Asher's Fieldtrip

Left to right: Kale, Jared, Nate (in back), Asher, Kaeden, Colin, Isaac, Christopher and Dannette.

I grabbed this nice shot of Asher's 3rd/4th grade class out at Fernwood yesterday. The nice thing about being a stay at home mom, is my ability to go on most field trips with the kiddos. This one was fun because the kids learned about Indians and got to go on a hike in the woods.

Rhylah's 7th Birthday

Well, my baby girl turned 7 today. SEVEN!! She woke up by climbing into bed with us. Nate and I have a tradition of decorating our kids' bedrooms in streamers while they sleep, so that they wake up on their birthday to a festive sight! I think she saw this at 5 a.m. and couldn't contain the excitement, because she doesn't normally climb in bed with us anymore. After awhile, we all got up, saw the lunar eclipse and made waffles (per Rhylah's request). She opened a few presents in the morning ... a new peacock plate and mug set. Super soft fuzzy slippers, and a small lego set from Ash and Gabe. Then it was off to school, with 22 chocolate cupcakes with pink icing to share with friends. After school, we had a big family dinner in the evening. Aunt Kathy came over too. We had torellini with pesto, garlic bread with cheese and a salad for dinner. (also, Rhylah's request). For presents, she got LOTS of legos: two sets from Grandma and Papa Staude. And a beach house Lego set from us... A big Olaf the snowman (from FROZEN) stuffie, a FROZEN puzzle, a FROZEN poster ... a cool Spoons game from Grandma Carol (thanks, grandma!!) a headband making kit, a surfer Barbie with her kid sister, and a two story (two room) Barbie beach house that she can use with all her Barbie dolls. (She's just starting to enter this phase). We had a great evening and topped it off with homemade cherry cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. This cake took me ALL DAY to make...I had never piped icing thru a bag, or whisked egg whites in a double boiler before, but oh.my.stars. It was SO worth it. The cake ended up being Tiffany Blue, (or Bianchi celeste, if you ask Nathan...) with a bright pink middle. So pretty! All in all, it was a beautiful day, and as Rhylah fell into bed late that evening, she pronounced it the "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"

waffles on her new peacock plate and apple juice in her new mug!

breakfast with her brothers

the cake

Headband making kit

"I like warm hugs!"

SO happy to be opening presents!

Frozen poster!

LEGOS!!!!

BARBIES!!!

SOOO excited to get a Barbie house

Blowing out candles! We got cool candles this year...when you lit them, the flame turned blue or orange or pink...the same color as the candle itself!!

Putting it together...

...maybe.... ;)

goofy Gabriel

Eclipse

"Blood Moon" lunar eclipse on the morning of Rhylah's 7th birthday. We were up at 6 a.m. (Rhy had crawled into bed with us at 5 a.m.) and happened to notice it outside. Just gorgeous! (and a little eerie!)

Hike

We went for a hike last Sunday (Oct. 5) at Love Creek in Berrien Springs. The leaves haven't changed QUITE as much as we were hoping, but we still had a good time getting some fresh air and moving around. A few years ago, we were hiking here when the salmon were spawning and swimming up the creek—Nate caught a HUGE one in his bare hands. We didn't see any fish this year, but it was still gorgeous. I love how if we are feeling anxious or argumentative or stressed out as a family, we get hiking (or biking) and something about "falling in" to that single file line, and working as a team, even if it's just WALKING, makes everyone settle down and relax. It's a beautiful thing!

Broken wrist

Well, we had an exciting week last week. Rhylah decided to fit one more adventure into her 6th year. She got accidentally crunched against a wall in gym class. Her glasses broke, her face got got so badly they thought she'd need stitches and her arms/wrist broke in two places. So my girl is now in a cast for four weeks. I kept her home the next day. We watched "Once Upon a Time" on NBC (Anna and Elsa from FROZEN were the guest stars!) and ate chocolate banana shakes to help the healing process. ;) She's actually doing REALLY well, and has hardly complained about the cast in the week or so that she's had it. What a trooper!

Paris-bound

Rhylah walked through the room the other day dressed up like this. I asked her "Well, where are you going?" "To the Paris Library....toodles!" And out the door she went! Of course, I chased her with the camera. :)

Guest in our Tree

So the other day, we heard a knocking sound outside and found this guy in our front tree. The photos don't do it justice, because I'm not kidding when I say that this woodpecker was ENORMOUS. He was easily a foot long. He was big enough to make the kids shriek in surprise. It makes me wonder what kind of bugs we have in that tree!!

Birthday Approaching

I got this note from Rhylah the other day...apparently she knew we had gone birthday shopping for her in South Bend... ;)

Gabriel: Football 2014

Gabriel is going to Upton this year, so he had the chance to play for the football team. Mostly he plays wide receiver on offense and a defensive end. He's have a BLAST!

Asher: Rocket Football 2014