Update Time

Time for another picture update. This is the only place these days that I am recording our life and actually doing something with our pictures. I wish I was better about printing pictures and books, but for now this will have to do.

We are very serious about gender specific jobs in our family as you can see:) The girls work in the kitchen while the boys work with tools!

And then daddy had the brilliant idea to let a board, screws and screw drivers babysit our kids. This little job kept them busy and quiet for about 20 minutes

Here are Morgan and Ethan loving on our newest family member. We all love to cuddle cousin Emily. I especially am finally enjoying one of Kara's babies now that I don't have my own to hold! We love you sweet Emily!

My Grandma celebrated her 93rd birthday this year. Unfortunately she slept through most of the party. Visiting her is getting harder and harder for me as she doesn't communicate very well, but I know she loves to see the kids and it is good for my kids to love someone who can't really give back to them. They are always so tender with her, it is very sweet.

And little miss fasionista 2. Brooklyn now is getting an opinion about what she wears. We're in trouble!

A friend of mine gave me this great cookie recipe for kids to make. You put all the ingredients (2 c flour, 1 c sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 sticks butter, 1 c choc chips) in a bowl and mix with your fingers. Bake them at 350 for 17 minutes and you have yummy cookies! This was a great recipe for Morgan because she loves to help me bake and she loves to taste everything. I wasn't paranoid about her eating this cookie dough becuase there aren't any eggs!

Four years old and Six years old

I finally got around to doing a little photo shoot with Ethan and Morgan last Sunday before church. They both had school pictures taken this year, which were cute, but just not as fun as taking them outside. So here you go, enjoy our "big kids"!

Happy Halloween

Tuesday afternoon we finally carved our pumpkins. We've learned the hard way that we can't carve pumpkins too early around here or they rot since it is still so warm here.

Morgan wanted to carve her pumpkin just like the jack-o-lantern she made at school. That was easy!

Ethan had a hard time deciding what he he wanted, he finally settled on RC and a football.

Meanwhile, while I cleaned and carved 3 pumpkins, Kevin was researching, drawing and carving his ONE pumpkin. And he still ended up w/ just a basic jack-o-lantern;) He said to remind him next year not to try to do anything special:)

The finished products! As we turned off the lights Hudson started whimpering because he was "cared":)

Finally it was trick or treat time. We walked around our neighborhood first and then headed over to our church for trunk or treat. After realizing what the kids looked like we wished we would have made Brooklyn Dorthy or a scarecrow:)

Hudson chose the lion costume out of our costume box. I was actually surprised he kept it on all evening. He doesn't usually like to dress up. He thought he looked pretty funny with his face painted. He was a cute lion and even carried his bag of candy around all night.

Miss Brooklyn was a fairy princess. She too insisted on dragging her own bag of candy around on the ground all night.

Ethan was a Knight in shining armor. When he saw the girls get make up and Hudson get his face painted he really wanted make up too. So we put some grey eyeshadow on him so he looked like he got in a scuffle:)

Morgan was a princess. She loved wearing sparkly makeup and her pretty dress.

Cousins Annika and Audrey joined us for our walk around the neighborhood. It was really fun. We've doubled our troops since last year. It was a lot of fun watching Annika march right up to every door and ring the door bell. At one particular "scary" house Annika walked right up to the door and Ethan and Morgan didn't want to go with her. Ethan said he would wait to watch what happened to Annika first! Way to go big cousin;)

Pumpkin Patch and other moments

Hudson loves to "fic" things. He would be happiest if he had open access to daddy's tool box, but since that isn't the case he settles for his tools and the bike pump(which also should be off limits since he broke it already).

The newest form of entertainment around here is the ipad. Gotta love technology!

Giant's Fever hit pretty hard over here. Ethan especially loved watching the World Series. I was really hoping for another Battle of the Bay, in which case I would be the only one in my family cheering for the A's.

Last Friday the kids had the day off of school so we decided to head to the pumpkin patch. I knew Hudson and Brooklyn would love it, especially the animals. Morgan did too, and unfortunately I think Ethan was a little too old for this particular one this year:( It finally hit me that in many ways my little guy is growing up. We did have a good time though.

Feeding the horse some hay and oats.

We were able to get a hay ride in, which the kids loved.

That was Friday, and just this past Monday I got to go with Morgan and her preschool class. It was fun to see her with her friends and watch them do some more activities than we were able to do on Friday. During this trip I was reminded of my love/hate relationship with the pumpkin patch. I love the picture opportunities and the chance the kids get to play outside and see animals, but I hate how HOT it usually is. Here in CA we just don't experience "Fall" until after Halloween, which usually means a trip to the pumpkin patch can happen in 80+ degree heat. Way too hot to be walking around in the dirt and hay. But the kids had fun and didn't seem to notice so that is good!

Morgan and her friend Reece.

Hay ride again!

The kids all got to take a turn milking the fake cow.

Another successful pumpkin season. Stay tuned for some pumpkin carving and Halloween pics.

The last month

Yikes, it has been a month since my last update. Since school started life just seems to go so quickly. We are into the routine of school and just doing life. No excited trips to report like during the summer. But I have captured a few photo worthy moments the last month.

Ethan is becoming a great reader. He will sit and read books on his own which is so fun to see. He hasn't gotten hooked on chapter books yet, and we usually ask him to sit down and read, but he is enjoying it, which we are enjoying too!

The garbage man is still quite the excitement on Mondays and Thursdays.

My time with these three in the afternoons and on Tuesdays and Thursdays is pretty fun. Morgan is a fabulous big sister and they have a lot of fun together.

This is one of Ethan's few Lego creations that he created on his own, without following instructions.

Two notes about this picture:One-it is a preview of their Halloween costumes. Two-they are having "book club." I had book club the night before and moved the table into the family room for our snacks. They had to recreate that the next morning.

Because life isn't always neat and put together I thought I'd give you a little peek at my laundry pile. This pile is usually found in our room at least 2 times a week. I wash it all and then put off folding it for a day or so.

Lunch time cuties!

A couple weeks ago my mom took the boys out golfing so we were left at home with just the girls. Now, I love my boys, but it was sure quiet and mellow with only these two at home. Here they are enjoying a picnic.

Oma came down this past weekend. It was a fun weekend to catch up and let her spoil us. The kid loved the extra time with her and were sad to see her leave.

Tonight we celebrated Papa's 65th birthday with some cake and play time. Happy Birthday Papa!