Happy Halloween 2010

I am so grateful!

I am so grateful that I know our Heavenly Father's plan for us.  I am so grateful that I know that we will see one another after we leave this earth.  I am so grateful that I can teach our children about our Heavenly Father's plan of eternal life, that this life is just a short time, and that we will see those we love again.

We found out this morning that our good friend, Uncle Tom died.  I can honestly say I was more joyful than sad when I heard.  I was more relieved than distressed.  I am so grateful that he is free from his ailing body. 

I am so grateful he was our neighbor, family, and friend for all 8 years that we knew him.  I am grateful that I talked with Tom that first time at his garage sale, that he welcome us into his home, that he returned to activity at church, honored us by letting us be in the temple with him, and treating us like family.  I look back and laugh about that first meeting at the garage sale because Saturday we were honored to do an Estate Sale & close his home for him.  Our relationship began and closed at a garage sale.  I really love that!

I had to post today and be grateful because even though I am sad  - I am so joyful!  Thank you Uncle Tom for your kindness, love, and generosity.  You were a great man that has touched our family for the better.  Our little church family will not be the same without you.  We will miss you so much.

I Love My Zoo!

We had a great day today at the Toledo Zoo!  

We did miss Manhattan & Morgan - school and work always get in the way of us having fun together !

I had to squeeze in this last picture of Maxwell playing in the mulch in his dinosaur costume!  

He is always finding mulch wherever we go!  Cracks me up!

Another Weekend - Another Pumpkin Patch

3rd Time Is The Charm!

    


















I was the lucky one this morning that was "chosen" to go with Marin on her preschool field trip!  Actually since it was at my favorite family farm I was more than willing to go.  So for the third time this fall Marin & I drove to Gust Brothers Farm.  We loved the tour - we were able to feed all the animals and pet most of the them.  Marin even got to feed Big Red (the oldest cow) and boy did that cow have a huge long tongue - I thought it was going to lick her whole face.  When that tongue came out Marin threw the corn cob - it was pretty funny!

We took a hay ride - loved that.  Yes, it was very bumpy and I left with hay everywhere!  Still fun!

In the end, we got our pumpkins and purchased a few apples for the ride home!  It was a fun morning - perfect chilly fall weather for the trip too!!

P.S.  If you can't see Marin in the photos - she is the one with her back to me (always when I am taking a picture she smiles and turns so fast I don't get the smile) and in the red sweatshirt.  I should have had a hat and clothes - it was a little more chilly than I thought it would be!

Come on over and play in our yard!

Marin & Manhattan both had friends over in the last few days to enjoy the leaves! 

Yesterday, my sweet husband was kind enough to watch my Visiting Teaching companion's daughter, while we went out and visited a sister.  She is the same age as Marin and they have a wonderful time together.  They are so funny together.  When we got home they were swinging in the backyard with snow boots on - they found them in the basement!  I love that my husband took pictures of Marin & her little friend - they had a fabulous time in the leaves!   They are so cute! 

Manhattan invited her friend Drew (from school) over today.  Drew is a good friend of hers - it all started last Christmas when they were paired up to be Hansel & Gretel in the Christmas Program.  Since then they have really had fun together!  He is a really great kid!  When they got home from school, they sat right down with no complaints and did their homework.  Then they happily changed out of their school clothes, had some yummy orange cinnamon rolls - so yummy, and played outside for 2 hours plus.  We all played in the leaves, took a few walks around the block, filled up leaf bags to decorate our yard, played at the school, and then finally took Drew home.  

It was a happy afternoon - so nice! 

Of course, not to make the day seem too dreamy - Maxwell was up at 4 am this morning, got him back to sleep and then Marin was up at 6.  He refused to take his late afternoon nap and was in bed at 7 pm.  We will see what time he is up tomorrow morning!   Marin took a very short nap and had a meltdown in the car when she realized Morgan was not coming home from work for dinner.   Manhattan turned into a moody sour puss as soon as I mentioned in the car that they need to take a bath before dinner!  Bedtime could not come soon enough!  I love my kids but sometimes!!

This is the view from my front door!  I love fall!

(Don't you love Morgan, Marin, and Maxwell's photo shoot - they are so cute!!)

 

Our fall family picture!!

