Cats

Our old neighbors from Copley came up for the weekend and Elizabeth and I took the girls to see the musical "Cats." The girls had fun getting dressed up and going to the theater. So did I! It was Brooke's first big theater production and she did great! I played the music for her each night before she went to bed and that seemed to help her understand the story. I am looking forward to our next theater trip to see the ballet, "Cinderella."

Thanksgiving

Uncle Brian with Brooke riding Amelia's pony.

The girls getting ready to ride the pony.

Our bowling field trip.

Thanksgiving Day with the family - minus one who couldn't be there. Thanks to Chad and Denise for hosting!

The boys getting ready for target practice.

Grandma's princesses.

Showering Lexi with love.

Brooke wanted to hold Lexi ALL THE TIME - surprise, surprise!!

Another Thanksgiving spent in St. Louis. As usual, we had a wonderful time being with family and it was made extra special by meeting our sweet, new niece, Lexi. She received lots of attention and we loved her hairdo! So that makes 7 nieces and one nephew for us. Now that we are two hours closer we only had to drive 8 hours instead of 10. That two hours less makes a big difference!

Circleville Pumpkin Festival

Getting ready for the monkey ball tournament. Can't explain it, but it was fun!
Brooke was glued to Rachel's side all weekend!

Making it rain leaves.

This would have been a great picture if my eyes were open.

I don't even eat fried food, but had to try the fried oreos ( who comes up with this?!). The first bite was good, but that was enough. For whatever it is worth ( which is nothing!) now I can say I have tried fried oreos. I would have loved them as a kid when I couldn't eat anything surgary.

We had to try the fried twinkies, too!

Family pic in front of the winning pumpkin.

The wonderful Chapman-Smith family we wish we still lived behind:(

They were sooo excited to pose for another picture!

I love these kids!

Maybe we will try this next year!

Pumpkin Pie eating contest. The boys wondering what they have done!

Wating for the signal...

And they begin...

This is when Brooke turns to me and says, "This is disgusting - I can't watch."

I am so glad my daughter is offended by slovenly, uncouth, and uncivilized behavior.

Maybe I am doing something right - although I did encourage my boys to participate so that cancels out that theory!


Luke showing us how much he has left. Andrew looks like he is going to town, but faked it the whole time and has really eaten only one bite!!! We weren't surprised.

I almost forgot to include the pictures of our trip to the Pumpkin Festival in Circleville, Ohio. It is the tradition of our good friends, the Chapman-Smiths, go every year and this year they invited us along. We had a wonderful time watching the boys participate in the pumpkin pie eating contest, looking at all of the pumpkins, breaking my rule of not ever eating fair food, playing monkey ball, hiking, and simply hanging out. A perfect fall weekend!!

Brooke's 7th Birthday

Yeah! I am 7!

The boys wishing Brooke a happy birthday gangsta style!

3rd year in a row at Steak N Shake

All of the orhanage donations

Al dressed up!

Even Matt can hold his pinky out!

The boys stayed at Brooke's party for approximately 3 minutes before I kicked them out!

I can't believe my little Brookie is 7!! She loves her birthday as all of my kids do, which makes the day so fun. Lucky for me she did not choose doughnuts as the other two always do so I didn't have to go to Krispy Kreme at the crack of dawn! She wanted, instead, Matt to make her pancakes in the shape of a cake and the number 7. He is the pancake master and was able to do it! She chose Steak N Shake for the third year in a row for her dinner and she chose for me to bring her McDonalds for luch at school. I don't even remember the last time my kids had fast food and Brooke got a double dose in one day!! Her party was at a party place called The Glass Slipper which hosts birthday tea parties. She chose a Fancy Nancy theme - surprise, surprise! and the girls got to dress up, make butterfly wings, listen to a Fancy Nancy story, play games, and of course have mini sandwiches, fruit, tea, and cake. Instead of gifts this year Brooke and I requested that the guests bring a donation to Hannah's Hope which is the orphanage that our daughter will come from. We received lots of diapers, formula, and clothes. I can't wait to send it over there! The best thing about doing that was not only will the children at the orphanage benefit, but it was so wonderful to see Brooke's giving heart and how excited she was about doing this and never once said a word about not receiving presents.

