October

This year October was full of school, sports, and Halloween festivities. 

Luke finished his 8th baseball season (whoa - is that right?) and played another season of soccer at church.  Caleb played soccer again through the church and absolutely loved it!  This was the first season Nate hasn’t had to coach him and it seemed to work out a lot better.  Haha.  There are four baseball siblings who played soccer so we decided to put them on a team together so it would be easier getting back and forth between church and the sports complex on Saturdays for games.  It ended up being so much fun, too!

Here are three of the four little siblings watching baseball before heading over for their own practice and game. 

Caleb’s whole team.  

We had a photographer friend come out and do baseball pictures for the Nationals instead of paying outrageous prices and getting crappy pictures through the league.  I need to find the rest of the pictures but we just loved this fun team picture of the boys.  They had a decent season but mainly just had lots of fun together.

Caleb’s pre K fall picture.  My cheesy little cowboy.  

Now Halloween time!  Luke was John the Baptist, Caleb was Chase and Eli was Marshall from Paw Patrol.

(I was going to try to make Caleb’s costume but when we went to the Halloween store to find a police hat he found this costume and fell in love with it.  I decided it was going to be much easier to buy it there then try to find a brown sweatsuit, etc, to make one myself.

Eli’s costume is Caleb’s old Dalmatian costume repurposed though!

We celebrated at WRBC’s annual Fall Festival.  I love the image of John the Baptist on stage with Pastor Randy, doin’ the twist.  

Tuff Stuff sure was cute walking around the Fall Festival with an empty pumpkin and three packages of Smarties in his hand.  He didn’t quite get the whole trunk-or-treat aspect of it.

Halloween night we started a new tradition.  We went to our friends the Walker’s house and had pizza and trick-or-treated in their neighborhood.  All the kids were so adorable in their costumes!  
Finley the cat, Ella as Minnie Mouse, John as Luke Skywalker, Emily as Cleopatra, Elise as Princess Leia, Luke as John the Baptist, Caleb as Chase, Eli as Marshall and Cole the puppy.

On the road!  Or rather the sidewalk.

Love.

This is just about the cutest picture ever.  He has never seen the movies before but Woody is one of his favorite toys!

Cake Bandit

This weekend we went to Emmett to celebrate Nate’s grandmother/the boys’ great grandmother’s birthday.  It’s always fun to get as much of the family together as we can.  The kids loved running around Nate’s aunt and uncle’s house playing with their cousins.  Plus they have a stock tank with huge catfish practically in their backyard.  That was a big hit.  And stressful trying to make sure Eli didn’t go swimming with the fishies.  

He forgot about the pond pretty quickly once he found the cake.

This child is the most stubborn, the most independent, the most destructive, and the most spirited of all our Stroder boys.  Good thing he might be the cutest and the funniest to ensure his survival.

Pata with 8 of her 16 grandkids and their spouses. 

And now with some of her great grandchildren!

DestrucTuff

Oh this kid.  He is such a mess.  And he MAKES such a mess.  He really does not like it if all the books are filed neatly on the bookshelf.  Nothing can stay in place longer than a few minutes when this baby is around.

Caleb’s 1st Family Portrait

At least - the first that I have seen!

He clearly inherited my artistic abilities.  

Definitely Related!

I posted a this picture on Facebook yesterday of my sister, my cousin, and me with Ann Reinking after watching her in Bye Bye, Birdie at the Dallas Summer Musicals in Fair Park in 1991.  Afterwards I started thinking and I realized I was almost Luke’s exact age in the picture.  So that prompted a quick comparison...

I think we are related.  

Gumball Face

This child is a total mess! Somehow he found the bag of gumballs his brothers bought at Luke's game last weekend. When I found him he had two gumballs in his mouth, one in his hand, and had smeared yellow, green, and orange all over himself and the floor. He was very unhappy when I fished the gum out of his mouth and his hand and threw it all in the trash.