autumn came and went

We did a lot of raking this fall... and we got to haul all of our leaves to the biggest leaf pile in Pine Island... our yard waste dump. 

 We started out November with high hopes of continuing our thankful tree throughout the month... but it only lasted about a week. We are so thankful for so many things... they just didn't make it to the leaf...

 my kids are so kissable.

 In addition to raking our leaves, we raked my parents' as well. It is such a beautiful time of year... I don't quite know why my parents leave to Florida.

 Zola didn't like being in the pile of leaves. She quickly made her way out after I dropped her in for a quick picture.

 Our first rosey cheeks... One really cold day our car wouldn't start and we had to get Dennis to school. So we rode our bikes. Well, come to find out, things just don't work the same in the cold. My gloveless hands couldn't bend their fingers, my thighs were burning and my lungs couldn't seem to catch a breath, and the bike wheel came off... I'm not quite sure how that happened. Note to self: its REALLY cold when you bike in the cold.

 Here we are picking up dad from work.

 Dennis is such a great big brother. He likes to help out with everything. Including things that I am not ready for. Instead of just getting Zola a drink, he showed her how she could get herself a drink.

Here is a picture of the group of kids in our preschool co-op. Just this week a boy added so that Dennis won't be the only one. L to R: Dennis, Lucy, Sarah, Callie, Judilyn, Amalia.

 She thinks she is so tricky. She cracks herself up...

... and me? I am working away on house projects. Here I was sanding down my spackling.

um... yeah... halloween..

It was mighty cold on Halloween but we had fun anyways. Zola was an angel and Dennis was spider man. 

 We started off with our wagon. But it was way too cold and we had way too far to walk so we turned around and drove the the popular neighborhood where every house gave out candy. Dennis was pooped after a short while and I carried him on my back as I ran from house to house. My competitive spirit kicked in because I knew that Dennis would be comparing candy stashes with Braden. And, it broke my heart just thinking about Dennis' disappointment. Well, we didn't last too long and I knew that Braden would win. They started before us and didn't come back until really late. Luckily, Dennis is more mature than I am at times. He didn't really mind not having as much candy. He shared with the whole family and was impressed with Braden's over flowing bucket but it didn't make him feel bad in the least.

 In action...

carving pumpkins

We had a fun time carving pumpkins this year. Dennis and Zola got in on the action. 

 "you want me to touch that?"... but soon got into the mess with us.

 Dennis drew an awesome Jack o lantern face.

 Dad helped him carve it out.

 Zola drew her own face...

 It had a lot of eyes...

 Dennis' pumpkin had a little round nose, just the right size of dad's power tools.

 We even tried the dremel.

 Those are some good looking pumpkins...

Nonnie & Papa's Visit

We sure had fun with Nonnie, Papa and Kristen. We took them to our little zoo in the middle of no where. Seriously, you drive up to it on a dirt road and pass farms and woods and such. 

Here is one of the wolves. It is really cool how they are right up close to you. He was studying us out... which one is tastiest?

 We LOVE Kristen.

 Zola and Dennis love to feed the goats.

 We also took them apple picking. It was a beautiful day for pictures!

 This boy loves to get his picture taken. We picked out quite a few pumpkins.

 Everyone LOVES Nonnie.

 Everyone had fun picking apples. The best ones were on the top of the tree. We all ate at least two apples. They were so juicy that when I bit into one it squirted into Zola's eye. Right before we were going to take family pictures. Great.

 We still got a couple of keepers... Christmas card?

 Dennis wanted his picture taken with Zola so bad and Zola was having nothing to do with it. Pretty cute... All you can do is keep snapping. :)

 And then we got a little crazy waiting for our tractor.

 Thank you Nonnie & Papa! You are the best! We miss you already.

 want a bite?

This girl loves the men in her life

Zola sure loves her daddy, grandpa, and papa. After we brought nonnie, papa and Kristen to the airport we went to my parents house for the night. We had a couple of hours to play with grandma and grandpa before they were off to a party. Soon after they left zola was quite distraught. She came up to me and said, "where's papa?" I explained that papa needed to go back to Utah and that we would see him again in a month. She walked away. Then she came back, "where's grandpa?" I explained that he had to go to a party but he would be back. She walked away. Then she came back again, "where's daddy?" I explained that he was at home and we would see him tomorrow. She walked away. Then she came back again and asked about all of them again. Can you blame her? They are all quite the guys.

She has started playing make believe a lot. Often I hear her singing the goodnight song to her Lego man named either grandpa, papa, or daddy. Today she was putting them to bed and then getting them a drink in the pictured orange cup. And putting them back to bed. You know, our usual prolonged goodnight routine.