Monster Mash and Fall

Angela here!  We've had another bustling week.  Halloween is turning into a holiday almost as busy as Christmas!  Every time I turn around, there is an event that involves costumes and candy.  Even our local Kroger had a haunted house and trick-or-treating event that the kids went to this week.  Daycare had their annual Monster Mash party and considering the rainy evening, it was a great turnout.  There was a haunted bus, a bounce house, laser tag, a petting zoo, pizza/popcorn/hot dogs and of course, lots of candy.  Miss Adley sported an orange sparkly tutu and a rather small bow...I think I can find a bigger one next year :) 

Cousin Anderson donned his Ninja costume while Hudson opted for his Halloween suspenders and bow-tie shirt.  It was a fancy occasion for him.  

 Adley was surprisingly not frightened of the animals.  In the pictures below, it looks like she's about to be swallowed by an alpaca, but I promise she was a safe distance from any hungry animals.  And notice Claire keeping an extra-safe distance from the furry friends. 

 Hud and all his buds... 

We've had a mild fall thus far and Hudson loves to come home from school and play outside.  He will collect sticks and turn them into trumpets or light sabers.  And he still likes to run to his play house and "cook" for me. 

  

My girlfriend Abby and her daughter Stella stopped by for a short play date.  Stella is the same age as Hudson so we always call her his "girlfriend."  If you ask Hud, he will say; "I luuuvvvv Stella!" 

  

 

Miss Independent continues to want to feed herself, which always ends up being the cutest, most disastrous mess one can watch.  I have resulted in stripping her down naked and putting one of Chris' old t-shirts on her as a skin barrier to any sauce or cream she might come in contact with.  It doesn't help much.  Ravioli and lima beans are her current favorite foods... 

We're gearing up for Halloween in a couple days. The kids get to wear their costumes to school on Monday, then the Kemp/Bockelman crew is coming over for dinner before we embark on a mad-dash to collect as much candy as possible within a two hour time frame.  The weather is supposed to warm and sunny, so we are all looking forward to the day!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pumpkins, Knights and Football

Oh how the Kemps have been loving all the fall festivities!  And the 80 degrees of warm weather didn't hurt either.  Our house is exploding with pumpkins as we continue to visit farm markets and festivals.  Chris took the kiddos to Kleather's Pumpkin Patch two weekends ago while I was having brunch with my girlfriends.  He discovered a new favorite "trick" of Adley's.  Apparently she is extremely passionate about pushing wagons.  Everywhere she walked, she had to push the red radio flyer.  If you tried to deter her away, she would forecast her diva-yelp-scream and immediately make you stop in your tracks.  The screech is always followed by a how-dare-you look, in which one must halt all activity and pay attention to the princess.  It is pure comedy to watch.  And for a 22 lb pip-squeak, the girl has some muscle to move heavy pumpkins!  Hudson, on the other hand, was content eating his bag of popcorn.  His only request was to pick out a small pumpkin for everyone in the family...which included extended relatives and close friends.  We continue to limit him to four pumpkins.  There is now a small pumpkin on everyone's nightstand :)

 

Our next stop was Lovely's Farm Market this past weekend, where we picked more pumpkins and pushed more wagons.  There were even donkeys and miniature ponies nearby that the kids enjoyed petting.  Adley kept trying to stick her head through the fence in hopes to get a better view....

Hudson has had two flag football games and it is quite funny to watch these kids run around in organized chaos.  The field always has 3-4 "dad-coaches" helping out...and these men look like they herding cats, as they blow their whistles and try to wrangle in the youngsters.  Hudson has yet to score (or pull a flag off someone), but he loveeeessss playing.  He is so excited to be out on the field with the big kids.  If you ask, he will tell you, "I am little, so I gotta run fasssst!"  And then he will run in place to demonstrate his moves.  Daycare just informed me he is tackling kids at school again, so my current mission is to teach a 3 year old when and where one should be rough and tough.  This has proven to be a difficult task.

Miss Adley loves watching all the football commotion.  She knows she is not supposed to run out on the field, so what does she do...run out on  the field!  If she wasn't so stinkin' cute I'd be annoyed...

And when she wasn't running on the field, she would jump in and out of Lolly's lap.  The girl just can't stay still!

On Sunday, we went to the Renaissance Festival, or "the really big festival" as Hudson calls it.  This festival has Clydesdale horses for the kids to ride!  And jousting, mud pits, camels, legit pirate ships and flame-throwers.  Both Chris and I seem to enjoy it just as much as the children.  It is basically a huge town full of medieval people that can never break character...costume and accents and all.  You feel like you were time-warped back to the 15th century.  Total nerd alert, I know, but it is really fun!

