Happy Halloween!

The boys told me exactly what they wanted
their pumpkins to look like.
(Cullen's has goggles on.)

BTW- Cullen's expression pretty much sums
up our pumpkin carving experience... they
were WIRED and love Halloween!!

Finn has an orange nose from itching his nose
in between scooping the innards out. Reminds
me of when he was a baby and had an orange hue
from all the squash and carrots he was eating. :)

My favorite "John Deere tractor guy."

My favorite Lego mini-figurine. :)

Halloween 2011

We had a fun Halloween trick or treating! There were no lights on on our street, so I took the boys to another neighborhood to trick or treat. :) Strangely enough, we hardly saw any other kids out trick or treating! Their costumes were a hit. One old man especially enjoyed them, the went on an on about how no one makes costumes anymore and that's really what it's all about! I admitted to him that I'm not sure I'll make them next year... ;)

Finn's first ND Football game

Finn and Sean, ready to watch the
Irish beat Navy.

Walking to the tailgate...
The dome looked like it was glowing.

Finn made a little table for himself. :)

Finn's first ND football game!

Saturday was Finn's turn to go to his first ND football game. He was so excited that it was his turn!! Surprisingly, he did better than Cullen. Cullen got bored really fast (they left by halftime), but Finn lasted until the beginning of the 4th quarter. Finn enjoyed clapping with the fans and would blow kisses to random people walking by!! Hahahaha. :)

Owl Prowl

The old barn were the bats flew out of.

Learning about owls.

Cullen's school put on an Owl Prowl last week. I was really looking forward to it, but was too sick, so Sean took Cullen. They drank hot cider and ate sweets... They were able to see the bats take flight from the old barn at dusk. Then they listened to the owl "talk" with the park ranger, unfortunately he didn't show himself, but at least they could hear him. Cullen's good-buddy, Johann was there, so I imagine Cullen was pretty distracted! :)

Uncle D visits from CA

Fighting Irish! Watching the first
game under the lights in 21 years.

Uncle D did a lot of this...

and this....

and this on his trip to Indiana.
(playing football)

ND vs USC under the lights,
too bad it ended the way it did...

Inside the Basilica.
Can you spot the shamrock in this picture?
(Look lower left.)
It wasn't supposed to be there. They
think some student snuck in and painted it. :)
They didn't want to take it off, fearing
it would ruin the original.

This alter was craved out of gold for
Father Sorin's 50th birthday.
The statue of Mary holding Jesus up top.
Jesus was supposed to be wearing a crown too.
Some student took it to borrow for a play, then
realized how much trouble he was going to be in.
So the story goes he threw it in one of the lakes.
They never could find it.

The tabernacle in the Basilica.

The Basilica in the bright blue sky.
The Main Building (Golden Dome)
to the right.

Dustin and me watching the trumpets
perform under the Golden Dome
before the ND vs USC game.

Touch Down Jesus.
Hesburgh Library.

Dustin before his first ND Football game.

The view inside the Golden Dome.

Uncle D and Finn in front of the Grotto, Monday.
There were finally enough spaces available for
us to light a candle. They fill up fast on home football
game weekends.

The Grotto at night. Sean and Dustin walked
home from the pep rally Friday night, it was late,
but still really full of people.

Sean took Dustin to Corby's (famous from the movie
Rudy). They stopped by here after touring
the College Football Hall of Fame.

Sean walked Dustin by the old cemetery where
Father Sorin was buried, on the way home from
the pep rally. They said there was a low fog, and
it looked like something out of a scary movie.
Too bad the picture doesn't show it.
(You can see a couple cross markers.)

Stations of the cross lit up at night.
This is on a trail off the beaten path. We pass it
every time we do our walks around St. Mary's Lake.

We had a wonderful visit with Uncle D! We did a lot during this short visit. He came in Thursday. Friday he went to the football players luncheon, where Brian Lohr surprised Sean and had him recognized before it started. After the luncheon they went to the College Football Hall of Fame, then onto Corby's Bar for a few beers. Then we linked up at Rocco's Restaurant for wonderful Italian pizza after the boys got out of school. They then went to the pep rally on the Irish Green and Sean showed him several sights on the walk home. They even fell upon the band performing at the Golden Dome at midnight!

