Halloween

Halloween was another huge event for the Bairdlows!  We were all cops and robbers, convicts and SWAT team members.  Dave built another amazing float to drive us around the neighborhood.  It was a SWAT car, complete with flashing lights and police sirens.  It was awesome, as usual.  Even Mom and Dad joined in the fun with convict costumes!

Our robbers were so cute.  Grandma made robber bags for them just minutes before the ward Trunk or Treat, and they looked adorable!

Brooke rocked the SWAT costume too!

All week long, everytime we walked by Miss Molly's house on the way to the bus stop, Natalie and Michael had to stop and say Hello to Tigger.  It's adorable and so fun to have little kids enjoy him so much!

Rita's dog, Scout, even got in on the fun with his convict costume.  We posed with him at the bus stop, but didn't take him along Trick or Treating.  Too many little ones to chase after already!

The convicts with their prison braids.

The incredible SWAT vehicle, and a few cute robbers getting ready to steal some candy.

The whole crew!

And Evan's loot.  The candy trade on Halloween night and the following days is almost as fun as trick or treating.  We had great weather and more stamina than in previous years, so we hauled a lot of candy back home before we forced these kids to quit trick or treating! 

The neighborhood we live in is so amazing.  We had Dinner on the Driveway with a some neighbors and enjoyed a potluck dinner of fun Halloween food before we all headed out trick or treating.  I love our neighborhood because everyone comes out and spends the evening socializing.  Several people set up bonfires, refreshment stands, and handout out great food to the adults along the route.  This year some neighbor boys even put on a haunted house in the forest, and it was so fun for the kids to run through.  I love the friendliness of our neighborhood throughout the year, but Halloween nights is one of my favorite nights of the year.  I feel blessed to live in a neighborhood where our neighbors are our friends, and our friends are our neighbors.

Mike's birthday and Mom and Dad's visit

Mike had a birthday in the midst of Mom and Dad's visit.  I spent his birthday at Harpers Ferry with Mom and Dad and he spent his day busily working, but next year, I'm kidnapping him and taking him on a convertible ride through beautiful Virginia for his birthday!  We did celebrate that night with presents and some Halloween birthday cake (not his favorite).  Next year will be better!  The kids were still happy to shower him with gifts, including a fire stick for our bonfire pit outside.

Mom and Dad took a five-week, cross-country road trip to visit LDS church history sites, temples, and their kids and grandkids along the way.  We loved the time they spent in Virginia with us!  One Sunday afternoon Natalie talked them both into playing Frozen Memory with her.  Five-year-olds are pretty darn good at that game!  We loved having Grandma and Grandpa here for Halloween and all the festivities that week.  It also was nice for us to have a few Sunday dinners with Dave and Kara's family.  We live next door, but life happens and is busy and sometimes we don't see too much of each other.  October was a busy but super fun month!

Newseum

 I've never done this before, but I left Michael home with Kara and spent a day with Mom and Dad at the Newseum.  It was a totally different experience to enjoy a musuem without trying to share the information with my children.  The Newseum is a fascinating musuem and we spent several hours perusing it and still didn't see it all!  The section of the Berlin wall is beautiful.  Dad and I are standing on the western side of the wall.  The East Berlin side is competely gray and untouched.

This is the top of the World Trade Center and the section devoted to news from September 11, 2001.  The wall shows the headlines of major newspapers across the country.  It was sad to read the first-hand experiences of reporters covering the events as they unfolded that day.  They shared images from one reporter who entered the 2nd tower with the firefighters and never made it out.  His camera was later found intact and the film shows the images he captured in the minutes before his death.  

The Pulitzer Prize photographs section was humbling.  They choose two photos a year--one from a news story and one from a feature story.  This moving exhibit featured photographs of human triumph, poverty, death, tragedy and extreme joy.  I left with greater appreciation for reporters on the front lines capturing the news and sharing it with us.  So often I feel frustrated by the "biased news" we receive, but after visiting the Newseum I feel grateful to live in a country that embraces freedom of the press.  It was a great day spent with Mom and Dad.  

