lauren's 1st memorable halloween

joel and i took lauren to a nearby mall to go trick-or-treating. she had a great time and was so happy to see her candy basket getting fuller and fuller. she stopped frequently to take inventory of her loot but was very good not to eat any until after we got home and had some dinner. she also enjoyed seeing all the other kids in their costumes and was especially impressed by a little girl in a butterfly costume. something to remember for next year......

pumpkin, candle!

joel and lauren have started a new little tradition. every night once it's dark they go outside and lite our pumpkin. (we are down to just one due to the squirrels). well, this has become one of the highlight of lauren's day. as soon as she wakes up in the morning, she says to joel, "pumpkin, candle"! and he tells her, "no, we have to wait until it's dark". so when the sun finally goes down, joel tells lauren it's time to light the pumpkin. she immediately says, "shoes, jacket". so even though they aren't outside for too long joel goes through the process of putting her shoes and jacket on. this has become such a special activity for joel and lauren, so i thought i'd take some pictures to have as a reminder.

wonderful warm fall weather

yesterday there was a pumpkin giveway at our local park. so we helped ourselves to a few. joel and i eached carved one. i stuck to basic triangle shapes while joel's was a bit more elaborate. we had fun and it was a new experience for lauren. we also have tons of leaves in our yard so we spent some time raking and playing in them today. (we just wanted to be outside this weekend since the temp's were in the 70's - perfect!) fall is such a beautiful time of year and always reminds us of what an amazing designer God is.

can you guess which one is joel's?

daddy's girl

i don't think there is anything in this world more precious than a daddy and his baby. and i have the pictures to prove it! :)

fun with friends!

this past week our good friends andrew, jessica and liam took the amtrak train all the way from washington state to spend the week with us. it was so great to see them again and to be able to have a nice amount of time to spend together. while they were here we went to a few local parks as well as the como zoo and the mall of america. we also spent one day sightseeing in downtown minneapolis and spent another day in stillwater, the oldest town in minnesota. except for one day the weather was great 60's and sunny. lauren and liam played very well with one another. she called liam "him" and thought it was pretty neat having a constant playmate all week. so here are a few pictures of our activities....

liam and lauren looking in the tiger cage at the zoo.

liam, andrew and jessica checking out the animals.

liam is always ready to smile for the camera!

best buddies!

having fun in the grass.

a shot of a very nice looking family!

while in minneapolis we found a glass wall to take a group photo in.

now that they are home, our house is so quite and rather boring. lauren at least three times a day asks about "him". thanks again for taking the time to come and see us, andrew, jessica and liam. we miss you guys!