This was a very full fall! We took a lot of trips and had so much fun it kind of made up for the crazy spring.
Birthday Time! Joseph turned 9 this year, with a construction zone cake.
We had a wonderful time at Dewberry Farm.
Our Young Women's group went canoeing. So much fun!
Sadie turned Sweet 13.
Happy Day -- a new guitar!
It's Halloween Time!
Hard at work for school.
Because we missed our trip to Alaska earlier in the year, we used our flight credit to go visit Jeremy in Oregon. It was beautiful beyond description, so I took lots of pictures.
We hiked through the woods and came upon this enchanted spot. There was just enough fog to make it feel like something out of a dream, but you could still see everything well enough.
Starfish!!!
We saw so many beautiful waterfalls.
There is a huge tower on the tallest hill overlooking Astoria. You can see for miles.
We also found tons of sand dollars, dead and alive, along the beach in front of our hotel.
The Lewis and Clark monument right next to our hotel. This is the point where they reached the western shore before heading back east.
The kids and I followed Nana and Popie up to Missouri for a week and had fun exploring their newest property --a rickety old house complete with broken windows, some of the foundation missing ... and a cow hoof randomly found in one of the bedrooms. Weird, but the price was right.
A nice lady treated Peter to an antique horse ride.
We spent a beautiful fall afternoon in Springfield exploring the "cave park"
and the "farm park."
Evening scrabble games are always fun.
We always end up at the Bass Pro Shop one way or other.
Just some amazing pictures Sarah took. She's getting pretty good with the camera.
We had a picnic at the "roadside park" one afternoon and it was so windy that the trees were raining acorns on us. It was pretty cool to see them plop in the water.... not so fun when you got hit, though.
Nana bought some brand new boots to go hiking in and they literally disintegrated while taking a not-too-strenuous walk. No more Walmart boots!
I think we made smores pretty much every night.
Just a fun time in the sandbox at Burrough's Park back at home.
Annie completed the Book Buddies program at the library with her buddy helping her read books for an hour each week.
Sadie and Ada were both accepted for publication in the largest book every published: I Am Texas. Ada for a poem, and Sadie for a piece of artwork. There was a big reception downtown.
They signed copies of people's books
and got to sign the cover of the huge book.
Big Boy Peter turned four years old.
For Thanksgiving, all of Matt's family got together to rent a big house on the Guadalupe River in Seguin. It was so fun to hang out with everyone.
Complete with an elevator
and pool table.
We were right on the river, so we did lots of canoeing.
And we celebrated Matt's birthday while we were there.
It's the best time of year again...
and this year Jeremy's family came out to visit. We loved having them here so much!!!
Of course we did gingerbread houses
and decorated cookies
and went ice skating
and toured Mercer Botanical Gardens.
Christmas Day dawned with love and delight!
Sarah and Ada have so much fun together --when the mood hits them.
They took some amazing pictures of doing tricks on the trampoline.
Beautiful day downtown near the science museum.
Happy New Year!
