Happy Halloween

So we have officially entered the candy, cookie and junk food season. I seem to find the evidence in every corner of the house! Not to mention in own hands once the kids are safely tucked in bed. We have enjoyed the start of the season with costumes and carving pumpkins, a block party and trick or treating, all while reminding our kids that we are being a light in a dark world by imitating Jesus every single day. We are super proud of the character we see developing in them. We here wonderful reports from their teachers and other parents, and I reminded by the one thing we desire most in them is that they love the Lord above all else. As a parent, we should desire this more than a blue ribbon or the winning goal, straight A's, or even a stellar athlete. We are happy to turn our porch lights on and open our doors to neighbors, delight in their children, and be a part of our community while showing them the light in our hearts and letting our kids have a little fun. Our kids often point to Jesus before Joel and I even do and as we chase a kitty cat, Darth Vader, a minion, and a fairy around the block I remain more proud of them each passing year.

Another month goes by and Another Birthday

Wow, where did the time go?! Forgive my lack of blogging. I got a chuckle looking at my last blog, admiring my T-ball super star because in the month that has gone by since I was last here, Jesse broke his arm again and had two manipulations in the ER and then arm surgery just under 2 weeks ago, ending his T-ball season. He has been a trooper despite being in a cast for almost 3 months now! We had a few rough days and some temper tantrums over not being allowed in the neighbors jump house but now that he has a red and purple striped hard cast on, he has perked up! (We have been through 4 different colored casts now).

Finally asleep in the after many hours ad many drugs. 

I will spare you a picture of his arm (it wasn't pretty!)

And even though October brings the fall season, apple and pumpkin picking, jumping in leaves, and Halloween, we usually spend October counting down the days till Anna's birthday because she seems to think we will forget it! It was her year for a big party and she chose to have it at a local cupcake shop, Amphora Bakery. She got to help decorate her own cake, and all the guests decorated their own cupcakes and cookies to take home. 

 The party was on the mezzanine level of the bakery which allowed for everyone to watch all the bakers and decorators at work. 

 This was Jesse first outing post surgery, and even though he was high on drugs, had a great time. He wore his chef's hat for days afterward.

The cupcake decorating was crazy! How often do kids get free rein with icing? Each cupcake ended up with its own name such as "Rainbow Mountain" and "Icing Waterfall".

Even Josie got in on the action

I believe Anna felt super special this day and days afterward. I feel like we have been eating cake for a month! I hope it was as wonderful for her as it was for us. Happy 8th Birthday Anna!

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Baseball season is in full swing. No, I don't mean the Red Sox (well I do, but those are not the games we attend 2 times a week even though Joel would like!). I mean the Bats T-ball team, Jesse's new adventure. and I must say that he has been taking to it much better than soccer!

 The "pitcher" has to wear a helmet. Jesse did amazing at stopping the ground balls, and he almost caught one fly ball!  He had trouble throwing to first base though, his instinct was to chase down the player running to first. Gave us quite a chuckle. Then he actually got one runner and jumped for joy and yelled "You're out!". We had a tough time explaining that their are no outs in "Funball" as his age level is called.

 A serious runner. 

 Even though you can't see, the smile on his face was amazing. He had so much fun and is super excited about his next game.  He keeps asking me if I have washed his uniform.

Yes, his face is under there somewhere!

First Day of School

 Asher - 4th grade, Anna - 2nd grade.

Yes, these are fake smiles.

 These kind of pictures seem to work better :).

 Jesse's 1st day of kindergarten! Kindergarten is only half day here and Jesse is in the afternoon session, so he was miserable for the 4 hours after Anna and Asher got on the bus. It was a LONG morning!

 But his time finally came, but his excitement did result in us being at the bus stop about 30 minutes early.

I don't know why this just about broke my heart. Watching him get on the school bus alone with a handful of scared kindergarteners peering out the window.  Each one was sitting alone and the bus was eerily quiet. Then off to school to fend for himself! He couldn't remember anything he did except have milk at snack time, but he brought home a stick figure he drew himself which had a smiley face, and the words, Jesse (backwards J) is "HAB" today.

Mexico Vacation

We just returned from a wonderful 9 day family vacation to Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We have so many wonderful pictures that I am not sure how to fit them all in this post! It is hard to choose only a few. Joel's sister Mara married a wonderful Godly man Niel Haggmark in a beautiful beach ceremony complete with a Mariachi band. The two families rented a hacienda so we had our own private pool, a chef, and a bartender. It was an amazing time catching up from family all over the world, meeting new family members, and making the most awesome memories. Our first set of memories (after 6 hours of flying and 4 hour lay over in Mexico City) was a day zip lining in the mountains!

