Thanksgiving/Early Dec

 For Thanksgiving we visited friends in Charlottesville. We had a great time and got to see some sites and do some hiking. Thanks for a great time!

 The boys at Monticello.

 Bryce and Hathaway on the hike.

 Tessa thinking that it was too cold.

 Oakley and his friend taking a quick break--most of the time they were way ahead of everyone.

 Making it to the top of the mountain.

 Even Tessa liked it at the top once  she had warmed up.

 The family in an old fashioned sleigh at the farm Christmas celebration.

Afterward we went to find the perfect tree for our house.

Baptisms and Birthdays

 This weekend we went to DC to celebrate Cade's baptism and Fall and 40th birthdays. Lots of celebrating for one day. We all had a lot of fun.

 Amy Beth and I did the cakes. I made them and she was the creative, artistic genious. Here she is working.

 This is the fall brithday cake (white cake, chocolate cream cheese mousse inside with ganache outside).

 We (the siblings) got Martha a green house for birthday, so Amy Beth came up with the decorations for this cake for her to go along with it (it is Martha garden). Amy Beth made all of the vegetable decorations herself (this was the dairy-free cake, chocolate with marshmallow frosting).

Martha and Amy Beth with the cakes.

 The kids helping sing and blow out candles even though the kids pictured did not have birthdays.

 The girls helping Amy Beth.

The boys playing downstairs.

Soccer

 Here are my few pathetic soccer pictures. We had a lot of cancelled games and the only day I remembered to bring the camera was this make-up night game. Oakley and Tessa both had a lot of fun though and improved. I figure there will be many more years of soccer and opportunities for better pictures.

Halloween

 Sorry, my pictures ended up backwards, so we will go through our Halloween backward. Above is the end of Halloween trick-or-treating with all the loot. We got way too much candy and will be contributing most of it to Bryce's candy bowl at church (that people have been commenting needs to be filled).

 There was a snow storm the Saturday before Halloween so our ward trunk-or-treat was officially cancelled but Bryce was there cleaning and told us that people were there anyway. The kids really wanted to go, so we did.

 Oakley was a vampire bunny, Bunnicula.

 Tessa was a leopard princess.

 Hathaway was Alice in Wonderland.

 Oakley had a Halloween party when he was in kindergarten so Tessa had one this year (and we let Oakley invite a friend too). Here they are looking cute.

 We carved pumpkins. Hathaway picked her out and it was very small. I thought she could just color on it but she insisted we cut it open and carve it--it turned out cute.

Fall

We are into fall and having lots of fun. Here are a few things we have been doing.

 Since Hathaway is home while the kids are in school, she gets to do fun things with me. Here we are at Longwood Gardens. We went when we had family in town.

 My mom sent me a box of clothes that I had when I was little. My grandma made me this dress. It is a little small but I had to have her wear it at least once.

 We have been doing some weekend trips. This weekend we did a girl/boy split. The girls and I went to the Poconos to stay at a cabin on a lake with some friends (who are exactky the girls ages), and the boys stayed home for soccer, working in the yard and lots of baseball and football on TV.

Firsts and Seconds

 Hathaway had her first day of 2 different preschools: one at Young Wonders and the other more of a playgroup with her friends from church (she cried when they had to leave). She has loved every minute of it. Today when I picked her up she said "Do you want me to tell you about my day?" And then she launched into all the excited details the best a 2 year old can.

Oakley went for his second--broken bone that is. I picked him up from school and he showed me a very swollen and bruised finger that he hurt playing frisbee at recess (and he had stayed the rest of the day without saying anything). After 2 days at various doctor's he ended up with this large splint (he broke his L hand pointer finger where it meets the hand). Sadly, he is out of soccer and piano for the next 3-4 weeks.

End of the summer and start of school

Our cousins came to visit, and we decided to hit the beach the day before the hurricane (look at those waves).

Tessa, as usual, thought is got a little cold.

Bryce and I got away for a weekend to Philly and had a great night at Max Brenners chocolate restaurant and then the next day walking around--these are the famous steps to the art museum.

Tessa graduating from Safety Town.

First day of school. Tessa was so excited--first day of kindergarten.

Hazel was sick but came out for the picture anyway.

Tessa and her good friend, Nina, before going in to school.

Oak

I think this picture perfectly defines Oakley this summer.

Family Pictures

We finally got some update family pictures---cute!