Finishing Fall...

I simply love this tree in the fall. The picture of course doesn't do it justice. It actually almost looks like it's glowing when the sun hits it. The outside leaves are bright yellow and the inside are more orange. Simply wonderful. And then all the fun we have in the leaves. Crunching, crunching, crunching....my favorite part...And those of us in Michigan have got to be thankful for the AWESOME fall weather we've had. Simply perfect.

Austin is real creative. His "ideas" are often not possible because of either the materials needed or the "know-how" or both. However, this time he was pretty set on making some huge scissors. He sharpened each stick by rubbing it on the road and then brought me a nail and asked me to reach him a hammer so he could put his scissors together. So, I helped him nail them together and they actually moved like scissors. They didn't actually cut, of course, but he sure had fun playing around with them and "cutting the leaves".

And he has just gotten into climbing trees. Still pretty cautious, which I'm thankful for, but I think he really loves the adventure!

The hunter, 50's dancer, and kitty cat...
On a side note here, Austin has really been into hunting lately. He's been asking a lot about it and when he can go. He always wants to go to the "property" ie. the family hunting property in Gladwin. It was a nice day last week and Trevor took him up there to look for deer. He was sooo excited. He lasted about 45 mins. in the blind and then wanted to get out and explore and build a fort. They had good "dad and son" time in the woods. One of many to come, I'm sure.

Hailey's party at school. Her two friends, Audra and Avery. And of course the honorary kindergartner, Kara. Kara and I spend Monday afternoons in Hailey's classroom helping out where we can. I really like getting to see Hailey at school and getting to know her classmates. Kara LOVES going to school. She asks almost everyday if she can stay at school with Hailey. Hailey's teacher has been great inviting Kara to join in with whatever they 're doing. And the other kids like having a little girl around too.

Kara was the cutest little kitten around. I tried to put her hair up (like in the first picture), but she plays with it so much that it started coming down. Below is her fierce, tiger-like growl face.

And my big tough man. No he's not dressed up for Halloween. He's dressed up for SWAT. He made the team this summer and he just got all his gear. He loves it. And I'm so glad for him. He is great at his job and really loves it.

And the creating continues. Legos are great. They are one of the best toys around.
Every kid (boy or girl, younger or older) that comes to our house has a good time building something. Austin could play with legos all day everyday- if I let him. And he would take pictures of all of his creations and write out directions for each one so he could build it again, or some other kid could.

Enjoy the remaining days of fall. And be thankful- I am. :)

The joys of fall

Fall really is one of my favorite times of the year. September always brings back great memories of apples. My grandpa had a small apple orchard, so September was always "apple time" for me. We had applesauce, apple pies, apple crisp, apple cider. It was great. I love making applesauce, even though it is sometimes a bit labor-intensive. The smell of warm apples cooking is worth every minute. And then there's the other smells of fall at our house, pumpkin bread and zucchini bread. Wonderful. I think fall has a lot of wonderful smells outdoors too. Crisp air, leaves, wood burning stoves...and the noises too....leaves crunching and the wind blowing. So great. Anyway, hope you enjoy these pictures from several different things. And if you lean in close enough and close your eyes, you may be able to smell the apples :) Or you can just come on over and smell them for real.

We had a fun and wild time with my niece (Brooklyn) and nephews (Kale and Banner) last weekend. We went to a parade downtown, played in our "box fort" and of course, legos.

Today was an awesome fall day. So, for our family night we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. We each had an apple cider doughnut, picked out a pumpkin, went through a -kind of crazy- corn maze, climbed "Mount Pleasant" and walked around and saw all of the pumpkins! It was lots of fun.





We realized this summer that Kara had never really been old enough to remember Trevor being in his police uniform and driving a "black and white". She was only a year old when he went into YSU (youth services at the high school). So, we had to get a picture of her in his car. :)

For Hailey's birthday we got her ballet lessons. She started last week and has been so excited. She's talked about ballet for quite a while and tries to do little moves and stuff alot. Plus, she gets to do it with one of her best buddies, Gwyneth.


And here is Austin playing soccer. I have a feeling that our falls from here on out will be filled with soccer. Beautiful fall days and chilly ones too. Austin has really started to enjoy soccer more and more. He likes to talk to his dad about positions and plays and has really enjoyed getting out there and running. His first game he actually scored the first goal. I was so excited and proud. God has really blessed him with some great abilities.

As you may have noticed from the above pictures, Hailey got her hair cut a good bit shorter. Well, when we went to get that done, little sis didn't want to miss out on the action, so she got her's cut too. You can barely notice, mostly because mom wasn't ready to see her beautiful, curly locks gone. But I thought I'd share the pictures of Kara's first hair cut anyway.


