October Snapshots

On Mondays, after Ella's dance class and during Abby's, Ella and Daddy go on a weekly Stewart's date. It's a special chance for Ella to have quality time with her daddy. She gets to bring an activity (she usually chooses a coloring book) and pick a snack to share, then she gets her daddy face to face for 45 minutes. Last week, she looked up at Joe toward the end of their time and said, "So, Daddy....what do you want to chat about?"

Abby loves art and we can rarely satisfy her inner craft master. She is always thinking about how she can create something out of nothing. She is currently collecting tissue boxes for a homemade dollhouse she wants to design. We can clean the whole playroom and within an hour Abby is back at it working on a new idea (which means lots of paper and scraps). There are paper trails everywhere!
I'm learning to embrace the mess and enjoy the art! Just the other day, Ella and I went looking for the crayons, so we could color a picture together, but found that Abby had glued all of the crayons together to build a very successful pyramid. Last week, Abby went downstairs after school and created a craft for each person in her class to complete and brought it in as a gift. I didn't even have a chance to see it before she took it to school and handed them out, but she told me her teacher took time out of their schedule to allow the kids to complete their craft. :) One Sunday, she made a picture at church and then she came home and decided to make it into a crown. 

Sweet Oliver is always keeping his girls company.

Six years ago, a friend gave Abby a mini Vera Bradley bag. Now Juliet is enjoying the stylish gift!

There is one thing Ella wanted all day: snuggle time with her daddy. Thankful for this guy who eats his lunch quickly and spends the rest of his break right here. When he sat down with her, she couldn't stop kissing his cheek. At dinner tonight, when we asked Ella what part of her day brought her joy, she smiled at Joe and said, "When I spent time with my daddy!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OjOLviYhzs

On Wednesday mornings, I help in the school library. The girls and I have dance parties in the car on the way to school and I get to see them in the library during each of their classes. It's safe to say Wednesday mornings are one of my happy places.

Joe was out of town for an overnight ministry trip and this little cutie decided mommy needed company, so she woke up for the morning at 5 am. I was exhausted. Juliet thought it was hilarious! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKfJlSaPOps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhhMOVivZy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4m2rWw-VL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhLOE2wQS8g

Juliet loves to play fetch with her buddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4T7bmWndoo

Ella likes to take her mornings off nice and slow.

Abby started attending Pioneer Girls twice a month after school. She loves her time spent with friends crafting, snacking and learning about Jesus. After their first meeting, she came home with this puppet of herself that included the words she would use to describe herself.  I love seeing the way Abby sees herself.

helpful-fun-smart-special-polite-organized-leader-unique-dreamer

Abby Em- you are all these things and so much more. We love you! :)

I was in charge of making the carnival game for the Ella's class at our school's fall craft fair/festival. The girls got a kick out of the paper airplane booth making process!

Abby read over fifty five books this summer and was entered into her school library's summer reading prize drawing! She was excited to win her very first easy bake oven. The girls had fun with the process, but I'm pretty sure they were surprised by the results. They have been baking with me for real since they were two, so six cookies the size of a quarter were a little disappointing.

Abby went on a field trip to a local farm with her daddy as a chaperone. Her class spent the day enjoying all kinds of fall activities, including a hay ride, pumpkin picking, a giant slide and a trampoline.

And then one day they came out of their room looking like mini teenagers...

Date night with my two guys. We loved our first datebox complete with an "escape room" game, apple cider and make your own caramel apples and kettlecorn. It was a perfect solution to some much needed, intentional (and creative) time together without even leaving home (or paying for a babysitter)! P.S. We even solved all the clues and escaped before the timer ran out.

I loved the morning I spent with my middle girl! Ella chose the recipe she wanted to make, so homemade mac and cheese it was. She even did the work on the stove (safely with mommy nearby). We cooked, listened to music and played magnet dolls...all while staying in our pajamas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i6T1svNEx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeW005w1Afc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wigehbBok0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXA3vraLk2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZRvj5FsL-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m6mPCM6V5Q

Abby had the day off from school and we both needed haircuts, so we had a mommy daughter date to the hair salon. :) 

To say this girl has some personality would be an understatement!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZawk9MkW9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InC35BGLvoE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczK1SHq--s

G-Diddy turns 70!

When G-Diddy is turning 70 and our house is the halfway point, we get a very special surprise visitor for dinner!

Uncle Tommy is here!

We all gathered at Lake Bluff for the weekend to celebrate G-Diddy's 70th birthday.

A special birthday milestone

The party royalty looking great in their crowns!

Abby, Lauren, Ella, Matthew and Juliet (not pictured: Jack and Johnny)

Grammy planned the party and as always did a great job adding cute little touches to make the celebration even more special.

My favorite shot of the night: a father and his sons

At each table there were sheets of paper for us to share how Tom has impacted our lives. I sat next to Abby as she confidently took on this task by herself. I loved watching her process her answer and decide what she wanted to write.

