Maggie is a medal winner!

Maggie's soccer season came to a rainy and windy end the other day. I missed a lot of her last game because the weather was miserable so I brought the other three kids home while Chris stayed with Maggie.
She was so proud to come home and show me her medal, her very first medal!

I am so glad we signed her up and gave it a shot. I wasn't sure she would really participate so I was hesitant.

She totally proved my hesitation wrong and had a great time. I am so proud of her, she earned this medal!

She participated in all the games and listened fabulously to the coach.

Not even the rainy days would bring her spirits down. I am so proud of Maggie and look forward to another season of soccer with her next year!

Making apple sauce...

Just me and my boys. It was great. The girls were too busy playing out side but Connor was very interested in helping. So was Ben although he wasn't quite as much help as Connor, shocking I know.
Connor pealed and cored the apples with this nifty tool.

Then pulled apart the pieces and put them in the crock pot.

Ben kept his eye on what was going into the crock pot.

And maybe his hands on it too.

And possibly Ben took some out and "ate" them. (I put ate in quotations because although Ben loves putting apples in his mouth and chews them like crazy he very rarely swallows them.)

My house smelled so good!!!

The apple sauce came out so yummy!!! The kids seem to like it and Ben even swallows it so that is a plus!

New friend for Maggie

"Auntie, you can put that picture on your blog and write ( insert sing-songy voice) 'Oh look, Maggie made a new friend'"

Look at that Theresa, I took your advice....

Bath/shower routine for Ben

Ben loves water. Any kind of water. Oh, and he loves animals so it's even better when we bring animals in the water.

When he takes a bath he lines the animals up in the tub, puts them in a bucket, gives them water to drink, washes them, and anything else he can think of.

When he takes a shower with me he tries to hog the water and gets mad when I actually, you know, need some water! He can stand in the shower, very still, will the water falling down his head and body FOREVER! It cracks me up. He just loves it.

And when the time comes for him to get out he immediately lays down on the towel I put on the floor and wants to be covered up with a towel. He would stay there for hours I think!

Every single time. This is his routine. So cute and adorable! I love it!

A fall walk in the woods

The trees are beautiful.

Family is wonderful.

We are beyond lucky to have such a great family.

The kids are so close.

And loved going out for a fall walk.

And watching all of the chipmunks going in and out of the rock walls.

The kids did some hanging out.

While my sister and I admired the beauty of our world.

And our children.

Some time was taken to ponder.

And to peak behind trees.

Ben even tried eating a tree, or a small twig from a tree.

While I tried so hard to get pictures of every one.

However, one of the children, who shall remain name-less, made it a bit more difficult.

A fall walk in the woods is beautiful and fun, especially when family comes along!

Bad hair day

Yep, we all have them, bad hair days...

No, these pictures were not posed or doctored in any way...
Thankfully my girl has a sense of humor and didn't mind too much when I took pictures....

Although that may change in a few years, but hopefully not!

Maggie school picture

This is, by far,

the best school picture ever!