Halloween!

We loved Halloween this year!!  It fell on a Tuesday so the kids got to dress up for school and be in their costumes all day which they thought was really fun.  It was a long afternoon though as they (not so) patiently waited for the trick-or-treating to begin.  

Eden was Hermoine from Harry Potter.

Bentley was Optimus Prime from the Transformers.

Olive was a pink fairy princess.  The pinker the better for this one.

And cute little Karly was Queen Elsa from Frozen.  She loves her dress and insists that we turn on "Let it Go" so she can sing over and over again.


While waiting for trick or treating to begin, the kids watched "Disney's Halloween Treat".  It sucks them in and entertains them every time.

Karly and Olive were so much fun trick-or-treating.  Karly was the newbie this year and couldn't believe how many treats she was collecting.  Olive became Karly's guide and was very good to help her up to each door, reminded her what to say, and celebrated with her when those treats just kept dropping in the buckets.

Karly squealed with excitement on her way to every door.  It was the cutest.

Below is the picture of Olive with her preschool class earlier that day.  She loves going to school and really spices up the class.

I really get so much joy walking the neighborhood with the kids as they trick-or-treat, seeing many people we know out and about.  This is our last time having a new trick-or-treater.  Her excitement and zeal was so cute and fun to watch.  Eden and Bentley were way more into this year too.  We came back and dropped the two little ones off at home with Brad and then the big kids wanted to go back out.  We had a blast.   I'm soaking this all in as these years as flying by.  Someday I really will miss this.

Misc. October Pictures

Dollar movies with grandma and grandpa!

"Goyle" the gargoyle snuggling up with Jack the Pumpkin king.

Cute matching nappers in mom's bed!

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins was so fun this year!  Bentley and Eden wanted to do their pumpkins all on their own this year which was great!  Olive did a great job getting all the "guts" out and then dad helped her to carve a happy face.  Karly did a great job coloring her pumpkin with Sharpie.  :)

After much convincing, Karly finally stuck her hand into the pumpkin to pull out some guts.  Her facial expressions were so funny!  She tried a couple times and then said, "your turn now mom."

Bentley was free-handing the outline of a ghost.  I was really impressed!!

Somehow we forgot to take a picture of the final carved pumpkins, but on another day we did get a picture of the kids with their decorated squash.  ha ha

It's fun to look at the progression of pictures and see their personalities shine through.  I sure love these kids.

Olive Update

My firecracker Olive - I love this girl. She is full of life, emotion and passion.  She is my social butterfly and needs to be with people, most especially her friends at all times of day.  The extrovert in her can sometimes be a little tiring for the introvert in me, but she sure adds a spice to life that we wouldn't have without her.

She loves to dance and sing, and she loves dressing up and wearing high heels.  Her favorite thing of all right now though is to play family and she is always the mom, and me or dad are always her children.  She also has many of her baby dolls as her children too.  She's a good mom, and playing family never gets old.

She wears us out - and by looking at the following pictures you can see that she wears herself out too.

We love you Olive - our family just would not be the same without you!

Karly Update

Karly will be 21 months old at the end of the month.  She has a tiny little body and hardly any hair which makes her appear to be much younger, but then she opens her mouth and has conversations and sings songs and she seems much older.  She has such a funny sense of humor and loves all the attention she receives as the baby of the family.  She is one smart little cookie and she keeps me on my toes!

She sleeps great in her cozy "room" (Eden's closet).  Someday she will move to a real bed, not a pack n' play, but it has all worked out great so far!  I love watching her while she sleeps.  She is so beautiful and peaceful.

She loves to play at the park and every time she moves to something new she says, "watch this mom!"

She is a super picky eater and doesn't seem to like much, but fortunately she does love smoothies so I can jam all kinds of fruits and veggies in there and we are both happy.

She loves to play with my phone and I have to be very careful to keep it put away except at certain, limited times.  She says, "give me my phone mom" with so much attitude.

