Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween and Yee-ha! from the Kuperus Cowboy and Cowgirls. 

Since we decided to do the Halloween festivities today, on a Saturday, we figured we'd make an event out of it.  We first drove out to Hudsonville to see Casey's parents, and of course the kids got treats there.  On the way back we stopped to see "Miss Janis," Casey's boss, and of course they got more treats.  We picked up some dinner and ate it at my parents' house.  You guessed it, more treats there.  As if they didn't have enough candy already, we headed over to Calvin again to trick-or-treat in the apartments.  We always have fun doing that, and it's a nice atmosphere and it's always a bonus to be inside where it is warm!  We were able to connect with our friends the Haverdinks and a get a picture of our kiddos with Anna and Elizabeth.

The end of fall soccer

Today was Peter's last soccer game of the fall season.  It was a cold day, but of course he still had lots of fun and had his dedicated fan club out there cheering for him!  He's already looking forward to playing again in the spring.  Here he is showing off his medal:

WCSG

Every weekend either Laura or I try to do a short outing with one of the kids (Laura has the schedule worked out of course, I can't keep track of it, but today was Peter's and my day).

As some of you know, Peter is a huge fan of the local Christian radio station, WCSG. If he is in his room the station is on, if he is in the car the station is on, if he is in the living room the station is on.....you get the picture. He also can name pretty much any song that comes on.

Earlier this week, I emailed the studio to see if there was any way that I could bring Peter by the station for a tour. The executive director emailed me back and said he'd be more than happy to show Peter around!

This morning Peter and I went out for breakfast and then headed up to the station at 8:30. Chris Lemke, the station director met us for our tour. I think Peter was a little bit surprised over the fact that there wasn't anyone actually at the station today and it was all pre-recorded. He got to see all the studios and Mr. Chris did a fabulous job of explaining how the station works to Peter. He even let Peter request a song to play in the current playlist. The below picture is of Peter having a conversation with Mr. Chris in the studio over the microphone. Mr. Chris recorded their conversation and there may be a good chance some of it gets used on the air.....he told Peter to listen tomorrow between 2:00 and 3:00! I think he was quite suprised when Peter managed to name all of the current Toby Mac songs that are on the radio!

When we left, Mr. Chris gave Peter some gifts, including a new Third Day Christmas album.

Foot Frolic Frenzy!

Today the kids had the Foot Frolic Frenzy at school, which was the PTO fundraiser.  They gathered sponsorships for running laps, and were looking forward to running today!  What a blessing that this was scheduled for today, and not sometime earlier this week when we had tornado warnings and very high winds!  It was cool, but sunny and a nice day for the event.

Peter, Miriam and I went to school this morning to cheer on Esther and her classmates.  She did a great job, and ran/walked 2 miles in her 1/2 hour time slot.  We all did a couple laps with her, and Peter ran a little more while Miriam and I cheered.  I told Peter not to run too much, because he needed to save his energy for his own run!

Peter, Esther, and her friend Alexis,

being chased by Mr. K, the principal!

We did some errands and had lunch, and then headed back to school in the afternoon for Peter's turn.  Since he doesn't go to school on Fridays, he ran with his teacher's M/W/F class, and a couple of his classmates came as well.  They ran a smaller loop that was set up on the tennis courts, and they kept track of how many laps the kids ran by putting a rubber band on their wrist each time they came around.  When they finished, Peter had 22 rubber bands on his wrist.  Since they had a 15 minute time slot, and I knew there was no way he had done those laps in under a minute each, something didn't add up.  I asked Peter, "Did you only get 1 rubber band each time you went around?"  He replied, "No, well sometimes I got 2!"  They had several parents handing them out in order to keep things moving, and I think some of the kids received rubber bands from more than one person on some of their trips around!  All of our donors had made donations of a flat amount, but if they'd sponsored by lap, Peter could have brought in some extra big money!

Tonight we went back to school for the fall festival.  They had various activities, farm animals to see, and snacks available.  Of course the kids wanted to get their faces painted, but then we came home and they needed showers!  We figured we would take a picture before they washed off the artwork... this picture totally made me laugh! 

Crazy Cousins

Ty and Cassie came over for the afternoon the other day, and the kids were having fun with the cowboy hats...

Miriam is saying, "Yee-haw!" in the first picture.  Ty looks quite thrilled in both pictures.  He was pretty excited about getting his picture taken.  :)

Calvin Nature Preserve

We continued our fun weekend yesterday by going to see Toy Story 3.  This was Miriam's first experience going to the movie theater, and she did great!  We all loved the movie and laughed a lot.

Today was absolutely beautiful and almost felt like summer.  We hung out with some neighbors outside for a while this afternoon and then decided to go to the Calvin Nature Preserve for a walk.  We keep thinking this wonderful weather can't last, but we're enjoying it while we can!

Post Family Farm... again!

The kids had yesterday and today off from school, so we tried to do some fun things and enjoy our days together.  Yesterday I worked in the morning and they hung out with Grandpa and Grandma.  We went to Olga's for lunch with Grandma and then the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum.  Today we relaxed and hung out at home in the morning, and then took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed back out to Post Family Farm.  We enjoyed the pumpkin train, playground/zip line, rope maze, straw piles, pumpkin donuts and cider, hayride, and pumpkin patch.  It was a great afternoon, and we ended our day by meeting Daddy for supper.  It was so nice to have a couple days without the busyness of the school routine.  Is summer vacation almost here?   :)

Despite the fact that Miriam isn't smiling in most of these pictures, she did have a great time!  I couldn't seem to get good shots of her smiling today.

For those that are worried that I let the girl with the broken arm do the zip line (Grandma), I actually held her the whole time, but she still thought she was as cool as the big kids.  I think Peter and Esther each did this about 20 times.  Maybe Casey can build one in our backyard...

We bought a dozen pumpkin donuts and restrained ourselves from each eating 3 of them, so that we could have some more tomorrow.  Those things are amazing!

Photo by Esther:

When Daddy Goes to Texas...

...the kids get these! Guess what they're going to be for Halloween this year?

Peter's First Field Trip

Today Peter had his first field trip, and it was a beautiful day for a trip to Post Family Farm!  We played on the playground, had pumpkin donuts and cider, participated in a play about how a seed grows into a pumpkin, went on a hayride, picked out pumpkins in the field, saw the animals, and played on the straw piles.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a fall afternoon!

Grandparents Day Part 2

Today was Esther's day to have the grandpas and grandmas visit her at school.  She had a great time with them and enjoyed showing them things in her classroom and reading to them.  They also did a program for all the grandparents.  What a special day!