Our 13th anniversary

A couple of months ago Matt made a bid at a silent auction for a night at the Renaissance Hotel downtown, dinner at a nearby restaurant and tickets to the art museum. With my parents in town for our anniversary we were able to use it to celebrate our anniversary while they took care of the kids. Instead of the art museum Matt got us a couples massage at a spa downtown. It was very relaxing and Matt was able to fully relax before he spent the rest of the evening tense as he tracked the Baylor/Texas game on his phone. The game wasn't shown on tv which was lucky for me since then I didn't have to find out which Matt would have chosen, the Baylor game or a night out with me. I think I already know the answer! He was able to track it on his phone while we were at a movie! and luckily the movie ended before Baylor won or Matt would have gotten kicked out of the theater. It was pretty cool they won since the last time Baylor beat Texas at home was the night of our wedding in 1997. At our wedding when we found out we had won all of our Baylor guests and family sang The Baylor Line at the reception. Matt also had the hotel send chocolate covered strawberries to our room. Just like he did when we celebrated our engagement in Vail! It was nice to have 24 hours together and we ended the next day shopping for Brooke's birthday. Somehow we always end dates with shopping!

Halloween and football

We had a great night for trick or treat in our new neighborhood. We didn't think that too many kids would make the walk back to our cul de sac so we just left the bowl of candy on the porch so we could all go out walking. I was right as more than half the bowl was still left. Matt and I decided to dress up this year which was a lot of fun. I chose my costume based simply on the fact that it was one of three costumes in the store that didn't make me look like a- hmmm - how do I say this - in any case, I wanted to be covered! Lucky for me I was Wonder Woman two years in a row as a child so it was the perfect costume for me. There were actually a lot of parents dressed up so that made it even more fun.Matt looked dashing as a night and the kids were Fancy Nancy, a football player, and I am still not sure what Andrew was - a zombie motorcycle dude? It took him three stores, and an hour and a half to pick out his costume. This has been the case since he was three years old! The boys played there last football game (they lost)that afternoon and then we dashed home to change for a beautiful ( a little chilly!) fall night for trick or treating.

Mom's Birthday

It isn't often that we are able to celebrate birthdays together so we were very excited that Mom and Dad arrived in Columbus on Mom's birthday so we could celebrate with her. In fact, the last time we celebrated Mom's birthday with her she had just turned 60 and I was due any day with Brooke. I had the flu and couldn't even go out to dinner with them as they took her to Papasitos for a birthday celebration. She stills remembers wearing the sombrero while they serenaded her in Spanish. Then I gave her the flu for her birthday! This one 7 years later was a little more enjoyable. We had a great meal, enjoyed cake, gave her gifts, and Brooke made sure she had a crown to wear!The next night Matt and I were able to take my parents out to dinner downtown. Columbus has lots of good restaurants and we are trying to try experience them all. Happy 67th Birthday Mom!

Brooke meeting Jane O' Connor

I found out that Jane O' Connor was coming to Borders to read her latest Fancy Nancy book so I, of course, decided to take Brooke. She wore her Fancy Nancy clothes and listened Jane talk about how she was Fancy Nancy as a child. This was actually our second time to meet Jane. We met her three years ago at the bookstore in Copley. I was a little starstruck this time around. Maybe it was knowing how much Brooke has loved the books. I picture her reading them to her children someday and maybe even her grandchildren. Hats off to Jane O' Connor for writing such awesome books and giving girls a vocabulary lesson as well.

Raking - Family Style

We'd employ Macy if we could!

Building a leaf fort for an airsoft gun war.

Where's Luke?

We have decided that the family that rakes together stays together! At least let's hope anyway because we have lots of raking to do!! Yes, we know we basically bought a tree house since we are surrounded by lots of huge trees, but when we saw the house in May when everything was green and lush we just weren't thinking about what the yard would look like in October. Actually, I did ask the previous owner how it was raking and he nonchalantly told me, "it is no big deal." LIAR!! In the meantime we will keep raking and enjoying the beauty of fall. Check out the videos below. Notice Luke is missing again!

Apple Picking and Corn Maize

When we lived in Akron we went to the same orchard every year to pick apples. It was one of our favorite fall outings. Luckily we found a place here that was not as quaint, but just as fun. And the best part is the baking that is a result of all of those apples! Apple pancakes, apple pie, apple cake!! I also had to include a picture of our outing to the Corn Maize. The boys had a cub scout outing there and it was the first time Matt has ever been through one. He has always had a fear of them but knowing that we could text for directions!! helped ease his fears. Every year they make a design in the corn maize and this year we wanderd through the faces on Woody Hayes and Jim Tressel!