CUBS WIN!!!!

Some very exciting things happened in the fall. First off, this guy went from this....

To this....

3 Day Potty Training worked again and Matthew was super easy to train.  He does not need diapers at night or nap either after 3 days and he's very rarely had an accident since then - awesome job buddy!  The second exciting thing that happened is we grew some vegetables we have never grown before - like this awesome cauliflower!  We also had luck with sweet potatoes and soy beans.  Unfortunately our tomatoes were not as much as in previous years and our zucchini was also limited.  But we still had a pretty good growing season overall.  Thank you to Paul and the kids for tending the garden!

And finally, some would say the most exciting thing that happened in the fall was the Cubs winning the World Series!!  We were all very into watching the game, so I got a few treats for that last game watching.

We let the kids stay up for the historic win, but it got very late, especially with the (much needed) rain delay.  This was Juj towards the end of the game.

And Abbey too.  We eventually carried the girls up to bed.  Ben and Mom watched almost the whole thing, but started to get too nervous so we went up to bed while Dad kept the faith.  He ran up to tell us when they had won.  There were fireworks going off in the neighborhood and excited yelling.  It was very cool to be awake and watch it!  

A few short days later, the Cubs had a parade downtown.  The kids happened to be off of school, so Paul took the day off and we went down the night before to sleep in a hotel right off the parade route.  Paul got up super early to go secure us a spot on the parade route.  The rest of us got up and met him there a little later.  This guy was super excited!

Dad secured us an awesome spot and we thanked him with some coffee when we finally came to the spot.

We had to wait a while for it to start, but the crowd was excited and it was a fun atmosphere (minus the drunk teens next to us that Paul used his body to shield us from!).

They handed out signs and towels to everyone.

We all donned our Cubs gear.  I told the kids to pack their clothes for the parade and Juliette came down with her pink sparkly dress.  She said she would put her Cubs shirt over the dress and that is just what she did.  The girl has her style!

Matthew didn't have a Cubs shirt, so he borrowed Daddy's hat!

She also brought her Cubby Bear with her to the parade.

The police were holding the "W" flag, just showing the really fun atmosphere of the crowds.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Finally big buses came by with the players on top decks.  It actually went really quickly, but we were still glad to have gone.

Jake Arrieta

Rizzo!

Lester and Grandpa Rossi holding the trophy!

After the parade the police man got Cubby Bear for Juliette because she dropped it.  Very nice!

Then we walked over to see that Chicago had dyed the river Cubby Blue!

The whole city was festive!

Then we decided to drive up to Wrigley to see the stadium.

World Series Champions!!!

It was a really fun day downtown after a really exciting World Series!

Halloween

Halloween season was upon us again....I say season because even though Halloween is only one day, it gets celebrated for weeks leading up to the big day. We started with the Cub Scout Halloween party, which is always a fun event, but our last one for a while as Ben is in his last year of Cub Scouts. It is a family friendly party that all the kids enjoy. Matthew went as "Scary Bones" for the party.

He matched Daddy!

Juliette went as a penguin (in a costume that Ben wore when he was 3).

Ben's pumpkin contest entry.

Ben went as Freddy from "Nightmare on Elm Street".  Note - he has not actually seen this movie, but his costume is perfect!

Abbey went as a pirate.

At the party they decorated candy apples.

 

Matthew was a little unsure about it, but he liked the gummy worms.

They had "skull hockey" as a game, which Matthew really enjoyed.

There were also the school Halloween parties.  Juliette went as a Notre Dame cheerleader and enjoyed her last year at the school fun fair, which is for grades PK-2.

Due to the scary nature of Ben's costume, he chose not to wear it to school and instead went as the Cubs "W" flag!

Somebody was very excited to dress up like Mickey Mouse!

Cheeeeeese!

Finally the big day came and we were ready to go trick or treating!

So we have Mickey Mouse, ND cheerleader, a banana (Abbey randomly said she wanted to go as a banana this year - I happened to be telling my friend this because I thought it was funny and she just so happened to have a banana costume that her daughter had worn in the past, so we had to borrow it at that point!), and Freddy.

It was a very fun night of trick or treating with the kids.

Mickey Mouse had great helpers.

Wait for me guys!

The "W" flags!

You can't read it from the picture, but this street sign is for Elm Street!

Matthew was such a trooper.  He really enjoyed all the candy he got!

They came home with quite the loot and then proceeded to make their trades with each other. We had our traditionally chili dinner waiting for us in the crock pot too.

Happy Baby enjoyed Halloween :)