Happy Halloween!

We hope you had more treats than tricks!

Today was a fun day for us. We carved our pumpkins...

Tried to take a few pictures in our costumes! Very difficult to do with two!!!

Zackasaurus

Tigger the Tiger and Zackasaurus

Then it was time for trick or treating. Kiley went along with Daddy next door to the one neighbor we know well...

...and then came back to help Mommy pass out candy.

Zack came back to our house after only 6 houses to eat some of his loot. Then a little later he decided to go back out to 3 more houses. Now we have more than 9 houses in our neighborhood but that is all he wanted to do. I'm wondering if it had something to do with the cows...

A few nights ago he asked if the cows were going to follow him when he went trick or treating. Also, last weekend we were in Detroit Lakes for a wedding (post to come sometime soon) and as I was dead bolting the hotel door he asked if it was to keep out the cows! Darn cowlicks!

The rest of the night was spent waiting for the 62 treaters we had in basically two main spurts and play with silly costumes Mommy and Daddy were wearing or pulled out from Ducksoup costumes year's past...

(first time using self timer)

Kiley tried her hand at trick or treating from inside the house. :-)
All in all we had a fun night and we are hoping we kept the kids up late enough that they won't be waking up at their usual 6:00 am time, now 5:00 am with daylight savings! Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Al!

Hope you have a "spooktacular" birthday today! We love you!

Zack's First Field Trip

Zack had his first field trip for school on Monday!

It was a very fun afternoon going to Dehn's Pumpkin Patch in Dayton.

We started the day as usual at school playing and circle time where a story about pumpkin growing was read and the boy in the story sat on a pumpkin. So of course that was one of the first things Zack had to do when we got to the patch. Then there was the task of finding a pumpkin to bring home. Every pumpkin was the one to bring home! "Oh this is a great pumpkin!" "Oh lets bring this one home!" It was very fun to see him running around the field.

Kiley got to come too.

The farm we were at also had cows that the kids could feed. Zack loved feeding them! Which I was surprised at due to my story yesterday about cowlicks. I thought he might be timid. But when Darin asked Zack that night if he thought those were the cows that came in and licked him he paused and said, "No, they were nice cows". :-)

Kiley loved the cows too.

Nice Moo Bossy! Right Grandma and Grandpa Cooley?

She also loved the goats! She wanted to touch both the cows and the goats in the worst way!!!

The goats are what seems to scare Zack more than the cows. Go figure. This is as close to the goats as he would get!

Next the kids and parents went on a hayride around the farm. At first Zack was a little nervous. I think he thought we were putting the kids on and we were staying behind because all of the parents were down on the ground taking pictures. :-) But once we got going he liked it a lot. He told me that was his favorite part of the day!

Ethan, Zack, Barb, (she takes care of Kiley in Sib Care on Monday's while Zack and I are in class) Kiley and Me.

The last part of the field trip ended as their class time does, with one more circle time. Miss Lisa had brought one of Zack's favorite things to play with, the parachute, (that used to be my favorite too in gym class!).

What a fun day!

p.s. For those of you who went to Apple Jack's orchard, Dehn's pumpkins were .10 cents cheaper per pound! FYI for next year! And I think there may be a tie to this place and the Dehn's restaurant we always went to with Grandma and Grandpa Cooley. The farm is very close.

Who's Afraid of Cowlicks?

Thanks to a book that Auntie Meg gave him at Christmas, that would be my son!
Zack's head is full of cowlicks and has been using hairspray, I kid you not, since he was two! It's the only way we can get them down on top and the duck tail in the back, well that's when I know it's time to cut his hair...



...so Auntie Meg saw a book a while back called 'Cowlick' by Christin Ditchfield. It is an adorable book about a cow that likes to sneak into little boy's bedrooms and give them a cowlick at night! Well that freaked him out a little and he didn't want to read the story for a while. Then a little while ago he wanted to start reading it again, (and now has it pretty much memorized and reads along with us now) but he wakes up with night terrors or night mares at time and one of those times I asked what woke him up, "I was afraid the cow was going to lick me!" I kid you not.
Sometimes when we are brushing his hair in the morning working on those darn cowlicks he'll ask me about the cows that licked him. It is quite funny how much it seems like he believes cows really do sneak into our house and lick him. Another funny story about cowlicks will be posted soon too...

Happy 3rd Birthday Riley!

Today is our niece Riley's 3rd birthday!

We wish you a fun filled day Sweetheart and love you very much!!!!


(Another masterpiece by Auntie Meg!)

We actually celebrated Riley's birthday on Saturday. It was lots of fun and gave the grandparents and Aunts and Uncles a preview of the Halloween costumes for this year. So why shouldn't you get a preview too? :-)


Tigger, Miss Witch, Tinkerbell and Mr. Dinosaur

Riley told us she wasn't wearing her wings because they were only for Halloween. She wasn't going to like them until then.

Zack and Riley were having a dance party at one point on their own.

Color time with Riley's super large coloring book.

Computer time with Grandpa Tom and Great-Grandpa Cooley

Kiley thought she was just the right size for the doll's stroller. :-)

Riley was very gracious and told Zack if he ate his dinner he could help her blow her candles out!

Daddy, Kiley and Great-Grandma Cooley

Adee said, "Auntie Katie Dance! Great-Grandma dance!"

It was a very fun night and the kids were very well behaved!