October Updates

School is in full swing. And we're done with birthday parties for the year. Spencer's soccer season is over. But the fall colors are in peak season right now. I love how beautiful this time of year is! I spent most of September mourning the summer being over but now I'm loving the Fall! The only thing is, we haven't been to a cider mill yet! Today would've been a perfect day except for a half million we're trying to get done around here. Joshua and Spencer went on an overnight campout with the scouts last night. They got back at 10:00am. Right now, Joshua is mowing the lawn (hopefully the last time before the grass is dormant for the year)and also needs to fix a few tiles on the roof, the kids are doing their Saturday chores and at 1:30 they have a primary program practice/primary party at the church. Alex and Jessica both have parties to go to tonight (Alex's is a Halloween party and Jessica's is a B-day party) and Spencer is going to a friend's house after the primary party. I'm going on a girls-night-out with one of my girlfriends. So, maybe we'll go to the cider mill next Saturday. They usually close by November and it's always been a fun fall tradition for us in Michigan---Cider and doughnuts - YUM!

We're planning to take autumn pictures of the children tomorrow after church. Hopefully the weather cooperates. It's been raining and extremely windy all week. But tomorrow it's forecasted to be pretty nice with a high of 76 degrees and sunny. Josh and I expect that it'll probably be one of the last warm sunny days this year so we thought we'd have a final BBQ while eating and relaxing on our deck furniture before putting it all away for the season. Sigh.... Au revoir, warm weather! We won't be seeing you again for 6 or 7 months...

Last weekend, I had to unexpectedly go out of town for my Grandma Millett's funeral. My mom is an only child, so my three sisters, one brother and I are her only grandchildren. We all made our way to Utah for the funeral, thanks to my Grandpa who flew us out. My Grandma was always so good to us so it was appropriate that we were all there, although very sad. The funeral and viewing happened to be a first for me. I've always stayed away from funerals, and especially viewings. I've never had a close friend or family member die until now (except my Dad's father who died when I was 10, but I don't remember a lot about him), so funerals have always been easy for me to avoid. The worst thing I can think of is loosing a loved one. I don't like dwelling on it, which is why I've always avoided funerals. But I'm glad I got the opportunity to go and support my Grandpa and Mother in this difficult time.

Besides the passing of my Grandma Millett, the rest of October has been fun but very busy. It's been difficult to find time to update my blog and I may not get a chance to add any more posts again until November. But, really quick, I captured a cute picture this week of Alex trying to teach Logan to tie a shoe. Alex has been so proud that he finally learned to tie his shoe and has been practicing every moment he can, then he'll show his talent off to everyone who will pay attention. Besides Mom and Dad's clear enthusiasm of this accomplishment, Logan has been his only other genuine cheerleader. Probably because of Logan's interest, Alex decided to teach him to tie his shoe too. But, after a few minutes, he determined this process would take longer than he was willing to spend since it was obviously a bit more difficult than he expected. Logan was clearly not ready. But I thought it was cute that he tried....

Logan's Spiderman Birthday Party

Logan had a Spiderman Birthday Party a few weeks ago on October 6. He invited several of his good friends to celebrate with him. I think everyone had a really great time!

Logan's 4th Birthday

Logan turned 4 years old yesterday! Can you believe it? My baby is 4 years old and only 1 year away from kindergarten! He had a really great day. In the morning, I took him to storytime at the library. Then we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch. Logan was telling everyone that it was his birthday---at the library, store and at Chuck-E-Cheese. He told one of the workers at Chuck-E-Cheese and they gave him a crown, balloon, 30 free tokens and Chuck E.Cheese himself came out with an ice-cream sandwich w/ candle and sang Happy Birthday to Logan. What a great suprise! It was a beautiful day yesterday so in the afternoon, Logan rode around the neighborhood in his little motorized F-150 truck. After Jessica and Alex got off the school bus, we went and got Spencer from soccer practice and met Joshua at McDonald's for dinner. Then we went home and had cake and ice cream and Logan opened his presents. Both sets of grandparents called in the evening to wish him Happy Birthday! I believe he had a really fun day!! See pictures below --

He also has a Spiderman birthday party on Saturday morning. He invited 6 friends to come over and is so excited to dress up in his Spiderman costume. Alex had a Spiderman party a few years ago and I'm glad I kept most of the decorations and activities from that party. Logan will have a very similar party. Look for pictures to come this weekend. I feel like we've had nonstop birthday parties for the last 2 weeks. I guess we'll be done with birthdays for awhile after this weekend.

Canton Fall Festival

Last Saturday was the Canton Fall Festival at one of our local parks. We look forward to going every year and have attended every year since moving to Michigan. I'm always on the lookout for fun, free activites and one reason we love Canton is because it has many enjoyable events for the family. We ran into the Larsen and Selthofer families and hung around with them for awhile. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful! Pictures of the activities we participated in below:

Overnight Scout Camping Trip

Last weekend was the 11-year-old scout camping trip. Spencer and Joshua both went. I sent the camera with Josh and told him to get some really great pictures. When they got home he told me he didn't take very many pictures. He's not as shutter-crazy as I am. These are the stimulating and thrilling images that Joshua captured on film!




Another campout in two weeks. Look for more exciting camping pictures to come....