Already november!?!?

As I was sitting down to update the blog, I started thinking, "Wow!  I can't believe it's already November!"  And its actually now almost December, almost Christmas, almost Faithwalkers and almost the New Year!  It feels like just a few weeks ago since we last went to the splash park before summer ended.  Time is such an interesting thing.  Eden is 3 1/2 months now.  It feels like she has been in our life for much longer than that, yet the summer feels like it was just here which meant Eden wasn't.  She is already almost 4 months, when she can technically start baby food, but she still feels so little compared to how old I felt Owen was at the same age.  Anyway, this post is just a big collage of our fall and the fun we've been up to.

This Halloween we took Owen & Eden to a few neighbors houses for trick or treating.  Owen was kind of unsure about it, but loved the candy!  Here is my handsome Tiger & pretty pony:

Our neighbors dog got dressed up as a mailman!

Later that week, Grandma Tickles & Great-grandma Farmer came to visit.  We played at the house a lot & went to the fall party at the church.  We loved having them in town!

Below is a picture of Owen & his beloved friend Kaisa at the harvest party.  Its so fun now to see Owen & his friends interact really well together.  I love watching them learn & grow up.  Now whenever we come to one of the church parking lots Owen yells "Kais!" (usually without a reminder from me that we are going to see her!)  Such a smart boy.  I also put some other pictures of Owen & Kaisa from the fall.

Another visitor we had this fall was Aunt Mandy!  Mandy is in the process of switching jobs & just moved back to Kansas City so she came and visited for most of a week.  We loved having some laid back time with her.  The kids just adored her!

Owen & Eden continue to mostly coexist but more & more we are watching Owen's interest in her grow!  He now calls her "E - E" and is concerned when she cries after a nap, says "shh" when she's sleeping and laughs when we talk to her at breakfast.  Here are some photos of the two of them.

The other day it snowed & Owen was in love!  The cold did not deter him from wanting to play in the snow.  He ate it, of course.  He made snow balls.  He just loved every minute of it.  Here is our Minnesota blooded son in his winter get-up!

On Tuesday, Jon surprised with my Christmas present early.  When we woke up he told me he made dinner reservations at 5:30 and that I needed to look nice.  I asked how nice and he told me I needed to wear a dress.  Needless to say, I was giddy all day!  I was so excited & even borrowed a friends dress just to have more fun and feel like I was wearing something "new."  He brought me to dinner at a friends house where some of the Grand View students served us dinner in a romantic setting.  Then he presented me with tickets to Wicked!  I was so so so excited to get to see it.  I loved my christmas present!  Thanks Jon!

To finish this long post, here is a picture of how Owen now begins the morning carrying his stuffed animals from his crib to the breakfast table.  I love him so much!

Vacation to Idaho!

In October, we took a vacation to visit Matt, Melanie, Katherine & Wesley in Idaho (Jon's brother's family  ).  We had such a good time, especially since Scott (Jon's dad) & Anne, Pat & Ben (Jon's sister's family) went with us!  We loved watching all of the kids play together.  It's pretty amazing how spending four days with older cousins helped Owen develop & grow a lot.  As soon as we got back he's been saying TONS of new words & interacting really well with other kids.

Here are all the cousins!  Here is a little glimpse of what we love about our cousins/niece/nephews!

Katherine - She is the oldest & finally not the only girl!  She is a perfect oldest cousin.  She has a lot of compassion for people.  She is a "dearheart" to all of the younger cousins, showing them around, teaching them, playing with them & cuddling with them.  She is a great dancer & will teach Eden a lot about princesses, horses & headbands!

Wesley - Wesley is a awesome combination of total wildboy & tenderhearted.  We love his total "boyness" in riding the 4-wheeler, liking spiderman & roughhousing it with the boys.  Also, he kept coming up to Eden and wanting to hold her & love on her.  Owen just adored Wesley & we can't wait to see their friendship grow as they get older.

Ben - Ben quite possibly could be the sweetest baby boy we know.  He is all smiles & just soaks everything all in.  It's been so fun this year to watch him grow up.  As he gets older, I can't wait to see how he joins in on the fun.  Owen & Eden are lucky he is in between them.  He's going to be so fun to run around with!

So the craziest part of the trip is that Jon tore his hamstring 13 cm the night before we left.  He then traveled 4 hours to Minneapolis, flew to Denver, flew to Spokane & then drove to Bonners Ferry, Idaho.  Here is a picture of his leg.  Be prepared its nasty!

It was also wonderful to spend time with all of the adults.  We played games, ate delicious foods, & had great conversations.  We were so thankful for such a great trip.