Saturday Sean's cousin James Ahern and family came by for a visit before the game. The babysitter came and Dustin and I walked to campus for all the pregame activities. (Sean stayed behind waiting for our friend Matt to get there.) I also showed Dustin around campus some more, 1st Down Moses, Touchdown Jesus, etc. Then we linked up with Matt and Sean for dinner at the tailgate, Trumpets under the Dome, and the band marching to the stadium. "Here come the Irish!"

Sunday we woke up and went to mass at the Basilica. It was PACKED! We barely got a seat in the back. Did you know that mass is now broadcast live on Catholic TV? 10am ET. We hurried home and had lunch, got the boys in their costumes and hurried out to Zoo Boo, at our local zoo. It was CRAZY! I'm glad D was with me, my voice was gone and he was a big help carrying Finn's costume. :)

Monday Finn and I took Dustin back to campus while Sean and Cullen were in school. We were able to light a candle in the grotto. Finn rode his bike around campus. We got to hear several stories from an university worker showing another out-of-towner around. Come to find out, that other out-of-towner was from Garder, KS. Dustin and I talked to him about it, telling him our mother's family is from Edgerton. He knew all about our grandpa's station! The old car cut in half ("Divorced, she got half.") and about the book, In Cold Blood. That man stole from grandpa an he was mentioned in the book and was in the movie. What a small world!! Then we went on over to the Bookstore, so Dustin could shop without the massive crowd! He was able to go with me to pick up Cullen from school that afternoon. Cullen thought that was great. ;)

Before we knew it, it was time for Sean to drive him back to the airport. As they backed out the driveway Cullen said "I'm gonna miss Uncle D." I think that sums it up! We had a great visit!! Now I just hope he doesn't get my laryngitis!!

a long lost visitor...

top row L to R- James Ahern, Sean, me, Marian Ahern
bottom row L to R- Finn must-hold-the-spoon McCaffery, Seamus, Cullen

Sean's cousin James Ahern now lives in Indianapolis and came up for the ND game with his wife, Marian and almost 2 year old son, Seamus. Albeit short, it was a really nice visit! All the boys played very nicely together. We hope to go down to Indianapolis at some point to visit them again and maybe check out the awesome zoo there?

Seamus was a cute thing. I think his expression in this pictures is too funny! He is a BIG boy and was really into all the truck and cars at our house. James said they almost named him Cullen... so maybe there will be another little Cullen in the family some day? :)

It was a great little reunion. Sean hasn't seen James since his high school graduation in 1998!

**You must forgive me, I think Mrs. Ahern is Marian, but it may be Miriam? This nasty laryngitis is messing up my ears too...**

Zoo Boo

Cullen, the Lego Mini-figurine.
He got a lot of Ohhhh's and Ahhhhh's
walking through the zoo. :)
He may not be the roundest Lego head
on the block, but I'm proud of it!

Finn's costume. He REALLY wanted to be a
"John Deere tractor guy." Of course they don't
sell tractor costumes, so I made it.

Luckily, Cullen wanted to be a green Lego minifig,
so I only had to buy 3 spray paint colors!

Here Finn is saying "Hi, Lego guy. Hi!"

"I don't know how to smile."
I think he was sick of the lines!

Finn-Finn the animal lover enjoyed seeing
all the animals!
We saw a massive buffalo! And a big lion
locked eyes with Finn, it was creepy!

I love this picture of Uncle D and the boys.

Trick or Treat!

Finn loved the train ride, we weren't surprised.
He talked about this more than anything else. :)

We got the very first seat, and lo and behold...
it was made in Wichita, Kansas. :)

With my favorite John Deere tractor guy
and Lego minifig!!

Sunday, after church at the Basilica on campus, Sean went onto the house to get some homework done. So Dustin and I took the boys to the local zoo for Boo Zoo. I've never been to this zoo before, so I had no idea what to expect. Maybe it was better that way?? It was literally, a zoo. I think we had to wait about 45 min before we even got into the zoo. After the first few stations the bottleneck opened up and we could actually walk without bumping into people everywhere.

