FABULOUS FALL...

Hey all, what a glorious fall we have had this year...I can hardly believe that the kids head off to school in shorts still! WOW! October has been packed with lots of activity...the routine of school, homework, music lessons along with Thanksgiving celebrations, a zoo trip, hiking, birthdays, engagements (!), orchard visits, apple pie baking, pumpkin patch visits, cross country meets, church activities...you know the typical "busyness" of a young family in the autumn month......SO, here's October in review! Thanks to everybody who joined us...you are all a blessing to us and thank God for you all!

The beauty of the orchard....

Cross Country

Birthday Party - Kelsey turns 12...yikes our pre-teen!!!

THANKSGIVING DAY!

THE COOK!

Aunt Mare and Uncle Doug welcomed us (ALL!) for Thanksgiving dinner...MMM mmm good! What a treat it was...much appreciated and enjoyed - especially by me ;).

THE ZOO!!

And finally the Sunday afternoon hikers...

What an awesome hike, the smell of dried fallen leaves, kids shrieking through the trails, laughing, warm breezes blowing and the list goes on. Thank you Lord for your abundance of blessings!!!!

Out of the mouth of babes...

Maggie and Trent are learning Psalm 23 and they were taking turns saying it (verses 1-3) the other day. Mags insisted on going first and was doing well until she was stuck at the line "He restores my soul." Anyways, I'm prompting her with "He re-e-....." and her face lights up and responds, "OH YEAH!! He recycles me." I didn't want to laugh at her, so I gently corrected her but was busting inside!!! I guess she is right though, God does in a sense recycle us...something to think about??

Oh Summer how I loved you!!

Summer is undoubtedly my favourite season (sand, sun, sleeping-in), and what a fabulous season it was this year!! We camped like crazy and I just wanted to share some of August with you...and yes the above feet are Miss Maggie's :)

I must say now that school is back in full swing, I can appreciate the changing of the seasons...the cool nights, the leaves changing color, the apples ripening (pie time!!) MMM!! But, Labour Day is always a "mixed emotions" day to me, the end of summer and vacation, the beginning of fall and school...however, I'm always thankful that God has kept us safe over the many miles we have travelled this summer and that everyone is healthy and alive...able to go back to their everyday life routines....much to be grateful for!!!

Potluck supper with the siblings

Connor and Baby Jaden

Civic Holiday weekend, Kev, Carole and family joined us for some R & R - I think maybe our love for camping is rubbing off on a Carole a tiny bit????

Lovely Lake Huron - Uncle Kev with the kids

2 of the 3 handsome men in my life

All the cute cousins....

Carole and little ones

Avalanche Ranch VBS - a great week!!!

A few of the cowboys...Yeehaw!!

The Lakewood Gang

A fun day at the beach

Waterpark fun...

Kelsey and I were productive on a rainy summer day...we made a bunch of Kool-Aid purses...cute huh? Sorry Jacqui that it took so long to post!!

At the old fishing hole - spent many hours there, Connor managed to catch the huge snapping turtle - accidently!

That's all folks!!

And that was July....!!!

Wow...that's all I can say, wow...where's the summer going? I can hardly believe it's almost time to flip the calendar to August. The store's are flying the "Back to School" banners already and we're just kicking into high gear for summer...awaiting the hot, hot days to arrive!!! - haven't had to use the central air yet! Anyways, enough of the verbal drama...we've been back and forth to our trailer most of July and had great weather. Maggie made me laugh on our way home the other night...I have terribly calloused soles from walking barefoot most of the summer so...
Mags was inspecting her feet in her booster seat and comes out with this statement:

"MOM!!!! Look (pointing to her soles with a slight toughening) I'm turning into a mom!"

So here's what we've been doing this month....

Supper on the beach with the Van Dyk's

Kelsey contemplating life...and how good it is!

Papa joining us at Lakewood for a night

Kenzie and Mags

My man turns 38...inching closer to 40 babe!

Aging well I might add!

Mini-golfing with Aunt Nicole and Wade

The Many Faces of Summer...

Finally, soccer games...the spectators at Connor's game, Oma, Opa and Matthew cheered him on last week along with his faithful family...look at the grass!!! YIKES...praying that we'll get some rain for our poor farmers! Unfortunately the athlete didn't get captured on camera...soon to come. Everyone have a great week..month....summer!!!