Halloween

This picture was taken after the 3rd time of dressing up that week and after trick-or-treating. Makenzie was a "Sleeping Beauty Ballerina." Jordan was a skeleton (which are glow-in-the-dark pajamas that he loves.) Gavin was a doctor in his scrubs. It was nice to go around the neighborhood and meet some of our neighbors.

Trees

We live on a beautiful tree-lined street amongst many colonial homes. I love driving down the street, especially with all of the fall colors in full force. This tree is in our next door neighbor's yard.

Our street is actually named after a tree. I didn't know that until my mother mentioned it to me. I just know that people butcher the name whenever they try to pronounce it. I did myself the first time. I did a little research and found one of these trees right outside of Makenzie's preschool. It grows some amazingly large leaves. I think it is pretty cool.

The tree is a Catalpa tree, pronounced "kuh-towel-pa."

I'm cool!

I came into the living room and found Gavin wearing these....

(Compliments to his sister)

Six years and still going strong!

It was six years ago that we sealed our love for the eternities,

but it was ten years ago when it all started...

Although we went to the same school, we never met until Tyler's senior year/my junior year. We were in the same sports medicine class and were introduced to each other by a mutual friend. The Homecoming dance was our first date. As I was waiting for Tyler to pick me up, my grandfather, who was living with us at the time, who had Alzheimers, asked where I was going. I told him I had a hot date that night! Unbeknownst to me, my dad was also video recording at the same time. It makes for a great memory now!

I had another hot date with this guy tonight. Part of our agenda was to purchase Tyler his third wedding ring... yes that is his third for our marriage!

What happened to my babies?

When Gavin joined the family, I realized how fast my other kiddos are growing! It's been fun to compare all the baby pictures of the kids and also reminisce over these past 4 years of being parents. Time really does go by so fast and I'm grateful to be able to have pictures that capture our everyday life. What joy they bring to us! I've asked Tyler if he remembers what it was like without kids. Yeah... you know what kind of wise guy he is and of course he said it was great! But really I think about having dinner as a family and how different it was when it was just the 2 of us. Of course it was more peaceful and we didn't have drinks that spilled all the time, but to hear the children pray and then to talk about our day together makes everything worth it. Life with kids can be hard, messy, and tiring. But the laughter, love, and learning that takes place in our home is what keeps me going everyday.

First Day of Preschool

She has been waiting for this day for a very long time. I never knew how much it would really pull on my heart-strings to send her off on that first day.

Fall Festivities

I got to accompany Makenzie on her first field trip. To Jordan's excitement, he got to come as well. Gavin came too, but not to his excitement. The day was a very blistery cold one and it was harder on me to enjoy the adventure, as I had to keep him as warm as possible.

Their first time playing miniature golf. They loved it. It took Jordan like 40 strokes to make it in the hole. He was determined to do it and not cheat by just sticking the ball in the hole itself.




We went on a hayride which was probably the best part. They took us back into all these trees where they had decorated this haunted city that we passed through. If you remember Makenzie's birthday in March, her favorite "holiday" is Halloween. She just soaks up all the scary stuff.
Before we headed out, we picked our apples and pumpkins to take home. Makenzie kept saying, "Twist and pull. That is how we are suppose to do it, Mom." She got a brief lesson at school the day before.