Jousting pics below!  This was our "good guy" who won the match.  And these guys are not actors by any means.  After each match, you get to meet the knights and pet the horses.  I was told that a couple weeks ago, one of the knights got stabbed with a lance (the blunt-tipped spear), developed a pneumothorax (his lung collapsed) and needed a chest tube for a week (but he's OK now).  Now THAT is what I call dedication to loving the renaissance era!

 While everyone was star-struck watching the knights, Adley was too busy flaunting those baby blue eyes to any stranger that would look her way.  Not being biased at all when I say she is going to be a heart-breaker with the boys when she grows up! 

Playing around the pirate ship...

We are gearing up for Halloween as well.  Amazon delivered the most adorable New England Patriots football player and cheerleader outfits.  Hudson even took his helmet to show-and-share at school.  Chris has succeeded in brainwashing his son when it comes to football.

Hudson quote: "Mama, you need a helmet.  You be Edelman for Halloween."  For those non-obsessed football people, Julian Edelman is a wide receiver for the Patriots.  Hudson can name many players and even knows the coach.  Again...a mild obsession for a boy that may require medication once he is in adulthood.

We also have a new tradition that Hudson created.  I often have the kids bathe together to save time and energy before bedtime.  Hudson has taken it upon himself to grab a dozen books off the bookshelf and lay them out for pre-bedtime reading. Every night, these two nuggets will sit side-by-side, flipping through pages and attempt to "read" to each other.  My heart is full!

We have the Monster Mash party at school and a play date with girlfriend Stella to look forward to this weekend.  Chris and the entire Kemp crew will be in Indiana celebrating the Boone wedding. Congrats to Sean and Laura!  Sorry I can't be there...I will be babysitting kiddos and dogs this weekend.

Fall Festivals and Flag Football

Hope everyone is having a great week thus far!  Chris and I had a wonderful time in NYC celebrating our 7th anniversary.  It was by no means relaxing, as we clocked over 30K steps everyday.  Chris downloaded endless walking tours and became my personal tour guide, so it was quality time well spent.  You could say my anniversary was pretty much a crash course history lesson.  But I knew I was marrying a history nerd long ago, so I can't complain. 

We are finally getting into fall weather and the festivities have begun!  We visited our first fall festival two weekends ago and it was a smash hit.  A local church had a free event that included pony rides, a petting zoo, games, an obstacle course, a hay ride, food trucks and even a zip line for the bigger kids. We arrived right when it opened and stayed for a couple hours.  But then had to leave for Hudson's first football practice.  Right after practice, Hud requested to return to the festival.  So we loaded everyone back in the car and enjoyed the afternoon.

 The kiddos had to ride the ponies a couple times.  I keep hinting to Lolly that she needs to buy Hudson a horse for his birthday.  They'e fairly inexpensive, right?!  :)

Unlike her big bro, Adley is not obsessed with horses.  She immediately burst into hysterics when she was placed on the pony.  It was quite funny.

Chris was certain her abhorrence for horsey rides was a fluke.  So he put her on a mechanical horse one day at the grocery store in hopes she would enjoy it.  Ha!  My poor girl.  Can this be considered a form of child abuse.... 

Hudson started flag football as well.  Against my wishes, he has practices twice a week with his Head Coach father.  He is just so young for football!  But my boys are obsessed.  I fear for my son's life (a tad dramatic there, I know).  But the team consists of one 3 yr old (Hudson), one 4 yr old and the rest of the boys are almost 6 years old.  They're twice the size of my little man!  It is cute, however, to watch the older boys look after Hudson and cheer him on to run faster.  

His first game is this weekend!

The fire dept had another fall festival that I took the kids to while Chris was out of town last weekend.  There was a fire demonstration, a car demolition, a helicopter lift-off and cute activities for the kids.  Another successful weekend for this crew...

  

With two kids on the move, sibling pics are sooo hard these days!

"Rescuing" a kitten from a burning house.  He kept saying: "Mama, I save Mr. Jack!"  #Adorable

We have a jam-packed fun-filled weekend ahead.  Hudson's first football game, dinner with the neighbors, the Sauerkraut Festival, a birthday dinner for Aunt Shannon and Pop and hopefully some pumpkin-picking in between....if there is any time left to spare.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend in store!  And next week we start prepping for Halloween, aka, I let Hudson dress up in his costume and "practice" his trick-or-treat delivery.  He is going as Tom Brady this year.  So by default, Miss Adley is going as a New England Patriots cheerleader.  Have I mentioned the men in my life are obsessed with football?!?!