some privacy

we're going to change our blog to private, since it's pretty much about the kiddos & we want to keep sickos from seeing them.

so send me your email if you want access.
thanks!
sara

fun in the fall

while ben was at preschool, gracie & i worked on our never ending battle with the leaves. it's hard to believe we had several trees cut down in the past few years, we've been walking through inches of leaves lately.


gracie made the task so much more enjoyable. she loved every minute of it.
sorry for all the pictures of miss g & the leaves, but i loved each & every one. i think the grandparents will enjoy them at least!

ready,,


ready now,

on your mark..


get set..


jump!!!


& stick that landing!



she'd keep shouting "hep, hep" (hip, hip) & i'd shout "hooray!!" every time a leaf was thrown.


that tongue of hers is always out.




momma & her gracie girl. i took this picture because i recently read this blog & it made me realize i was avoiding pictures at any cost just because i hate how i look right now. my kiddos don't care that i'm overweight, don't have on makeup & haven't brushed my hair. they love me for me. thank goodness!


check out that face! she's up to something!
a penny for your thoughts, my dear gracie??

when ben got home, he was so excited to see his surprise of piles & piles of leaves to jump & frolick in.

loving those leaves!

what a great smile; i've been missing it the past 2 days!!

warrior ben, slaying the leaves!

it started raining while we were out & i only got 4 big bags filled, so we still have a big job ahead of us!

trunk or treat!!

we attended the trunk-or-treat event at the ft.branch gbc tonight. what a great time!


here's a picture of my mighty t-rex & ever reliable thomas the train. my dinosaur is a bit camera shy tonight.


my little thomas was so excited to hit the road.


we were headed that way, but had to turn around & grab our goody bags.


when we got there, i realized there was a problem with my shoes. that's what i get for having 2 colors of the same style.


all the cars & trucks were spooked out!!



t-rex acted thrilled to be there, as you can tell. (i think he was still in a bad mood over preschool today. he had show & tell & brought a favorite toy made by our neighbor. all of his friends playing with it really put him in a bad mood. we will now only bring items to show & tell that he doesn't mind sharing so much...)



they looked so cute from behind..



our family self portrait, the dinosaur wanted no part of it (big suprise).



look at that ferocious dino! cheer up, groucho!


gracie had a mighty heavy load.


eating all the goodies at home tonight. bedtime, shmedtime!
tomorrow is fall festival at ben's preschool, friday o.a.r. concert (can i please go, hunny??) & saturday the big party at lori's! happy halloween!!

bedtime

daddio had to work super late last night. on those late nights, the kiddos really miss him. i try to make sure we have extra fun, to make the time go by quicker for us all.

we had a dance party complete with disco ball that lasted the entire dan zane's cd. he rocks, especially for "family music".


after that, some books & bed. which then required a snack of goldfish, apples & smoothies. the bed was nice crunchy- yuck.
ben is in need of a haircut. even i will admit it. but just a trim.

.
bedtime snack gave them energy for jumping fun. (this happens about every night though) we do not have the calm, peaceful bedtime routine that i always envisioned. i'm fine with that though. bedtime's pretty fun around here.




we gave daddy a call to tell him goodnight & then said our prayers! (ben's picture was staged - i asked him to show me how he prays at school. but that is really miss gracie praying - such a sweetpea)

we were actually all asleep earlier than when daddio is home (9:00 for the kiddos & 9:30 for me last night - woo hoo!). but, we are glad he will be home tonight at a decent hour (i hope).

school pictures

ben was out the day his class had school pictures. but, we were able to have them taken on make up day & they would photoshop him into his class group picture.
however, it was the wrong class.

a class of entirely girls.

"too many girls!" he said.

a pretty cute picture though.

it's namaw's birthday!!

happy birthday, namaw!

ben asked if we could come to your home & bring you the biggest birthday cake in the world. we will have to do that real soon.

thank you, namaw, for all that you do. we are all so blessed to have you in our lives. i know i'm pretty lucky to have such a wonderful mother in law & friend. i look up to you & hope to be as good of a mom to ben & grace as you are to justin & jen.


we hope you & poppy have a wonderful day today & always!
lots of love & hugs & kisses we are sending your way & we look forward to seeing you soon (when we are all healthy here)!

family fun day

the kiddos & i attended the family fun fair to benefit gilda's club today. the gilda's club in evansville was founded by randy & ann moore, who lost her battle with pancreatic cancer this summer. her & her family's story has been in the news over the years & her fight with the cancer was quite an inspiration. my prayers & heart go out to her family.


today was a day to celebrate life & the club here in evansville while raising money for the club. what a wonderful time we had! lots of inflatables, face painting, games & food!
here are some pictures from today.

his first crush(es)

my little boy is growing up.

he now has not 1, but 2 crushes on gals in his preschool class.
brenna (whom he calls brenda) & alaina. alaina has been his buddy for some time now & brenna he started liking after sitting with her on the bus.

he talks about these little ladies all the time. when brenna got scared at the fire station field trip, he said he tried to make her feel better by telling her it was ok & not to be scared.

after prayers tonight, we had a conversation about the girls.
ben: i'm gonna build them a rocket ship, a robot & a heart because they'd like those things.
me: you must really like them.
ben: yeah, i love them because they are so sweet. goodnight momma, i'll love you forever too.

he makes my heart happy.

happy anniversary, my love

5 years ago today, i got to marry my best friend. what an awesome day that was.



awesome family & friends there to share in the special day. i still can't believe i didn't cry (i cry at every wedding).

even the doggies got to share in the fun!


thank you for being by my side & loving me. you are the best.


i miss you today & this weekend as you are at tres dias retreat. i pray you enjoy yourself!

painting up some pumpkins

daddio took the day off from work & we went to the pumpkin patch yesterday to get our pumpkins for jack o lanterns.
the kiddos couldn't wait to get home & paint them (ben's favorite thing to do lately).

gracie chose for herself & for me some itty bitty pumpkins.

she had on a pair of my jeans from growing up. she even calls them her "mommy jeans".i love these jeans, they are one of a kind. my grandma had patched up 1 hole from all the playing & added some other flair to them. they are a 4t & fit my 2t miss gracie just fine.


they worked together on daddio's pumpkin to make it the scariest pumpkin on the block. ben was singing a song about teamwork as they all worked together. so cute.

almost done...

masterpiece complete! it's name is mister scary pumpkin.

daddio had to add some eyes to it after ben was done.

gracie enjoyed making black polka dots on all the pumpkins.
she was really concentrating, tongue stuck out & all.
her finished pumpkin. named gracie faye pumpkin by ben. very original.
here's mama pumpkin with spots courtesy of gracie.

happy halloween!!