Fort McHenry

For Columbus Day, the kids were out of school and we decided to gather some friends and go visit Fort McHenry in Baltimore.  I've wanted to see Fort McHenry, the 1812 war battleground that inspired the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner, for a long time.  It was gently raining most of the day, but we still had a great time learning about this historic fort.

We started in the Visitor's Center with a 15-minute film that told about the War of 1812 and Francis Scott Key, and then we went outside and toured the fort.  

I loved how just a few minutes of history and then letting the kids wander around the fort suddenly turned them all into Patriots ready to defend their country.  The boys ran around hiding and then shouting "The British are coming!" and pretending to fire the cannons.  

I love it when history comes to life for my kids, so this was a fun outing for me.  

Natalie really wanted to help with the flag ceremony, and this scout leader was there to fly a flag for a boy who just earned his Eagle Scout and he let Natalie and Lucy help lower the flag and fold it up.  They loved being part of the flag ceremony at such a historic place. 

We only stayed two hours, but the drizzling rain didn't slow these mamas and kids down one bit.  Loved this outing and love my fun friends who are willing to drop things and go with me!

Fall Instagram Updates

Soccer season!  Megan, Evan, and Natalie all played soccer this fall and LOVED it.  We loved running from game to game and cheering them one.  It was particularly fun for Natalie and Lucy to play on the same team and have Kara as one of their coaches.  Natalie improved greatly and really loved to run after the ball.  She is dying that the season is over and she can't wait to play again in the spring.

Evan, Caleb, and Seth all got to be on the same team for the first time year, and those 3 Amigos had a great time playing together.  Their coach, Tom Hinckley, was wonderful and really taught them good skills.  They improved a lot and their games were fun to watch.

Megan loved playing with several friends from school and making new friends.  She also improved a lot and even had an assist in the championship game!  We were so proud of her for going after something she wanted to do and just doing it!

Michael and his joy school friends love to dress up!  Joy school has been so fun for Michael this year.  He loves school days and loves having his friends over to play.

Michael taking Bear out for a walk.  This boy always has something with wheels in his hands!

Evan's class read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at school and then did a writing assignment where they designed their own Wonka room.  Then we had Wonka Day at the school and everyone got to create their room with candy.  It was a memorable day!

Family Fun at Shake Shack!

Michael and his work boots on a Saturday morning.  Saturdays are his FAVORITE day of the week because he gets to follow Mike around and work with him all day.  He also loves having all the kids home from school.  Hard to be the youngest sometimes!

Michael's joy school friends learning about the Colonists.  We cooked hot dogs over the campfire for lunch and had fun playing outside in our playhouse.  

Michael just hitched this little fire truck right up to the trailer and tried to take his friends for a ride.  He loves tractor trailers.  Wheels, wheels, wheels!

Applesauce day!  Kara and I bottled 105 quarts of applesauce this year.  A new record for us!  (Helps not to have nursing babies and toddlers at our feed all day long!)  Megan joined in the fun after school for a bit.  It's a ton of work, but it's always fun for Kara and I to get to spend the day together, and we accomplish a lot and then enjoy the applesauce all year long.

This kid may refuse to potty train, but he's a master with the train building.  He has started building these crazy high towers, using Legos to assist him, and then takes his trains up and over.  Pretty impressive for a three-year-old!

October was a great month because we got Grandma and Grandpa to come visit!  We loved Grandma's Halloween stories that travel with her in October.  They drove 6,101 miles over five weeks to make the long trip from Utah to Virginia and added in some fun detours along the way.  They saw six temples and many church history sights and some other friends and family along the way.  We were so glad they came to visit!

Mike is multitasking . . . a skill he has mastered!

Brooke after one of her many recitals.  We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa be able to come to this one!

Nathan McEuen in concert in the Ludlows backyard.  This was a delightful venue for a free concert and we hope they will host one again!  All the kids enjoyed listening to the good country music and being outside with friends.