You've got to love fall time!!

I LOVE the fall time and especially love doing yard work and believe me we have plenty of it to do each fall!





We have lots of beautiful trees like this in our yard!!!

Happy Halloween

The kids has a fun Halloween. Last year we didn't get to celebrate Halloween in Brazil so this was an especially fun year for the kids. Lucy was a princess and Ethan had a little too much fun with his pirate sword!

We enjoyed trick0or-treating with our friends (Emma and Erin)
Thank goodness for the wagon. It was much needed that night!

Pumpkin Carving

When we lived in Brazil I became good friends with a girl named Frenanda. She was my angel. She helped me so much while we were down there. Anyway, we are very happy to now have her brother and family living about a mile from our house! We invited them over to experience pumpkin carving and had a great time. Their kids really enjoyed it. It was funny because it wasn't the Brazilians who didn't want to clean out the pumpkin - it was our kids! They didn't want to get their hands dirty!! Oh my! We had so much fun with them and it was fun to be around Brazilians again and hear some portuguese. They are doing exactly what we were doing last year - experiencing a completely different culture and not speaking the language very well.



Look at that smile!! He is soooooo happy. Lucas loved the pumpkins. They were like giant ball. He tried to roll it around but didn't get too far!! The stem seemed to get in the way!

Watch out Below!!

We had a tree in our yard that HAD to come down. Wow!! It was quite a show. We had no idea how entertaining it would be. I can't imagine this being my profession. I'd be so scared. This guy ties a rope to him, puts on spiky shoes, and up he goes and starts cutting away! It was amazing!

Can you find him in this picture? He is toward the top of the tree! Yikes!

He's easier to spot here

We love Fall Time

I LOVE the fall. We have had fun being back in the states and doing our normal fall time stuff like picking apples, drinking apple cider, and picking pumpkins. It's so great!!! The only thing we have not had this fall is cool weather. Up until about a week ago it has felt like summer! Even in october we were still wearing shorts and short sleeves! Some days we were in the 80's! Hardly sounds like Michigan! It is now cooling off and really feeling like fall.




Time to pick apples!! For a girl who refuses to try apples she sure does enjoy picking them!

We all love the apple cider!

And we wonder why Americans are so obese!!

Remember when you played soccer as a child and were handed orange slices at the end of the game. Well, things have changed. The league Lucy has played on this fall (AYSO) hands a ticket to every child at the end of each game. With the ticket they can go to the concession stand and buy candy, popcorn, soda, hot dogs, nachos, and slushies. The ticket can buy quite a bit of stuff. Kids walk away with a bag of M@M's and 2 air heads or a bag of cookies and 4 blow pops. So, I'm not talking about a little bit of candy. The kids play two times a week so they get this candy every time they play. On Saturdays we have games at 8:30 in the morning so by 9:30 they are already stuffing themselves with a bunch of garbage. Am I the only one who thinks this is strange? It really bothers me. The kids are out playing soccer - learning to exercise and at the end they walk away with a handful of candy, a soda pop or plate of nachos. It's so strange to me and I never sense that anyone else is really bothered by it. It's not like kids don't get enough junk food already and then when they are actually off their bottoms and away from the T.V. we are still promoting unhealthy lifestyles!!! STRANGE!!

Princess Party Time!!

Andy arrived from Brazil Friday afternoon and not a moment too soon! We had a princess birthday party for Lucy on Saturday. It was lots of fun. I invited 11 kids - figuring about half wouldn't be able to come!!! As it turns out all but one came so with Lucy and Ethan we had 13 kids! It was a bit crazy - especially considering the size of our house. However, it all turned out well and most important - the kids (Lucy especially) had a GREAT time.

Here's our cute 5 year old princess!

When everyone arrived they made necklaces.
We also played lots of your typical party games with a princess twist. I was most impressed with the pin the slipper on the cinderella that Andy made. He drew a giant cinderella and colored it but somehow I missed getting a picture before it came down!! We also did a dance freeze and entertained them with bubbles while waiting for parents to pick up their kids.

Cake time!!!Here's Lucy with some of her presents!! She had a great day and it's hard to believe we have a five year old!!! What a cutie!!

Downtown

We love our cute little town! Every summer they put new things out on the sidewalks to go around and look at. This year they had cars out. Since being back from Brazil we haven't been able to see them. We finally went down with our good friends last week. The kids were in car heaven. We couldn't keep up with them!!

