and Marlee enjoyed eating lunch outside.

I got one good picture of both boys where you can see their faces!

Evan had fun "reading" to Marlee.

Evan loves Grandma so much! Of course, Grandma loves Evan very much too!

The trip back from Tennessee was not as nice as our trip to Tennessee. While traveling 70 m.p.h on I-75, we hydroplaned. Our car spun out of control and slammed into a cement barricade. It was REALLY scary! When we finally stopped, we found ourselves facing backward in the emergency lane. The car was badly damaged, but amazingly, we are all fine. We are SO fortunate that we only had bumps and bruises. It could have been a lot worse! Mom and Dad came to get us in Berea, KY, which is where the accident occurred. We were grateful for their help!

This is our car after the accident. (This picture doesn't show the damage well. We know the rotor broke, as well as many things on the inside of the car. The damage was very extensive and the insurance totaled the car.)

We couldn't ride in the tow truck to the towing company, because it couldn't hold Evan's car seat. The police officer that was helping us after the accident let us ride to the towing place in his police car! Evan thought that was super cool!