date night

Pete and I were asked by the kids' school to attend a formal dinner with them. It was a very nice evening. We do not dress like this often so thought we capture the moment.

Kayla is 11!

Good morning birthday girl! it is hard to beleive we have been blessed with you for 11 years already. I could not be more proud of our Makayla Catherine, she is a sweet, kind, and loving girl!

Makayla does not like cake too much except for one particular kind. Her daddy made her dream come true! he ordered her the cake, obviously she was surprised when he came carrying it in.

opening presents on your birthday is always a fun treat as well.

Thank you to all who sent cards and gifts, Makayla had a great birthday!

Kayla's friends

 Makayla was excited to have 5 friends come over and join her at the movie Dolphin Tale 2. Everyone had a great time and I am sure no one ate much for dinner as these girls went thru 3 large popcorns, 2 large sodas then the ice cream cake back at the house!

This was supposed to be a no present party but on girl missed that part of the memo so Makayla got a good chuckle out of her present.

volleyball

Volleyball has been our life on Monday and Friday evenings since before school began as well as games on Saturdays. It is so fun to watch and you can really see the progress in the girls. They are also having a great time. Makayla is really enjoying the sport! #82, go Mick!

apples................

 We took the kids to the apple orchard again this year. I think we have started a tradition here. Before we headed out I took this picture with the vineyard and apple orchards behind the kids. This property goes on for a long ways.  We all loaded up on the hayrake and headed out.

 

Pete led the way to the "best" apples.  Brie remembers picking apples last year but not entirely so she was observing very closely all that was going on around her. 

 It is always such a relaxing day, one in which the kids can just run and be free to do whatever they want. Running, rolling in the grass, eating a hundred apples, just being free from the stresses of everyday life.

Brie did a great job of getting the hard to reach apples that were very high. She too sampled many different kinds of apples.

 PJ is just a monkey, we never knew where he was going to be coming from. This orchard has some very fun trees for the kids to run around and play beneath. I stopped them for this quick kid picture, not too shabby for a photo on the fly!

 The apples this year were a bit beat up by a hailstorm early in the season, however we were still able to find more than enough apples for all of our desires.
Another great day for the kids to have memories of.

co-workers

A co-worker had a party at her house. It was a very "entertaining" evening, but one that left us all a bit worn out! Just relaxing after some pretty good laughs!

Theater fun

 We once again have a membership to the local theater. The first show of the season was Eric Carle, puppeteers from Canada preformed 3 stories under black light. A show unlike the kids have seen before. It was a neat evening! looking forward to the season ahead!

A couple of puppets from the Mixed up Chameleon story.

65 years

 My mom hosted her 65th class reunion at her place over the weekend. My sister and I helped with making the day a success. A very small way of paying my mom for the countless times she has helped us.  We had a nice lady take our picture, however her depth perception was off just a bit. It was a very lovely day and I am so happy I was able to be a part of it!! I am so proud of my mom and the beautiful person she is!!!

Brie's 1st day of school

 Gabriella's first day of preschool finally came! She was so excited to go back to school and be in the big kids class!
This is our last first day of preschool for our house! a bittersweet moment.

 Brie was so proud of her Frozen backpack and her Frozen dress that we found. I made her wait till the first day of school and she was soo excited. She proudly wore her dress in to find that another little lady had the same one!

Brie and her best friend Nicole were reunited after a very long summer as far as best friends go!  All in all preschool is agreeing with Brie and she with it. She is exhausted by days end but loving every minute of it.

Labor Day

 Headed to a small town for a Labor Day parade. We were toward the end so the candy was not as plentiful but certainly enough for our household. We met up with some friends and we all had a good time catching up again!