FALL BREAK!!!

Eli's fall break was last week and we LOVED being together as a family all week long. 

Monday: we went to the mall to find Eli some new shoes. We stopped by and said hello to the puppies. Eleanor decided she wanted to get out of the stroller and shop for shoes too! After shopping, we played at the play place.

Here's Eleanor ending the evening with her personal scripture study. 

Tuesday: We went to Wal-mart and picked out pumpkins for $3.00 - so much cheaper than picking them up from a pumpkin patch. We found the stickers at Target and the boys decorated the pumpkins all by themselves!

Wednesday: we woke up to the first SNOW of the season!! It was exciting and shocking all at the same time.

We've heard good things about the Children's museum in Pueblo and we decided to check it out. We had the best time. There was no traffic driving down and the kids practically had the place to themselves. The exhibit right now is SUPER HEROS. The theme changes several times throughout the year and we're excited to go back next month and see the Christmas exhibit. With our military discount, I was able to get a membership that was reasonably priced and we're excited to go back soon.

After Pueblo, we met up with Dad for dinner at Chucky Cheese. Eli told his class at school today that this was the highlight of his fall break. haha :)

Aaron was a kind neighbor and blew out our neighbors sprinklers with our air compressor. Our neighbors were so grateful and delivered these delicious treats to thank him.

On Thursday, we stayed home and cleaned and had a spontaneous pumpkin-waffle-lunch party with friends. Our friends, the Harpers, recently moved to Texas and they were in town visiting family. They asked if they could come over and we invited the Bensons over too. We loved having lunch with our friends! Thursday night my parents arrived and it was an exciting time to get to spend time with them!! Friday morning we headed to Cave of the Winds. The kids were excited to find their name plates in the gift shop. They wanted to buy them, but I told them I'd take a picture and we'd have a picture to look at instead of the souvenir. ;) The boys started to get terrified as we waited to enter the cave. They faced their fears and ended up loving it. I don't use the baby carrier much anymore for Eleanor because she likes to move around so much. She didn't last long in the carrier because she wanted to see what was going on in the cave. 

After the cave, my parents treated us to lunch at Rudy's. They spoiled us this trip and we sure enjoyed the memories we created with them while they visited. The kids LOVE when my mom busts out the guitar. On Saturday morning, I ran my parents to the airport at 4:30 a.m as they headed to Jerusalem. We miss talking to them and can't wait to hear about their trip!!

Aaron worked on Saturday at the hotel, finishing up some maintenance projects, so the kids and I spent every minute outside because we knew the weather was drastically changing on Sunday. 

We finished up the last of the homemade popsicles! 

Baby wanted a bite too! And I loved the sun shinning on the red leaves.

During Eli's parent teacher conference last week, his teacher told me that he often talks about what he gets to do at home after the school day ends. She said, "He focuses at school and then really looks forward to going home to your family!" It made me feel happy that he looks forward to being at home with us. Eli was excited to go back to school today and I love seeing him love school so much. I was frantically looking for last minute trips we could go on for fall break, and then we decided to stay home and it was the best break of all. We loved being together and splurging on activities we don't do every day. Austin loved playing with Eli and the two boys laughed and played and wrestled all week. It was a happy break indeed!