Boo!

Abby and Mike spent two hours on Sunday carving one of our pumpkins (ok, Mike carved and Abby gave unsolicited advice when she wasn't too busy playing on the computer!). We think it turned out rather well! We needed to find something to do Sunday afternoon, as it was SNOWING like crazy and colder than all get out. Winter starts early up here.....argh.

Saturday, however, was very nice, so Abby and Griff spent the afternoon raking leaves with Mike. Hannah was a bit under the weather with a fever most of the weekend, so I stayed inside with her.

And more weekend fun....dressing up Kona in lots of beads! He was a good sport about it, but definitely wanted them off after his photo session :-)

Couple more G&G Newman pics....and Griff's Favorite Activity as of Late

A couple more pictures from our weekend visit from G&G. Hannah reading with Grandma after waking from her nap, and Griff in his favorite place, Grandpa's lap :-) He could have stayed on Grandpa's lap all weekend and been very happy! He's also dressed in his Chicago Bears blue and orange shirt in honor of the game that was being played on Sunday against Minnesota. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of the game, because the cable was out in OUR ENTIRE TOWN. NO ONE got to watch the game. And it took Mike until half-time to remember the invention of the radio :-)

And lastly, a couple of pictures of Griff's favorite activity lately. He grabs as many match-box cars as his little hands will carry and brings them up to the kitchen island. He then grabs a couple of books and sets up a little race track for himself. He literally sits up at the counter all afternoon, zooming the cars up and down the pages of the books.

Grandma & Grandpa Newman Visit

G&G Newman were up last week for a long weekend visit, and the kids couldn't have been more thrilled. There was much time spent playing, coloring, taking walks, and laughing. We tried desperately to get a picture of the kids with G&G, but it's always difficult to get a picture with all three kids looking at the camera, much less smiling! Below is my best attempt! (and please notice Hannah's leg warmers....they are Abby's, but Abby refuses to wear them, so Hannah has happily adopted them as her own :-)

A heated game of Hungry, Hungry Hippo (the loudest game ever made)! Hannah, the most competitive of the bunch, is playing with BOTH hands, determined to win!

And on a completely different note, we are having a painting done of the kids, and a very early peek of it is posted below. I provided the artist a handful of pictures from our vacation to Wisconsin this summer, and from those pictures, he came up with the below painting. We are super excited to see it when it's finished. It should look nice hanging above our fire place (as soon as Mike figures out the best way to drill a hole into the stone!)

Happy Fall

The kids and I went to a local pumpkin patch on Saturday to pick out some pumpkins and other fall fun. We ended up with many more pumpkins and gourds than I originally planned on buying - everyone was having so much fun running around and picking out the perfect pumpkins we ended up with a cart full! We then got home, and they "helped" decorate the front of the house. It was a little challenging b/c everytime I would turn around either Hannah or Griff would steal a pumpkin.

Mike also raked all the leaves in the yard Saturday morning and everyone had lots of fun jumping in them. It made Mike's job twice as hard, but the kids had fun :-)

The Elusive Christmas Photo

Ok, I know it's not even Halloween, but I'm on a mission for a Christmas card photo of all three kids TOGETHER this year. And I've started early.....I took the kids out yesterday for their first photo shoot (ha). It went pretty well, and I managed to snap over 50 photos in about 15 minutes (love, just love, digital cameras!). I maybe got one that will make it onto our card this year.....I'm going to keep trying, since I have plenty of time to capture just the right one! Below are some of my favorites (although not the potential Christmas card photo, I'm saving that one :-) . I've been playing around with some photo editing, so all of them are edited a bit. Enjoy!

Bella Ballerina

The parents were able to observe the last 15 minutes of Abby's ballet class on Monday, so I was able to get a couple of pictures so everyone can see how cute she, and all the other little girls, look in their little tutus! I had a couple of obstacles while trying to get some shots, namely Hannah & Griff climbing all over me, but I was also sitting in the worst place for pictures. Most of the pictures of Abby are of her in the mirror, so not as clear as they could be, but I got what I got :-)


And this is what an almost whole roll of toilet paper looks like in a toilet, courtesy of Hannah & Griffin. They are getting a bit naughtier as they get older :-)

Our LadyBug

A few pictures of Abby from this afternoon. I had ordered a new dress for her a few weeks ago and it came today. She wanted to wear it right away and asked to have her picture taken. I think she looks really cute, and you've gotta love the twirl factor!

Fall

Truth be told, I love Fall. I love the crisp air and how refreshed you feel after being outside; the fall colors and how pretty all the trees look; the apples and pumpkins; the pumpkin lattes and pumpkin scones; and oh, how I love the clothes! And little boys, for whatever reason, look especially cute in their fall sweaters and cords! The only thing I don't like about Fall is what comes next. I don't even want to think about the upcoming six months of winter heading our way. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having.

I took Hannah & Griff outside this morning while Abby was a school. After a quick run (not that I was running quickly; the duration of the entire run was quick :-) .....I, in fact, was running quite slowly!), we played outside and I was able to get a couple of cute shots of them. Enjoy!