Life Group Family Picnic

Our Life Group met at Jerry Mathison Park again this fall one Saturday afternoon. It is a simple and fun way for us to get together as families. There is plenty for the kids to play with and the planning for it is super easy.This tire swing was a huge hit with the 3 year old crowd.
Climbing into a car?

Driving that same car?
Some of the guys - Mike, Lucas and Shamus
Everyone brought their own chairs and blankets and hung out while the kids played...
...and Darin grilled dinner i.e. hot dogs.There were plenty of salads, dips, chips and desserts also.
Charlie did a fabulous job of serving the lemonade.
The Hall family eating dinner + our little friend Case.

3 of the Hall kids got caught with their hands in the cookie container :-) Multiple cookies were consumed during this picnic by Lily, Emery and Carter!

Klein U4 Soccer

We wanted Lily to try playing soccer this fall but she was only willing to play if Emery did it with her. So we signed them both up to play on an under 4 years old team for Klein Soccer Club. They practiced on Wednesday evenings and played games on Saturdays at Meyer Park. Their team consisted of 8 boys and 2 girls -- themselves. For practice they had to wear their shinguards and cleats. In the 90 degree heat, the shinguards were very itchy and uncomfortable according to these two little three year old girls. We made every practice a family event...if Daddy didn't get home in time, he would meet us at the park.
It took everyone's help to get the uniforms on, the hair fixed and the cleats, shinguards and socks on.

We thought is was neat that the jerserys they were given were #1 and #2. It made it easy to decide who was going to be which number...#1 goes to the first born twin... ...#2 to the second born twin.
The two "Sharks" getting ready to play in a game.
In all honesty, there wasn't a lot of smiling going on between the two of them. The first few games they cried at the thought of going on the field. The rest of the games they were more inclined to play because the coach started bringing mini popsicles that they got each time they got off the field.
But they didn't mind posin' for the camera.
It helped if Daddy went out on the field with them as long as the other team didn't mind us breaking the "rules." One more way to explain how our season went would be to say that we are supposed to have two games going at once with three players in each game. By the end of the season we played one game at a time and were lucky to get three players willing to play. With that said, we did have a couple powerhouse players and probably won most of our games if we actually kept score!

Lily running after the ball.Emery running after the ball.

The coaches were very sweet about letting everyone have a turn with throw ins and kick offs. It was their best opportunity to touch the ball :-)
Emery ended up being pretty aggressive out there. She even scored a couple of goals.
Most of the time Lily and Emery played separately so we could keep everything even but this one time they were on the field together.
They both appreciated all the support from their family...we were definitely the loudest family there!Takin' a little break.

Carter and Aubrey found a good use for the ball when they weren't playing with it.

These were the two that actually enjoyed soccer the most. Aubrey has asked to play in the spring and Carter shouts "soccer game" every time we pass the soccer fields.

This boy just loved being outside with a whole bunch of space to run around and play...
...or to take a nap in!

Lily and Emery had a great season and would both say they enjoyed soccer but I don't think they will play again anytime soon. You never know if you don't try!

GOOD Morning!

A Typical Morning in the Hall House

comfy, cozy pjs + a variety of breakfast choices + wild, crazy hair = lots of sibling love + time for posing for fun, silly pictures

HaPpY hALLoWeEn!

Since Halloween was on Sunday the kids went to church dressed in their "Halloween" best.

That afternoon they got dressed in their costumes. The girls were princesses according to their hair color and Carter was the frog that got kissed by a princess.
Belle
Cinderella

Ariel Frog Prince
Carter did not want to wear his hat which was okay because it was too small anyway. He has a head just like his Daddy!We took the kids to Foundry's Fall Festival. This is a great community outreach for the church with lots of fun things for the kids to do.

The multiple bounce houses were a huge hit and kinda crowded so we didn't get to go in any of them.We took a train ride around the parking lot of the church. Trains are one of Carter's favorite things right now. Lily was petrified for some unknown reason and clung to Mike just like that the whole ride.
The girls each got a tattoo.

Then we stopped to enjoy some of the candy they got from the variety of games they played. We also took a water break since it was a record breaking warm afternoon.
After the festival we stopped at MIMI and PawPaw's to show them the kids costumes. MIMI ordered pizza for dinner and we put a dent in their candy bowl before any of the trick-or-treaters got there. Then we went to see Morgan, Maddie and Aunt Cindy.
Lily givin' Morgan some love.

Our friends and neighbors, the Farrs, let us join them on their hayride through the neighborhood. It was a very fun way to go trick-or-treating. Mr. Farr had a Halloween mix playing and flashing lights on the back of the trailor.

The trailor full of trick-or-treaters.The dads did a wonderful job of helping load and unload the kids at each stop. We would ride down the street, hop out and do some trick-or-treating and then climb back in the trailor to head down another street.

The kids had a blast as you can see by their faces...One of the neighbors had an actual haunted house. The little kids went through it after Maddie warned the people inside that they were coming and to not make it too scary for them...whatever!

The kids doing some trick-or-treating with Mrs. Farr standing by to make sure everyone was taking the appropriate amount of candy and using their manners :-) We made it to Aunt Mary's house to end our evening. Lily wanted nothing to do with taking a picture. Mike and I decided that one of the best parts of Halloween is putting the kids to bed and checking out all the goods. Four kids can bring home A LOT of candy!

hAppY HaLLoWeEn!