David's trip to the apple orchard

The older kids all took field trips to an apple orchard in preschool, but David isn't going to get that chance. So I took David and his friend Matthew to the Applewood orchard to pick some delicious apples.

We got a warty pumpkin, too!

The boys loved jumping off of the hay stack!

Best Friends

Autumn hike

We took a walk through the autumn colors at Spring Lake Park Reserve. We hiked to the Mississippi River and back. Amber stayed home sick.

Zoe loved the hike and the drive home!

Wild Fall Weather

We have had some interesting fall weather this year in Minnesota. The colors are gorgeous in the sun, but the snow has made an early appearance as well. David was the only one pleased with the snow. Please, no more snow until December!

We love the sugar maple in our front yard. It looks like it is on fire in the sun!

Amber the artist

Amber's painting of her self portrait that she completed last spring is on display at Valley Natural Foods, a local grocery store, along with artwork from some other art students from the area. She received an award of merit for her work and it will be on display until the spring. Way to go Amber!

Larry the Rabbit

David got to bring Larry the Rabbit home from his prekindergarten class on Thursday for the weekend. He loved having a pet of his own and Larry was patient with him. The funny thing was that Amber's kitten Clary loved Larry, too. She would lick his ears through the rabbit hutch and then lay next to him and groom him on the floor. The rabbit didn't seem to mind one bit.

Friends visit

Our good friends, the Stanton's, made a quick trip to visit on Saturday and left early Sunday morning. We love that they have flight privileges and can make the trip from Georgia!

David had a wonderful day playing with Zachary and Heber!

The Crofts and Emma T. joined us for some trampoline fun!

We were sad when everyone had to leave!

Happy Birthday Amber!

We took Amber to Outback steakhouse for her 17th birthday. She loved her ice cream sundae made with Blue Bell ice cream!

We looked for a new cat for Amber since Molly died. We looked at kittens advertised on Craigslist, at the Humane Society and Last Hope shelter.

Meet Amber's new cat. We are still waiting for Amber to decide on a name for her new 5 month old tortoise shell kitten.

Steven starts a new sport

So Steven started a new sport last week. He decided to play football this fall instead of soccer. So far he is really enjoying it. I am very glad that he has red cleats; it makes it very easy to find him on the field! Here are some pictures from his second game. They won!

Nice tackle, Steven!

Molly

Amber's cat Molly died last week. We will miss her. She loved to sleep, as you can see from these pictures. We planted some mums outside Amber's window as a memorial to Molly.

Mary Poppins

The day after school started we had an amazing night watching the live musical "Mary Poppins". It is such a great story, I like it even better than the movie. It has a great pro family message. We went to downtown Minneapolis to see this version. Amber, Megan and I saw it in London 3 years ago, but we knew the whole family would love it!

Back to School

Summer is over and the kids have gone back to school. They leave at 4 different times: Amber and Megan at 7 am after seminary at our house, Steven at 7:20 am, Marissa at 9:00 and David at 12:30pm. Then I breathe a sigh of relief!

Megan is a Freshman and Amber is a Junior

Steven off to 7th Grade

Marissa in 4th grade

David didn't start school for one week after the kids, so he took advantage of the nice warm weather to play on the slip-n-slide one last time.

The warm driveway feels great after getting all wet!

Soak up all you can because we won't feel that warmth again for many months!

David turns 5!

David is FIVE years old!!!

Harry Potter and Spiderman cakes skillfully made by Amber

Star Wars-He loves it!

Minnesota State Fair

Monday we visited the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. It was a day of rides and eating all things on a stick or fried! We went matching in our family reunion shirts (2 different ones).

Maria and the boys

The Girls

David with his monster corn dog!

Marissa with a refreshing lemonade

Twin lambs that we saw being born in the Miracle of Birth center. We saw piglets be born, too.