P.S.  If you live around here and you need some fun fall leaves to play in or even take pictures - come over - look for the house on Crestwood Road with the yellow, red, and orange grass!  You can see our house down the street - our leaves are always the first to fall so our grass is covered!!  I love fall leaves!

Taking A Walk with Maxwell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJqw4WDt3h8

Click on the video link. 

This is what it is like to take a walk with Maxwell.  You have to really watch him now - if he can stumble down the front yard hill he takes off around the block!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIOhdo8MRE 

Another video that Morgan took yesterday!

You guessed it - more fall pictures

PlayGroup At The Apple Orchard

One for the Grandmas

Autumn Is Here!

The first of many autumn pictures/collages !!  We love fall!!!  So I will only promise that this will be the first of many.  The leaves on our tree in our front yard are changing and falling.  One of the best parts of my day is afterschool when homework is done, snacks have been had, and it is time to jump in the leaves!!  Yes, I get tired of raking the leaves just to have them torn about but it is so fun!  The air smells clean and fresh - it is cool enough for a sweatshirt and the kids can play for awhile!  We love fall!

If you ever need a place to visit - fall in Ohio is the best!  No complaints about the rain or cool weather - it is so beautiful!

A Big Boy Haircut

Before the BIG haircut!

Maxwell's hair looks to be Ethington hair.  It was definitely getting thick on top - I always say it gets bigger instead of longer.  So I finally took him in to get a hair cut.  I was hoping to get pictures of the actual haircut but he ended up sitting on my lap.  He did great - sat there the whole time - didn't make a fuss at all.  Everytime I look at him I am a little surprised with the no hair look!   His hair is so light that he looks bald but I love it.  I miss the curls but it was time for a cut!

Maxwell's Big Boy Haircut!

Fall - Fall - Fall All Weekend!

Friday, October 1, 2010

We headed back to the Gust farm so Hattie and Morgan could enjoy the fun!  It was the perfect afternoon for a visit - the animals were up and moving around.  Marin & Maxwell were in love with the bunnies this time!  It was Spirit Day at Hattie's school so we were all dressed in our school shirts - it was school spirit day - cute I know!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

And of course, Saturday morning we met up with friends at MacQueen's Apple Festival - we have been going to this festival for over ten years and have enjoyed lots of yummy cider donuts with lots of friends - some here now and some that have moved on!  Some years it has been so hot that we wore shorts, so cold that we had on our long underwear.  This year it was cool and rainy - the cool was perfect for fall but the rain we could have done without!  The cider & donuts were still perfectly yummy!  If you missed out this year - next year 10 am - General Conference weekend - we will be there! 

Apples, Pumpkins, and Cute Kids

It was a busy fall week!  The leaves from our tree are starting to change and fall!  I love it!  We started our fall celebrations with a bang this week!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 

Marin, Maxwell, Manhattan, and I went with the Young Women to pick apples!  It was so fun! The trees were a little funky but the apples were everywhere!  We picked three huge bags full and went back to the church and made supper yummy applesauce (thanks Rachael!).  We will be trying that at home soon!

Thursday, September 30, 2010 
For playgroup this week we went to one of our favorite pumpkin farms in Ottawa Lake, MI - Gust Farms.  I love this farm - it is run by the nicest family ever!  They had some newborn lambs, week old piglets, and some young cows!  I loved watching everyone pile out of the cars - it was so fun - everyone (including the moms) were fascinated with the beautiful farm!  The kids immediately grabbed a wagon and went wild running around - looking at all the animals, playing in the hay, touching all the pumpkins - it was so fun!

Indulge Me!

I love seeing them all together!  I had to post it!

How do they compare at one years old!

Maxwell - 30.5 inches, 20 lbs 11 oz

Marin - 30 inches, 19 lbs 11 oz

Manhattan, 29.5 inches, 20 lbs

Pretty darn close - we will see who ends up being the tallest in our little family!

Daddy, They Brought Back Your Car!

Back in July, Morgan's brother (he lives in Chicago) was in need of a car (his was stolen from his workplace) to get back and forth to work etc.  We figured we could do without a second car for a couple weeks so we lent it to him.

Our ward family heard about this issue - we were overwhelmed by everyone's generous offers to borrow their cars.  I have to admit that I have been touched over and over again by the people in our ward that have continually offered to give me rides, borrow a car, pick Morgan up for church in the early am, willing to fill in when I could not be somewhere.  Really reminds me that our Heavenly Father knows our needs.  I can't tell you how grateful I am for the people that have be so willing to help us out even when we have not always taken them up on the offers!

