What a week!

Let the Fall Festivities begin . . . I'm sure this lasted for 15 seconds!

Ugh . . . the inside is always so much fun!

J & K were both troopers though in digging out the "guts!"

And this was at the mid-point of our pumpkin carving extravaganza:) Where are the kids????

The finished product -- way to go daddy!

The kids at our church's Trunk or Treat event last weekend. Joshua has been saying FOR MONTHS he wanted to be a "Club Penguin" penguin -- you know, you can't exactly go to Wal-mart and snag that costume. So, it was a labor of love from mama:) Poor Tyler -- this is what happens when Mommy neglects to actually try on the costume from Mommy and Me before buying it . . . it was a bit short:)

There they are!

I have this in the wrong order -- this is a picture of Kayla and her friend from church last year at this event. They didn't "consult" each other, but were both princesses last year.

And then this year . . . we realized they were both cheer leaders! So cute!

Celebrated Brian's bday -- that's some serious candle-blowing out action!

Last Saturday we ran (well, walked!) in Run with Faith -- an event to raise money and support for a family who has a precious girl named Faith who was born with spina bifoda. It was great family experience . . . The kids enjoyed hanging out with their buds!

Joshua and his friend

Kayla and her friend again --

And Mr. Tyler has figured out the how to run the computer . . like . . .it's kind of scary. Can't talk much but can sure navigate the web!

Doors, doors, and more doors

So . . . way back in Feb. I go the itch to start painting the trim white in our house . . . trim, door james. base board, etc. I knew it was going to be a beast of a project -- and I was right! IT HAS BEEN! Well, now that the door jams are painted white, the "original" white doors just weren't cutting it -- they looked fine in the daylight, but horrendous at night. (in my opinion , anyway). With cooler weather fast approaching, I asked (pleaded, begged) Bryan if he would be game for helping me paint ALL SEVENTEEN, yes SEVENTEEN doors this weekend.

Crazy guy -- he agreed. We had access to a paint sprayer, but had never used one, so we (and especially yours truly) was REALLY hoping it was going to work. We both sides of the garage with plastic to catch the overspray.

We could fit all of them in except one -- lots of doors, eh?

And then Bryan started spraying . . . and it turned out really good! We pulled the doors off hinges at 10am on Friday, and by 10pm, Saturday they were all back on the hinges. 36 hours baby! Woot woot! But, it was a super, super crazy day with tons of unexpected interruptions -- so I would have been fine finishing the install process later, but Bryan was wanting to get it DONE.

This would be our Amelia -- Tyler's best fried in the 'hood right now! I guess he was a little chilly and needed his "dee-dee."

Bem's Wedding

Yep -- my little sister got married this past weekend! And in the midst of us both being involved in the ceremony and keeping track of our three little ones . . . I didn't end up with any decent pics of the bride and groom. So -- this blog post will be about everything EXCEPT the main attraction:( My brother and sis in law made a whirlwind trip from IN -- to fun to see them.

Coolest barn/b&b ever -- hanging out after the rehearsal dinner

Since we never get to have Bday parties with the Indiana cousins, and two of them have October bdays, we had a little birthday celebration for them Sat. morning. Nothing like Bingo with Grandma and Grandpa!

The boys (mainly Joshua, I think) realized that the helium balloon was a great target for the Nerf arrows -- they really stuck well!

Blowing out B-day candles -- and yes, Freya is great with child!

At the wedding -- Uncle Brian and Tyler. Tyler looking WAY too old. :(

Thanks for that, Uncle Brian!

The boy cousins -- age 2,4,5,6

Glad the sound board operator had lots of help!

Our fam!

More of our fam!

A rare pic of us!

Fun family day

So, the weather had been so unbearably hot the last part of summer, we never got a chance to make a long bike ride! So -- today was the day! We (I mean, Bryan) loaded up the bikes, went to Shunga trail, and we biked to Sonic for lunch!


Funny! We were so proud of the kids -- esp. Kayla. We biked for probably 45 min. one way, and she was just the biggest trooper!

On the way back, we stopped at the park. It was a nice break for everyone before the last stretch!

When we got home, it was neighborhood central! We love having tons of kids on this street!

One of the neighbor boys checking out Kayla's boo-boo :(

We ended up making homemade ice cream and had a great time hanging out with neighbors and eating ice cream! And, then a lovely rainbow completed the day! Thank you Lord, for days like today, when it is so easy to count the ways You have blessed us!

Kayla's First Day of Preschool & Labor Day

After much waiting (and a little hesitation last night) Kayla's 1st day of
preschool FINALLY came!!!! She was excited!

Joshua had been informing her of all the do's and dont's . . . so I think

she was adequately prepared!

Walking out to the van with Miss Janet! Tyler spent the whole morning saying "La La? La La?" (his word for Kayla) -- I think he was confused where she was :(

He was pretty excited when she got in the van!

Long story, but I had ordered a Groupon Canvas Print last April, thinking that it would be no big deal to have a good family or at least children picture by September when it expired. Nope . . . didn't happen . . . so one of our Labor Day "to do" items was to get a "tolerable" children pic together. Easier said than done. Geesh . . .

We ended up with this . . . but lest you think it was smooth sailing . . .

. . . yep, Joshua was totally digging the picture thing. Can't you tell????

Hello???? How hard is it to just look at the camera????
Like I said, easier said than done . . .:)

Now that the weather has finally cooled off, we can actually hang out with the neighbors again! I took this picture yesterday in the "cul-de-sac" -- actually it's a dead end with lots of gravel in it! But, it's great for boys and their dump trucks, bikes, diggers, etc. Even though Tyler is by far the youngest, they are just pretty tolerant of him!

We were planning on going to the zoo on labor day, but ended up just hanging at the park and riding the train. I think most of Topeka thought it would fun to ride the train as well.
We had fun waiting, anway . . .

. . . some of us more than others :)

Classic.

FINALLY . . . on the train!

Fun on the playground

Pure determination . . .

It's a bummer when that airplane (or Whoosh -- as T calls it) is in the sun!

Yep, she's part monkey I believe! Lots of fun on LD weekend -- well, maybe except for trying to capture that crazy family picture!

Joshua's First Day of 1st grade

1st grade

All grown up!

Joshua and one of the neighborhood buddies!

The bus stop crew

So funny . . . last year, the three of them (Kayla, Carter (next door neighbor), and Tyler) would ALWAYS sit on the curb and wait for the bus . . . and sure enough, they went right back to their spot!

There goes the bus!