Life Lately

We've had a lot of activities in the last few weeks.

At the beginning of the month Nathan and Samuel both had minor outpatient surgeries, and they both rocked it! There were no tears, even when they were in recovery. The day was way less stressful than I had prepared for, and their recoveries were awesome too. I had been worried they'd have to miss out on some fun weekend plans, but they were running around a few hours after surgery acting totally normal. I was SO relieved and shocked at how good they both felt.

The morning after their surgery was Elise's 2nd birthday. They boys were feeling good enough that they begged to go. We had a fun morning celebrating sweet Elise.

The next morning this boy lost his first tooth. He was so very excited. He kept saying, "It's so exciting that I lost my first tooth."

My toothless boy sang at church Sunday morning. It melted my heart so much watching him help lead worship.

Samuel was proud of the fort he built. He is always building and designing and creating.

I love my oldest and youngest.

This cutie was a big fan of the turkey hats she made at our November MOMS meeting.

Cute girls in polka dots.

Our church has a First Grade Bible Presentation every year where they present the first graders with a Bible and welcome them into the kids' ministry. It was a special night in our family. We prayed over Nathan and committed as a family to read and study God's Word.

We're grateful to be a part of a church that values our children and teaching God's Word.

Matt was gone for a week for work. We sure missed him but I was in good hands with these super heroes living with me

 This sweet girl is all smiles these days. I CANNOT get enough of her!

 Two days a week, we get to have girls' days. Elisabeth asks almost every morning if it's a girls' day. We spent part of one of our girls' day making play doh cookies. One of one time is a treasure (even if Baby Sister tags along)

 While Daddy was gone, this boy filled in as my date. I had such a fun evening with him. We ate at his favorite restaurant and then came home for a game night. During dinner I asked him what he thought I did good as his mommy. His response was, "making food, taking care of Katherine, and helping him with his homework."

 He kept saying that he wished we could do this every day. He is such a joy to spend time with even if he smoked me in Catan and Guess Who.

Halloween 2017

Halloween is so fun with kids! We had a great time celebrating

This year we had a Lego Vampire, a (good) witch, Daniel Tiger and Baby Margaret.

The Saturday before Halloween, we went to Levi and Audrey's Halloween birthday party. The kids loved getting to wear their costumes and play in the spooky tree house!

Baby Margaret snoozed through most of the party

There was even a hay ride at the end of the party.

On Halloween, we went to the Shondelmyer's for dinner and trick or treating. We had a great group.

The big six year olds were excited for trick or treating.

We kept track of all twelve of these sweet kids while were out in the neighborhood getting candy. There are so many cute friendships in this group. I love that they are making these fun memories together with their best friends.

We had a super fun night. It was a little stressful making sure we didn't lose a kid, but we came home with all of them and lots of candy.

And just because she's adorable, here are a couple more pictures of our Baby Margaret.

I think she had a fun first Halloween! I know her big siblings sure had a great time.

Fall Break

We had a low key Fall Break. Last year's was pretty epic, so this Fall Break felt especially boring. I asked the kids what they wanted to do and had to veto almost every idea just because I wasn't up to those activities while having a newborn. We ended up having a fun time, and it was nice to have slower mornings without the hustle and bustle of getting everyone ready for school. I enjoyed the little bit of extra sleep in the mornings!

On Wednesday we had some of our favorite friends over for a play date.

Leslie even brought over pumpkins to paint.

Thursday we stayed home and had a PJ day. It was a fun relaxing day. I don't even remember what we played. I think we did puzzles and played outside doing ninja tricks. I'm not sure what else.

Thursday evening we let the kids carve pumpkins for the first time. They loved it, and Matt and I survived, ha!

Friday morning we met friends at the park. They kids played and played for a couple of hours and Erica and I got to visit. Everyone had a great time!

Saturday we cheered on our Cowboys to a victory with our favorite football friends.

These kids play really well together! They look forward to football watch parties as much as we do.

Our Fall Break was low key, but it was filled with special friendships, family time and newborn snuggles, so it ended up being pretty great.