Fall Pictures & Rocket Fizz

 It's become tradition to take pictures in the same spot on the same weekend each October.  This is our third year doing this, and I am hoping to keep it going.  It's fun to see the changes in the kiddos from year to year.  Shane isn't feeling great, and I sadly didn't get any good solo pictures of him.  

Here are my favorites from the day...

My primary goal is always to get a decent picture of all the kiddos together.  This was my favorite group shot...

 A few other group shots...

My girls. 

My buddy.

And we decided to take the tripod along today to get a family shot, which we have never attempted before.

 Click here and here to see our Fall pics from 2013 and 2014.

After pictures, we decided to check out the new candy shop in town...

Our Saturday

 The kids had their last soccer games of this season yesterday.  I unfortunately didn't get any pictures from Meredith's game (it was at 8:30 am and super cold, so I stayed home with the other kids while Kris went).   Here are a few from C's last game.  This was the first season of soccer for both the kids, and they learned so much.  And they really liked it.  We are planning to sign them up for the Spring session as well.

Some of big brother's biggest fans...

After a morning/early afternoon of soccer, we tackled the back yard.  It was literally covered in leaves...a brown and red blanket that went from fence to fence.  I wish I had taken a "before" picture!   Last year, we raked a little bit at a time.  This year, we waited until all (or at least most of) the leaves fell and just got it all done in one day.  It was a lot of work, but we had lots of little helpers which made it go a little faster.  At one point, Caleb's friend J came over and we put him to work also. ;)

Figuring out the best strategy to fill the lawn bags.

Same Spot, Same Weekend.

 On this weekend last year, we took the kids to a local park/forest preserve to get some updated pictures.  I decided to take them to the same spot this year to get some new ones.  We had a lot of fun today, hiking and exploring in between the camera stuff.  The kids found some paths through the woods that we hadn't trekked before, so that made our time there extra fun.