Halloween

Pumpkin carving.  We had a good time, but neither boy was excited about touching the "pumpkin guts."

Can you guess who carved each pumpkin?

The boys really wavered this year when they were trying to choose costumes.  Austin was excited to be a "workerman," and once we had that idea he stuck with it. So fitting!  Zach finally decided to be a pirate.  The costume ended up being really last minute, but it was cute.

Aaaarrrrgh!

Zach's school has a Halloween parade on the morning of Halloween.  Last year we missed it since he was in afternoon kindergarten.  He was excited for it this year!

At the end of the parade, they got to sit and watch all the other kids go by.  It was so fun to see him there, and to see all the cute kids dressed up. 

I didn't take very many trick or treating pictures- by the time we got out it was pretty dark.  This year we didn't go out very long either because it was really windy which made it SO cold!!  Bummer.  We didn't even go meet our friends because we figured it would be really quick and wanted to stay close to home.  At least the boys still had a great time and got a good haul of candy to make them feel satisfied.  :)

Pumpkins

This fall we barely made it to the pumpkin patch. With busy schedules and crazy Colorado fall weather, I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but we were able to squeeze it in one evening.

A lot of the pumpkins were squishy because of the floods, but we found some we liked.

We stopped to play at the kid area too, which the boys loved. 

I thought this was so cute.  The boys waiting their turn on the tractor.

Pretending to lasso.

I'm so glad we could go!

Fall Soccer

Zach had a great season of fall soccer.  He played on a team with many friends again, this time named the "World Champion Ghostbusters."  This year they got to have hour long games, and practice on one weekday.  One game there were a few kids missing and they all got to play the whole game, no subs.  He loved it.  He is still a great defender, and a good mid fielder.  Here are a few shots from a few games.

(throwing the ball in)

Silly wiggly Oz on the sidelines.

Zach had fun playing goalie, and did great!

Great job Zach!

First Grade

Yes, I know.  We are almost halfway through the school year...  I'm on a mission to catch up.

Zach started 1st grade this year!  He was really excited and has done really well.  The long days wore him out at first and took some adjusting at home, but he loves it and is doing great now.

Austin has really missed having Zach at home.  Many days he will say, "I think it's time to go get Zachie now" long before it really is.  We try to stay busy with fun things so it's not so hard.  Oz always has to give Zach at least one great big hug before the bell rings and Zach goes in.  And when we pick him up he almost always squeals and runs to Zach for a big hug.  I really need to catch it on video.  I sure love these two and am grateful that they have each other.

Six

Zach's birthday was shortly after we came home from Tahoe and Reno, so the Smiths got an ice cream cake to celebrate with him there before we left.  

Two days after we got home Zach got to have a friend party.  He is into dinosaurs so that was the theme.  I was super lucky and found a ton of dinosaur party stuff at the store.  I know these kids well and knew that if I didn't have a lot planned to keep them busy, that it could get wild fast.  So plan I did.

Some easy decorations.

We started with them using dinosaur stamps and stickers to decorate their paper bags to put goodies in.

Then we did some dinosaur stencils.  Had to have some art projects for my Zach!

Then we sent them outside on a dinosaur hunt.  I had hidden dinosaurs all over the yard, and they had to find the one with their name on it.  It was a really hot day!  It seems every time we have a friend party for Zach it is one of the hottest days of the year.  I had hoped to have almost all of the party outside, but it was just way too hot.

We brought the dinosaurs they found inside to make "dinosaur fossils" with play dough and eat some snacks.  I intended to make some salt dough so they would dry out and be their fossils to take home.  But I was tired and short on time, so play dough did the trick.

Then we headed back outside for some dinosaur tag.  Unfortunately Zach and Austin somehow ran into each other and hit heads.  Zach's skin split where the back of his ear meets his head and he had a pretty bad cut.  Poor boy.  A little pressure and ice and a bandaid later and he was back in action.  While my mom was helping him I headed back outside to make sure the kids were okay and see if they wanted to start the next game.  They were so sweet though and just wanted to wait for Zach.  Ethan said, "No!  We can't start the next game without the birthday boy!  We'll just wait."  What a nice kid!

Some balloon games.

A pinata.

And finally cake and presents!

I love to bake, but making cakes is just not a strength for me.  Like, really not a strength.  I'm sure I could impove with practice, but I don't really like to eat cake, so it's not very appealing to make them...  I always have these grand ideas of cakes for the boys.  I decided to try to be simple though and bought a dinosaur cupcake pan.  Cute, right?  I didn't think about how to frost or decorate them until the night before.  Regular frosting would cover all the details... so we ended up making a glaze.  They didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but at least they looked kind of like dinosaurs, and Zach was really excited about them.

I loved watching the kids watch him open the presents.  I'm not sure who was most excited!

I was exhausted by the end of the party, but it went well and the kids had a good time.  Glad he has such good friends.

The next day was his actual birthday and we just had my parents over for take out dinner and opened a few more presents.  He was so excited!  

We are so grateful for our sweet Zach.  He is loving and smart and funny and kind and we couldn't imagine life without him.  I can't believe how big he is getting and how fast it goes.  Happy 6 years buddy!