Decorating cookies

My parents and I decided to head over to my sister's house for a nice round of cookie decorating. We decided to go..who knows why we decided to go on a day that was expecting snow...but we did. We had a wonderful time, except for the 2 hour ride back to the house. Anyway, here are some photos of the gorgeous cookies Emma and Jonah made. Luke enjoyed the fruits of labor. We were also able to see deer in her backyard...so picturesque!

Wisconsin Dells

We took a nice little trip to Wisconsin Dells a week ago. Mark had to take some time off from work and we decided a trip was needed. The kids had a wonderful time...so did Mark and I. It's the best feeling to see your children have so much fun...especially together. Here are some pictures of our trip. When we first got there, it snowed 7 inches...luckily Mark took the snow clothes with us for something like this, what a dad! I must say...one of the favorite things they loved to do was run down the long hallways.

What a beautiful day

Today was absolutely GORGEOUS out, so the kids and I went to what Emma calls Rock park and we played and I took pictures. Here are some of the pictures I took...I'm not looking forward to cold weather.

Happy Halloween

This year Emma had planned on being Sleeping Beauty, but the outfit was itchy so we went for the ballerina princess..something we threw together in about 10 minutes. She also wanted her hair pink, so I sprayed it with a washable spray. To say the least, it was an interesting outfit, but she was just fine with it. We ended up heading to my brother and sister-in-laws house at the beginning. We had a great time walking around their neighborhood...Emma got a TON of candy, which I'd like to add, I am constantly eating. So much for working out and trying to stay in shape. I worked out this afternoon...probably about 30 minutes later I popped a kit kat into my mouth and ice cream. My excuse for the ice cream was that i was hot and needed something cold to cool me off. Anyway, later that evening, we had Grammy, Grampy, Ann and Doug over to visit and to also help pass out candy while we took Emma and Joshua around the neighborhood. Sorry, I don't have pictures of Joshua...he was quite difficult when it came to putting on a costume. I did persuade him to put part of a pumpkin costume on...I didn't have the energy to take pictures of it though. Anyway, here are the very few pictures I have of the night. Oh, and I have added pictures of us painting and carving the pumpkins.

Happy 70th Wedding Anniversary

Grammy and Grampy just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary...yes 70 years. It's been about 3 years since they made the move from their home in Colorado to good ole' Chicago. We have loved every moment we have spent with them. They are a true blessing to our family, an incredible example of committment to each other and to the Lord. I love that Emma and Joshua have a chance to know their great grand-parents...and they sure do Love them. Happy Anniversary Grammy and Grampy, we Love you guys.

Time with Uncle Jared

This weekend, Mark's younger brother Jared, was in town. We all enjoyed visiting with Jared, seeing as we only see him once every 2-3 months. Emma and Joshua are the ones that enjoyed him the most. Emma loves her Uncle Jared and talks about him all of the time. We decided to head to the pumpkin farm, which turned out to be wonderful. The weather was good...plus, we wanted to get a pumpkin to carve before Halloween came. Here are some photos of our weekend together, well, mostly of the kids.

Leaves

It has been a beautiful week here and so I decided to take some pictures of the kids playing in the leaves. I had to add some funny pictures of Joshua. Anyway, unfortunately, I think the Indian Summer is over and the cool Fall weather is setting in. It has been lovely for as long as it has lasted.