Beds, Squirrels, and Giggly Girls

So Matt's favorite time of day is coming home from work! The kids are so excited to see him and I'm sure you can hear the girls squeal all the way down the road! On this particular day the girls were sitting in the window watching for daddy and went crazy when they saw him pull up. He couldn't resist pulling out his camera and snapping a few photos for keepsake :)

Marie sitting in the window.

Izzy all giggles and excited to see 'dada'

Izzy loves standing on the box under the window so she can keep a look out for daddy.

Colten got a pumpkin on Halloween on his school field trip. He decided not to carve it and leave it outside for decoration for Thanksgiving. Well, apparently the squirrels around our house were planning their own Thanksgiving feast. I have never seen anything like it. We have vicious squirrels! They attacked the pumpkin and clawed their way in to the seeds.

Yay!!! Onah and Marie finally got their bunk beds! Their room is SO much bigger now with bunk beds! They have room to play! :) Thanks to Aunt Sabra!

Trick or Treat

Wow, we knock on people's door and they give us lots of candy?! Yeah, Onah and Marie LOVED Halloween! Izzy too, we let her eat a little candy and she was in heaven all night. I think Colten got more candy this year than he ever has! There was so much candy I couldn't figure out what to do with it all, so I put some back for Christmas! :) Now I don't have to spend money on candy for the stockings! I'm loving trick or treating for different reasons.

This year we had crazy animals...

Colten was a hungry tiger. He wouldn't keep his hood up cause he liked his face paint job so much...props to me, yeah that's right! Mom of the year award!

Onah was a restless horse...

Marie was a waddling duck...

And Izzy was a squawking chicken.

Hay Rides, Horses, and a Duck Hunt

We had made a getaway to the farm in Madison for the weekend and had lots of fun. It is amazing how much more you treasure and enjoy the time in nature when you see less of it every day! Can't remember the last time we were at the farm in the fall but it was BEAUTIFUL and so relaxing that the kids and I decided to stay an extra day.

Grandma Lee had left the kids a Halloween treat with a special book. We took some time the first night to read the book together and eat their treats. The pictures glowed in the dark which was quite interesting trying to read by flashlight only to turn off the flashlight to see the cool glowing picture. The kids thought it was great fun!

Papaw Lee had prepared the wagon for us to go on a hay ride, so of course before it got too dark, Matt had to get it all ready and go for a short ride! He couldn't wait till the next day :) We drove around the lake and were so frozen the kids said, "we're done for tonight!" haha

Once they were thawed out the next morning they were back on the wagon and ready to go for a longer ride.

Daddy took the kids to the woods to clear a better path for the hay ride. Of course we all know that was just a good excuse to use the chainsaw...he has serious issues! :)

They found a fallen tree that they could walk across...to them it was a tight rope 100 feet off the ground!

Too cute, and they were so cold!!! We will definitely need to stock up on hats and gloves this season.

Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows+Rice Crispy Treats=Happy Warm Children

We picked up Jordan, Colten's cousin, to have some fun with us.

Can't tell the guy loves to ride? We made a 'list-o-fun'...aka things we wanted to do over the weekend, so of course Matt had to saddle up the horse and take the kids for a ride!

If only it were 'ol Chance, that would make it the perfect ride!

First up...Colten

...then Onah

...then Marie

Last but not least...Izzy. I think she was robbed, she had the shortest ride.

And then some more hay ride fun!

A glimpse of the colors of fall and the beauty that took our breath away. Pictures don't do it justice!

And our drivers through it all....

The kids and I found that the farm is the best place to 'go on a bear hunt'. We went on a walk on the farm and sang the song...'goin' on a bear hunt....' gonna catch a big one....I'm not afraid....OOOHHH LOOKIE....I see a _____, etc... We saw some tall weeds, a giant log, a creek, a gate, a hill, a pond, but no cave or bear. Just ducks and dogs. But Brody ended our walk with catching a duck! He carried it all the way back to the house, played with it, and I finally caught up with him and made him spit it out. Duck was not harmed...scared quackless...but not harmed. He was returned safely to his friends on the pond!

Can't wait to go back for our next adventure!

Dreams Come True

Cleaning out a closet recently we found Colten's "Marie Doll" This was the doll that he slept with every night since he found out about Onah and Marie. He called it his Marie doll and loved sleeping with it. Here he is 3 years ago sleeping with his Marie doll :)

What a heart-warming moment when we pulled it out showed it to Colten and let him explain to Marie what it meant to him! She was smiling from ear to ear. No more sweet dreams of his brother and sister coming home, now he can dream sweet dreams with them

That's My Girl

So on Izzy's first birthday we learned something new about her...the girl loves chocolate and NOTHING else...

So I bought Izzy a special cupcake creature for her birthday to dig into all by herself. It was a cute little kitty; white cake with pink icing...too cute to eat! SHE HATED IT!

So like any good mom, I forced her to try it...SHE HATED IT EVEN MORE! Screaming, tears, lots of unhappiness on a happy occasion!

I thought maybe she just didn't like getting all sticky, so again, the wonderful mother I am says to self, "I know you'll like it if you just try it!" So I put some on a spoon and stuck it in her mouth, which resulted in...her spitting it out and continuing to scream, only louder now.

Took the kitty away from the crying baby who obviously was being traumatized and introduced the amazing cake I made myself...chocolate with chocolate icing. (mmmm)

Showing interest...no more tears...AND...

We learn two things about our daughter today... 1. The girl can turn it off in a second. 2. She loves her some chocolate, just like her momma! :) Happy Birthday Izzy!

Fall Fun

We went to Boyd's orchard again this year with Tates Creek families and had a great time. Lots to do and see and evening came and we enjoyed a well built fire with food and an enjoyable concert put on by the kids. The best part however was our "Going on a Bear Hunt" with Pam Bolt! You had me laughing so hard I was crying and snorting, it was rather embarrassing! :)

Found a cute idea for some "jar-o-lanterns" in a family magazine. Found some jars that match the sizes of our kiddos and went to work :) They loved it and had so much fun!

Colten and his friend Drew as we arrived at Boyd's Orchard. Pretty much inseparable the whole day.

Izzy found a toy she liked, the tunnels. I think she could have played in it all day. She loves Peek-a-Boo! She'd never crawl all the way through...she'd stop half way and back right back out.

Pumpkin picking time! We went to the 'small patch' since you pay by the ounce :) Onah and Marie didn't get the concept that they were picking just 1 pumpkin. I think they thought they were there to clean up all the pumpkins, cause they pick up EVERY pumpkin, put in the wagon, and I'd take it back out! haha! We finally settled on just 1!

Riding in the wagon. We had to walk a long way to get to the 'large pumpkin's patch'.

Grandma and Papaw Lee came down for a visit and went with us to the orchard. This was such an irresistable picture with them walking with Izzy to the pumpkin patch.

TOO MUCH WALKING! We sat for awhile and enjoyed some apples while the older boys searched for 'the biggest pumpkin they could find'.

Our carved pumpkins.

We cut down the tree in the backyard this summer, but instead of raking leaves this year we had to rake PINE NEEDLES! urgh! Izzy was having fun helping daddy rake up the needles. Somehow she ended up IN them!