a birthday

Camryn turned NINE this past November.  Since she's our art lover we had a party at a "paint your own pottery" place. 

 Everyone had fun and it was an easy party to host.  Even little brother got to paint (at a separate table).

 Camryn chose a little penguin to paint....

Halloween

Last night I was reminded of how thankful I am for our neighborhood and our neighbors.  I love our neighborhood for trick or treating.  There are hardly any houses that don't have lights on and candy ready.  And some that aren't home, just leave the candy on the front porch. 
No one was more excited that Hudson

or Wolverine that is....

 Camryn opted out of dressing up this year.  Kinda reminds me of myself on Halloween as a kid.  People give you candy anyways....

Also, very excited was our little witch....

But we had a Grama witch too this year

Just as we were heading out, some of our good neighborhood friends came to our street to trick or treat.

So we headed right out with them.  Here are some of the little kids with the dads

The girls were super fast running from house to house.  We could barely keep up with them.  Here they are leaving a neighbors house as fast as they possibly could to get on to the next one.

Hudson had a blast trick or treating with "Batman".....aka Dustin.  He kept saying "come on Batman"

And lastly....here's the silouette or Gramma Kathy standing in our doorway as people walked up.  She had fun scaring a few kids.

What we've been up to....

 Hudson started preschool this year.  So far he loves it.  It's only 2 mornings a week, so the first week he was disappointed on the days he didn't get to go.  He's made a new friend and thinks his teachers are great.  This is what he picked out to wear the first day....minus the guitar.

He's also playing on a soccer team.  I don't have great pictures of that yet, but I'll take some more when the team finally gets their shirts.  We are the only team without shirts b/c they got lost or something. 

And here's Hudson eating a carrot from our tiny garden in the backyard. 

This past weekend we went to the Fall Retreat.....again.  Camryn invited a friend this year.  They had a blast and it was a great weekend for them. 

I think I spent about an hour in this canoe with different combinations of kids.....At some point I got a little worried about tipping over and being responsible for getting 3 kids back in....but we stayed dry luckily

Sadie chose to observe from the dock again this year....

And lastly.....I will never forget the "friendship club" that the girls spent hours making.  They had rules, games, sign up sheets, meetings, T-shirts, and even pop quizes for the members

I laughed so hard reading some of the rules and games they made up.  They got up early Sat. morning and ran down to the dining hall to see if any college students had signed up.  Since it rained some, they also spent a lot of time riding scooters inside

It was Camryn's best fall retreat ever!!!!

Colorado

 As Summer comes to a close and I face the fact that my blog has been neglected.....

 here are a few pictures from our Summer in Colorado.  Hiking in the mountains which we miss already....

Everyone looks so happy.....you can't even tell from the pictures that Sadie complained most of the way up.....but once we got to the lake she was very happy and decided it was worth the hike.

 Miles always finds some large rock to climb on.....and I think he does this just to scare me.

 Then there's the county fair....with it's unlimited rides....

 and pony rides....

A highlight of our summer was meeting our very cute new nephew.  The kids loved holding their new cousin.....

cru

http://www.ccci.org/cru

250 and counting.....

I just happened to notice that this is my 250th post on this blog.  Here's what we've been up to lately.....with about 250 pictures to show you....
In case you missed the big news that we got a minivan....even though I've probably said about 250 times that I will never drive a minivan....we decided it might be necessary if we wanted to drive 1800 miles to Colorado....and we did....painfully.  It wasn't painful b/c the kids were horrible.  They weren't.  I just don't like driving that long. 3 days on the road is too many for me.  But we did it and here we are....spending time with friends, enjoying the mountains and the dry weather.  Miles is taking a class and next week our Staff conference for Campus Crusade for Christ will begin where we will hear a big announcement revealing the new name of our organization.  How will I get used to not calling it Campus Crusade after being involved for more than 14 years?
The kids are having a great time here with friends.....so here's the pictures of them....

 hanging out in Boulder....

Hudson might have his 1st crush....

And then, hanging out at our favorite park on the Poudre River with a natural playground....

And last night spending time with some good friends from Alabama and getting to see our kids play together....

We haven't done any real hiking yet, but we will.....with more pictures to come....