Family Reunion Campout

About a month ago we had our yearly family reunion camp out.  We went down for the day.  It was one of the most relaxing and fun ones we've been to in several years.  This is one of the bonuses of our kids getting older.  Our youngest is 4 and they require less and less constant supervision.  It was great!  The older 2 played with my cousin, Kelly's, kids who are about the same age for most of the day.  Katherine spent the majority of the day on the swings (one of her biggest loves in life right now).  Which allowed mom and dad to enjoy adult conversations and playing horse shoes.  Which, we discovered, we are both pretty darn good at.  A delicious meal was shared at dinner time (Johnny made all the amazing meats again & knocked it out of the park once more).  We wrapped up our fun, family day around the fire pit before heading back home for the night.

Pure swinging joy!

Horseshoe fun.

 Sweet picture as we were walking to the lake.

Throwing/skipping rocks on the lake.

Fire pit!

Family Day

Joel's work hosted a family day for the company a few weeks ago.  One of Joel's co-workers opened up his home for the festivities.  There were 2 bounce houses, nerf guns, crafts, good company and amazing pizza.  It was a really fun day and much appreciated by our family.  We are so grateful to be a part of a company that doesn't just say they value family, but also back that statement up with actual proof.  It's very refreshing!

Bounce house insanity ensued.  Even the adults got in on the fun. :)

 Craft time.

 Katherine is all about the swinging right now.  She was happy to find one here too.

 The wood-fire oven that was brought on site to make us amazing pizzas...amazing pizzas...yum!

Pumpkin Patch and Fire Pit

We headed out to the local pumpkin patch yesterday afternoon and then had a family fire pit that night.  We even busted out the smores around the fire.  Here are some pictures from our very fall-themed day. 

 

 

 

 

Fall Pumpkins

We recently painted our annual fall pumpkins.  The kids selected their own pumpkins this year.  They turned out nice and now adorn our coffee table.  They are a fun reminder of family and the approaching holiday season. 

 

Cheer Clinic

Emily recently got to participate in the high school cheer clinic.  Part of the clinic was getting to cheer with the cheerleaders at a football game during the first quarter.  She was very focused and really enjoyed it.  

Birthday Girl

Katherine just turned 4.  We had a small family party for her last weekend.  When we were talking about her birthday party theme she mentioned her favorite color was yellow.  We came up with a yellow sunflower birthday party theme.  She loved the idea and it was pretty easy to find stuff to decorate with since fall has just arrived.  She even asked for her nails to be painted yellow for the party.

 

Welcome to my party!!!

 Kat loves Hello Kitty.

 

We also worked on surprising Katherine with a new "big girl" room for her birthday complete with a new big girl bed.  I had lots of fun working on it.  I think it turned out pretty cute & she really loves it.  She even played "go to sleep" and "wake up" in her new bed the whole next week.  It was cute.

 

And here are a few photos from her real birthday.  She's thrilled to be 4 years old.

 She got her own little camera.

Kat's Church School

Katherine really, really wants to go to school like her big brother and sister do.  She has one more year before she actually starts preschool a few days a week.  However, she does get to go to "church school" once a week this year while mom is attending a woman's group through our church.  She LOVES it.  They do teach her things and she also gets to sing, play and do crafts.  AND she gets to take her own lunch (which is a very big deal to her).  So when we did back to school prep this summer and bought Jonathan a new backpack she also got to select her very own lunch box.  This picture is from the first day of church school this year.  She was beyond excited to go & her whole countenance lit up at the very mention of it.  She practically skipped into the building and almost ran to her class.  When I pick her up she is beaming and immediately begins to tell me all about her time there and show me her craft of the day.  I love that she has this time for her while I'm having some really good me time too.  It's great for both of us!