A Big Day

Today was a special day at our house for a couple of reasons.

Matt turned another year older today! We helped him celebrate with our traditional birthday sundae at Red Robin.

Happy Birthday, Honey
Wishing you a wonderful year to come!

I love Reuben's eyes in the picture - eyes on the prize!

This morning was special for Levi, too. Levi had the opportunity to sing with some of his friends at church while the Advent candle was brought to the front. It was quite a big deal for the quartet of 4 & 5 year olds! This week's candle was peace, so they sang "Light One Candle for Peace". They did a great job! Levi told me that he was a little scared to stand up there during church, but he was willing to do it again some time.

Levi with his friends - Natalie and Micah

Getting some instructions during practice.
Check out "Joe Cool" in the middle - hand in his pocket!

The whole group practicing their song.

This video was during practice - I didn't want to make Levi nervous during the service.

Happy Hunter!

The hunter at our house returned victorious today!

Around 8:30 this morning, Matt shot his first (ever) deer:
a 4-point buck.

Congratulations on your deer, Dear!


Side note: I am welcoming any ground venison recipes that mask the taste of venison!!

Me Be TWO!!

Today was Reuben's 2nd Birthday! He was quite excited and when we asked him who's birthday it was, we heard "My mon-key cake day!" Tonight we celebrated with cake and ice cream and had lots of fun.

The birthday boy - I can't believe he's two already!

Sitting with Grandpa and Meleah (for just a minute)

Levi made his own "card" for Reuben this year (it was a set of drawings he did) and wrote most of the note on the envelope: LOVE LEVI - DEAR RUBN - I LOVE YOU

Checking out his new dump truck, quilt and bike (below)!

A monkey cake for our little monkey!

Levi thought we needed the lights out for singing

Happy Birthday Reuben - We love you!!

Happy Halloween!

The boys had plenty of opportunities to wear their costumes this year! We started on Friday night at my parent's house and then on Saturday we went to a church "Trunk-or-Treat", as well as some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Here are some pictures from our Halloween activities:

Levi was The Cat in the Hat
Reuben was the Fish (from The Cat in the Hat)

The fish in his fishbowl

Gotta love that cat!

Trunk-or-Treating with Larry the Cucumber (Henry) and Bob the Tomato (Meleah)

Matt & I joined in the fun on Saturday
(Thing 1 & Thing 2)

Another picture of the Dr. Seuss Family

The fish minus his fishbowl

Off to some more houses!

Trick or Treat!!

Thing 1 got a little creative with his costume!

Carpool Conversations

The route we take from preschool to Katelyn's house passes by a small cemetery. On our drive today, Levi and Katelyn got into a bit of a "discussion" about what it is.

I think it was Katelyn who thought it was a place to go camping and Levi thought it was a place to go dying. After a few times back and forth (camping, no dying, no camping, no dying...), Levi declared that they were both right. He said that it was a place to go camping and then you die.

He went on to say that when you die, they dig a hole and put you in the ground and cover you up with dirt. Then, he continued, you get a new body with new skin. Finally, he said that when he gets his new skin, it is going to be bumpy and scratchy like his dad's.

It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud!

Fall Getaway

This weekend, Matt & I had a chance to get away to Traverse City. The weather, colors and company was wonderful! We had a really fun time shopping, wine tasting and just spending time with the two of us. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

These remind me of "honeymoon pictures" (hardly any of the two of you together)

Carrying on Traditions

When I was growing up, my mom always made applesauce in the fall. About 5 years ago, I asked my mom to teach me how to make applesauce, so I could carry on the tradition with my own family. Last year was the first time I made a few batches entirely on my own (no help from mom) and I tried canning it - my first attempt at canning anything. It went well enough that this past weekend, my sister and I got 3 bushels of apples for making and canning applesauce. We started around 4 PM on Saturday and finished up around 11:30 PM. We ended up with 49 quarts of canned applesauce and roughly 10 quarts to freeze or eat fresh.

We had two very interested "helpers" this year!

Levi was very focused when he got his turn at the masher machine!

Even Reuben took a turn crankin' out some sauce!

Indian Summer

The weather the past week or so has been absolutely gorgeous! In spite of our colds, we've been trying to get out and enjoy the nice weather while it's here. After lunch today, the boys and I headed outside to play for a bit before nap time.

Here are some of the pictures I managed to take in and around our backyard (my subjects were more interested in playing than posing!):






The boys don't like to pose together, but I love their similar looks of disgust in this one!

Culture

Last night, we decided to take advantage of the great autumn weather and take in some culture. I'll let Reuben tell you where we went:



The Top 10 were announced last night, but we didn't find out which ones they were until after we got home. As it turns out, we saw five of the Top 10 (including the Elephant Walk outside the Children's Museum last week). Every time we got in the van today, Reuben asked "ArtPrize?" and Levi keeps asking if we can go back. Hopefully we can get back downtown soon - 1.5 hours was not enough for us!

Here are some of the entries we saw last night:

Helping mom one penny at a time (Top 10)

SteamPig (Top 10)

A Dragon For Jonas

Dancing with Lions (Top 10)

A HUGE greeting card - the front of the card

Trying to find a spot to add our names

The inside of the card