"I did it!"

Brandon trys to take Analise turkey hunting at least once each turkey season. She always love to go. However, this time she seemed a little more nervous. It turned out she was afraid of him shooting the guns. She has never like loud sounds.

We told Analise her cousins would be going, too, and she seemed more interested in going.

But we knew she was still nervous.

 

Here they are before they go.

As it turned out, Brandon got a shot. Actually, he had four. He told Analise he was going to shoot, and he did. As soon as he was done, he heard Analise say, "I did it!!!" She was ecstatic. Brandon's first thought was, "I am the one who shot the birds." But then she explained; she had survived the sound of the gun firing. He said after that, she was so excited that she talked nonstop.

It is a moment he will always treasure. 

 What a good looking crew.

Pickin' Pumpkins

 

Grandma took the girls out for  their annual "pick a pumpkin" day. They each came home with a big one. We had already decorated their small pumpkins. I love those things!

Fall Fun with Family

I love it when all three girls are getting along, and I hear nothing but giggles.

That happened this fall when the girls raked a pile of leaves and then played in it.

The only thing that made it better this year - Caramel!

She loved it!

 

I spy Sadie...

Sadie's Fall Party

Sadie's preschool had a harvest party, and it's one of my favorite field trips each year. We head out to the country, where they get to play games, ride horses, take a hay rack ride, eat snacks and then find a pumpkin in the field.

It was chilly and breezy, but it didn't keep us from having fun!

 

Pass - Set - Hit

Or more like it, serve and if you are lucky someone will pass. We signed Analise up to play volleyball at the Y for six weeks. (Did I already blog about this?) She practiced on Thursday nights for an hour and then played a game on Saturday mornings. It was just the right way to introduce her to the game I love. And it was fun because she really enjoyed it. She had a nice underhand serve and got better about moving her feet. There were definitely girls there that were better, and they were others that weren't quite as good. She had fun and got more interested in the game, so our goal was accomplished.

One day after playing, she came home a little bummed she didn't get the ball much. She said when she was bored, she just imagined the team passing, setting, hitting and blocking. She seemed disappointed they weren't doing that. Hah!

 

 

And just an FYI...Brandon always likes to aggrevate me by saying, "Bump, set, spike" because he knows those terms drive me nuts. So my daughter is learning to pass, set, and hit. :)

Apple Orchard

 

Over fall break, I took the girls out to the apple orchard. It was a lovely day, and we needed out of the house. It had been two years since we had last gone, and we all had a good time!

 

We couldn't pick our own apples this year, so we bought some already picked and ate them while we walked a couple of rows. 

Don't you just want to take a bite out of that juicy apple?



Odds and Ends

In an effort to make my blog current (I hear the snickering...) I

am posting random pictures in one post.

 

 

When Sarena was in town not too long ago, we got the annual "slide" picture for grandma. All 7 kids squished together.

 

The girls love sidewalk chalk. I don't like the mess it makes. But I have loosened up some over the years. :) I let them do it on the driveway while I mowed the yard. One night I went out and saw this drawing by Maisie. Can you tell what this girl is doing? Yep - going potty. Lovely. Simply lovely.

 But that daughter also redeemed herself with this drawing.

 The girls' school hands out "High 5, ask me why" bracelets to kids at school who are caught doing something good. Maisie's teacher tries to hand out a few each week. Maisie came out one day with the bracelet, and she was SUPER excited. However, her oldest sister was less than thrilled. It was yet another opportunity to encourage Analise to not compare herself and to celebrate the success of others. Why must some things be so hard to learn?

 And then a couple of weeks later - Analise came home with the bracelet. She was excited, and Maisie was excited for her, too. Well done sweet Maisie.

 I had to get a picture of Maisie in this outfit because it was THE outfit this summer. Her "catch a wave" shirt and her beloved pink shorts. If she was really into it, she always wore the same undies with that outfit. There were days she would grumble when she couldn't wear it. Or other times I would hear her apologizing to the shorts because she couldn't wear them.

 Maisie has learned how to do cartwheels. And most of the time she does a really good job. This was another area where the older sibling really struggled. She couldn't do them. She would try and try without much progress, and Maisie was doing them all.over.the.place.

Again a lesson to be learned on celebrating the differences.

 We had 2/3 of the boys over one night for a movie night. We had lots of fun and laughs while they watched an Ice Age movie.

 



Annual Fall Pictures

We took the girls to the Rock Garden in October for their annual fall pictures. I debated whether or not to do it since we had had family pictures taken in July. Tradition won out, so we went. The girls were not in the mood to cooperate or smile + Brandon played with a new camera = we got only a few pictures. Here they are. :)

 

Character Awards

I am thankful that both schools we have attended make it a priority to teach character. We had our first assembly at Meadowlark at the end of the first quarter, and both girls were chosen from their class to get the character award. As parents, we are so excited!

And they were excited for each other. It was a sweet assembly where both grandparents, Brandon and Aunt Sarah attended. (Their cousin, A, got an award, too!)

 

 Analise also came home that day with a 2 Liter bottle of Sprite from her teacher for meeting a reading goal. When Analise walked out to the van with that bottle, Sadie thought she was carrying santizer. Hah! We may use a lot of that, but we buy the cute little B&BW bottles...not 2 Liter size!

 

We are so thankful for such a good start to our new school. The girls have made friends, love their teachers, and they seem to be doing well! One of the main reasons we made the switch was to get the girls around other Christian friends. Analise came home sick at lunch one day, and her dear friend just cried because she knew Analise hadn't been feeling well. Analise told me later that the same friend had prayed with her at recess, asking God to let Analise feel better. It's got to be one of the sweetest things I have heard, and it just confirmed our move to Meadowlark. Thank you, Jesus!

Girls and their Dog

Caramel is officially part of the family. Not that it took long. She quickly captured the girls' hearts, and they still love her. They don't mind their responsibilities with her; I don't hear them complain when it's time to play with her or pick up her "gold" in the backyard.

Brandon is so glad to know this. :)

 

 These two probably have the best relationship...but don't tell the other two girls.

Free Yet Fun

Sometimes it's not too hard to please the girls. One simple thing we occasionally do is go to a bridge at the Arch and feed the fish. This time we took stale oyster crackers and had a lot of entertainment. Fun and free!