This year we decided to stick around our neighborhood and trick or treat…. even though our neighborhood is small we thought it would be a good idea to see what it’s like on Halloween… see how many trick or treaters are out and how many houses actually participate. Well, lets just say, it’s probably good Ethan is little and couldn’t be too disappointed at the lack of trick or treaters out and about. It was a beautiful night for a walk though and some houses did have their lights on. Our first clue should have been, when the first house told Ethan to take as much candy as he wanted! I think his bucket was 1/4 full after the first house! I don’t think we saw any other little kids out. Eh, oh well, it was still tons of fun watching Ethan go to the door and try to yell “Trick or Treat”. He especially loved it when he would get suckers!

It was a fun Halloween and Lucas did great too… he loves going for rides in the wagon.

Happy Halloween.

Our Pea Pod & Turtle

Categories: Ethan, Family, Holiday, Lucas
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So both my boys have these comfort/security toys they just LOVE! After Ethan had to say goodbye to his “buddy” (pacifier), he adopted a new friend… Mr. Blue. He loves this little guy… especially when Mom makes him talk. My Mom used to get all sorts of stuff out of my brother and me by just making our stuffed animals talk. We’d tell “Teddy” tons of stuff before we’d tell Mom! So I guess I’m gonna try the same tactic… just starting young that’s all.

And Lucas loves his blanket (I guess most kids do). I just think it’s so cute. He loves to rub his face on it, play peek-a-boo with it, and especially chew on it.

And this picture is just Lucas sleeping in his new toy… a boucey seat… I guess he wore himself out by jumping so much!

Categories: Ethan, Lucas
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Fall is such a fun time of year, with all sorts of fun family activities to participate in! Trick or Treating has already started around here. This past Thursday was downtown trick or treating to the businesses in Bowling Green. We went with our LIFE Group and had lots of fun watching our little ones get so excited for candy. And they all looked so great in their costumes.

Saturday, we were invited to a birthday / Halloween party which was absolutely insane! It was like walking into a Martha Stewart party! Everything down to the spider ice cubes and homemade eye ball buckeyes were decked out with Halloween decor. It was complete with a Mad Scientist show put on by the father of the birthday girls. Ethan had a great time and I’m sure it will be an annual event.

Sunday was a beautiful day filled with outside chores (raking leaves, mowing and filling our shed for the winter), making applesauce and sharing great conversation with great friends over dinner. And what a better end to great weekend than having warm, fresh out of the oven cookies DELIVERED to our door! YUM!!!!

Here are some pictures of downtown trick or treating. We’ll be going again on Halloween so I’m sure I’ll have more pics to share then.

Categories: Ethan, Friends, Holiday, Lucas
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Because I’m in a sharing mood :), I thought I’d share some great, EASY recipes I’ve been using lately. Enjoy!

Crockpot Chicken Soft Tacos
2-3 chicken breasts (I put them in frozen)
1/2-2/3 jar of salsa
1 4oz. can of green chiles
1-2 minced garlic cloves

Put all ingredients in crockpot and let cook 3-4 hours (high) or 8 hours (low). When cooked, pull chicken apart and serve with flour tortillas, cheese, & sour cream.

Easy Beef Stew
2-3 lbs. stew meat
1-2 packages of frozen veggies
3 cans of soup: cream of celery, cream of mushroom cream of onion or tomato soup
1 can diced tomatos
Optional: potatoes peeled and cut in bite size chuncks

In a roasting pan, put beef. Cover with veggies. Mix soups together and pour over all. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 304 hours. Meat will be very tender.

Categories: Recipes
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We spent this past weekend in MI with Kevin’s family. We had 3 birthday’s to celebrate and it had been a while since we had all been together. It was a great weekend with great weather! Kevin’s sister and family came in too, which made 13 people spending the weekend all in one house. Lots of bonding time.

On Friday night we got to spend some time with some friends, Kris & Heather (Kevin’s friend from church and his fiance).  They had us over for fondue.  How fun!  It was great to be able to get some time away without kids and have “adult” conversations.
We went to the Cider Mill / Orchard / Pumpkin Patch on Saturday which was fun. The kids had fun picking pumpkins (so did the adults) and when we got home we carved them. Watched some football in the afternoon and celebrated birthdays that night.

Ethan loves to play with his cousins and always goes through a couple days withdrawal when we get home.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we look forward to being together again at Christmas.

Grandma & Grandpa with the grandkids:

Jaylen

Uncle Joel & Lucas

Grandma & Lucas

My attempt to be artistic

Our Wagon O Pumpkins

Jesse

Jordan

Jenny & Jonah

Ethan didn’t want anything to do with cleaning the “guts” out of the pumpkin

Daddy helping Ethan carve

Lucas

Grammie & Lucas

Categories: Family
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I LOVE the fall! This past weekend we took a trip to MacQueen’s apple orchard to pick some apples. What a perfect fall day. The air was crisp and the sun was shining…. absolutely beautiful! Ethan had a great time picking and eating apples all morning. And Lucas just enjoyed the ride. Kevin was on the hunt for some good apples as I was on the hunt for some good picture taking spots. We had such a fun time as a family… a definite annual tradition.

Our hike to the apple trees

He was very busy eating his apple!

Categories: Family
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Kevin’s big day was Oct. 6th…. probably the hottest birthday he’s ever had. It was at least 90 degrees around here! HOT!

We had a nice, but very full day! Starting at 8:00 with serving coffee at a community youth soccer game. After a nice morning outside, we came home and spent the afternoon relaxing and making homemade applesauce (Kevin’s favorite!). To Kevin’s knowledge, we were just planning to go out to eat with our little family to celebrate but I had other plans. How fun to plan surprises! I invited Kevin’s parent’s and brother down to meet us at the restaurant (which I knew he would not expect). Even though they were a little late, he was still very surprised and happy to be able to spend his birthday with his family. We had a nice dinner, although I was a bit stressed out, as the night of surprises was not over yet. I had our LIFE group waiting back at the house to surprise him again with cake and ice cream. As we walked in to a quiet, dark house, it was soon filled with life as everyone jumped out and yelled the token “SURPRISE”. I think Ethan was just as surprised as Kevin. We all enjoyed some yummy cake made by his mom and hung out for a while. It was a fun evening and thanks to everyone for coming over and enduring our HOT house! We love you guys and feel blessed to have you as friends!

Happy Birthday Kevin… we love you!

Yay… a remote car starter!

Categories: Family
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