Loving our Cousins

So, it must be obvious by my lack of posts that school has been awfully busy lately.  This week is a crazy one as we have conferences, but thankfully, it's only a four-day week with our comp day being Friday.  I've determined to spend that day being a grading fiend!  Despite the hectic scheduling, I'm determined to get one last October post in and vow to post Halloween pictures by the end of the week!  Can you tell that I'm hoping putting my promises down in writing will help me keep them?  :)

These pictures are a bit old, but they're super cute none-the-less and are some of Olivia's and Grace's favorites to look at...not surprisingly, that's because they contain some of their favorite people - their cousins, Max, Mya, and Ivy!  Thanks Beth for all the great pictures - glad someone was able to capture the happy moments.

 Leaf jumping with Grandpa.

Grace and Max - These two pair up quite a bit when all the cousins are gathered.  Max is such a sweetheart to put up so patiently with all these girls!  I love this picture.

 From the left:  Grace, Max, Mya, and Olivia

From the left again:  Olivia, Mya, Max, and Grace

And the newest addition who started officially walking this very day - Ivy Anne.

A Few Fall Pictures

A couple of weekends ago, I took the girls out in the attempt of snapping a few fall photos...They were relatively cooperative (Liv more so than Grace - obviously there's more pictures of her), and I'm happy enough with the results.  My mom's coming to visit in a couple of weekends, and my goal is to get in a couple of pictures with Grandma and to also have her take a family picture.

And of course...a few pictures that are kind of cute but represent some of the more "non-cooperative" moments of our photo shoot!

Pinters Pumpkin Patch 2012

Two weekends ago, Brian and I headed out with the girls pretty early in the morning to the local pumpkin patch.  It's the second year the pumpkin patch has been open, and we're so glad it's a part of Decorah (It's also a nice nursery and eatery too!).  The day was amazingly beautiful - I was all worried about the girls getting cold, but that certainly wasn't an issue as it was 75 not too long into the morning.  We showed up shortly after it opened at 9am and stayed till 12:30; the girls didn't protest when it was time to leave because they were totally whipped, but if we hadn't brought it up, hey would have stayed much longer.  They even got to enjoy the fun later in the afternoon when Pat took them back out since it was Grandparent's Day.  Liv will also get to take her first field-trip there later this month - it's crazy to think she's big enough for a field-trip already!

It was so fun to watch them play and get all excited about every little activity - it was also pretty cool to see how much more adventurous they were this year than last (especially Livy).  Enjoy the pictures - there's plenty of them!

 

 

Fun on the slides - Liv had a blast and even went down on her belly; Grace only went down once with me and otherwise stuck to the little-kid version. 

 

Major fun with the "duck race" set-up. 

The biggest hit - the bouncy pillow!

 

Making music.

Rolling...

At the top of the tire maze/obstacle course.

Wagon ride to the pumpkin patch.