Our little Kitten, Love Bug & Garden Gnome!

I had WAY too many photos to post, so I got creative & made a few collages! {Why didn't I think of this earlier??} The girls had a blast Trick or Treating last night. It was pretty cold & windy but they didn't seem to mind at all. Marin didn't even wear her jacket. I think all the running kept them pretty warm! Below the Love Bug with friend Madelyn & a quick mid-candy eating smile for the camera!

 Marin was so happy with her kitty costume. She's known for months she wanted to be a cat & it turned out pretty darn cute. Her itchy allergy-pone nose didn't last too long. {It was smudged w/in 5 min!} But it was still really cute. This is the first year that she took off running ahead with all of her friends. {Parents not far behind} They had so much fun & got WAY too much candy. Love her pose!

 And her is the cute little gnome approaching & Trick or Treating at her first house {our neighbor}! She was just adorable, we taught her to say "Trick or Treat", but she preferred to say "Thank You" instead. She & her bff Allie really enjoyed all the dogs at each house much more than the candy! Also, for some reason all the layers of clothing she had on must have thrown off her balance. It was so odd, but she couldn't walk normal with out falling constantly. We saw her in the triangle position way too many times {seen below}.

 All three of them together just before we left...

 The big girls with a few of their friends. So fun!

Now I need to figure out what to do with all the candy we have. There is no way we could ever possibly eat it all. My sister's dental office accepts donations & sends them to the troops. I think we'll have a donation!! The girls are already talking about next years costumes... xoxo

 LOTS of photos in this post! We got festive here this past weekend & carved pumpkins. The girls had so much fun. Marin couldn't wait to dig her hands into the pumpkins once Gary cut them open. Margaux was a little "scared" she said, but still had fun.

 Maeve was terrified! We tried all we could to get her to even touch the "pumpkin mush" but she wasn't having it at all! It was so funny!

 Once the pumpkins were carved we all hopped into the car & took the girls to this place...a yard about 10 mins. away from our house that LOVES to decorate for Halloween. This is only about a 1/4 of it. The house is on a corner & it spans all the way around the house. So fun!

 We {along with many others} parked the car & got out so we could see everything up close. There was spooky music playing & plenty to look at. The girls were definitely scared. {Some of the decorations were pretty scary} Here a little ware wolf jumped up at Gary, he had no idea it was going to move. His face is priceless! Maeve kept saying "pookey" {spooky} & pointing at all the decorations. It was cute, but she wouldn't get down after a while...

 Margaux & her scared "I wanna go get in the car" face...

 There was a lady walking around with these crazy glasses on. She gladly let Marin take a turn with them on. Marin thought that was so cool! Probably the only time she'd pose for a photo. They were pretty scared. Even though there were a lot of cute decorations, they were all fixated on the scary stuff. Here is a look at a few of our pumpkins... {notice my 3 chicks pumpkin, it's so cute!}

 I think the girls will be far more excited to return to the house at Christmas time. It's just awesome & nothing scary at all! Looking forward to Halloween...two more sleeps! xoxo

 Someone likes to get extra comfy in mom & dad's bed. She gets extra excited if she finds the remote like she did below. She's quick to turn the channel, pump up the volume to obnoxious levels & mess up settings. I've said it 100 times, I wish they could make a remote with a lock switch for little ones like this...

 We've been really enjoying all of the extra warm fall days we've been having. Although we know our days are numbered. Looks like in just two days the temps are supposed to drop 30 degrees! It is going to be hard to put jackets back on & everything else that goes along with it.

 Maeve cruising down the sidewalk on her little car...

 And these last two are from a week ago when we sadly had to say goodbye to Grandma & Grandpa Goessl. {Insert sad face} They made the trip back to AZ for the winter & we won't see them again until MAY!!! Way too long for our liking!

 The girls have so much fun visiting with them. We sure will miss them a whole bunch & look forward to many skype calls in the next 7 months!

xoxoxo

 Photos of Gary & myself!! Many of you have probably seen these, but I couldn't go with out posting them. This particular fall football Sunday was absolutely gorgeous & the perfect day to tailgate. We had a great time hopping around different parties. The above photo is with our great friends & neighbors Glenn & Michelle. Such a fun couple who we're so happy to have meet. {All of our neighbors are MORE than fabulous!}

{In between all the madness, Gary & I celebrated our SEVENTH wedding anniversary! Seven wonderful years to celebrate & we've got many more happy years to come. We are so blessed with our healthy, loving family!!! Happy Anniv. to us!!}

 And here are the crazies all dressed up for game day Sunday! They all looked so cute in their green/gold apparel. We had a tailgate party with neighbors, it was so fun to see all the kiddos dressed up & cheering on the Packers!

Once again the lull in blogging is a great indication of how busy we've been. The fall colors have been in full effect & I've been busy snapping photos left and right. Looking forward to a weekend w/o photo sessions so we can get some work done in our half-finished basement. It's coming along & we are SOOOO excited for the finished product in a few weeks.

For the past couple of weeks our neighbors have thought the deer had been nibbling on all of their raspberry bushes leaving little bits of the unripened berries behind. Nope, not the deer... Just Maeve!

