A Rose by Another Name

Brett likes to call it "scouting", but I prefer "hiking". The kids are happiest when we call it "bushwhacking". Either way, we all had a great time.

Hmm...if no one was there when this happened, do you think it still made a sound?

A little blury, but I love Gigi's expression.

Aidan and Emma made a lot of "discoverations".

Getting ready to go.

Love my carrier!

Fall is here!

I love fall! I truly love everything about fall. We are so blessed to live in a part of the country where we get to enjoy every season. Only one of those seasons is dark and cold, but beautiful in its own way, a very white and still way.

Every year in a little town northeast of here they have a huge Applefest. As much as we would love to enjoy this festival we are pretty sure that the kids would only love it for about an hour, and we would all end up tired, broke, and crabby. So, the first year we were here we started doing our own Jones Applefest. We do have two apple trees on our property, but since we just planted them this summer they are clearly not going to produce apples. Lucky for us the Newman Center has two great apple trees on its property.

Gianna is enjoying some apple crisp. Yummy!

The star in the middle of an apple!

Homemade applesauce for the baby!

Our harvest, and there's more on the trees.

Is there a baby in the house?

Birthday Girl

Last week we had a birthday girl in the house. Miss Emma turned 6! I cannot believe that my second-born is already six years old. Wow! Emma is all that a six-year-old girl should be. She remains to be sweet and giving and just super wonderful. She's still a bit clumsy too, but she has a great sense of humor about it all. Depending on the intensity of the fall/crash/stub/bonk/hit she just giggles and shakes her head.

We had a great day on her birthday. We took the day off of school and just enjoyed the day. We had a party the next day with some great friends.

Can't get enough

I just can't get enough of this little one. Okay, so I was the same way with all of them, but it's getting harder to get the older ones to slow down enough to take pictures of them.

Guilty as Charged

What do you do with a baby who is super kissable?

Why yes, you kiss her!

Under protest!

I simply can't work under these conditions. Even the baby has joined the "other side".