A lot to be Thankful for.

I love this time of year and all of it Holiday Celebration. This year we will be especially grateful for our growing family. Especially grateful for the three new babies that will be joining us. My brother Rod and his lovely wife Michelle are adopting a baby boy when he is born in January. They have also announced after 11 years of marriage they are pregnant!!! We are so excited for them. We are especially excited for Shawn to be the big brother he was made to be. He is such a great kid and will look after his two new baby siblings wonderfully.

The big brother

We are also grateful for another addition to this crazy family... Ryan and Tiffs.
Tiff is an amazing Mom that keeps up with this crew. Making it look easy as she goes. Oscar and Livy, the youngest, are only 11 months apart.

With all these babies on their way, I'm so grateful for the plan of Salvation. To know where we come from, what were doing here, and where we want to go. Even my little Elliot knows at the young age of 3, that Families are Forever! Since she tells me all the time. "we are a family forever huh, MOM."

Yeah, we are Elliot.

Fall Update

We are all enjoying our fall. The leaves are BEauTifUL! The girls and I spent last Saturday making apple pies with Mrs. Gilbert (a friend and Co worker of my friend Mary). Mrs. Gilbert's kitchen is darling and just what you expect after driving up the lane to her house lined with apple trees. We had so much fun making the apple pies, we forgot to take pictures. What a perfect thing to do in the fall.

Griffin lost ANOTHER tooth this week. I told him to slow down, he will still want to eat, and won't be able to if he keeps pulling out his teeth. The twins are both so jealous of Griffin's new money making scheme (pulling out teeth) they have been wiggling their own teeth, hoping for a loose one.

Mike is enjoying his Semester and we are all looking forward to visits from family. Coming soon...

Our future Politician

The Votes are IN! and Miles won the election for student council for Mrs. Rowell's 4th grade class. Each 4th grade class gets one student to serve on the council. The campaign trail has been long, but our hard work has paid off. We don't know whether to credit his win to his creative posters( drawn by Caleigh and Miles), His 3 sentence speech, or just his winning personality, but were proud of him for putting himself out there.

Way to go Miles...on to the white house.

Just in time for Jack-O-Lanterns

Griff lost another tooth yesterday. This will be his 7th. We were driving home from piano lessons and he asked for a tissue. 30 seconds later he was laughing because he didn't just pull out his tooth, he sent it flying to the back of the car where is got lost among the stroller, booster seats, and food storage cans. He said it was the easiest to pull so far. Good job Griff, you'll fit right in with the other Jack-O-lanterns.

Sept. Cartoon class--Emotions

Our local library is wonderful (as are most libraries) one of my favorite things are the classes they offer. In the fall they offer cartoon class once a month. The kids have done it before and always have a great time. The instructor is a local cartoonist. She is so positive and enjoys each of the children's talents, and they always learn something.

I love their different art style.

Miles- big not as much detail as others. He draws with energy just like everything else he does. As a toddler I could never pin him down long. He seems more interested in eating the crayons then coloring with them. He has come a long way. Mostly the class provided him with yet another way to socialize with new people.

Griffin- likes to take his time and really work at what he's doing. He gets frustrated at himself when it doesn't come out the way he pictured, but he never gives up. He loves to draw.

Caleigh- she is our resident artist. Her art reflects her personality. She's silly but quiet. She could sit all day and work on a project. Lots of details. I think drawing "emotions" plays to her strength as an observer, just like her daddy. She is always leaving a situation and then drawing a picture about it.

When she was 4 she got really frustrated because I wasn't getting her what she wanted. So after bugging me for an annoying amount of time she slipped off to her room and came back with a drawing of a girl with a mad face and the caption read "NOW!" It took me so off guard I gave in. (I don't remember what she wanted but I do remember laughing).