She loves to have her picture taken even though it's a real struggle to look at the camera.

She is the perfect baby for us.  We all adore her and think she is pretty much the cutest thing ever.  She makes us laugh, loves to sing and dance, and gives great hugs.  We sure love you Karly Rose!

Eden Update

Oh my sweet Eden.  She has grown and matured so much this year.  She is beautiful, smart, brave and so strong.  I learn very important lessons from her everyday.

Family school has been a great fit for her.  She has flourished with the increased responsibility and self direction.  She has gained a lot of confidence and I have loved every minute of this experience with her.  She just finished her first big project.  She had a 30 minute presentation on ecosystems, complete with a power point, handouts and a crossword puzzle.  It was awesome to see her up there.  She was nervous, but she did so good.  She will have another presentation like this in the spring.  I love the opportunities she has to increase her confidence.

She is very good to keep track of her own work and makes sure she gets it done.  I thought it was funny that I found this note on her homework page, tracking her finishing time.  ha ha

As far as other news about Eden - she is doing great in piano and in ballet. She is a voracious Harry Potter reader.  It's been fun to see her find something to read that she is so excited about.  It's even more fun when she finishes a book, we tuck all the little ones into bed and we stay up late to watch the movie together.  I love every minute of this time with her.

She is pretty quiet in a group setting, but once she makes a deep connection and is one on one with a friend, she is goofy and entertaining.  I love to see this side of her when she is with friends.

She is loving the privileges that come with being older.  She likes to have her own room, decorate it how she wants, and she likes to stay up later than all the others.  She also loves to go to the mall and shop with me, although I've discovered she never really actually finds anything she wants to get.  She just likes being together and browsing, and I really enjoy the one on one time with her.

Speaking of shopping, she is pretty particular in what she wears and wants things to just be very plain and simple.  No pockets, buttons, zippers, shiny things, nothing - just plain colored t-shirts and black leggings.  It definitely makes the wardrobe thing much easier!

I love you Eden - thank you for being you. 

Bentley Update

This boy is loving being in Kindergarten.  He is definitely thriving and learning so fast.  One thing I have really noticed about Bentley this year is his ability to learn something really quickly and then remember it.  His mind is like a steel trap.  He is REALLY smart, it's actually amazing to watch.  I love this school program he is in that continues to challenge him and allows him to work and learn at his pace, rather than the pace of the kindergarten class as a whole.  He is doing awesome!

He recently did a 30 minute presentation to his class all about ecosystems.  I helped him made a flip book with tons of pictures and descriptions and he did all the writing by himself.  He was pretty nervous to get up in front of the class, and he needed a few reminders to look to the class and make eye contact, but I was so proud!  He did amazing.

He loved answering questions and helping his classmates with the activity.  I loved watching him in this environment.

He brings home some pretty cool projects and things that they have worked on too.  He especially loved this long scroll they made all about planets and solar systems.  He wanted me to get a picture of how big it was, and Karly wanted in on it too.

When he isn't doing school though, he loves playing board games first, then he will turn to blocks or toys.  He constantly has that brain working though!

Our family just wouldn't be the same without this boy.  He really is one of a kind.  I'm sure in the perfect world he would really love to have a brother, but instead he got three sisters that all adore him and smother him in attention, a dad who will play endless board games, and a mom who can never give enough hugs and kisses. He belongs to us and all is just how it should be.

Olive's Magic Show

Olive decided she wanted to put on a magic show, and fortunately for her she had a very willing assistant.  This cute show lasted quite a while and it was so funny.  Even now as I look through these pictures it makes me laugh as I remember cute little Karly sitting so still with that rag on her head for a very long time.  She followed directions from the magician very well.

This reminds me a lot of how Eden and Bentley used to play at this age.  Bentley would lay very still as Eden would give him doctor check ups, and clean and change his trach and feeding tubes (just like we would do to her daily).  ha ha

This is all just so precious to me.....