Rain Boots

The fall photo season has started and that means getting personal photos cleaned

up and put to the side for awhile as I direct my attention to others.  

The other night as I was going through some of the summer pictures, I came across

a few that made me smile that had been lost in the clutter and never touched.

It was garage cleaning day.  Not by choice, but because the upright freezer in the

garage had been left cracked open and everything inside melted, leaked, rotted....

and was now in a puddle on the garage floor.  Ick.

So... commence garage cleaning.

The girls had been given some fancy new rain boots by Grandma Barb and Papa

Rich, so since Daddy had his on... they needed to use theirs as well.

90 degrees and rain boots.

OK. Whatever!  :)

Our Beautiful 5 Year Old Girl

Yesterday was a very big day to a certain little girl in our house!

She has been counting down the days until her 5th Birthday, until she

was a Big girl! 

Morning birthday snuggles from baby sister

She woke up yesterday (6am as usual), and watched some of her 

favorite shows.  We had Blueberry pancakes for breakfast at her request

and she did one of her favorite activities (colored with sidewalk chalk)

while Ryan and I got the house and food set up for her little party!

She was coloring up by the door because it was drizzling out.

Little noon rest time, snuggled up in her favorite green blankee!

She loved all her presents... these were her new Neon Lime, Blinged out, very Rockstar-ish Twinkle Toes!

Lila and her ROCKSTAR cake!

Ryan's parents, my Mom and Alan, and my sister came down.  Those

5 in addition to our little family comprised Lila's party people! :)

And to be honest... it was perfect and lovely! She actually stopped 

during dinner (her mouth full of meatball sandwich...again her request), 

and said "Hey Mom, this is an Awesome birthday party!"

She was given some very generous gifts and lots and lots of love! 

It was a good day.

I was not attempting a "Senior photo" shoot here...She INSISTED we take some pictures on the tracks. Haha!

I AM a Rockstar!

Lila, 

  You are a very dynamic little girl! You are caring, compassionate, 

imaginative, and so intelligent.  Yes, you still are extremely dramatic

and tend to exaggerate things, but it's all part of what makes you so special!

Daddy, Elle, and I love you so much and are so blessed to have you 

in our lives! Happy Birthday gorgeous girl! 

Severs Corn Maze

Last Sunday, Ryan and I passed up a quiet day alone for the chaos of Severs Corn Maze with our family! 
His parents had watched our girls over the weekend, so we could spend some
always appreciated alone time together to celebrate our anniversary. 
When we found out Sunday morning

that they were going to the Maze and meeting Ryan's sister, Kim and her family,
we decided it would be a good day to spend outside!!

It was a lot of fun, and both Lila and Elaina had a BLAST! 
I was very much ready to go, when the time came, and we ended up with two very cranky
 and tired girls for the rest of the day, but... that's what happens sometimes!

If you have never been there, you should definitely check it out. 
It's a large area over by Canterbury Downs, and there is lots of things to do and see. 
A large pillow/trampoline thing to jump on, petting zoo, not 1 but 2 corn pits,
apple and pumpkin launchers, pig races, pony rides, and of course... The Maze. 
Actually, there was enough, that we didn't even do it all... the runts were just too exhausted.

(Mom and Dad were too!!)  Check it out... http://www.severscornmaze.com/

I took a zillion pictures, so heres a random (large) handful!

Hello Glasoe's!

Lila got pretty good at the rope swing in the corn pit

Elle needs a little practice

She is pretty darn good at the monkey bars though, especially for a 3 year old!

Goofy little monkey

Ridiculously overpriced Camel rides...

"look Mom, NO HANDS"

Overpriced for sure, but the girls were ecstatic!!!!

The camel looks a little less ecstatic

Attempting to watch some pig racing!

Me and the best Mother In Law in the world!!!

Enjoying her corn dog!

Feeding the Kangaroos

Pooped out in the corn maze

4 hours was quite enough ;)

7 Years

Today, Ryan and I celebrate 7 years of marriage!

7 years of learning and discovering, 7 years of challenges and blessings!

I look forward to spending many more years in the company of my best friend.  More trials and triumphs are sure to come our way, and I can't imagine going through it with anyone but him!

Ryan, Happy Anniversary!  I love you! 

Yours.

Forever.

** I wanted to share a picture of the unique and lovely gift I was given.  Ryan made this himself, woven with silver wire.  It's unique, like us, and nothing could have been more appropriate! **

Birthday and Anniversary weekend!

This weekend, Ryan and I rolled his birthday, my birthday, and our anniversary all into one and celebrated!  Nothing fancy, nothing crazy... just a little time together to enjoy each other and reflect on how much in life we are blessed with!  It was a really great weekend!

On Friday, we both had the day off and spent a lot of it, just putzing around the house and relaxing. My mom and stepdad came for a short little visit and had lunch with us at Emma Krumbees. 

That evening, we took our girls to Ryan's parents, as they generously offered to watch them for the weekend.  Ryan and I spent our evening watching the first season of The Walking Dead, and drinking wine! (I know, we're crazy like that!)  

Saturday I had an amazing sunrise to wake up to, but the rest of the day was pretty darn drizzly. We may have decided to just watch another episode or two with our morning coffee, then FINALLY got our butts up and got going.  A little lunch together, a little shopping, and downtown we went to check into our hotel.  Our amazing friends gifted us a night out in the city, and we can't thank you enough! 

We love you guys!

Gorgeous sunrise!!

Quick quiet lunch at Panera

We decided on Crave for dinner, and we're very Very happy with our entire meal! YUMMY!

(We even got a free piece of cake for all of our celebrations!)

Yummy Crunchy roll! Mmmm mmmm!

The night overall was really amazing! 

Sunday, we took our sweet time and enjoyed the quiet of a morning without kids.  Our intent had been to spend the whole day, just the two of us, but we received a text that Ryan's parents took the girls to Sever's Corn Maze, and our plans changed!  The weather was gorgeous and we thought it would be a great opportunity to spend some time as a family, so we quickly packed up, showered, and hit the road!  It was a little warmer than I expected, but fun anyway!  (More on the day at the corn maze later!)

Last night it was apple crisp baking and some family movie time (Cars2).  As I wasn't with the girls on my actual birthday, we "celebrated" last night with some apple crisp and ice cream!  It was perfect!

Overall, the weekend was amazing!  It's back to work today, but another celebration tonight!