She wrote two short sentences because she was limiting herself to words she knew how to write on her own:

1. He takes me for rides on his boat.

2. He comes to my birthday parties.

The details she shared with me as she decided what to write were especially sweet. It's a gift to be given small windows into what matters most to our kids. For Abby, it's quality time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HtuKDLcfZs

All about the baby cousin love

Juliet and Johnny

Happy Birthday G-Diddy! Here's to many more!

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing around the cottage or celebrating fall around the bluff. The girls made sure to soak up all of the baby time with little Johnny.

Uncle Tommy stayed committed to winning her affections over the weekend and eventually she warmed up. These two became best buds before the weekend was over!

The kids carved their pumpkins for the annual Lake Bluff Pumpkin Walk.

Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups seemed like the perfect party treat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrU3vHH9d4c

It wouldn't be a trip to the Bluff without these cuties preparing a little show for us to enjoy on our last day.

The audience.

The final bow! Looks like Juliet is ready to join next year's production.

We enjoyed the perfect sunset on our last night. Every one kept jumping up from the dinner table to run out on the porch and take pictures. It was gorgeous.

This guy. This sky. :)

Aunt Cyncy visits

Aunt Cyncy came to visit for a fall weekend at the end of September. The weather didn't cooperate for all of our plans, but we made adjustments and had a great time together.

Juliet enjoyed a little extra present opening from Aunt Cyncy a couple weeks after her birthday. When you are one, all the paper and wrapping is even more exciting than what's inside the box. Thanks Aunt Cyncy for the Itty Bitty dolls. Juliet's collection is growing and she loves playing with them.  

Saturday had a dicey forecast, but we decided to embrace the gray skies and head to the riverfront for lunch and a quick walk through the farmer's market.

I love my backseat buddy!

Sometimes cloudy days call for comfort food and remembering our roots. Nothing like Dinosaur Pulled Pork to remind us where it all began. It took us right back to the beginning and it was fun to give Aunt Cyncy her first experience.

We all enjoyed our time together. On her final night with us, Aunt Cyncy wanted to take us all out to dinner. As we waited for our dinner, Abby used my phone and took this video. A fun memory to mark a fun weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ajslviYJo

Juliet Grace: One Year Old

Dear Juliet, 

This has been the fastest year of my life. I seriously don't know how you are one year old already. As cliche as it sounds, it feels like we blinked and you went from being that sweet snuggly little newborn to our spunky sweet active little toddler. We love you so much! Having a third little girl has brought us blessing after blessing. God knew exactly what he was doing when he gave us you!

You are crawling around so quickly and pulling up on everything. That is...when your big sisters aren't coming to pick you up and care for your every need before you even need it. I'm convinced that's why you've shown very little interest in walking. Why do the hard work if they want to do it for you?  We love watching the three of you play together. The best is when we put you in your room to play for a minute and then turn around to find you crawling into your sisters' room, pulling out the nearest and most interesting box of toys and digging through all of it. You definitely have the art of little sister down!

Daddy's morning shakes are your favorite way to start the day. You can't contain your excitement when the blender is on and yell at your daddy until he hands your cup! A perfect way to learn that you are not allergic to peanut butter. You have transitioned to whole milk without any hesitation. You love drinking your milk from a cup. Though you were almost done nursing, when you turned a year, you were still nursing once right before bed. Some of your favorite foods include cream cheese toast, cheese sticks,  mac and cheese and quesadillas. Are you sensing a pattern? You want ALL the cheese.  You love all fruit, but not as many veggies. You don't love some of the vegetables that your sisters always loved at our age, like avocado, peas and broccoli. Tomatoes are a favorite! This month, you started to like scrambled eggs too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbl7GxgGjPI

You are signing "more" and "all done". Every day you seem to be getting better at letting us know exactly what you want. Some of your favorite things include Elmo and all things Sesame street (especially watching them sing on Mommy's phone), playing "chase" with Daddy, waving hi and bye bye, throwing toys for Oliver, brushing your teeth, wind on your face and reading books. Your favorite books right now are Your Baby's First Word Will be DADA by Jimmy Fallon, First 100 words by Roger Priddy and Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell.

You have eight teeth and a big smile! You're wearing 12-18 months (size 4 diaper; size 4 shoe), but I'm already starting the process of moving you into 18-24.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4PyFTFmZU

You are famous for giving us "the look". Ohhh I can't even tell you how excited I was when I caught this moment so perfectly on camera. You make the face when you are clearly "over it" (like this birthday photo session), but you also know that it cracks us up, so you do it when I am putting you to sleep. You pull away while I'm singing to you and give me "the look", then I start laughing at you and you start laughing so hard that your pacifier falls out. And you do it again...and again....and again! :)

This month, you rode your first pony and loved it. Between the boat ride at the Bluff, the pony ride at Community Day and the fan that sprayed water at the fair, it seems that you are going to be a girl who is always ready for adventure, lots of fun and a good giggle!

Juliet Grace, here's to the next year and all that God has in store. We adore you!

I love you always,

Mommy