October 2018

Lots of Soccer in October. We practice 4 nights a week and have games every Saturday...and WE LOVE IT! Cameron's team is undefeated. Landon's team won more than they lost - which is a HUGE improvement from last season. Both boys have worked hard and gotten to be better soccer players this year. We had lots of loyal fans come and cheer us on. Cameron gets to play with his best buds....Luke and Nolan. This is a shot of Cam and Nolan being goofs. The one above was a sweet shot of Cam with his eye on the prize! (photo cred to Nick Winters) We have had the most amazing weather not a rainy game yet....so crazy for October.

  Katey Jane is really budding as an artist!
The kids were trying to build a fire. I love looking outside and watching them play together. Especially when they are able to play without fighting for any period of time :)

  Claire looking so cute at HGC today :)
  Cameron tried to build a Wall-E and I think he did pretty well.

 Halsy and I started to read the "100 books to read before you die" and this is the start of our pile.


The kids and I are learning about ancient Egypt together in our history lessons. They are really liking it. The Egyptians were very talented goldsmiths, so we made our own golden jeweled bracelets.

I’ve been feeling too much like this sign and so I've started eating healthy and hitting the gym again - feels really good to get my body going in a better direction.

  Family photos teaser :)

Katey Jane asked me if I would dye her hair and I thought it sounded fun. We bleached first and then tinted her ends blue. Looks cool and I'll post a picture soon.

 This is a shot of my craft closet - it makes me happy.

 This is the class I teach at HGC - love these munchkins.

We got to babysit the twins!! River was sleeping so I got to love on Miss Evi all by myself. She is so delicious.

At our church building there are 5 big maple trees and they had just dropped tons of leaves! The kids had a hay day and after Claire saw all the fun she jumped right in!!

Cameron made this mask in his class and Landon fell asleep in the car with it on - kinda looks creepy.



On a walk during Landon's music class.




Pumpkin Patch 2018! We tried a new place this year and liked it! I don't know if we'd drive the Sauvie's island again....but they had fun stuff. We rode the hay ride to the patch, picked out big pumpkins, then we did the hay maze/pyramid, looked at animals, grabbed some yummy treats, squeaky cheese, and veggies from the market before heading home in our muddy glory. I think that was at least three run-on sentences - oh well.



Claire put these on and said "Mommy, I pretty"

 We finally got pumpkins carved on Oct 29th! WHEW We had a great evening with the Hague family. We had dinner, FHE, then carved away. I got to hold their new baby Addy and wasn't sad about that at all. It is so awesome having big enough kids to carve their own pumpkins - we didn't help them at all. They turned out so good!

 I love this kid. He really is a good worker and tries his best. He gets to be the leaf man this year and he'll get $$ to rake em', bag em', and roll the cart out to the front!

I took the kids on my walking route before nap time. We will leave earlier next time because Claire was falling asleep on the way back - sleepy bye baby.

Yes, I'm aware that most of these videos are of Claire - we're all okay with it.

Love how she says Broccoli!

Claire loves to go swimming - just like the rest of the Carter clan. We don't get out unless the pool closes or too cold to stay any longer. 

This video is one of my all time favorites. Anyone else have fights over the front seat? Well now that Cameron has turned ten - he gets to sit in the front. I didn't' realize that then the back seat balance would be so disturbed. KJ complaining that now she sits alone, Landon not wanting to give up his middle row seat, and this video showing how important it is for Cameron to have the front seat. :) :)

Landon is taking a music class called "Lets Play Music" - we love it and we listen to the songs a lot, especially in the car. Well, Claire has been listening because she has started to bust out parts of the songs when we don't expect it. You'll here her say "I got it!" just at the right moment - so adorable.

Sept 23 thru Sept 29

 Cuddling in the morning with daddy - his lap is usually a favorite! He also 

makes a great jungle gym :)

We all love to make Claire laugh!! 

 We keep this on our wall and I direct the kiddos to it often with I get the "Mom, I'm bored" (whiniest voice ever heard)

Everything she does has a little magic in it. This is her first Corn Dog! She didn't really care for the cornbread - she wanted that hot dog.

 Landon's class from HGC got to go to the apple farm for a field trip - it was really fun! 

 I took the kids to Vancouver Lake to celebrate that last hot day of the year. We borrow kayaks and a paddle board from my parents and drove 45 minutes north to a beautiful lake I had no idea was even there before!! It was a beautiful day and we spent most of our time in the water. Claire loved splashing in the shallows and rolling in the sand. Cameron and Katey Jane truly enjoyed being able to swim and took turns jumping off the paddle board into the deep water. Landon had fun kayaking and playing in the sand. I even had a good time. Claire require my 100% focus since she has no fear of the water, but watching the kids have so much fun made my day. I was complimented by another lady there with her family. She said I am Super Woman and that my kids are so well behaved, helpful, and fun. It's nice to hear that kid of stuff and I couldn't agree more - my kids RULE.

Soccer Saturday again - this was Cam and Claire keeping warm at Landon's 9am game. Both boys pulled out a win.

Sept 16 thru Sept 22

This has been one of the kids' favorite games lately. I don't get it - Claire really drops hard on them and it hurts (I tried it once and best believe I am not getting back down there). I love hearing the giggles when they all play together and aren't fighting.....*cue choir of angels*

 I took the kids to OMSI for Adventure Day and Chloe tagged along with us. We had a great time - can I just say how awesome it is to have big kids? I especially love it for Claire - she is so loved and adored. There is always a new person ready to play with her and give her attention. Its like she is an only child....uh oh. Cameron and Katey Jane get to experience what I did with my youngest siblings. I hope they remember it like I do....it makes me smile.

This is a totally random picture, but its the only one I got from the event. We all went bowling and arcading together Friday night. Everyone came except Dad (he was in Eastern Oregon). The bowling and arcading was fun, but the food wasn't that great. All in all a good time seeing each other and having fun together.

Soccer this week was awesome!! Landon shot at the goal 4 times and finally made a goal on his 5th attempt!! I am always doing the time and rotations so I don't have out my camera - this time I whipped it out and caught one of the misses - but it still counts in my book. The Navy Ninjas (Landon's team) won their game and The Sages (Cameron's team) had a tie in Scappoose or Scarpoose as Landon says. It was a tough game and our team played so well. Cameron is such a stud - he plays aggressive and fast. He gets right up in the players grill - no matter their size - and strips that ball. I LOVE WATCHING. Coach said "Wow Brooke, I don't know what the Carter family is like, but Cameron plays with pure Morin Oomph" I couldn't agree more....proud mama moment.