A Fall Recap

It's finally starting to feel like winter around here, and I can't say I'm excited about it. The beautiful colored trees that I love so much are now barren, awaiting the first snowfall. I will admit that I appreciate winter until Christmas; however, once the romance of the holidays is over, I'm ready for Spring! Unfortunately, those last few months of winter seem to d-r-a-g, so I'm bracing myself. I shouldn't complain too much, as we've had a beautiful Fall, and actually, longer than most years. It truly only began to feel like winter this week. I think because of that, it doesn't seem like it's already late enough in the season to be the week of Thanksgiving!

Dave's sister, Kristin, and her hubby, Dan are coming to Omaha this week, so we're looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with them this year. They are expecting their first baby at the end of February, so we're excited for them to start their own little family, and it's no secret that I've been looking forward to the day that our kids will have cousins - yippeee!!

My brother, Scott is getting married December 10th, so I'm anticipating that the weeks between now and the end of the year are going to fly, since we have the wedding in between the two holidays! We leave for Destin on December 3rd, and will be there through the 12th...it'll be nice having that time with my family to celebrate not only Scott & Cassandra's wedding, but also a holiday celebration as well!

I've started to do some shopping, but I've got a looooong way to go! I have a feeling I'll be making more online purchases this year to get my gift-giving list accomplished!

Since I haven't posted much this past month, I figured it'd be good to at least do a recap of what we've had going on. Besides the normal weekly schedule, and tasks that go along with keeping a house of 5 running, we've had some fun "extras" come our way :)

Shortly after my last post, was of course, Halloween. Will was a fighter pilot this year. We bought him an official flight suit when Dave and I toured an air craft carrier in San Diego while I was pregnant with Graham. Funny thing about it, was we tried it on him last year for Halloween, but it was still too big, so we thought it would be perfect for him this year; however, it was almost 3" too short. We made it work, but I was amazed at how much he had grown since last year! Graham was Superman. I think he was a little confused about what this whole "holiday" was all about, but Will showed him the ropes, and he had a lot of fun :) The way he said, "Trick or Treat" was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Macy was a kitten. It was a little chilly to tote her around the neighborhood that night, so she helped me greet the other trick or treaters who came to the door.

We had a last-minute visit from my mom last week, which was great...aside from the fact that she got really sick while here :( We're pretty certain she probably caught whatever it was on her plane ride out here, and unfortunately she was quite miserable for a good part of her time, and even landed her in the ER early one morning from being dehydrated - NOT FUN! Probably the biggest bummer about the whole deal was that we changed the date of Graham's birthday party when we found out she was coming, so she could be part of it. Literally the day before the party was when she got really sick, so she wasn't even able to participate :( Bless her heart, she didn't want to risk getting any of us sick, so she spent 3 nights in a hotel. It made me so sad to think of her laying in a hotel room all by herself feeling so icky, knowing that she was missing out on Graham's birthday party, just a couple miles down the road - ugh! I'm SO glad we have our trip to Destin to look forward to in just a couple weeks...we'll be able to redeem that time, Gigi!

My mom gave Macy her first feeding of rice cereal...she wasn't a fan ;-)

During the time that my mom was here, my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ken also came into town for a day trip. They were visiting family in Kansas City, so they drove here for a day to see us. They gave Graham the cutest book for his birthday, that they were able to record their voices as they read him the story. He loves to turn the pages and have them "read" it to him :)

Despite my mom not feeling well, we enjoyed having her around, and were grateful she could be here with us. Graham loved his party. We chose to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme, because of his current love for the book. Dave and I set most of it up while he was taking his nap that afternoon, and when he woke up and saw the spread, his eyes lit up! I think his favorite part of the party was when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him...his face was absolutely delighted that everyone would sing to little him :) Dave prayed the most precious prayer over Graham...wish I had it recorded! Graham has such a sweet spirit, and such a fun, adventurous, and magnetic personality. When he smiles, it truly lights up the entire room. We love you to pieces, little buddy...you're a JOY, and we feel so blessed that the Lord chose US to be your parents! Wish you could stay this age forever...it's the best...I love to see the wonder in your eyes. I cherish your innocence, and even your not-so-innocence ;-)

The food was a sampling of most things mentioned in the book. I made signs for the items that the caterpillar ate :)

Inside the clay pot marked "caterpillar food," were M&M's

My attempt at making a caterpillar out of balloons.

And, as always, a few random, but newest favorite pics :)