I wasn't feel well. At. All. (I'm sure I have laryngitis.) No voice, the works. I'm so thankful that my brother joined us! There is no way I would've made it through the zoo. He carried the tractor (darn flat tire ((read: one tire fell off)) and it was too much and too far and too top heavy for Finn to manage by himself for too long. Factor in me having no voice to keep the Lego and tractor in tow = no fun. Plus the boys were excited for him to see them in their costumes. :)

Cullen gets to bring his costume in for show and tell Wednesday. He can hardly wait! Unfortunately they don't have any parties in his school, so this was a way for the teacher to get around it.

Classic Finn....

This is what Sean and I found in the upstairs bathroom last night.... We thought Finn was sleeping. Instead he cut a good bit of hair off the center of his head. We have family pictures scheduled for Saturday. Isn't that just how life goes?? We couldn't help but laugh. Fortunately, despite the large amount of hair he cut off, you can't really tell. Unless you look hard and close. This boy... he's such a little trouble-maker! But I wouldn't have him any other way. And the bright side? Our life isn't boring! At. All. :) So remember this when you get our Christmas card this year. Ha Ha Ha.

Another random note on Finn. We've discovered he loves to eat hard boiled eggs! Seems strange to me that a 3 year old would love those so much. He always mooches them off us... Yesterday when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he asked for "those eggs I like." How could I resist? I made 6. He had fun peeling it himself, and he ate it all. At lunch I asked what he wanted and he asked for another egg. I tried to change his mind, but he insisted. Then this morning he requested another one. Cullen decided to get in the action this morning too, but he was soon gagging, so Finn finished his off too. Who knew?!?

PJ day at preschool

Finn has been looking forward to PJ day at school! They were able to bring along a special blanket, animal or pillow. Needless to say, Blankie went to school too! And I know that these jammies are about 2 inches too short, but these are the ones he insisted on wearing. :) He's been talking a mile a minute since we got home. He sure is loving school! Right now they are talking about VanGough. They just finished up a segment on spiders, and went on a spider hunt. He told me, I can't touch spiders at school, but I'm gonna at home. Unlike Cullen, Finn LOVES to catch, hold, smash, insects.

Cullen is continuing to do great in school too. His teacher sent home the results his recent assessment. He got 100% on number recognition 1-20, counting 1-20, counting by 10's, and he knows all the basic shapes (square, rectangle, circle, triangle, rhombus, hexagon, and trapezoid). She also had them write their numbers, they are expected to write 1-10 unassisted. Cullen made it to 27! Next she is quizzing them on the 15 sight words they've been working on and letter recognition and sounds. I'm so proud of him! He is now able to write his last name unassisted and without looking at it. That was something he struggled with before school started. He'll be starting his middle name soon...

boys in beards

My sister recently learned how to crochet and just sent us these hats and beards for the boys. They are HILARIOUS, and the boys are very proud of their new beards. :) Don't they look like little lumberjacks?!?

Thank you Aunt Coco!!! We love them!

pumpkin patch & corn maze

Finn relaxing in the old tractor wheel.
Heaven for Finn-Finn. :)

Finn made the first 2 he threw at the board.
We knew he had good aim though...
(broken windows anyone.....?)
I just won't mention the poor woman he hit in the head
while throwing at the opposite board!
I can't take him anywhere!

Hole punching the answer at one of the
quiz stations.

Quinn, Cullen, Finn, Grant and Claire
at the start of the corn maze.

The boys running through the corn maze.

We met up with the Wilson clan again this afternoon and took the kiddos to the pumpkin patch/corn maze. The kids had so much fun. The corn maze was cool. It was cut into the shape of Indiana and had a series of 18 quiz questions about the history of Indiana. Even though none of us are FROM Indiana, we did surprisingly well. :) And it only took us an hour to walk through the maze. Not bad, considering we had 5 kids in tow.

Indiana sure is beautiful this time of year. There are so many huge trees, and they are all changing color now. We are going through an Indian Summer now too, another day in the mid 80's. I'll miss this when the lake effect snow hits!