Fun in the Fall

Fall is one of my favorite seasons because of the fun activities you can do with your kids. I look forward to the pumpkin patch every year. I also enjoy making fun fall arts and crafts and baked goods. Here are a few fun fall Fortner Family activities we have been up to.

Pumpkin Patch @ Kruger's Farm

Painting Pumpkin Jars

Trying on our costumes for Trick-or Treating

Fire Safety and Fire Prevention @ the Kelso Fire Station

(We even practiced our fire escape plan and both kids know how to get out of the house and where to meet the family. They loved doing it!)

Making Yummy treats! We were bored so we made up our own yummy treat. We called them Minty Monster Cookies! (See the recipe below.)

Minty Monster Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter flavored)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

food coloring

Heat the oven to 375oF Mis together butter, shortening, sugar, egg and flavorings.

Blend in the flour and salt. Divide the dough in half. Add food coloring of choice. We used lime green and purple. Roll dough (a little from each bowl) into a tsp sized ball. Place on a cookie sheet and bake about 9 minutes.

With the last batch we rolled them in a mixture of sugar and sprinkles for an added touch.

Makes a little over 3 dozen. The kids loved them!

Summer to Fall

Summer is over and now for one of my favorite seasons fall! Zoe started Kindergarten and LOVES it. Presley started pre-school and is really enjoying it too. I celebrated my 30th birthday (again) with my family and wonderful friends. We had a yummy taco bar. My brother Jeremy got to be here this year from New York. We did the Race for the Cure for our 11th year. Team Myrtle's Turtles was the biggest it has been yet. We raised almost $1000 for the organization too! I am looking forward to Zoe's birthday and our annual trip to the pumpkin patch coming up soon! I love the fall colors and smells! It's such a beautiful season!

Summer is starting to move WAY too FAST!

The beginning of my break started out nice and slow doing fun activities with the kids at home but since the 4th it seems like we are on the go, go, GO! We haven't been doing our letter a day and I don't see us getting to it any time soon. Today Zoe started VBS at First Baptist and Presley started Busy Bee Pre-school Pirate Week. They will be busy with that the rest of the week. They were both a little scared at first but both were happy and smiling when I picked them up. I'm hoping summer will slow back down next week and we can chill out by the pool again! :)

Our little man's first time away at school by himself. So far so good! He is excited to start real pre-school in the fall!

Arrg! It's Pirate Week!

E is for Eggs and F is for the Fourth of July

With all the fun stuff we were doing for the long weekend with Daddy we didn't get to our letters. We did have eggs on Sunday morning for the letter "E"! We talked about "F" is for the Fourth of July. We did lots to celebrate the holiday! We also saw and heard lots of fireworks. We even got to play with pop-it's. (I don't think they are fireworks but close enough for us!) The kids also decorated their bikes with red, white, and blue streamers.

Four Days with Daddy!

Steve hung a flag on our house in honor of Independence Day!


We took a little break from our summer fun and enjoyed having Daddy at home with us for four whole days! On Saturday we went to the Cardboard Boat Races at the lake with Grandma Betsy and Grandpa Ray and Grandma Vicki too!There were some really cool boats this year.

Afterwards we went to a BBQ at Derek and Ann's house. We had a great day. The kids fell right to sleep the minute they hit the pillow.

On Sunday, Steve went golfing with my Dad and Chris. Then he went and picked up the metal parts to his motorcycle he was having painted. He is a very happy guy! I took the kids to Venna's birthday party (one of Zoe's Pre-school friends). Zoe got to go swimming again... she is loving it and getting really brave in the water too. She will be ready for swim lessons for sure. We also celebrated Grandma Vicki's birthday! Steve made yummy burgers. We toasted marshmallow and had s'mores too! The kids made grandma a card and we found some pretty carnations for her too (her favorite)!

On Monday, we started our day at the 4th of July Parade.It was awesome! The kids loved it because they got SO much goodies!

After the parade we walked through the flea market and all got Tie dyed shirts (I got a dress). We had dinner at home with my parents then went back to the lake to watch the fireworks! My favorite part was watching the kids face during the show. They were so amazed! I am really glad we decided to go to the lake this year.

On Tuesday, we ran some errands and went to Freddy's Just for the Halibut for lunch. Then we came home and played outside. We had our first water balloon fight! It was so nice having daddy home for four whole days!