My birthday

Audrey
Olivia

Ellie, grrrr!

Grace

The girls and all my presents

Ellie and Addie acting silly in the double stroller.

I had a birthday last week. I turned 34 and spent the weeks leading up to my birthday in and out of the chiropractor and vein doctor offices. 34 felt significant because my body is proving it's not as strong as it once was. Oh well, we all get old, I'm feeling better and have vowed to try my best to take care of myself not just because I hate going to the doctor but because I have 5 small people who really need me (and one big person). I had a good birthday, Josh and Addie cooked me a fabulous dinner (filet and shrimp) and we had a quiet (not really) evening at home. The girls bought me new gym clothes, Josh framed some new family photos for me. It was a good day!

Halloween and Grace's b-day

As we got ready for Halloween this year, my sister, Lesley came to visit and eagerly volunteered to do the pumpkin craving with my kids. Geeezzzz she's awesome! She helped each girl carve the perfect pumpkin, the only problem was there was still a week til Halloween. The jack-o-lanterns took center stage on the front porch but unfortunately had to be tossed before Halloween because they were ozzing weird liquids :) Grace's birthday was October 25th, so after pumpkin carving we celebrated with Famous Dave's take out and an ice cream cake. Our friends, the Clarksons, also happened to be in town for the festivities, so Ian, Joanna, and their 3 children helped us celebrate. This weekend was so much fun... Grace is so happy to be 2!

Her yummy ice cream cake.

The Wilkinsons and The Clarksons (visiting all the way from England)

All the kids and their jack-o-lantern creations.

Sam and Joel

My sis, Joel, and me

Grace digging into her lil pumpkin, she wasn't afraid of the goo.

Lesley and Olivia

Audrey cleaning out the seeds, we roasted them afterwards, yum!

Ellie is happy as she finds more and more seeds.

Fall decorating

I'm not all that good at decorating, but here are a couple projects I did this last month to get ready for fall... a berry wreath hanging from a mirror

not a fall decoration but a crafty little way to dress up a kid's present, we rarely buy cards anymore

Grace's b-day sign I made for her on a friend's cricut machine. I will use this for all my girls b-days, I hang it over the fireplace and when they wake up and see it they get so excited!


I did this using scrapbook paper and huge letters made on the cricut and 3 old frames that were just lying around my house. I loved the way it turned out.

BOO

Ellie's field trip to Scout Island

Ellie's first grade class went to Scout Island last week on a field trip. The weather was beautiful and the kids had lots of fun activities. Ellie's favorite had to be the leaf rubbings. She loves first grade!

Family Pictures

Anjie, Josh's sis, took some family pictures for us in September, here's a few, I didn't want to include them all since that would spoil our Christmas card.