Happy Halloween! 2011

Well the weather was beautiful this year for Halloween. We spent some time at a neighbor's house for dinner & snacks before heading out to trick or treat with them. It was a lot of fun. The kids did great - more walking this year than last, but still were content to head home before 8pm - which was great since we had school the next day! Everyone got a good dose of candy. Probably one of my favorite things was how Leah wanted to really give out candy at home. When we arrived home, she sat on the steps with the big bowl of candy and was "waiting for customers." Then when someone came, she would give them their candy, then return to the steps to wait for the next "customer." She did tire out, though, but we knew she was really hoping for more people to come. We let her lay on the couch and wait for a few more customers. It was just the cutest thing seeing her so excited about it. We didn't have a uniform theme this year, but that gets a bit challenging with more & more people to plan! As far as all the jack-o-lanterns, we probably had 8-10. The kids had drawn faces on all of them and Dear-ol-Dad carved them all - probably about 4+ hours on Sunday. The carving was followed by him making pumpkin soup, toasted seeds, pumpkin bread, and later pumpkin pie. We had PLENTY-o-pumkin! Great job, Patrick!

Soccer Pictures 2011

Leyton & Nathaniel played soccer on one team, 4 on 4, and then Jacob played his first season this fall, 3 on 3. They had a lot of fun. Everyone had goals (even though we don't keep score), they were all pleased with the season. It is neat seeing the older boys actually start really playing these games! I must say, though, that Blue Valley Soccer Complex is enough to drive me crazy on the weekends - it gets very busy and hard to get in and out of. Yikes. Just so many people all over! But, so goes the way of soccer around here. Basketball starts at the beginning of December and all three boys are going to do that as well. Should be fun!

I wasn't able to get a picture of Leah at the games, but Anne sure is a cute cheerleader!

Fall Fun in the Leaves!

Every year since Leyton & Nathaniel were about 20 months, I've managed to at least take a few pictures of the kids in the leaves. I think this year is probably fewer than I typically get, but still managed a few. We have plenty with this yard given our nice, huge, leaf filled oak trees in the back plus plenty of other trees and such. I enjoy them most of the year, but the leaves sure are a lot of work! We get a pretty good carpet multiple times per season. Oh well, all ways to enjoy the beauty of every season, right?

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made it to the pumpkin patch in October and we went to the one out in Gardner this time. Amazing to me that it costs $10 per person to get in, and that doesn't include any pumpkins. Sor for our 7, the coupons were very helpful! And, we did, however rack up some pumpkins - about 21 including some small ones. Each kid picked about 4 and Leah wanted to bring one home for the new baby. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.

Happy 4th Birthday, Leah!

So Leah turned 4 back on Oct. 11. Now I'm almost a month late on this update. She had a nice day. For the Sunday before, Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan, the Lee family, and Aunt Stacy and her friend Jim were able to join us for Leah's birthday dinner. For the second year in a row, Leah chose chili for her dinner. She sure loves chili! We had white chicken chili & "regular" chili. Leah is a very sweet four year-old. Her imagination is out of this world and you never know what she's going to say when she comes in the room. She loves to play school and pretends to be her teachers. She loves playing babies and she and Anne are becoming very close. They are frequently on a mission together and it is so cute seeing these two little girls so close. She really enjoys preschool and lately, she's wanted to eat lunch there, so we do that about once a week in the cafeteria and also get to catch up with the big brothers. She is probably out best eater, truly, and would probably win the award for "best dinner eater" most nights of the week. Hard to believe she's four! We sure love her.

How can I be so far behind?

Well, I truly need to get caught up on blogging and my pictures. I knew I hadn't posted anything in a long time, but I was amused to see that my last post - more than 1 1/2 months ago - was about working on pictures...I'm pretty sure I haven't worked on them since then! Just the daily life and other projects have really kept me busy! But, progress is happening, so that's good.

Other things we have been up to...
-the basement project - should have the final inspection this Wednesday! Then we can start rearranging the kids' rooms. The most recent progress - cabinets & counters in during the past couple weeks, speakers are in the ceiling, and the last few safety items taken care of
- different car - done - I'm now the proud driver of a Ford 12 passenger van! I kind of joke about it, but it is comfortable and really gives us a good amount of space. The kids absolutely love it and it will be nice to have some extra seats. I will say, though, that never in my life 10 years ago or earlier did I think I'd ever own one. I think we'll get a lot of great use out of it.
- this weekend I balanced my checkbook for the months of June, 2011-present! WOW, I had some catching up to do!
- then there's the usual stuff - soccer practice, games, homework, routine laundry, errands, cleaning, working, etc.
- finally started working a bit on potential baby names! That's the most recent thing that got promoted to the top of the list. 34 weeks - I guess we should come up with something!

Other things I'd like to work on:
- getting all the kids situated so we can figure out which room we'll put the baby in (and whether that involves another room being painted or not).
- cleaning out the garage so we can park in there again - still have some basement project equipment there.
- take a breather from the projects to just sit in anticipation of meeting our new little person!
-actually getting my picture work done along with my annual family photo album for 2010 (which hasn't been started).

I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, but for the moment, these are the thoughts on my mind! I feel a bit sad about any great memories that I may have failed to record lately, but will just hope they come back to me! Just been a busy time around here!