halloween 2016.

This year, Lincoln (age 10) went as "Steve" from Minecraft and Cassidy (age 7) was a witch...love those tights.

This pic is from the Friday evening before Halloween when the kids were dressed to go to the Monster Mash at school.
Notice that Lincoln couldn't bear to put on the jeans that go with his costume since it was in the 90s - whew!

Dunkin sporting his Halloween scarf.
We just didn't think he'd appreciate a costume. Somehow he'd have figured out how to rip it off and eat it.

Ready to go trick-or-treating!
Linc was able to manage with his jeans on Halloween night as temps finally dipped into the 80s.

No Halloween is complete without Beerman! 

Cassie the Witch with her loot at the end of the night.

Lincoln, the Minecraft dude, with his loot.

Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!

pumpkins 2016.

Pumpkin carving 2016.  

Each of the kids got a small pumpkin when we went to a local pumpkin farm and we got one, larger, family pumpkin to carve as well.

Cass ready to reveal the insides of her pumpkin.

This is what it's inside...ick!

Linc with his pumpkin.
Of course Dunkin is right there wondering what that orange thing is and thinking, "I bet THAT tastes good".

Linc carved his own pumpkin this year for the first time.
He did a simple Minecraft face to go along with his costume.

Here are the finished products:
A witch for Cassidy
A dog for Dunkin
Minecraft for Lincoln

autumn...sort of.

My mom and dad spent two weeks with us in October. The kids were off school and we celebrated my birthday (41...I'm officially on the other side of the hill). Since it's October, we tried to do some fall activities, though it doesn't much feel like fall when temps are still hitting the mid-90's. Kind of annoying. I like the sun and the blue skies, but the high heat can go away.

We went to Mother Nature's Farm this year, deciding to go at opening time in the morning so as to avoid too much heat!

Lincoln, Yiayia, Cassidy, and Pops at the entrance to Mother Nature's Farm.

Matt, Cassidy, Lincoln, and Julie.

Linc & Cass feeding the goats!

Cass found a goat who wasn't as pushy as the others and was sure to feed it.

Cassidy and Lincoln in the hay bale maze.

Cass & Linc thinking they were strong enough to push this concrete tube.
No such luck.

Cass, Pops, Yia, and Linc.

Matt, Cass, Julie, and Linc trying for a decent family pic.

Cass getting taller.

Linc is just about at the 5 ft. mark in 5th grade. 

Yia and Pops met Dunkin for the first time on this visit. He kept them on their toes. "He's so quick" is the common theme in their remarks about him. He's into everything and is, indeed, very quick. There are lots of rules that have to be followed in our house now that there's a puppy that's taken over. For example, you must push your chair in when you leave the table (otherwise Dunkin will be sitting in your chair and grabbing any food that's on the table. He'll even jump up to the counter if you leave your toast close to the edge as you turn your back to put the butter back in the fridge. Just ask Papou! Dunkin enjoyed some of his toast one morning.

Aww...Dunkin and Papou.

 While the temps were still in the 90s, the pool has cooled considerably to about 75 degrees. Too cold for me (my blood has thinned!), but some people still enjoyed it.

Yia, Linc, Pops, Cass.

Girl Scouts - Fall Encampment.

Cassidy and I, along with most of our Girl Scout troop, ventured up to Prescott, AZ, for our first Fall Encampment Friday-Sunday.  Of utmost enjoyment was the weather: high 79, low 50 (in Chandler, we're still hitting 100 degrees pretty much every day).

It was a busy, activity-filled weekend: horseback riding, tie-dye, arts & crafts, badge work, songs, SWAPs, and campfire (with s'mores!).

Cass in front of our cabin.
We were in an area with 5 cabins, a bathroom, and a ramada.

Inside the cabin; Cass next to her bed.
Each cabin had 5 beds. Luckily, our cabin had electricity (not all of them did). 

While we heard about summer camp folks having mouse problems, we didn't encounter anything unfavorable.
Thank goodness! 

Valerie, Cassidy, and Kathryn ready to walk over to the Riding Arena. 

Cass got to borrow boots for her horseback riding lesson.
She was beyond.thrilled with her pink and white boots. 

Ready to ride Misty.

Cass weaving Misty in and out of cones.

Big smile.

Cassidy, Valerie, Kathryn.
Done with the riding lesson, getting ready to learn about grooming the horses. 

Cass brushing one of the horses.

Cass with messy hands after tie-dying a t-shirt. 

Listening to and learning Girl Scout songs.
Cass is still singing many of the songs she learned.

Our troop at camp!

The girls enjoying downtime, playing in the woods by our cabins.

One of our troop members found this excellent log, deemed "the bazooka". 

Camp girl.

Girl Scouts often make small tokens of friendship to exchange with other scouts. They are called SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere). Below, you can see what Cassidy made to trade.

Tiny sleeping bags.

Shrinky Dinks with the Girl Scout Brownie Elf.

summer hoops.

For the third summer in a row, Matt coached Lincoln's summer basketball league. This year's team was the Dust Devils. They didn't get to play in the championship game, but did get to play in the 3rd/4th place game. They ended up in 4th place after a rough game.

Linc had a great season (Mr. Rebound) and I know he loves being coached by his dad.

The season was capped off with ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Way to go Dust Devils! 

softball.

Cassidy is having a go at her first team sport this fall: softball!  She's on the Purple Panthers. She's the only rookie on her team, as the rest of the girls (ages 6-9) each have a few seasons under their belts. She's holding her own and is enjoying it so far and is making new friends. I'm so proud of her for trying something new. Go Cass!

In addition to learning a team sport and all that goes along with it, one of my favorite things about the girls softball league is the fun socks each team chooses to go with their jerseys.
Cass loves her purple polka-dot socks and her fun visor! 

First time at bat.
Ok, she struck out, but she did make contact with some foul balls.

Cass after her first game.
It was super hot (103 degrees or something) and it was great to still see smiles on the girls faces after playing in the heat and losing 15-2. 

NFL day @ school.

To kick off the NFL season, students got to wear their favorite team jersey to school. Unfortunately, Lincoln was sick with strep throat, but Cass celebrated with her Lions jersey and eye black. She really, really liked wearing the eye black.