Only Asher got to enjoy this adventure with us. I can't even explain the feelings of watching your 9 year old willingly go first, 300 meters off the ground, through ravines, upside down whooping with joy. This is something Joel and I always regretted not doing in Hawaii and are so thankful we got to experience with Asher and other family members in such a beautiful place.

 Our own private pool. Jesse's arm didn't hold him back one bit. He never once complained about it being hot or sweaty or too hard to swim with, or being too wet (and yes it got plenty wet...waterproof covering not 100% dependable). Only at bedtime would be he cry about the pain and after all he did with it, I am sure he was hurting.

Our chef had coffee ready in the morning and we got to eat family style breakfast and dinners.

 Our house bartender was plenty busy making smoothies for the kids!

They all 4 were so exhausted every night that they never complained about sleeping in the same bed!

 Sister-in-laws...Amanda, Mara (the bride), and Mary

Siblings...Joel with Caleb and Mara

The reason for the vacation...the wedding of Mara and Niel! I won't post pictures of this event because I know my photographer sister-in-law Amanda will be blogging her photos soon (and she is super talented!). The wedding was absolutely beautiful and Mara was the the most stunning bride. Her and Niel were super cute, all googly eyed and glowing the whole vacation, completely in their own world. It was a privilege to be there and experience their joy, and an honor to have our kids be part of the special day. But somehow I didn't get a photo of the 4 kids in their wedding clothes?! I was too busy stopping the little girls from ending up in the ocean :).

 See, the arm didn't slow him down one bit.

 And this kid was born to be in the ocean. 

He was so happy to back at a beach and never wanted to leave. 

Anna was pretty happy in the ocean as well until she got stung by a jellyfish on the last day. The ended the beach fun pretty quick.

 Good thing we had this super fun pool when we were done at the beach!

That is Anna with Auntie Amanda on the bridge headed for the super fast alligator slide.

Cheers to an absolutely unforgettable vacation!

The World's Most Beautiful Theme Park

The kids all earned 200 points on their life skills/chore charts which earned them a trip to an amusement park. Busch Gardens-here we come! Well, here we came. We had an amazing day in Williamsburg lasting a full 12 hours at the park (thank you Alyson Fox for helping us make it!) and learned a lot about each of our kids.

The first ride of the day: the Battering Ram. It only made 3 of the 4 kids cry! Not a great way to start the day. For the rest of the day, anytime we saw or passed this ride Jesse would break down. Needless to say we will probably never be on this ride as a family again!

Josie was the most even keeled of all the kids. She would trot onto any ride with a smile on her face (besides the Battering Ram). She loved them all and was unbelievably content.

Asher is in the 3rd cart from the left, our roller coaster junky. He literally rode every single roller coaster there twice!! His smile was from ear to ear, loving every minute, screaming hoots of joy. Here Anna is on her first roller coaster with cousin Alyson, second cart from front. I was certain if I got her on one, she would fall in love. Well I was wrong. I thought we killed her. She was a mess and cried for almost 2 hours afterwards! The only reason she is waving in this picture is because it just started. I am not sure if she will ever try another coaster again.

Anna's favorite rides were the spinning tea cups and the giant swings, where she would close her eyes in complete joy, put her arms out, and pretend she was flying. She rode these 2 rides over and over and after her "near death" experience, I didn't try to persuade her to do anything else!

Jesse was kind of stuck in between...too small for the coasters, and felt he was too big for a lot of the kiddie rides.  It took us a while but we found some happy medium rides that made him smile. He loved flying the planes.

 and this was his favorite ride of the day, the "Roman Rapids".

They were soaked afterwards!

 And this was giant playground that we took turns watching the younger kids while the adults rode roller coasters with Asher. I only post a picture of where I think Jesse broke his left arm (while on my watch) even though we didn't have him in the ER till 2 days later when he fell off the ladder of his bunk bed. He was clutching his arm in the exact same spot as he was this day after a tumble from a net. It was a fun playground though.

If I am talking about his broken arm, I have to add the most adorable picture. We should have it casted in the next 2 days. He has been planning what color he is going to choose. He must have a high pain tolerance to have lived with it for 2 days but you can't convince me it didn't happen at Busch Gardens because I am certain! I almost left the park with him that day but thought I was being the overreactive mother. 

We left the park at 10pm, got our kids in bed at the hotel by 10:45, climbed into bed and were asleep ourselves around 11:30...only to be woken up by the fire alarms in our rooms at midnight! Craziness! No fire, just some freak thing they every kid slept through while us 3 adults stumbled around trying to makes sense of what was happening. The next day we went to Colonial Williamsburg for the afternoon...not as exciting as Busch Gardens but we managed to have a good time together. The kids enjoyed locking Joel and I up.