punkins

On a fantastic day for October weather, it worked out well that while Kasey was in town, we could go to the pumpkin patch. 

My Mom, Dad and Jess and the kids all came, and we had so much fun.

Secrets, secrets... I'm sure not inappropriate AT ALL :)

So....this is what I get when I ask my littles to take a picture together. 

And you better have a FAST shutter speed just to catch  a masterpiece like this...

And this is what Jess gets. Pure perfection. Ahhhh, yes. Totally unfair. 

Because believe me, it's not for a lack of effort on my part.

A Melman pumpkin?

And one of my favorites from the afternoon...

Happy Fall, Y'all. 

What!? It's pretty much winter??  Yeah, I still have summer posts to write, lay off.

her first half

A few weeks ago, my Mom, Kara, Jess and I drove to Fargo to surprise Kasey running her first half marathon.

With surgeries on both of her knees, we knew it would be a challenge, but she ROCKED it.

Here she is with her friend Megan, ready to start the race!

 

After a bit of confusion {totally my fault, I MAY have read the map a bit wrong and had us in the wrong state!?} we finally found her on the route!

Seeing our signs....

The cheering squad.

 

Megan, Casey, and Kasey...roomies.

Good job, Kas! We knew you could do it :)

16 weeks

This one is for Ash, who has been patiently waiting for a blog post of my belly :)

This was snapped quickly on my way out the door this morning {hence the bad quality}

16 weeks and counting!

I've been pumped to have felt the baby SUPER early this time around, it never gets old to feel the little baby flutters, and reassuring each and every time he/she does their little sets of gymnastics.
And the best news....I'm feeling WAY better. There are still yuck days, but for the most part, I'm back to my old self. Whew.

happy halloween

Halloween typically starts the weekend before the big day, and this year was no exception.

We loaded the kiddos up and headed out to the farm.

First stop: Gigi and Grandpa's house.

We don't get to see them nearly enough, so it's fun for them to be able to see the kids in their costumes.

My little bruiser and his biggest fan.

I think Fin could have played with as many of Gigi's breakables as possible if we let her.

Good thing Gigi is a softie and ENCOURAGES her to!

After missing Grandma Lois (she's a busy busy gal) we headed back to the farm.

Here's our special Luci Mae. She's getting skinny, but she's had a LOT of good years on the farm.

In June, she turned 14. We thought she was 98 and doing pretty good, until Tom mentioned the rules had changed, and she's only 69. 

Well, we think you're lookin' good anyway, Luc!

We explored the farm way more than we have in a while, which was so much fun. We climbed on everything, and even spent a ton of time in the hay loft of the barn. I hadn't realized my kids had never been up there, and Jacks was SO interested when I told him how everything worked. I swear it never gets old to see your kid WANTING to learn new things. Especially when they were second nature to me growing up.

Little Gophers and The Dukes of Hazard.

The night of Halloween, it is always a crazy night, but we had SO much fun this year.

We started when it was still light out.

{you know, with a bribe of NO candy unless you pose for a picture.}

My creepy costume.

Hey, at least I wasn't a preggers nun, right??

Fin figuring out what my shirt was all about. It was SO hilarious, and quite adorable, too.

She even asked the baby if it wanted some candy. :)

Posing with Mr. Parker, the highway patrolman.

After the girls had enough, we went back to the house to hand out candy, and watch a little Lion King.

BUSTED

Then Jacks came home to help too. I almost think he liked handing out candy better than trick or treating.

He says he gets to see more kids that way :)

And they were obsessed with sitting on the step, looking at the pumpkins and watching for kids to come.

I hope everyone's Halloween was as fun as ours!

little helper

What can I say, this little lady loves her Daddy.

Even when he has to put a new faucet in, and doesn't need her help.

When she hopped up on top of him, we both just laughed.

So much different than Jacks when he was her age...his help consisted of hiding all of the tools :)

pregnet

The other day, I got a text message from Jess saying:
"I think your condition is having an effect on my oldest son."

And along with it came this picture:

Yep, pregnant dinosaurs.

I mean, there are no words how much I adore this picture.
Tate and his creative little brain, he has such a big place in my heart.
He didn't talk to Jess for a few hours after she showed me, he was embarrassed and thought I would be mad.
MAD. Seriously. Who could be mad at something so funny!?
We've talked about it since and how much I loved it, so on Sunday he brought it to me for a gift.
And now it's on my fridge. That's how much I love all of these 'pregnet' dinos. :)

meeting miss ryann

Last week, 5 of us girlfriends {and little man Parker} flew out to Milwaukee to visit Gina, and meet her newest member...Little Miss Ryann Marie.

It is funny how quickly you forget what little peanuts we bring home.

Ryann was 11 days old, and SO cute, cuddly, and unbelievably sweet.

I am pretty sure we heard her cry only once, and she's such a good sleeper for her Mommy...

{and we all know that's what we pray for, right!?}

I mean....just SOAK in this cuteness.

She has made me even more anxious to meet my baby.

Which I do realize is a LOOOOONG time away :)

Big brother Donovan was quite the little show off for the girls.
He even had to whip out Lightning McQueen in case we didn't know how awesome he was :)

Friday night before we left, we got to take Gina out to dinner.

It was the typical dinner with lots of chatting, a few tears, and lots of laughs.

I'm so fortunate to have these girls in my life...and we make some pretty beautiful babies if I do say so myself :)