it's been a while..

since i have written anything down.  the poor blog has been neglected. let's see what has happened since my last post.
beano & gracie had their last soccer games.  hurray!

  

beano was a scoring machine & gave it his all.  good job, buddy! 

with his crew after the game.

 now, for miss g's last game...

she was a body on the field

attached to her daddio's leg.

i thought it was cute.

we had a super fun shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of kate & dave's baby.  we are all looking forward to that bundle of joy- any day now!

the baby blanket i made for their little nutbrown.

game on lock shirts - justin's idea.  don't ask - i don't get it.

the happy parents to be & all of us!

justin & i had our 7th wedding anniversary.  not a day goes by that i don't love you more, my love.  i can't put into words my love for you.


we've been sick.  a lot.  i think that's the big reason why the blog has been on hold.  the late nights up with coughing, wheezing kiddos can do that. 

one day during their illness, we went out to get some fresh air.  benj wrote me the sweetest note.

i love you too, buddy.  forever & ever. 

playing outside that day was lots of fun.  the kiddos were striking poses for me. 

these are their "angry" faces.

yes, benj, you are bigger!

i love the look grace is giving her big bubby here.  too sweet.

halloween happened. 

the kiddos were mario & tinkerbell.  i curled up miss g's hair & put on some makeup.  she was loving it!! 

visiting neighbor john's house.

mario was bugging tinkerbell.

& she let him have it with her fairy wand.  don't tink her off!

 i was just a mom for halloween.  a tired one. 

& this was ben at the end of the night.  a self portrait he took with my camera.  lovely.

the leaves have been coming down & down & down in our yard.  gracie gets very upset when i bag them up.  they are to be jumped in & slid into & played in & thrown up in the air- not trashed!  they are indeed fun!

that's been the goings on lately.. 

the monster mash

we had a fun filled weekend of birthday & halloween parties.  i am not feeling very loquacious right now, so i'll just post some pictures & a few words...

in the witch's relay

we were supposed to be making silly faces, janet!

 the cuteset nerd in the world & snooki from jersey shore.

 monkey see..

 monkey do...

 & monkey keeps doin

gracie was eating chocolate as we were trick or treating.  she started to get tired & asked daddio to please trick or treat for her so she could still get candy. 

high school sweethearts

 oh, to be 15 again...

 ash & janet

 who is that hiding??

our lovely family.  i used justin's priest costume from several years ago & just threw on a witches hat. 

why did the chicken cross the road??

uh, duh.. to get some halloween candy!

the other night gracie & i were looking at some of my favorite blogs & she fell in love with this little guy's chick costume.
"me bock bock" she'd say.
"no, you're a choo-choo train." i'd say.
this went on till there were tears from her.
so, me having no backbone, saturday morning, we went on a search for a clearanced chicken outfit.

thank goodness for toysrus! they had one on clearance & some free goodies for halloween. she was thrilled!

& she makes a mighty cute chick i think.

the chick head didn't last long, because people would say "oh what a cute chicken."
she said,"no, me gracie!" she wanted everyone to know who she was for sure.


we visited neighbor john first & then hit the road to lori & randy's home for their annual halloween party (& their neighborhood rocks on halloween). not just candy- but hotdogs, music, hot chocolate & lots of spooks!



ben, thank goodness was still happy to be a t-rex. his costume zipper broke, so he was being held together with safety pins. he didn't mind. darby was a warrior cat & looked cute & ferocious at the same time. daddio was a dinosaur as well (check out his dollar tree hat, what a sport) & i was a butterfly (thanks for the wings, melissa!)

trick or treating was such fun. the bigger kids were leading the way & my little chick was running as fast as she could behind them. too cute.


when we got back to lori & randy's, the kiddos barely made it into the door before they dumped out their loot.



i think the kiddos had just as much fun handing out candy as they did receiving. here is ben singing "come & get your candy at lori & randy's!!" check out his dino belly hanging out.



gracie & momma handing out the goodies.


t-rex ready to ravage the bowl of candy.

hope everyone had a spooktastic halloween! now what to do with all this candy????
p.s.happy birthday, brad!

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!!