Anyways, we were hesitant to take anyone up on the offer a car, it is such a huge thing to borrow.  The Regan family won out with persistance & we borrowed one of their extra cars.  We had the car for a little over a month and decided we needed to return the car - we would be getting our car back soon anyways.   We were so grateful that the Regans shared in the first place!

In the end, we did not get our car back just then so we just survived with just one car for awhile longer.  Yes, it got a little crazy at times but Morgan started riding his bike back and forth to work and I was able to stay close to home, say no to some things, and walk many places with the kids when Morgan was at work.  The kids have been terrific and never have complained that we could not do something or go somewhere.

So it has been about a month & a half without a second car.  No big deal.  At church today Sister Regan overheard me mentioning  that we would be getting our car back soon!  She could not believe that we had never got it back and had not told them!  I told her we were fine - no big deal - we are going to get our car back this weekend.  About 4 pm, we see a car pull into our driveway and out jumps Brother Regan.  When I ran out to see what was going on, Brother Regan jumps out of his car and runs to his wife's car waiting in the street.  They were going to drop and run because they knew that we would say "no need".  They left the keys in the car so they would not have to even knock on our door!  Bless their hearts!  So sweet!  When Marin opened the door and saw the car in the driveway she said, "Dad - they brought back your car!".  Cracked me up!

So thank heavens for kind ward family members that ignore our "no" responses and do it anyway!  Thank you Regan Family - your kindness is appreciated!  It is so nice of them and was quite hilarious!  We will get our car back this weekend but having another car will make the week easier! 

We had a wonderful day!

Yesterday was a beautiful day!  After Hattie got home from school it was still just perfect!  The weather was not too hot and not too cold so we decided to grab some taco bell and go have a picnic.  We went to our favorite park in Michigan and had lots of fun playing around.   It is fun to just play with the kids - swing on the swings, ride the slide, walk the balance beams, etc!  Now that Maxwell is walking he enjoys the parks more too - still he loves to play in the mulch at every park!  After the park, we headed to Handels for some ice cream - yummy!  By the time we got home, everyone needed a bath desperately!  And look - Maxwell is facing forward in his car seat!  Yeah!!

The whole way home Marin kept saying - "We had a wonderful day!"  She was right - it was a perfect evening, just us and the kids.  No phone calls, meetings, responsibilities - it was perfect!

Birthday Fun for Maxwell!

Our morning celebration with our playgroup friends!

Maxwell's big birthday started with an attempted trip to a fire station - no luck the firemen were out being firemen!  So we ended up going to Wildwood Park with our playgroup friends!  We enjoyed some of his birthday cookies and played-played-played!  I think this picture of him & I is the one smiley picture we got of him all day!  He loves being outside and loves all the MULCH at the park!  Of course when we got home we had to change his clothes!!

That evening we had a little birthday celebration!  Although it is officially fall it was definitely a summer evening - not too bad but still pretty warm!  Click on the pages for more details.

Some more pictures from the after party presents!  After the kids got all ready for bed, we let them help open the presents for Maxwell from our family!  He still did not care to open the gifts but loved the empty shoe boxes, new hat, and the party balloons!  I had to post this little video of him doing peek-a-boo with his new blanket!  It is so funny to see him doing this type of stuff on his own! 

The after party presents!

Maxwell with his new blanket!

Maxwell is One!!!

Maxwell turns one today and I can't believe how fast the year has gone!

This month he has started showing us how grown up he is!  He is walking, can wave bye-bye and tries to mimic words, he will fold his arms for prayer, and he likes to express his needs and wants with a loud holler!  He has a tendency to climb on things and under things and get himself stuck - going up and down stairs is no big deal and he is really fast doing it.  He is getting better and playing toys and occupying himself for small periods of time.  This last month he discovered Baby Einstein and he loves them like his sisters before him.  He always prefers to be outside - anytime!  He still is an early riser - 5:00/5:30 am, takes short naps, and goes to bed well.  Some days he will eat everything and other days- nothing.  He loves milk and would drink that all day if we let him!  He has six teeth which gives him an adorable teethy grin!  He is a funny little boy who makes us laugh!  We are grateful Maxwell is in our family and could not imagine our crazy world without him!