hey santa-

last friday night we took our annual trip to Reynold's to visit Santa.  this year the boys all wanted to sit together on Santa's lap, ah, brotherly love.  cole decided he was going to pull on Santa's beard to make sure he is "the one," but he chickened out!  their faces are just amazing to watch during this magical moment. i love this picture of grant talking to Santa--so serious and satisfied yet filled with excitement.

long lost blogger

it's been a month and a half since I have blogged.  I have pictures and stories to share, but have had no time to share them!  soon, though--my busy season is just about over and I am looking forward to Christmas break to catch up on a few things--like blogging.  until then, i leave you with a photo of a few crazy kids!

luke is 9

it's hard to believe that luke is half-way finished with childhood.  9 more years and he heads off to college--sure hope that the next nine years don't go as fast as the first nine.  something tells me that time is not going to slow down--so for now we just have to enjoy each day we have. luke's birthday was a simple celebration--after church we had lunch with grandpa, grandma and uncle brett. we had subway!  funny.  that is what luke requested--that sure made it easy on mom!  after opening presents the boys enjoyed unlimited wii play with luke's new games. then, off to his friend's  birthday party for the evening.

God has blessed luke in so many ways--he is a great big brother, responsible and helpful. he is healthy and happy and loves to be with others. he is a great gift to our family.  we love you, luke!

2009 Halloween

So thankful that the rain stopped in time for Halloween. . . .it was a bit blustery, but I don't think the kids even noticed!! Grant insisted on being a pumpkin! hmm. nothing easier than using a leaf bag. Thanks to hand-me-downs from cousins, and Terry's Chicago Bears helmet from when he was a kid, Luke got to be Brian Urlacher. And Cole, well, he was the last of the 3 to wear the spider costume {I think we got our money's worth!}. Of course we enjoyed a brief stint with the cousins, an annual thing that i think we are realizing is getting harder to do as the kids get older. And so this ends our fall break! The kids are ready to go back to school--so thankful that they all enjoy it so much. I think I am ready for them to go back to school :)!

cousin days

our kids love, love, LOVE their cousins. cole says his best friend is joey. . . 6 months apart, they get along great. luke jumps at every chance to be with his cousins and grant has a special place in his heart for Grace...it's a connection of some sort.

so, of course the kids have been thrilled that the cousins are getting a tree house. a very cool tree house. grammie and papa have come 3 of the last 6 weekends to help build it. this means that on those weekends they have had cousin days and are more than over-joyed! this weekend the cousins and grammie hung out at our house and one of the highlights was making, decorating AND eating Halloween cookies. mmmm.

Grant is the Champ!

Since August Grant and Luke have both been playing fall baseball. . .wow we've watched 3 games every Sunday--it's been great to watch them both grow. This past weekend was the tournament. Luke's team lost in the first round, the end to a well played season.

Grant's team, on the other hand ended their season tonight, after winning all 4 tournament games! They did such a great job and won tonight's game 4-3.It was exciting for Grant to play against our neighbor and a super-duper friend, Owen! Both boys had some super hits tonight!So thrilled with the ginormous trophy!! That might take me hours to dust! :)Uncle Brett brought this giant cookie to Grant after the game. Grant thought he would get to eat the whole thing himself. . .hmmmm...
Congratulations Grant! We are so proud of Y-O-U!!

pickin'apples

Last weekend we headed to Tuttle's for our annual apple picking! The kids are AlWAYS anxious for this outing. . .it never seems to get old! What started off as a cloudy, crummy day turned out to be absolutely perfect!
I realized that when the kids were little it used to take us a few hours to pick the apples, corral the kids, help them pick the apples etc. Wow, have things changed! We kind of stood back, let the kids do the picking before we even knew it the bags were full!




mmmm. . . i think the best part of picking apples is eating the carmel apples after we are all done. . .this seems to be the best part for someone else too!