Leaves and Snow in One Week

This week we've raked and bagged TONS of leaves from our front yard AND we've played in the snow!!! One day we had light jackets on and the next heavy coats and hats!!

This year because of the economy our city wasn't able to come and pick up our leaves that we used to rake to the curb. So we had to rake them and take them over to the yard waste place where they take it and make it into free mulch for the community. Monday was a very warm day here so we made a day of it....the kids loved it, Matt worked HARD, and we all chipped in to bag all the leaves! We should of counted but all and all it was around 30 full bags! The next day came the rain and then the snow! Which meant time to put up the tree! Ava and Cooper are at such fun ages for this...(well, besides all the glass ornaments and potential for pulling over the tree:) They have had more fun with the empty boxes and tins that I put under the tree I'm beginning to think who needs the real thing!

Today brought more snow...I really do enjoy it....when it's just covering the ground and we are able to go about our normal day driving wherever we want. We debated on going to the Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade but decided at the last minute this morning to go for it.

The kids LOVED it! There were around 150 carriages pulled by all kinds of different horses...many of them dressed up for the occasion! I love this pic of Coop...this is what he did for each one...giddy as could be and waving his little hand. Side note - LOOK at this gettup! This snowsuit is from the 70's...you guessed it, it was Matt's!!! We couldn't resist:) He'll hate us when he gets older but it sure was fun today!

Hoping Once is Enough

This week was not what we had planned! Monday afternoon took us by surprise and kept on coming! I was ready to head out the door to go to aerobics and suddenly didn't feel so well.
I will spare you the details but I'm so thankful Matt was home because I began throwing up and throwing up some more...ugh! I laid in bed that night praying that this would be my one time of the stomach flu for the season...please Lord! Anyway, then Matt followed suit on Tuesday and then Cooper on Wednseday and oh so thankfully Ava did not follow!!

So this week needless to say we missed several nights of taking time to put leaves on our thanksgiving tree. The kids have looked forward to doing this every night after dinner. Even Cooper loves it although I'm not sure he really knows what I'm asking him each night as we write on his leaf:) It's been great for me to think about what I'm thankful for and how I want to give God praise! We love hearing what Ava says each day...some days it is the same as the day before but some days she really seems to put some thought into it.

After too much time inside this week.....there was TODAY! It was so sunny and warm!! We didn't miss out! We had a whole Saturday with NO plans! How often does that happen?? We really thought hard about going to the zoo because we love the zoo but that would cost money in which we are low on at the moment...so back to the drawing board....we went to one of the great parks in this area that we haven't explored yet....the Cox Arboretum.

These are some of the pics of the day! What a great way to end the week!

A big TREAT for Halloween!

What a great weekend! Our treat was having Nana and Papa, Aunt Ginny and cousins Hannah, Sam and Seth here! The kids had so much fun playing and laughing and especially trick or treating! We wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. We drove to Yellow Springs on Saturday and went to Young's Dairy to play a little.


We had an early dinner and headed out a little after 6. Cowboy Cooper really loved it! I didn't think he'd walk that whole time but he did bucket and all! Ballerina Ava (who refused to wear her tiara:) had a ball as well....except for some of the scary costumes she ran into. I have to say one house we were walking up to had a sweet older woman handing out candy and a 'grim reaper' kind of think next to her. He had a black sheet over him, scary head, etc. Ava saw it and her eyes got as big as saucers so her aunt Ginny and myself were reassuring her that it wasn't real...it was just a box with a sheet over it, etc. No sooner as we said that he stood up very slowing and started to move toward us!!! Now come on...that isn't helping with my 3 year old who doesn't do well with this stuff!!! I was holding Ava and Seth's hands and as soon as he did that we bolted out of there....there buckets were full enough they didn't need anymore! I have to admit it was scary!

Our neighbor was so thoughtful and brought over the biggest red apples for each of the kids as we started out for the night and he told us that the fire station always has candy for Halloween. So that was our first stop! How fun! This will be a tradition for us...they were grilling out, giving out hot dogs, lots of candy and letting the kids sit in the trucks! This is Seth the Spiderman taking a turn.

