Happy Birthday Dad!

After the parade we headed over to my parents for my dad's birthday dinner.  My brother and his family were able to join us.  Dad had requested a beef roast with all the fixings and my mom outdid herself.  It was a scrumptious dinner!  On top of the cake was a white matchbox truck.  So cute!  It was meant to symbolize the new F150 truck dad got this summer.  He loves it!

 Here's the gang during the cake and ice cream

Hahaha!  This picture cracks me up.  My sister who lives in a different state couldn't make it to dad's birthday so she mailed a card for him.  I also bought a card for him and gave it to him that night.  Somehow we got him the exact same card!!  Great minds must think alike!  Hahahaha :)
Happy Birthday Dad!  We love you!

Pumpkin Fest Parade

On Saturday we headed back downtown for the community parade.  Abby was invited by Uncle Dave and Aunt Jodi to ride on the city Chamber of Commerce float with their family and Dad was recruited to drive the float.  They all had a great time!  Mom, Grace and I grabbed our lawn chairs and parked it on the sidewalk to cheer for them as they drove by.  It was a very cold day so we were all bundled up in our winter coats ready to wave at everyone and grab all the candy they were throwing.  This is such a great parade.

 Here's Dad driving the F350 pulling the float wagon. 

 The Heneveld clan on the float

Abby and Leah waving and feeling so special.  Such great girls!

Pumpkin Fest 2012

 It was Pumpkin Fest weekend in Zeeland!  This is such a great weekend and we love going downtown for all the festivities and seeing all the pumpkin displays.  We headed down on Friday night prepared for some fun, some junk food and some laughter.  It was a cold night, but we were not disappointed.  It was awesome!

 We started with the pumpkin run.  They lined up around the park and ran into the park to grab their pumpkins.  It was so fun to watch them run.  Abby had her eye on "just the right" pumpkin, while Grace just ran around with everyone else.  She's lucky she ended up with a pumpkin.  They were tiny, but still very cute.

 Then we headed over to the area where the Critter Barn is set up.  Most of our time was spent there.  Here's Abby gobbling at the turkeys.  Every time she made a gobbling noise, they gobbled right back! It was hilarious to watch.

 There were bunnies to hold....

 pigs to watch....

 chickens to hold.....

 mama chickens to squeeze....

 and donkeys to ride!

 Yep, the Critter Barn is always a big hit with the kids!

 Then we headed further downtown where they were painting pumpkins.  The local bank provides pumpkins and paint for the kids.  When we got there, the pumpkins were all gone, but there was plenty of paint.  We grabbed our little pumpkins from the Pumpkin Run and painted those.  (And of course we also painted our hands, our jackets, our arms, etc.) 

We ended the night with some cotton candy and chili cheese fries.  YUM!  The sugar hit the system quickly and there was giggling all around.  It was a perfect evening!