We can't even go in the back yard with out her running to the raspberries. Gary has brought her back in the house several times saying "I just can't keep her away from the berries." She's addicted! As soon as she sees them she starts saying "nummy" and runs right to them. She knows she's not supposed to be there, so once we find her she always has this guilty look on her face...oh, oh!

Not long after & she's distracted by the slide & happy as ever. {well, at least for 5 minutes. Then she's back at the raspberry bushes!} Cute as ever! xoxo

 

We made our annual trip to the Apple Orchard this past weekend. Little Maeve's first time @ the orchard {she stayed home last year} and she LOVED it! This little lady was in heaven with all the apples. She walked around saying "more" & "apple" for the entire hour. It was so cute.

   I'm actually quite surprised she didn't have a stomach ache after all the apples she ate. {Although if she did, she couldn't really tell us!} She kept dropping them on the ground & then we'd get her another, and another, and another!

 Marin was very particular about the apples she would eat. They had to be FLAWLESS... no imperfections or she wouldn't eat it and the stems had to be completely removed. This one was her first apple, after this one she would only eat apples that were all red.

 So much fun!

 And then there's Margaux. She just walked along with us as we tossed apples in the bag talking the entire time! She's so goofy all the time & makes our conversations so fun. She ate one apple & that was enough for her. She had just as much fun running around in the rows between the apple trees.

 We picked a lot of apples & now we need to get to work and start cooking/baking with them. I see an apple crisp in our future. Such a fun time, makes me very anxious for the pumpkin patch!

Love these long lashes....

First Day of School Round 2!!!

 Today was little Margaux's first day of 3 year old preschool. She's been asking me for weeks when it is her turn to go to school, last night I was finally able to say TOMORROW! The big smile on her face was just priceless. Cutest thing is she kept telling me "Mommy, I've never been to school before!" Well now she has & she loved it! Way above is a photo of her this morning eating her cinnamon rolls on the special plate. She told me it was a very special breakfast!

 I just love these shots of her before we left. So Margaux to be acting silly for the camera. She also never looks at the camera, her eyes always wander to the right or left. I was very lucky to get her looking for at least a few. And here she is with her sisters just before it was time to go. We waited & got Marin on the bus first & then drove Marg to school.

 Margaux in front of her school sign {Actually the church sign, but it's where she attends!}

I thought I was going to get all these cute shots of her by her hook, with her friend Karis, etc. but NONE of that happened. Once we got inside she would not pose/stand for any photos, so I decided to take a photo of her hook alone!

 No tears but her excitement quickly went away once we got into the school {hence no posing for photos}. I could tell she was all of the sudden a little scared, which was how I expected her to be. The good news is that she held it together, sat right down on the carpet next to her friend Karis & kissed me goodbye. Such a sweet little girl. She had a blast at school & has been talking about it ever since she got home. She's already asking when she gets to go back! xoxo

 

Marin's 1st Day of Kindergarten. I can't believe it...where in the world does the time go? Last night was the second night in a row that she was crying at bed time saying that she didn't want to go to kindergarten. I was up all night thinking of how our morning was going to pan out with her crying as she got on the bus & me feeling terrible, crying as well. BUT....she did great! She woke up excited & never said a thing about not wanting to go. {Thank God!} She had her favorite breakfast {cinnamon rolls} on the special plate, we took a bunch of photos & then it was time to walk to the corner to wait for the bus!

 It was so cute to see her with all of her friends waiting for the bus. It is always fun to see the excited {and a little scared} faces that first morning. It's especially exciting for Marin & Aubrey {She's just right of Marin in the pink polka dot shirt} because they're in the same class! So fun for them both. Margaux had no interest in being in a photo at all & stood behind Maeve's stroller like this the whole time...she was obviously still tired! Good thing she doesn't start 3K until next week!

 Ready to get on the bus with her bus card around her neck so she doesn't get lost or get on the wrong bus this afternoon!

 And here is the bus arriving... my heart was just pounding.

 And then I saw this cute little face look back at me with a smile! I can't wait for her to get off this same bus in 6 hours {who's counting??!!} so I can hear all about her day. I miss her already & can't help but wonder what she's doing while away. It's the first time ever that she's with someone else longer than she's with me each day. I know she'll be just fine, but it still makes this mama quite sad.

Happy 1st Day of School Marin! We love you! xoxo

It doesn't get any better than this...10 kiddos getting together for one last fun-packed day before school starts.

Our dear friends The Anguil's came up to visit us a week ago.It was their second annual summer trip to our house. I used to nanny for these boys before Marin was born... in my youth! To put it into perspective, John on the top left was only about a year old when I started watching him & his big brother Jeff {not pictured because he was attending his 1st day of High School!} Now their family consists of FIVE boys. Charlie {the youngest} is Marin's age. My friend Holly drove up with 4 of her 5 boys & her three nieces as well. We had such a fun day together, the kids were thrilled!

We can not wait to do it all again very soon.

That very afternoon, I gave Maeve a spoon & let her feed herself her yogurt.

She had yogurt on the entire spoon {handle included} and was an absolute mess!

She, of course, thought it was hilarious & so fun. I had a good time watching her. She went right into the bath after this one. About 2 min. after I put the camera away, it was in her hair & on the wall. Nice.

Time for dinner & bed time before SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!!! Photos to come! xoxo