Dear Kirsten,

October 2008 was an exciting month for you. You lost BOTH your front teeth!! (Your teacher is very happy about that since you can't concentrate when you have "wigglers".) I can't believe how old you look with your new haircut and your missing teeth!

While I tell you all the time to "stop growing" I secretly love it. You have always been so curious and bright but all of a sudden you have a new maturity. You are becoming such a beautiful person. At your school Halloween party yesterday the little girl sitting next to your threw up all over her desk after too many sweets. When the other kids in your class started yelling "EWWWWW!!!" you yelled, "STOP IT! You're going to hurt her feelings!!" I am so proud of your kindness and empathy all the time.

You are doing so well in school! Your report card comes out next week and I am very anxious to see your grades! You were named "Eagle of the Week" in your class last week and were very excited to be the class leader for the week. You can read anything and everything. It is really incredible. You love to conduct "story time" with your brothers but you get a little frustrated if they won't sit still.

Daddy surprised you with tickets for the opening night showing of "High School Musical 3". We had so much fun getting dressed up and staying up late for the show. You danced and squealed through the whole thing. It was SO CUTE.

I tell you all the time... but I'll tell you again :) You are my blessing. I love you more than you'll ever know sweet angel face!

Love,
Mommy

Pumpkin Carving

We had a great time carving on pumpkin last night. There was a great chill in the air that really made it feel like fall!

...Look at those beautiful blue eyes!




The boys wouldn't touch any of the pumpkin seeds. Danny squishing up his little nose and saying "EWWWWWW!" It was so cute!

Pumpkin Patch

We had lots of fun picking out our pumpkin after school on Moday!
Danny:

Matthew:

Kirsten:

Backyard Fun!

We are FINALLY getting good use of our backyard! Last Christmas Santa brought Kirsten a swing set. She's enjoyed it all year but now the boys are big enough to really enjoy it too! We've had so much fun playing outside!

I found this little house on Craig's List and bought it on a whim... It is the BEST $10 I've ever spent! The twins LOVE this house so much! They spend hours playing in it. It's so cute... They go in and out, open and close the windows, play peek-a-boo... And Kirsten likes to sit in there and read. It's the best!


Danny climbing onto his little swing


Kirsten pushing Danny on the "big" swing while Matt glides beside them


I think we may have little soccer stars in the making! Here is a family soccer game... Matt is able to run up to the ball and kick it forward... He just needs to stop running and catch his balance first.




I love this photo. I always say how good Kirsten is with the boys... this photo is a great example. She never gets tired of playing with them... never gets frustrated with them. She just takes such joy in playing with them and teaching them how to do things. I am so blessed to have such amazing children!

Playing at the Park

Kirsten and the twins all love to be outside! The weather is so beautiful now that we're able to go to the playground after school a couple of day each week.


Danny and Matt enjoying a snack




...My little cowboys!

More Fall Fun

A couple of weeks ago we went to our first Fall Festival of the season. I remember taking the kids to this festival last year too. The boys were so tiny then! It's really hard to believe how fast time goes!


These days Matthew is my "mover and shaker". It's very hard to keep him in one spot for more than 10 seconds! So here is Kirsten and Danny:


My sweet Danny. I just love his sweet little face.


Kirsten likes to call the twins "wild monkeys" because they are always climbing on things and acting crazy. As you can see, Kirsten has a little monkey in her too! She climbed this rope ladder so fast and so many times! The man running the booth was laughing so hard he stopped taking her tickets and just kept saying "One more time!" over and over. It was really fun!


Kirsten was thrilled with her "rainbow hair"!

Fall Fun!

October is my favorite month of the year. I love it... I look forward to it all summer. When I was teaching full time October was the month when everything would "come together" in the classroom. It's when the weather finally starts to get comfortable after many months of summer heat and there are so many fun fall activities. Today was a perfect example of why I LOVE October!

This morning I took the kiddos to Great Explorations for their "Great Pumpkin" festival. All three kids dressed up. Kirsten is a "pretty" witch and the boys are the cutest little puppies I've ever seen!


We had a really good time! However, it was crowded and we were busy so we didn't get many photos. Kirsten did take a moment to show off her body painting :)


After family nap time (it was wonderful!) we went to the Octoberfest in my parents' neighborhood. Great weather, great food, great music... what more could you ask for?

We don't have many family photos... it's hard to get everyone in one place looking in one direction! Here is a decent one from today.


Kirsten made sure to wash off the morning's face (and body) paint so she wouldn't miss out on the afternoon face painting.


Brian took this picture of Danny and I this afternoon and I just LOVE it! I am usually the one taking the pictures so I don't have too many candid photos of me with the kids. I love my little guys (and girl!) so much!

Locks of Love

Kirsten decided in March that she wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love. I read about it in a magazine (and Kirsten was in need of a haircut) so I explained it to her... I'm always trying to find ways to teach her about empathy and how lucky we are... but that can be tricky becaue I don't want to focus on the "bad" things in the world. Well, Kirsten loved this idea immediately and we spent a lot of time on their website learning about the process and the children who recieve the wigs.

The minimum donation they accept is 10 inches so we had to wait for her hair to grow a bit longer. She has been very anxious for the big haircut. She's asked me to measure her hair every week and has even willingly eaten veggies to keep her hair shiny "for the sick child"!

Soooooo... Saturday was the big day. I'm such a chicken. I was so nervous but Kirsten wasn't nervous at all she was so excited! Here she is just before the big cut!


During the cut...which ended up being just over 12 inches!


And after!


Brian, Matt, and Danny all got haircuts too! I've trimmed the twins' hair a couple of times (not very well I might add...) but this was their first "real" haircuts. They did SO good! No tears and even a few giggles :) Here is Matt



And here is Danny



And the whole gang!