Melts my heart...

A walk in the park...

On Sunday afternoon we spontaneously met up with David and Carrie and the boys at Cherokee Park. It is a HUGE, amazing park in Louisville. The guy who designed the park also did Central Park in NYC. The weather was gorgeous!

Walking around Big Rock

Looking for "fish"

Going for a little hike

Spontaneous trips like this on a beautiful fall afternoon makes me soooo thankful that my brother and his family now live in KY!!! (And will hopefully be official homeowners in KY soon too!)

Wonderful weekend, wonderful friends

Every year Brad and Jeremy try to do a camping trip. Last year they didn't get to do one. Sometimes there are more guys that can come, but this year it was just the two of them. Unfortunately the Callahans couldn't make it at last minute because their minivan broke down! And the Klines just sold their house in Indy and were moving out. While Brad and Jeremy went camping Tara came to our house with Brady and Cole. It was a GREAT weekend with them and we had beautiful weather for it!

Say it with me...I LOVE OCTOBER!!!!

On Friday night Tara and I just hung out, watched a little Glee and then headed to bed. The kids played well with each other all weekend even though their ages all differ. On Saturday morning we took the kids to the park, played outside our house in the leaves and went to the zoo that night. The zoo has a Halloween event during the month of October every year. It was insanely crowded and we felt like it was herding cattle most of the time, but the kids loved it! Needless to say, Tara and I had to have some wine that evening after that expedition! We came home to a pleasant surprise to find the guys home. Apparently since it is so dry they weren't able to make a fire at their campsite so that made things different and made cooking hard. When we got home they were grilling steaks and sitting by our fire pit. Tara and I left them alone some of the night so they could still enjoy their guy time out there. Ha!

It was nice to relax with everyone on Sunday morning before they headed back home. It was a wonderful weekend spent with one of my very dearest friends and her family. Love you, Tara!


Throwing leaves in the air and on each other...

Does Addison look 5 in this picture or what??? UGH!

That's Brady going in head first...

What a cheeser!

I was telling Addie to do a snow angel in the leaves. This is what she did instead. Kinda looks like a body surfer! Ha!

Check this out...Batman, Batman and Robin!

Me and Tinkerbell (going on her second piece of candy...obviously very content!). A friend in my Sunday School class let me borrow this cute costume. Score!

Addie LOVES Nemo! She wanted to take her picture in front of Nemo. I love her sweet face in this photo!

Addie with Jasmine! "Aladdin" is her favorite movie right now. She wants to watch it every morning before daycare so we let her watch about 30 minutes (it is on DVR). The other day it sounded like she was singing part of "A Whole New World" in the car! The girl playing Jasmine went to GSA (the program I work for) this summer for Drama! :)

Trying to get a photo of the three of them with Elmo...

David, Carrie and the boys met up with us that night. Here Addie is with her cousins. Dawson was a bug. Dylan is in the middle. :)

Playing a game with Brad...

Sweet Cole Boy! He had a really bad fall at our house right before we left for the zoo. His nose and mouth were bleeding bad, but he was smiling soon after. Tough boy!

Finishing up our time together playing with sidewalk chalk.

And just because you didn't know...I LOVE OCTOBER! :) Have a great week!

Addie's Big Debut!

On Wednesday's Addie has been participating with Melody Makers. It is the children's choir group at church for ages 3-5. Meg, the children's music director, said Addie could participate even though she isn't 3. Of course I was excited for her to participate since I grew up in our church and remember doing it when I was little. Addie absolutely LOVES it and asks me everyday if we are going to "see Miss Meg". She loves to sing and dance and loves the sucker she gets after the rehearsal.

I was at a conference for work from Thursday until this morning in Charleston, WV. Heather and I left first thing this morning and I made it back 10 minutes before the traditional service at 11:00 for Addie's big debut (Ha!) with the Melody Makers. (The name has always cracked me up since they don't have much of a melody at this age. Hee hee.)

I wish I had video of Addie waiting to sing. She kept waving really big and saying, "Daddy! Daddy!" Addie did a wonderful job and soon as it was over in the foyer she asked if she could do it again. She also asked Miss Meg for her sucker (which is only for rehearsal). Ha!

Addie right after singing. She was soooo proud! (Thanks for the outfit, Tara! I don't know if you remember giving this to Addie when she was baby or not. It is too cute!)

See the video below for their song. You can hear Addie at times throughout the video! Sorry for the shaky footage and loud chuckles. I absolutely LOST it at the end and you can see for yourself the reason why. I think this should be submitted to America's Funniest Home videos!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

THIS is why I love this season...

I absolutely love fall for many reasons, but especially for a trip to Huber's farm to pick pumpkins, pick apples and enjoy all of the family activities. We went last Sunday with David (my brother) and his family as well as Anthony (Jeremy's brother) and his family. Addie loved being there with her three boy cousins. It was a little chilly at times, but it was an awesome fall day!

Jenny took her really nice camera. I hope to get those pictures soon. We attempted more family and cousin pics with her camera. And I am actually in some of those photos...who would have thunk it?

Enjoy all of the pictures I took!

Addie kept saying "there's a punkin, there's a punkin, look, another punkin..." and so on...

Layton and Addie were literally running through the patch...

Very proud of her "little punkin"

Dylan was looking for the biggest pumpkin he could find even though he couldn't pick it up

Family photo opp...

I love all of the colors in the picture, especially the sky

Dylan was very proud about getting an apple from high up in the tree from being on top of "Uncle Jer's" shoulders

Eating their apples. They were soooo yummy!

Addie picked an apple the size of her head!

Running around in the apple patch now...

On the ride back...

Driving a huge tractor...

Dawson riding the tractor. He did NOT want to let go of his apple.

Petting the baby goat

We then proceeded to the restaurant for a family buffet including fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc. We waddled to the cars and then Addie got car sick on the way home to complete our night. I'd say we had a full day, wouldn't you? Ha!

Hide and seek

Hide and seek fun right before bath time the other night. Moments like these sure do make up for all of the tantrums, screaming, crying, "NO!", hitting moments. We have had lots of those these days. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy October! It is my favorite month! Now we just need it to RAIN so the leaves change color.

Girls' Trip to the Sunshine State

Last weekend I went on a girls' trip with four amazing friends from Butler. Although it was too short, it was a much needed break to just get away, relax and spend quality time with these fabulous women. We stayed in Ann Marie's mom's condo (thanks Marcella!) outside of Boca Raton, FL. We decided we should do one of these every year and try to make it longer. It is pretty cool that all five of us live in 5 different states and even if we don't see each other much we pick up right where left off. For more pictures of the five of us together go to Tara's blog here.

After dinner on Friday night...

Spending the day on the beach and by the pool

Walking on the beach...

Delta Gamma! :)

Tara, Hannah, Ann Marie and Erin---What a wonderful weekend! I love you all so much! See you in April (if not before)!