Nana, Papa, Aunt Ginny, Hannah, Sam and Seth...will you be our treat again next year? WE sure hope so!

Before Matt's family came we decided to take a turn at carving pumpkins. We hadn't done this as a family yet not knowing how the kids would do. But they loved it! They also loved decorating their own pumpkins with stickers, googly, eyes, pipe cleaners, whatever we could find!

Gymnastics

The last 8 weeks every Thursday night we've walked over to the Y for gymnastics. It has been so much fun! The kids have loved every minute of it! Ava is in the "big girl" class now. Parents cannot help her or be out on the floor with her. I wasn't sure how this would go over at first but she hasn't looked back once! She has loved walking on the beam, trying cartwheels, the trampoline! Ava's teacher has done an incredible job with the kids!

In Cooper's class either Matt or I have to be with him. Ava did this class last year...boy do they have different approaches:) He loves just moving, flopping, flipping, sliding, swinging, bouncing, rolling...you name it, he tries it.

We are so sad the class is over! We are tempted to start them back up again in a week...this or swimming???

Does This Have to Come to an End?

As I sit here now the rain is pouring down and there is a cold wind blowing... oh how I am going to miss these days we've had of absolutely gorgeous weather!! Here's a bit of what fun we've been having.....

Picking pumpkins and more pumpkins!!!

Bouncing in fun jump houses and running through hay tunnels and bouncing some more....

Picking raspberries....YUM!!

We don't want it to end yet!!!

Wait...I Should Know this by Now!

All I can say is EXPECTATIONS!!! Ahhh...they get me every time! Last Friday we had great weather....I don't know if I mentioned it but I LOVE LOVE this time of year and all the fun things that you can do outside! So, I got online and found a farm down in Lebanon where we could go apple picking!! I was so excited because we haven't done this as a family together...we just stick to the pumpkin picking. We pull up to the farm, get out and the first sign Matt sees says, "We apologize but the apple orchard is closed due to a bad crop of apples this season." What?!! I know to some...no big deal. Move on. But I was so sad!! Expectation dashed!
Thankfully, I was able to pull it together and have a fun evening still...picking pumpkins instead:)

Then on to Saturday...a new day! I was looking forward to a Mommy/Daughter day! We had a buy one get one free coupon for Disney Princess on Ice!! Perfect...or so I thought...or actually I wasn't thinking it all through when I bought the tickets. Long story short...I forgot that each Princess story has a Villian... and Ava is very sensitive to these things. Ava was scared...really scared! I won't go into all the details but ugh...I was mad! After waiting it out until intermission, I decided to go ahead and leave and now looking back so thankful I did. Expectations dashed! My emotions were on a roller coaster and I'm thankful God entered in to eventually bring me to a place of asking for forgiveness from my sweet Ava....the redemptive spot in the day - she looked at me, gave me a big hug and said, "I forgive you mama!" Lot's I'm learning about myself, about my kids and how God wants to change and grow me!

Time Away

Can you guess from the picture below where we got away? Those might be called hills by some and others would say for sure those are mountains....we went to the Smoky Mountains. Gatlinburg to be exact. One of our good friends was turning 40 so it was a great reason to get away with some friends and celebrate!

We always seem to talk about getting away with good friends but it rarely seems to happen probably for lots of reasons...one of which just being our season of life with young ones. But, thanks to our friend who picked a weekend, invited us, booked this AMAZING cabin...we actually did it!!! (THANKS too to our parents who loved on and took incredible delight in watching our kiddos:)

This cabin was incredible and a great price to top it off...because we went one weekend before the peek season it was so much cheaper! Anyway....3 stories, 3 big bedrooms all with wrap around porches, hot tub, full kitchen!! Definitely a keeper!We were really only there a short time but we were able to do so much plus relax and get rich time with friends!! The only bummer was the extra 2 hours in the car heading out of Gatlinburg sitting in traffic.....oops, next time we'll know everyone leaves Sunday morning at the same time! It was a great weekend and a good reminder that we need to do this more often!