Catching up….Halle's Birthday

I figured I should catch up on our fall activities before I get really behind for December!

On October 12, we celebrated Halle's 7th birthday!

She was so excited and had looked forward to her day for months…

We stayed at the Marriott on the Magnificent Mile for a girls' night.

(Paul and Matt were on the ward youth trip)

Halle opened her presents on the bed after we had room-service breakfast!

We walked around downtown Chicago and Uncle Troy joined us at Chick Fil A for lunch.

Finally, it was off to the American Girl Store for dinner and shopping!

Halle has been eyeing Saige for 10 months now!

She loved having the waiters sing to her!

It was a super girly, super fun weekend!

And Halle got one more cake so Dad and Matt could help celebrate too!

Halle is such a fun, spunky, creative, silly, energetic girl-

What a fun way to celebrate her 7 years!

Country Bumpkin

I went with Halle on her first school field trip--

it is a cute little nursery with pumpkins and some mini activities for kids.

I got a great group of kids who were well-behaved and we all had a lot of fun...

The hay bale maze

 Panning for gold...

The barrel ride-

which Halle loved...

 a petting area with goats and a cow

 She's growing up fast!  Her first field trip!

 All the kids with their pumpkins

It was so much fun to hang out with Halle and her new school friends for the morning!

Halle's American Girl Baking Party

Halle's big present was her American Girl of the Year doll--McKenna...

It was the big item on her list, so she wanted to have an American Girl birthday party AND a baking party!

The girls were so cute as we dipped pretzels, made fruit tarts, assembled hershey kiss pies and decorated cupcakes.

Then Afton helped the girls play some games while I cleaned up and laid out the bake-shop treats and birthday cupcakes

The girls all had fun and Halle loved celebrating her birthday with her friends!

Halle is 6 Today!

We love our cute, fun, spunky little red-head!

Here are 6 great things about Halle on her 6th birthday!

1.  She makes us laugh!

2.  She is very popular--I had parents coming up to me at curriculum night telling me that their child talks about Halle all the time at home.  Halle has tons of play dates and birthday party invites!

3.  She is an awesome sleeper--more than any of the other kids, this girl loves her shut-eye!

4.  Halle loves her dad--they share a special bond because of that red hair!

5.  Halle cartwheels everywhere--she'd rather flip than walk!

6.  She has a big heart--Halle is a great friend and always wants to include others.

We love you Halle-girl!  Happy Birthday!

Halle's first day of Kindergarten

Halle was so excited for Kindergarten!

Finally, she gets to ride the bus to school and go every day

 Afton did Halle's hair for the first day

Halle had a lot of questions for Afton about how things work at elementary school 

 And Afton gave her instructions for the bus

 Nora gave the girls a last big hug

And off they go...

Halle had a great first few days of Kindergarten.

She's loves her teacher, her classroom, the bus--pretty much everything about school is great right now!

Mothers' Day Gift

I saw this idea on Pinterest, 

and with my new photography class learning,

thought it would make a sentimental gift for our mothers...

I was really excited at how well the pictures turned out!

I even made the same gift for me of my beautiful girls in my wedding dress!

Photography Class

I'm taking a photography class from the local community college.

I think it's making a huge difference in the pictures I take of my kids

and I'm excited to keep learning more.

Here's a little sampling...

Happy Birthday Halle!

Halle turns 5 Today!

She has been so excited for her birthday--can you tell?

She came downstairs in her nightgown and had found this "happy birthday" tiara left over from some birthday luncheon that was held at my house.

I love that she proudly put it on and paraded to the breakfast table.

Halle took the "birthday princess" title very seriously!

So, here are 5 wonderful things about our new 5 year old in an acrostic!  

Look at my ol' English teacher skills coming back into use!

H is for Hilarious (just hang with her for 5 minutes, you'll see!)

A is for Adorable--look at that cute smile and sparkling eyes

L is for Laughing(she keeps us doing it)

L is for Loving--she gives wonderful hugs

E is for Excitement.  Everyday.  Each day is an adventure for Halle!

We love you sweet and spunky girl!

Meeting the Newest Arrivals

We spent most of our July in Utah.

It was so much fun and we were very busy, 

so it'll take me a few days to catch up!

We had two new nieces and a nephew
born in the last two months,

which means we had some snuggling to do!

Lucas-Chad & Jordan's little guy

and Ella-Spencer & Britt's darling girl.

And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

The girls loved holding the new babies!

 Lucas enjoys getting to know the girls...

And Nora couldn't get enough of "Baby Ook"

 Nora also loved holding baby Ava,
Sarah & Andrew's sweet girl who arrived in June

And we were lucky enough to be there when baby Ella made her appearance.

We went by the house a week later so the kids could love on their new cousin.

You may notice someone missing from these pictures...

Matt isn't so much into the babies--he'd rather hang out with the uncles!