Throwback Thursday

Probably one of my favorite pictures of Jackson. Time flies!

Fun with Boxes

Seriously, why to we buy toys? The kids had a blast playing with some carseat boxes in the garage while we were carving pumpkins. Here are two pictures Nana got of them playing. Jackson is inside one box in the bottom picture. Hilarious!

Reading Train

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins last week. This was the first time we have carved pumpkins with the kids. The twins could have cared less about the whole process. Jackson and Mia helped for awhile then Jackson got distracted. Mia I think really enjoyed it though. I love to carve pumpkins and had a good time. We roasted the seeds afterward with butter and sea salt--yum!

Jackson and Mia scooping out their pumpkins

All the kids checking it out

Grant (left) and Liam (right) posing

Nana and Grant


Matt and I finishing the job (like my old-school A-Phi gear?)

Mia proudly showing off her pumpkin

4 little pumpkins

Thought I would share this from our church bulletin regarding being a Christian and being like a pumpkin....

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside, and scoops out all the yucky stuff--including the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you for all the world to see!

Happy Halloween!

A shower for Karla

My Mom, Grandma, a good friend of Karla's, and I were able to host a baby shower for Karla's first baby whom is due to be born around Thanksgiving. The theme was "Karla and Justin's 'Lil Pumpkin" and we decorated with a Halloween style. Karla's friend Brandi did a great job with the decorations and I think it all looked really cute. We had soup and breads for the meal and it was a perfect crisp, fall day for it all. Karla looks great and we are all really excited to see her new baby, especially since we don't know if it is a boy or a girl. I requested that she have the baby before Thanksgiving so that we can all love on him or her when we celebrate the holiday. We'll see when baby Rausch decides to arrive. We can't wait!

Brandi's super cute diaper cake and pumpkin decorations

The mommy-to-be and the shower helpers

Karla and Aunt Pam
Mia and Uncle Jack

Mia came with us to celebrate. She was excited to come to a girl party, but boy was Jackson bummed when we left him in Indy that morning. He told me that we had to have another party sometime with boys so that he could come, but he wanted Nana, Mia, and I to be there as well. Poor guy. Mia was super shy and reserved the whole party, but as soon as all the "strangers" left she was running around and being her typical self. It was a fun day!

Salt Dough Craft

A couple of weeks ago we made salt dough from a recipe from one of my favorite websites, www.familyfun.com . I had originally made it to make ghosts in preparation for Halloween, but the kids got out all of their playdoh cutters and made various other designs. We got the paint out for them as well and they were able to paint their creations. This was a quick and easy craft and I think the kids really enjoyed it!

Salt Dough

1 cup flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Combine the flour, salt, and water in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Shape into desired shapes or roll out and cut into shapes. Microwave the dough on a plate in 20-30 second intervals until the dough is fairly firm (may take around 2 minutes total depending on the size of the shape). Allow to cool before painting or decorating as desired.

Grant and Liam concentrating on their designs

Mia proud of her dolphin

Jackson painting his creations

Our shapes prior to decorating (I made two snowmen for Christmas as well)

Our 4 little ghosts!

Mia's Handwriting

Mia has now learned how to write her name. She is so proud of herself! I love that she makes a big circle for the dot of the "i." Her Sunday school teachers are teenagers so I think she may have seen them writing her name this way. I'm so happy she is taking an interest in her name and in her letters. Jackson was so quick to pick up all his letters and numbers and we always tried to teach Mia, but she was definitely not interested. Maybe she just didn't want to learn from us! Thought I would share her first writings with you all!

Festive Shirts

I tried to get some pictures of all the kids in their festive halloween shirts when it was black and orange day at preschool. Here are the results...

Grant (paci) was not in the mood for a photo op

I love this one! You can really see how the twins (here it is Liam) and Jackson look alike.

Best Buddies!

Throwback Thursday

Jackson age 13 months
Jackson age one month

Jackson age 2, Amelia age 8 months

The kids were checking out the halloween costume tote yesterday so I thought I would do a throwback to some old halloween pictures. Enjoy!

Appleworks

We took the kids to Appleworks orchard last Friday night. It was a perfect fall evening and we had a good time. They had a giant slide, toy tractor, hay bales for climbing, and a small petting zoo. We enjoyed some apple cider slushes and the kids had some penny candy. Of course we also got some pumpkins to carve and a few apples to eat. I so love this time of year!

Happy Friday!

The Beast

We have been looking for used bigger vehicles so that we can have two that hold all of the kids. Matt's Aunt Diane just so happened to be selling her Suburban so we couldn't pass it up. We have to get a third row seat (she had taken it out since she was using it for her business), and a few other things for it, but I think it will work out great. Matt is particularly excited since it classifies as a "truck" in his opinion. We also just got new carseats for the kids that are small enough to put 3 in a row so that when the new baby comes, we will still have plenty of room in the van. Right now it is pretty spacious in the Honda and I really like the new seats. The kids like them too and fight over them all the time. Jackson still doesn't weigh enough for a booster seat and I have some paranoia about using 5 point harnesses still (I mean has anyone riden with me before?), so I am glad we can still fit into the van for now.