Hold on to your hats.... lots of photo's to come.

I am FINALLY posting about our trip to Chicago. We had so much fun. It was so nice because we also got to be there for Grandma Nette's birthday, so that was an added bonus.

We got up around 5:00 (I was so impressed we actually followed through on our plan), and left around 6:30. Very early morning, but nothing a little cup of coffee can't cure. It was actually very relaxing in the car. The kids watched a movie, then ate some snacks, went to sleep, ate some more snacks, watched another movie, you get the picture. They are good Little travellers. We are so thankful for that. I hate long trips, so I can't imagine how much worse it would be if our kids did too.

We got into Chicago around 2:00 and then played around in the leaves for awhile. Here are some shots we snapped.

Right before we sang Happy Birthday to Grandma Nette. Callen was very ready for cake.

Awaiting the highly anticipated cake and ice cream.

Our little pirate and Super Girl. Reese COULD NOT wait to officially wear this (she tried it on, let's just say a FEW times).

Us at Bass Pro Shop

Hangin' in the tent.

Olivia, Luke, Reese and Callen

We had such a fun time. Thanks for having us.

I am (ahem) officially coming back to the blogging world...

We have been a bit busy around here. We are pretty sure we are moving next week. I am seriously screaming inside, I am SOOOOOOO excited. Trying to keep it in check, but man it is hard to do. We are so thankful God has allowed us to take this step.

Between packing and packing and more packing, we have managed to have a little bit of fun. We took some shots of the kids while we were at the Arboretum. I love that place. If you haven't been there, it's this huge outdoor garden, just beautiful.

Here's Callen---posing for the camera
My sis and I

Me, my mom and Dawn

My mom was such a good sport, all of the kids were seriously just chucking these handfuls of leaves at her. Too funny.

Grant, Reese and Carter.

Reese minus her shoes---her and Grant fell in the water. Poor guys, it was a wee bit chilly for wet clothes.

Grant, Carter, Reese and Callen

This is before Callen proceeded to push me over in the wet grass, stinker... My two favorite kiddo's.

F is for Fall and all things Fun

Some decorating fun.

We had so much fun doing these pumpkins this year. The kids were so excited to be able to "help" (which wasn't much since we had large, sharp knives out). I forgot how tedious it is to carve the inside of the pumpkins out, but the big payoff.... PUMPKIN SEEDS. Perfectly baked and salted. Yum.
Reese's pumpkin. Isn't this cute? Jay did a kitty for her. Those of you who know Jay can probably guess which ones he did and which ones I did (he's just a BIT more detailed than I am).

Callen's star pumpkin. Didn't quite turn out as I would have hoped, but fun nonetheless.

and..... Jay's masterpiece. I think this is really cool looking. I heard the neighbor kids out looking at it, going , look at that really scary one. Success!!!

Callen eating a not so clean apple at the orchard.

I saw him go over to something and then I saw it, oh no, an apple, that came from who knows where, but I couldn't resist taking some pictures when he was just so stinkin cute.

He was so proud of his found "treasure" at the orchard. No matter how bruised it was. He didn't care.

One bite....

Ya, he likes it.

So... after I thought I got some cute pic's, I took the not so clean apple away. He definitely was not a fan of that. He's saying "more, more" here. For any of those who know him, ya, we hear that ALOT.I caved and gave it back for about a minute. To which he responds is his ever so famous "Hank you, your welcome."

Anything to make you happy sweetie (of course I am only kidding when I say that).

Fun at the orchard

Whew... we made it, at least once, to the orchard before all the snow came. I am so glad we got to do it before the season left us in about, let's see here, 3 days. Hopefully Fall will be back soon. I think it's suppose to be 60 and sunny tomorrow, YAY!
I was actually Very surprised Reese wanted to feed the horse and goat. I figured after she got one smell of them, she would be high tailing it the other way, but no, she asked 4 times for refills. Good job Reese. Mommy was very proud of you and I know the goat liked it to.

Show anything messy or dirty to Callen and he is game. He loved feeding them.

Some of my good friends from elementary/high school went. We had a lot of fun. Tiff we hope you had a very happy birthday. (Isn't that a lot of kids?)

Happy Fall---wait Happy Winter (ugh....)
We are hoping we see Fall back soon. We have had snow here 3 days in the last week. Crazy. I hope we didn't skip right over the coolest season out of all of them :(

We've been crazy busy around here. I'm renewing my insurance license, packing the house, trying to keep the kids' lives as normal as possible through this chaotic time right now. I know I will look back around January and say, Man, what a slow time of year, but I know I will appreciated the mundane, the normal, the "we don't have anything to do" days. For now, we are plugging through, but can't wait till we are settled.

We got to the orchard before it got really cold---pictures to come soon. We had a blast. Callen and Reese both fed the horses, it was so cute.

Anyways..... goodbye for now. Hope you are all having a great week.