Eliza turns 4!

Here's the family's newest 4-year-old! This birthday morning was full of precious moments. Every gift was so special to her. I love this moment here--she was so excited about this tiny little Ariel doll.
Since her friend party was coming up on Saturday (and I don't love eating or making multiple cakes) I followed my SIL's tradition of having ice cream sundae's on the birthday. And saving the cake for the party. The kids loved it. All I really needed for Eliza though, is ice cream and sprinkles.

She is a precious one! I think turning 4 has turbo charged her personality--the past couple days have been vivacious!!

Crabby

Daniel stuck these sticks in the hermit crab tank. They LOVE to climb and hang out at the top. When I saw all three on one stick I thought it was worthy of a picture.

Daniel...a year older!

It's true. He's gained a year. For his birthday, we surprised Daniel and took him out to a movie! We each made a giant "ticket" to go see "Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs." I wasn't sure how long we could keep the secret! Eliza had already told him earlier in the week (in all effort to keep the secret) "I'm not going to tell you what movie we're going to see!" Luckily he had a hunch we were buying him a movie/musical and maybe that threw him off. Anyway, it was a really fun outing for all of us!! As for a "Cloudy" review: We liked it a lot! Lots of laughs and witty lines. The only time anyone got really scared was when the girl (who is severely allergic to peanuts) nicks herself on peanut brittle. We almost lost Abby. I think the older the viewer, the more it was enjoyed. Eliza (who never showed any sign of dissatisfaction) claimed afterward that she did not like it. Who knew!

Happy Birthday Daniel...since keeping track is getting hard, we'll keep reminding you how old you are from here on out. xoxo

Assembling a new office chair!
I made him a lemon/pineapple cake that his Grandma Stewart used to make. As it says in her recipe book..."luscious!"
Gettin' in party mode.
Opening our package of "tickets"
Oh, yes. We put up a bunch of fun birthday signs for Daniel. Andrew made one about "Jungle Dad." As he was coloring he checked with me, "Mom, Dad has gray hair on the sides, right?" Yes, yes, it's true.

trick or treat!

Here they are: hula girl, Popeye, and the wee ballerina!

We gave a grass-cut to an old adult-size skirt, and created a flower barrette from an over sized bracelet (that now fits just right)...
For Popeye I added gold anchor buttons and the big red collar to a blue polo. He's using a "bubble pipe" we bought 8 years ago when Daniel was Professor Plum. Tattoos: crayola marker.

Don't forget the spinach can for the candy! (Yes, we covered a plastic jack-o-lantern bucket.)

All we did here was glue some rhinestone's to Eliza's shirt and we had the rest! I just love this pose.

All together nowThere was something fun about the trick-or-treating this year. We didn't have to carry any toddlers, worry about long princess dresses getting tripped on, or any of that. The kids were pretty independent! They actually went up to the doors together and we stood back and watched! But the really cute part was how Eliza led the show. She was geared up and ready to go! I had to hustle Andrew and Abby along to catch up with her. All things considered, yes, we felt older. For a little parental independence, I'll take it.

Autumn Outing

A few weeks ago we took a trip out with our friends, the Greens. First stop: Holy Hill. We saw this church:

Hiked this tower:Saw this view:

And tried not to look down that windy steep staircase (too much):

Next stop: Jim's pumpkin farm

Where DeAnn took that new picture at the top of the blog.

Where we lost two children:

And chose the pumpkins that became these Jack-O-Lanterns:

r.e.s.p.e.c.t

I gained a new level of respect from my kids tonight as I beat the reigning champion of Lake Michigan Ward hula-hooping. Abby, amazed, admitted to me twice (after the fact) that she didn't think I would win. Andrew was proud and thought it was so cool that I was the winner. All thanks to Emily, who "goofed up" on purpose. See, she knew that we could keep the hoops going forever, but without any tricks up our sleeves we just might bore our audience to pieces. I owe my newfound respect to her. Thanks.