May The Force Be With You

Here are some pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes! I'm pretty sure they're the most adorable Darth Vader and Yoda you'll ever see. :) Brandon even bought them the correct colored light sabers...

Annabeth is pretty funny...she walks around saying, "I'm a Yoda!" And Ethan LOVES his costume -- he asks me every day if he can wear it.I love this one because it looks like she's performing a Jedi mind trick:You will give me candy for dinner.

My house...

...has walls!!!

Fall Fun

We finally made it to the corn maze and it was a lot of fun! :) The four of us and Grandma (Amy) trekked through the maze for a good hour or so. Ethan liked being the leader and picking which direction we would go at each fork in the road, while Annabeth's favorite part seemed to be opening every corn cob she could find (she was only allowed to open the ones that were on the ground). This was Ethan and Annabeth's first trip to the corn maze -- I think that this will end up being a fun fall tradition for all of us! :)

Mmmm...Hot Chocolate!:

Grandma helping Annabeth open the corn:

Corn Sabers! (Like father, like son!):

I love these two just because they were both walking along the same way, with their hands in their pockets:

This evening we finally managed to get our pumpkins carved. The kids LOVED pulling the guts out! It was a lot of fun to watch them. :) Brandon carved the faces while Ethan preferred to draw his faces on. And, of course, we had to roast the seeds...Yum!

HAPPY FALL AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Pumpkin Patch!

This evening Brandon and I took Ethan and Annabeth to the pumpkin patch and they loved it! We didn't have time to go through the corn maze, so we're planning on going back to the farm on Sunday. We're also going to carve our pumpkins that day, so I'll definitely post some pictures of that! :)

Here is Annabeth...not too happy with Daddy!:
Walking through the pumpkin patch:

Picking up the pumpkins! Or trying at least...:

"Mommy! I'm riding!":

They each got to pick out their own pumpkin:
Hauling the pumpkins to the car:
OK, so this is absolutely hilarious! After we picked out our pumpkins, we started walking back to the car. As usual, Ethan runs ahead and Annabeth lags behind, and I'm in the middle trying to keep an eye on both of them. After a minute of watching Ethan I turn around to check on Annabeth...when I turned around, this is what I saw:

Apparently she slipped and face-planted in the mud! What was even funnier was that she didn't cry or get upset or anything...instead, she kept walking until she caught up with me, then looked up at me and very calmly and sweetly said, "Mommy? Clean me up." She was even patient while I laughed (I couldn't help myself!) and took her picture! :D

And finally, here they are with their pumpkins after we got them home...can you tell they had a good time?:

The ball is now rolling...

Isn't it beautiful?? OK, so right now it's just a hole in the ground. But in a few months, this hole in the ground will be a big, beautiful new home!! Can you see it?

Our Humble Abode

I finally figured out how to upload pictures onto Brandon's laptop! I haven't had much of a chance to take pictures lately, but I did manage to take a few shots of our bedroom/laundry room. You can't see it in the picture but the washer and dryer is directly to the left, about a foot from our air mattress. Brandon has referred to us as a "big family burrito"...I think you can see why. :)



Here are a couple of pictures and a video from Brandon and the kids' last night in our condo; they had a campout in the living room, which the kids loved! They ate take-out on the floor and slept in sleeping bags. (I didn't get to be there for the fun because I had to work.)



And, here are a few shots of the only other thing I've managed to get pics of since we've moved. Ethan and Annabeth using their new sidewalk chalk:

(Ethan's turning into quite the little artist, just like his daddy:)

Life Updates

Wow...is it really October already?! Lately time is running so fast I can't seem to keep up with it! Sorry there will be no pictures for this post; I know it's been a while since I've posted any, but we do not have our computer set up yet.

As most of you already know, Brandon and I finally sold our condo!!! We officially closed on it last week and are now settled in and living with my grandmother. It's somewhat humorous, actually, and I will definitely post pictures when I get the chance: we are all living in her laundry room! Brandon and I are sleeping on an air mattress on the floor and each of the kids has a twin bed (technically, Annabeth has half a bed. It's a trundle bed and I turned it so that half of it is under Ethan's bed. Their beds form an "L" and it gives us more room for our air mattress.) We have two dressers and a clothing rack set up in the garage as a closet. As much as we all love each other and enjoy one another's company, I have a feeling this will be a long three months! It really is working out well so far and I thank the Lord for the roof over our heads, no matter how cramped we may feel at times. And it's been really nice getting to spend some time with my brother, as he is living here too (although, thankfully not in the laundry room). He's quite helpful with the chores and he helps me entertain the kids.

As if we weren't busy enough, Brandon and I have been in and out of town the last couple of weeks. After our trip to Leavenworth, I went with a group of women from my church on my first ever silent retreat. I've been on women's retreats before, but never a silent retreat. There was no talking allowed except at meal times when we discussed a certain passage of scripture. It was wonderful! We stayed in a beautiful 7 bedroom house that overlooked the water and was surrounded by woods. An entire weekend spend in silence, prayer, and meditation with God provided some much needed spiritual refreshment. Then, the day after I returned from my retreat, Brandon left on a business trip. He went to New Jersey on Monday and worked there for a day and a half, and this evening he flew into Ohio to work there until he comes home Friday night. I talked to him tonight and he sounds tired, but he says things are going well and he feels like he's getting a lot accomplished. I really miss him!

That's about all that's new with us. We will be living with Granny for the next three months until our house is built...we are hoping to get to move in sometime around the first of the year. I'll keep you updated on that and post pictures as soon as I can. I hope all is well with everyone out there!