And then this is just kind of a random picture of the kids. They thought it was so hilarious that they all three could fit into daddy's new SWAT gear bag.

Birthdays and school

If you're reading this but haven't seen the August post yet, you'll have to go to the "older posts" and check that one out too. So much has happened recently that I thought I better just get these things in here while they're still somewhat current.

So, our September starts out with a BANG around here. We have two birthdays pretty quick and school starts. We actually celebrated the girls birthdays with a little party with any family that can make it, and our sweet neighbor. Then we just do special things on each of the girls specific days.

The request this year was a flower cake. And of course what girl doesn't like pink and purple!

And if you asked Kara how old she was going to be or if she was excited you would most likely hear some thing about gum. At some point with Austin we kind of made the "rule" that when you turn 3 you can try gum...and not until then. So, as with Hailey, having gum on the 3rd b-day has been a big deal. She has done well and hasn't swallowed a single piece yet. She sure does chomp it though. You could hear her a mile away with that gum in her mouth. Every picture on I got after that was with mouth wide open chomping on gum. :)One of the many nice things the girls got for their birthdays. Uncle Jeff was a hit with the Tinkerbell umberella, and then there's the gum too....

Bike riding has been a fun thing this summer too. Kara has learned how to pedal and Hailey just taught herself to ride a two-wheeler. There is a very small two-wheeler at Grandma and Papa Reid's house that she tried out and figured that it wasn't all that hard. So we brought it home for her to keep trying on. It did help that it was so small and she felt a little more safe closer to the ground. The day of her party she really took off riding and now (after we've lowered her seat on her bigger bike as far as it will go- enough for her to reach the ground easily) she's riding her own bigger bike around pretty well. We even attempted a small bike ride this evening...until Austin's pedal fell off. Good thing we were close to home :)

Kara still gets "stuck" once in a while and needs a little push.

And now for the first day of school pictures!

Here's our second grader, Austin Jay.
And our Kindergartener, Hailey Jean.And when asked how they were feeling about starting school, this is what I got...
a little jump and arm action here...
Striking a pose with some enthusiasum...And here's the all out, jumping up and down, arm pumping, hair flinging, excited girl...
We have had a good week (short as it was). Definitely some adjusting to do for each of us. Hailey is surely more tired (and a bit cranky) the last few days, but is still enjoying each day. Austin seems pretty excited and content with things thus far. And Kara is so excited each day to see her brother and sister after school and asks several times throughout the day, "when is it time to get Hailey and Austin?" Looking forward to a great second week...

August

Well, I start out a couple of weeks into August (cause that's where I left off with in the last one). Here are a few pictures from one of my favorite events of the summer...The Reid reunion. I guess it's the country girl in me. I love going to Trevor's grandma's house (an old farm), seeing family that I really only see once a year-but always enjoying catching up with, and (my favorite) taking a hayride-pulled by a John Deere tractor - of course. :) I didn't take as many pictures as I thought, but here are a couple of cute ones...
I wish you could see Austin's hair better. It is so beautiful...well, handsome. The sun really bleached it out this summer. It's just a great golden color. I had to add this one cause pictures of him are getting harder to come by. :)
When we were riding on the hayride, I was telling the girls how the last several years I've had a sleeping girl on me by the end of the ride. I really didn't think that I would this year, I was wrong. But I don't mind. Sweet moments.
Right after that fun time we headed to Grandma Rosey's for a couple of days to see her, but also to see two of my aunts and some of my cousins that I don't get to see all that much. We got to go to a friend's pool. Here's Hailey being brave and jumping!

It took Austin until the very end to try it and then he loved it so much he wished he would've tried it sooner!

My Aunt Shelly, Spencer, and TJ. We had a great time with them! Wish they didn't live so far...
Then at the end of the month we headed north to Alpena, MI to visit some dear friends the Leavesleys. Here is Hailey and Rebekah. They played sooo well together I barely saw them the three days we were there. They went from one pretending thing to the next. they included Kara some too :) Real sweet.
Here is Austin and his best buddy, Caleb. They hit the video games pretty hard. This was the best picture I could get, and I had to trick them to look at me. :)
And last, but not least. Actually you could say that the best got saved until the very last day of August. Our little buddy, Justus Judah finally arrived! I can't really express how excited I was when I got the news. My brother got a BOY! Well, the whole family did. And what a sweet boy he is. Just so excited that the waiting is over (especially for Berta...love you sis). The kids and I took a pretty quick trip down to see them and we picked up Grandma Rosey on the way.

Yay! Austin got another boy cousin!

Already sucking his thumb!

And finally, another installment of Kara sleeping funny.