Photoshoots...

I know it's been a few weeks since I posted, so I'll try to remember all the things we have been up to lately!

I can not believe we are into November already!! I've been trying really hard to get my Christmas shopping done. I'm almost there! The kids are pretty easy to buy for, so that's always nice.

I took a bunch of pictures of the kids in the backyard last week and I didn't realize until after I had taken all the pictures, that the camera was on the wrong setting and the pictures are a little blurry:( But, we had a fun time anyways...

We got some fall family pictures taken by our friends yesterday. I think they turned out pretty good! At least everyone is looking at the camera!

I helped in Megan's classroom one day last week. I made sugar cookies with 3 of the kids(including Megan). We had a great time and the kids were really well behaved. Megan was VIP the day I helped, so I got to see her be her teacher's big helper. It was SO cute! I forgot to bring my camera:(

The kids LOVE to play in daddy's truck...

Megan had a busy week at school last week, she had pumpkin carving, VIP day, Halloween Party!! She had so much fun. She is really loving school. And, she got invited to her first birthday party for one of the girls in her class. She dressed up as a butterfly for her Halloween party on Friday. All the little kids dressed up at school was pretty cute!!

We went over to our cousins place to do some pumpkin carving one evening last week. We didn't end up doing the pumpkins that night, just because we didn't have enough time. But, we did manage to get a picture with all the 2nd cousins together with Great-grandpa!! They are all 5 years old and under...

And....the kids were SO excited to go out trick or treating for Halloween. Megan and Gabby totally get it and love going around our neighbourhood to get treats!! Marty wasn't too sure what was going on, but he had fun just running around in his costume. I couldn't get enough of the kids in their costume...seriously SOOOO cute!!

A monkey, mouse and ladybug...

We are getting good use of this monkey costume. Megan wore it for 2 years, Gabby wore it for 2 years and now Marty will probably wear it for a couple of years!! I just love it!!

On Friday night, Jeff's parents offered to take our kids for a sleepover:) I know I've said it before, but we are SO blessed to have both sets of grandparents in town to help us with our kids. Thank you so much mom and dad V for blessing us in this way! We went out for dinner and then did some Christmas shopping. We slept in the next morning to 8am...without interruptions, it was wonderful! Then we ran a few errands before picking the kids up at lunch time. Then, that same evening, we went to our friends place for a potluck dinner...so fun!!

We had a really fun, but busy weekend!!! Now we just need to rest a bit this week:)

Enjoying Fall

We are getting right into the swing of things with this Fall season upon us! Last weekend was a busy one for us. It was Thanksgiving weekend, so I was glad that Jeff had a few extra days off!

A little sister love...

Our church celebrated it's 50th Anniversary this past weekend. We had a semi-formal banquet/dinner on Saturday night. And then a great Sunday morning celebration at church. It was so great to see so many people back, who had been part of the church at some point. It was great to be together and celebrate! Jeff's grandparents were founding members of the church 50 years ago. We think we are very blessed to have 4 generations still going to the same church!! One of the old pastor's spoke at the banquet and his message was "the best is yet to come". It's amazing to see how God is working in our church right now. We feel blessed to be a part of it!

I LOVE this picture of Marty!

Saturday morning, we ventured out to the pumpkin patch with our friends. The kids had a blast running around in the hay maze and seeing some animals...and the best part was the tractor/hay ride!! I love the colors of Fall and I love to get pictures of the kids with pumpkins, so here are a few attempts...

Marty loved this slide, he would go up the ladder, down the slide, over and over again! Marty was trying to pick up one of the pumpkins...

Jeff had Friday and Monday off during the Thanksgiving weekend, so he was able to come with us to drop Megan off at school and he also picked her up. She was SO excited that daddy could come to her school too!

Playing in the hay...Gabby got her very first professional haircut this week! She was so excited to go to "the Beaners"! She had watched Megan get her haircut there once and so she knew it was a fun place. She was a little nervous at first and didn't even want to smile for me. She was so well behaved and we think her haircut is SOOOO cute!!

Before...(her hair is very thin and fine and it was still her baby hair!)

After...

Jeff and Marty came to watch the girls in their swimming lessons last week. We brought the camera along and got a few pictures!

Working on their back floats...

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!!

painting & people

We had our first parent/teacher interview for Megan this week!! I still can't believe we are at that stage of life already. Megan was so excited for us to come to her school and show us what she has been learning. Jeff got off work a little early and we headed to the school.

In Kindergarten, they do a screening test for the parent/teacher interview. It has 6 "tests", to see where each child is at. Not to brag, but Megan aced all 6 tests!!!! We are so proud of her. Her teacher said that she is a delight to have in her class:) Of course, we already know that. She is getting better and better at leaving me at school now. This whole week there have been NO tears. And, today Jeff had the day off work, so the whole family walked her to school. She was really excited to have daddy come and show home him how the mornings go! She only went for a 1/2 day today and so Jeff picked her up from school too...she loves her daddy SO much:)

It seems like this last month or so has just flown by. We have been having such beautiful weather for October!! The kids go outside every day to ride their bikes and play.

We had such a busy weekend last week. Friday night we had some friends over for dinner. Then Saturday morning we painted our kitchen and our bedroom closet. Jeff managed to get 2 bike rides in on Saturday, so he was happy about that!! Saturday evening, we had Jeff's parents over dinner and a visit. Then Sunday morning we taught kids church and went to Red Robin for a quick lunch. And Sunday evening we had some other friends over for dinner!! So busy...but, so worth it!!

Here's a before pic of the kitchen(it was time to get rid of the navy blue and brighten the kitchen up a bit)...

After....(please don't mind the messy kitchen!)

We are really happy with it. I just need to get a few more things to decorate the kitchen a bit more. The lighter paint brightens up the kitchen so much. We had to paint our bedroom closet because my awesome dad built me a closet organizer for my birthday!! I love it. Although, now that everything is organized...my closet looks so empty(time to buy more clothes!:)

On another note...Marty has been talking up a storm lately! It is SO cute. I absolutely love this age he is at right now. His newest words are color, balloon, sissies, puppy, baby, all done, thank you, etc. He also likes to do animal sounds. My favorite is a kitty cat, he has the funniest meow! He has also become a little more difficult and has started throwing temper tantrums. He will throw himself down face first on the ground and cry. He is quite dramatic!

The girls had swimming lessons again this week and they are doing great!! Lots of progress from the week before. They both put their faces into the water this week. They both love going and talk about it all week!! I'm looking forward to seeing the progress after 6 weeks.