Tired and no place to sleep

A few days ago I got a good laugh when I went into Ethan's room to tell him quiet time was over and he could come out of his room. This is what I found - a VERY VERY messy room and one sleepy boy!!! Poor thing he had so many toys out this is the only place he could find to sleep!! I thought it was funny!!
Check out his legs hanging off the bed!! Doesn't look too comfortable!

What a guy!

While Andy was in Brazil he surprised me with flowers in the mail - yes they really were delivered by the UPS man! They were beautiful!!! And I am happy to say that after being apart for a month and a half he is now back for good. It's nice to not be a single mom anymore! I don't know how they do it!!

Making Flour

It's nice to be back home and use my wheat grinder again. The kids were fascinated with the process and loved helping - although they thought it was a little too loud!!

Working for Money

Our neighbor came over about a week ago and offered a job to Lucy and Ethan. He said he'd pay them a penny for every walnut they picked up. They thought that was pretty cool. Ethan was especially excited about picking up the walnuts. In a short time he earned $6! Lucy earned a couple of dollars but was more worried about getting her fingers dirty than earning money!

Here is Ethan with his money he earned

Here's to Calvin who was eating cheeseburgers at 8 months!!! (ok - maybe not cheeseburgers!!)

I still can't believe that my nephew, calvin, was eating grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken when we were with him in July. He is only 2 months older than Lucas and Lucas can hardly get ONE CHEERIO down!!Maybe one of these days he'll join Calvin and eat some real food. But at this rate it could be a while!!!
Lucas doesn't care too much about toys right now. All he wants to do is pull himself up to the furniture and try standing on his own. He is so proud of himself!


A new favorite thing of his is this Johnny Jumper my friend is letting us borrow. Given Lucas is part frog he is a big fan. He can't get enough of that jumping!

Kids say the funniest things!!

Tonight for family home evening we talked about Adam and Eve. It lead to other topics and ultimately we discussed how when you get OLD you die and can live with Heavenly
Father (which is a whole different story because for Lucy, the thought of living with Heavenly Father and not in her home with her toys isn't very appealing right now!!). Anyway, my intention was not to talk about death but she started asking about it. So while eating desert tonight she said, once again, "So, when people get OLD they will die and live with Heavenly Father."
"Yes," I said.
She was silent for a moment and then said very matter of fact, "Then I guess grandma will be living with Heavenly Father really soon!"
Not sure which grandma she was referring to but I thought is was so funny!!

Soccer Time!!

Along with starting school, Lucy has also started playing soccer!! It is highly entertaining to watch a bunch of four and five year olds "play" soccer. Lucy enjoyed standing on the field and smiling at us. I don't think she quite understood what this soccer thing was all about and why everyone on the sidelines kept calling at the girls to get the ball. Lucy finally understood that for whatever reason, she was supposed to be moving and chasing the ball. So, she got very good at moving her legs - even if it was just to run in place. She didn't ever want to be the first one to get to the ball because once she got it I don't think she knew what to do with it. It was all very comical!

Here are Lucy and two teammates. Their uniforms are GIANT on them!!

This is one of the few times Lucy was actually in trying to get the ball

Our Little Girl is going to School!!

Yesterday Lucy went to her first day of school. She did great and seemed to enjoy it a lot. Today she was really looking forward to getting back on the bus to go to school. I wasn't sure if she'd have a hard time going to school or not but it was hardest on me. Lucy grabbed my hand nice and tight when it came time to step up on the bus but I stepped up on the bus with her, she let go, sat down, and didn't look back! As the bus drove away I was all tears. It is so strange to have a child old enough to be going to school. I am realizing there is truth to statements like "enjoy having your kids at home - they grow up so fast and will be gone before you know it."

California Fun!!

We had lots of fun going to visit Andy's mom in California. The kids enjoyed playing with cousins, being with Grandma, going to the beach, and of course going to Disneyland.

Grandma took us to the Aquarium. Here are Lucy and Rachel.

I guess Lucas liked the aquarium too!!

We also LOVED the night Chef Robert made us some Japanese food.

Eat up Amy and Mike!

The kids spent quite a bit of time exploring grandma's fruit trees.

It wouldn't be Grandma's house without having fresh squeezed juice.