Fall Photo Shoot at the Park

I decided to take the kids to the park the other day.  The weather was supposed to be nice - sunny and in the 60's.  I figured it would probably be one of the last days of nice weather and we had better take advantage of it. 

So we took Gretchen and the camera along, and had a nice walk and a good time playing.  They had fun in the leaves while I took pictures.



Halie was putting leaves in Gretchen's collar




I love the look on her face, like she's saying "Why do you let them do this to me?"





Love those eyes!



Looks like he's saying, "C'mere, I have a secret to tell ya."



See the leaf in the upper right corner?  The wind started to blow and kick the leaves
around and he thought it was hilarious.





LOVE his cheezy-ness!!



A Halloween Parade

Monday evening I took the kiddos to a nearby town's annual Halloween parade. 



Waiting for it to start

 

It was a small parade, but they had lots of firetrucks which the kids enjoyed and TONS of candy!



All the band members were dressed up in costumes.

Both kids really enjoyed the bands and the music.  Halie was more interested in watching them than she was in picking up candy.



Burl really liked the fire engines.  He was wiggling his booty and clapping away!  : )




Halie, on the other hand, didn't like how loud they were.



Friends from church Aaron and Noah

 It worked out great because just that morning we had learned about firefighters in her school time, and then after the parade we visited the fire house and she got to see all the things we read about.

And even got to sit in a firetruck!

These two were so stinkin' cute bee-boppin' down the sidewalk together, little balloons trailing behind them, acting silly and laughing like crazy!

SO much candy!!



September/October "Stuff"

Filling in the end of September and first part of October.

We took a trip to Iowa for Robert's friend Darryl's wedding.

The day of the wedding we did touristy type stuff in the morning and visited an area called the Amana Colonies, where we came across the biggest rocking chair in Iowa.

October

The kids and I took a walk around the neighborhood to see the changing leaves.

Halie had fun painting/making a paper plate Jack O' Lantern

I took some updated pictures of the outside of the house.

Dressed up a bit for Fall.



HUGE beautiful mums for only $4.25 a piece, can you believe that?!?



An impromptu photo session with my lil' buddy.

He is just the sweetest thing ever!!



He loves to give things to me and jabbers until I take it from him.



Now you're all caught up.  Hope you enjoyed!

Don't forget to check out The Cozy Old "Farmhouse" to see what I've been up to in the crafty/decorative world.

Burl's 1st Birthday

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Birthday Boy!!

I've pretty much decided that even though I love to plan for and decorate cute themed parties, it will be too much to let each kid have a big, involved party every year.  My plan is to rotate each year.  So since Halie got the big party this year, we kept Burl's quite simple and easy. 

I couldn't go without a tad bit of decor though.  : )  So I picked up some plates, napkins, and a mylar balloon in this cute little 1st birthday theme, along with a colorful tablecloth, cups, and utensils.

Someone at church gave me a bunch of boy's clothes and this cute little hat was in with them.

A few of my family members that live about 1.5 hrs away came to join in the fun.

 

My 2nd cousins Mikayla & Trinity, cousin Mandi, and  Aunt Kay

(The balloon bouquet was supposed to be the "centerpiece," but the wind kept blowing them into everyone's face so we had to move them.)

I kept the food really simple - hot dogs, baked mac-n-cheese, and chips.  My family brought a few other things to help out and we enjoyed a nice picnic out in the yard. 



Halie, Aunt Sheryl, Mikayla, Trinity



After we ate the kids had a little play time.

Then it was time for presents!

Daddy worked on getting them all out of their boxes and functioning.

By now, our food had finally settled enough and we were ready for cake.

Big sister helped him blow out his candle.



We don't normally allow him to grab his food, so when we set a piece of cake in front of him he looked at us like, "Am I gonna get in trouble for this?"  He got a little bit on his fingers and held it up for me to wash off.  : )



I had to help him out a little and show him it was okay to pick it up and taste it.







Still not quite sure about all of this.





"Ok Mom, I've had enough of this now."



It turned out to be a nice little party.  Burl wasn't his usual smiley happy self due to all the new people and activity going on.  He just wasn't sure what to think.  Towards the end of their visit he finally was comfortable around them and his chatterbox and smiles came back.



I can't hardly believe my little Butters is a year old already! 

Happy Birthday sweet boy!